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Top Attractions in Pittsfield

Berkshire Museum

The Berkshire Museum is a museum of natural history, art, and ancient civilization that is located in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. In 1903, Berkshire Museum founder Zenas Crane, inspired by such institutions as the American Museum for Natural Science, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, decided to blend the best attributes of these establishments in a new museum for the people of Western Massachusetts. Thanks in large part to Crane’s efforts, the broad and varied collections of Berkshire Museum include objects from virtually every continent, from important fine art and sculpture to natural science specimens and ancient artifacts. As the third-generation owner of Crane Company, a paper manufacturer that was the official supplier of paper to the U.S. Treasury, Crane invested his wealth in his community. He actively sought out art and artifacts for Berkshire Museum, and encouraged the development of collections that would bring home to the Berkshires a wide cross-section of the world’s wonders. Berkshire Museum became a “window on the world.” Crane purchased many of Berkshire Museum’s first acquisitions, including a sizable group of paintings from the revered Hudson River School. Significant works by Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church figure prominently in the collection. The diverse collections also boast artifacts of ancient history and natural science: fossil collections, a 143-pound meteorite, an Egyptian mummy named Pahat, shards of Babylonian cuneiform tablets, samplings of early Mediterranean jewelry, and representations of Berkshire ecosystems including local mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, plants, and minerals. Berkshire Museum is the repository for objects associated with the lives of well-known figures in American history. The first successful expedition to the North Pole by Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson in 1908 and 1909 was supported by Crane, and Henson’s whole-body fur suit, the sledge that made the trip, and other equipment from the venture found a home at Berkshire Museum. The writing desk of Nathanial Hawthorne and the musket believed to have belonged to Israel Bissell also are part of the extensive permanent collection. Berkshire Museum has exhibited works by some of the most accomplished artists from the United States and abroad: Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt Peale, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Sully, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and John Singer Sargent. In the 1930s, the Berkshire Museum was the first to commission two site-specific mobiles from Alexander Calder, who became one of the most significant artists in the 20th century. The mobiles can be seen in the theater, on either side of the proscenium. In the 1950s, the Berkshire Museum was the first to display the work of Norman Rockwell as well as pieces by artists that challenged convention, such as Andy Warhol, Red Grooms, Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, and Nancy Graves. Berkshire Museum continues to add to the collections through purchase and gift. In the 21st-century, acquisitions have focused on artists with national and international reputations who have strong connections to the Berkshires: Gregory Crewdson, Peter Garfield, Chet Kalm, Helen Febbo, Morgan Bulkeley, Stephen Hannock, and others. Well-known institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mystic Seaport, the Smithsonian Institution, the Guggenheim, and the Tate Gallery have all borrowed objects from Berkshire Museum’s collections. Original exhibitions created and curated by Berkshire Museum staff, incorporating items from the collections, travel to other museums.

Arrowhead

Arrowhead, also known as the Herman Melville House, was the home of American author Herman Melville during his most productive years, 1850–1863. In this Pittsfield, Massachusetts house, Melville wrote some of his major work: the novels Moby-Dick, Pierre, The Confidence-Man, and Israel Potter; The Piazza Tales; and magazine stories such as "I and My Chimney". The house, located at 780 Holmes Road in Pittsfield, was built in the 1780s as a farmhouse and inn. It was adjacent to a property owned by Melvilles uncle Thomas, where Melville had developed an attachment to the area through repeated visits. He purchased the property in 1850 with borrowed money and spent the next twelve years farming and writing there. Financial considerations prompted his familys return to New York City in 1863, and Melville sold the property to his brother. The house remained in private hands until 1975, when the Berkshire County Historical Society acquired the house and a portion of the original 160-acre property. The Society restored most of the house to Melvilles period and operates it as a house museum; it is open to the public during warmer months. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Berkshire Athenaeum

The Berkshire Athenaeum is a public library based on a previously private athenaeum, and now located at 1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the Berkshires, United States. Like many New England libraries, the Berkshire Athenaeum started as a private organization. A private Public Library Association was founded in 1850. The name was later changed to the Berkshire Athenæum. Later still, Thomas F. Plunkett, Calvin Martin and Thomas Allen, were "instrumental in forming it into a free library." "In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the gift of [the 1876] building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenaeum was placed upon a firm foundation." In 1903, the Berkshire Athenaeum assumed the responsibility for the newly created Berkshire Museum, and was both a public library and museum until the museum spun off in 1932. The Berkshire Athenaeum is now Pittsfield's public library and contains a collection of more than 150,000 items. The library's special collections on local history, genealogy, local author Herman Melville, and other Berkshire authors are some of the best in the northeast.

Barrington Stage Company

Barrington Stage Company is a regional theatre company in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd, and Managing Director, Susan Sperber, in Sheffield, Massachusetts. BSC has committed itself to a three-fold mission: to produce top notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre, especially young people. In 2004, BSC developed, workshopped and premiered the hit musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Following the successfully Broadway run, which nabbed two Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor, BSC made the move to a more permanent home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Previously housed in the Consolati Performing Arts Center at Mount Everett High School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, BSC purchased and renovated the Berkshire Music Hall in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Its 520-seat Mainstage Theatre is now located on 30 Union Street. In 2008 it signed a 5-year lease on an old VFW to house its Stage 2 venue, a small black box space. In 2012 the company secured the purchase of the VFW turning it into the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, including the St. Germain Stage and a 49-seat space dubbed Mr. Finn's Cabaret.

Colonial Theater

The Colonial Theatre is located at 111 South Street, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. Built in 1903, the theater was host to many theater greats including George M. Cohan, Sara Bernhardt, John Barrymore, Eubie Blake, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Billie Burke, John Phillips Sousa and the Ziegfeld Follies. The theater was designed by Pittsfield architect Joseph McArthur Vance along with J.B. McElfatrick. Its ornate turn-of-the 20th century interior has been well preserved by its various owners. Although the theater was closed in 1951, its grandeur had been protected through the years by George Miller and his son, Steven. Miller preserved many features of the Colonial during its conversion from a theater to the Miller's Art Supply Store, making it possible to eventually restore the theater back to its earlier grandeur, a process documented in photographer Nicholas Whitman's The Colonial Theatre: A Pittsfield Resurrection. The Colonial Theater was named by Hillary Clinton as a National Historic Treasure in 1998. Following this announcement, the community invested more than $22 million to refurbish the 100-year-old Colonial Theatre, one of the only theaters of its kind from the Vaudeville age, described as the "one of the finest acoustical theaters in the world." The Colonial Theatre Restoration completed work in 2006 and it is now open to the public. Many notable performers have since graced the stage, including James Taylor, the Lovin' Spoonful, and other musical and theater acts.

Wollison-Shipton Building

The Wollison-Shipton Building is a historic commercial and retail block at 142-156 North Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Designed by noted architect H. Neil Wilson, it was built in 1888 when the area north of Park Square developed as a commercial and retail part of downtown Pittsfield. At the time of its construction it was relative rarity: constricuted of Philadelphia pressed brick, with cast iron detailing, and plate glass windows. The four story structure housed four store fronts 20 feet wide and 100 feet deep, and the second floor provided the first home for the local YMCA. The builder was D.C. Munyan, who was responsible for the construction of a number of other nearby buildings, including the adjacent Academy of Music , the Berkshire County Courthouse, and the Athaneum, both prominent structures on Park Square. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and was included in an expansion of the Park Square Historic District in 1991.

Berkshire Community College

Berkshire Community College is an accredited, co-educational two-year community college in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Its primary campus is in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and classroom spaces in the city of Pittsfield. Established in the 1960s, it is the oldest college founded by the Massachusetts Community Colleges Executive Office. More than 3,000 students enroll annually in BCC's academic programs, which include associate degrees, certificate programs, and transfer programs. An additional 5,200 enroll in noncredit or workforce development courses. The majority of students are from Massachusetts, with 96% coming from Berkshire County. The student body is 61% female and nearly half of enrolled students are 23 years old or older. Berkshire Community College has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1964. In 2006, the college was recognized as the only community college in the state to exceed the national average in graduation rates for 2002-04. The Berkshire Eagle (formerly Berkshires Week) has continuously named BCC the "Best College" in the Berkshires since 2001.
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