Mass MoCA is now the largest contemporary art museum in the country, and one of the largest on the planet. Artists from across the U.S. and the world have come to show their work in a former mill North Adams along the Hoosic River.
READ MOREWhen I go searching for gifts, I want to be outin milking parlors with wheels of blue cheese, and greenhouses with the sweet sharp scent of balsam fir, and barns full of chocolate molds and glass jars with bulb bottoms. They’re places that feel like they belong somewhere.
The pandemic has complicated that quest in some ways. Local shops are adapting, and I will be looking carefully for possibilities this holiday season. I’ll let you know what I’m seeing. This will not be a comprehensive list, because there are hundreds of possibilities and one of me — it will be curated to share places I know and enjoy.
In the holiday season, even in a pandemic, we are alive with local makers and creative people…
In my family, some of the fun of finding gifts is where you find them. That doesn’t mean they cost a lot. It means we’re giving the experience that comes with them.
This came from that open studio we stumbled on in September, remember? We were looking for somewhere to take a walk in the woods, and we saw the sign and stopped there just on impulse, because how often have we had the chance to do anything on impulse this year? You kept coming back to the spun-glass beads. Then we hiked in the forest in Savoy and got lost, and came out on that old wood road near bog pond. The dragonflies were iridescent blue …
The experiences are still there, just as the people are, and a taste or a scent can bring them vividly back.
Big River Chestnuts opened a farm stand in Sunderland for the holidays with fresh and roasted chestnuts and more.
A handmade glass ornament glistens at Cheshire Glassworks.
The Spin-off Yarn Shop offers yarns and supplies and knitted shawls in bright colors in the renovated Norad Mill in North Adams.
Pinewoods Potters offers cups at the renovated Norad Mill in North Adams.
Chocolate Springs in Lenox forms own dark chocolate into snowmen and holiday shapes.
Full Well Farm brings wreathes of rosemary and dried flowers to the North Adams Farmers Market.
Local shops and artisans
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Bear and Bee Bookshop
North Adams, MA
Jennifer Stevens and Rye Howard took the leap of opening a bookshop in a pandemic, with focuses in science fiction and fantasy, health and the land and more.
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Cheshire Glassworks
Cheshire, MA
In her studio, Jill Reynolds is making glass beads. She melts a rod of colored glass over a flame until it runs like taffy and then catches the strand of glass it around a thin metal wire, turning it …
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Chocolate Springs
Lenox, MA
Joshua Needleman makes his own chocolate from scratch in Lenox. Dark chocolate caramelized hazlenuts. Melting bars of ganache flavored with raspberry or spice. Chocolate Springs is half kitchen and a wizard’s lair. And it is also a café.
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Plant Connector
North Adams, MA
Boston ferns hang overhead, trailing long green fronds, and tiny begonias sit in the window … The Plant Connector is a warm, bright space, and it’s vividly green.
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Wild Soul River
Williamstown, MA
On a winter night, the lights are warm. The walls are lined with jars of rose petals and spearmint, gentle herbs, and chairs sit in a circle by the window inviting you to put your feet up and sip your tea.
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Arrowhead
Herman Melville and his family were living in the Berkshires, in a farmhouse in Pittsfield, while he wrote ‘Moby-Dick’ in the 1850s. From his desk, he could see the outline of Mount Greylock above the surrounding hills, and it reminded him of a sperm whale’s back in the water, when the whale came up to breathe.
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The Bookstore
Lenox, MA
The Bookstore in Lenox has been ‘serving the community since last Tuesday’ for more than 40 years with contemporary fiction and a deep collection of poetry, Judaica, science, history … and readings in the Get Lit wine bar.
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Williamstown Farmers Market
Williamstown, MA
Duck egg tacos with hot sausage and greens? Baklava and fresh moussaka? The Williamstown Farmers Market brings Farmers, food producers, artists and artisans to Spring Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday from May to October.
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Tunnel City Coffee
Williamstown, MA
A college hangout and an anchor on Spring Street for decades, Tunnel City roasts its own coffee and has a loyal following — it roasts its own blends locally in the renovated Norad Mill in North Adams.
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Dottie’s Coffee Lounge
Pittsfield, MA
Even the name swings like speakeasy jazz. Dottie’s Coffee Lounge is a classic. It’s neighborhood hangout with fairground lights and vintage clothing and local artwork on the walls.
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Norad Mill
North Adams, MA
Moresi & Associates has drawn more than 40 local businesses to the renovated Norad Mill — artists and artisans, coffee and local wines, vintage records, yarn shops and even rocks and minerals.
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Clark Art Institute
Williamstown, MA
You can sit on the terrace on a summer night with Rodin and Renoir behind you and look out over the reflecting pool to cows in the pasture at The Clark Art Institute.
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Berkshire Mountain Café
French toast from sourdough chocolate bread, with local maple syrup; cherry pecan French toast with sweetened goat cheese and honey … imagine the possibilities. Aura Whitman, former owner of Café Reva, has joined forces with Berkshire Mountain Bakery’s pizzeria and café — and they are forces of nature.
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Sohn Fine Art
Lenox, MA
Photographer Cassandra Sohn founded Sohn Fine Art 2011, focusing on contemporary photography and unconventional mediums.
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Windy Hill
The farm market carries blueberries and garden plants in the summer, apples and pumpkins in the fall, winterberry and wreathes and evergreens in the winter.
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Northshire Bookstore
Manchester Center, VT
I’m standing by a pyramid of hardbacks in Northshire Bookstore in Manchester. I’ve wanted to come here for years, and it’s living up to the anticipation. The shelves are almost twice as tall as I am.
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Stationery Factory
Dalton, MA
An old brick mill in the heart of Crane & Company territory has been renovated into space for arts and small businesses. It has a mainstage with professional sound and lighting, and often hosts live music on Saturday nights.
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Shire Breu-hous
Dalton, MA
Andrew Crane and Nick Whalen have opened the Shire Breu-Hous in the Stationery Factory in downtown Dalton and turned a corner of the old mill into a restaurant and microbrewery — they have a dozen brews on tap.
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Hancock Shaker Village
Pittsfield, MA
From 1783 to 1960, a Shaker community lived and farmed here. Today the village is a living history museum known for its Round Stone Barn, with farm animals and CSA gardens, art and craft, and dinners and music.
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Wing and a Prayer
Cardinal flower and turtlehead, marsh marigold and hazel bushes, St. John’s Wort and wild iris … Amy Pulley grows and offers native plants at Honey Hill.
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High Lawn Farm
Lee, MA
You can stop in for ice cream or farmstead cheese and sit at a picnic table, looking across the field where the young calves are out to pasture — High Lawn Farm in Lee now has its own creamery store.
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Moon in the Pond Farm
Sheffield, MA
Dominic Palumbo raises Highland cattle, Jersey geese, Dorset sheep and other heritage breeds, as he grows vegetables and forages for local flavors and aromatics.
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Whitney’s Farm Market
From spring to fall, Whitney’s Farm Market on Route 8 is open with greens, fruits and vegetables, pick-your-own berries in season, deli sandwiches and ice cream, and the garden center carries perennial and annual flowers and more.
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Berkshire Mountain Bakery
Housatonic, MA
or more than 40 years, Richard Bourdon has been baking European-style sourdough breads in an old brick building that once belonged to the Rising Paper Mill.
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GreylockWorks
North Adams, MA
Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry have renovated a 240,000 cotton mill on Route 2 near the North Adams / Williamstown line into GreylockWorks, a center for local food and events.
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