I’m southeast of the Berkshires this week with my family for the holidays — we’re taking a walk to the pond to look for the beaver lodges or sitting by the fireplace …
Read articleThe new moon rides in a haze of cloud, and the mountain on the horizon holds the last of the twilight. I’ve never seen the sky like this at home before. The slope looks translucent and vast, out in the dark along the Hoosic River. And I’m looking for times like this … time to breathe.
The holiday season this year seems to have come quickly and quietly. As I walk through downtowns, feeling for the rhythm of the season, I’m not finding lavish performances, but local shops gather energy, and they can still surprise me.
I came to Windy Hill for winterberry and apples for homemade pie and found eight or ten kinds, some familiar and some I’d never seen before — macouns and mutsus and golden fruit.
What draws me in this year is what feels natural. What keeps me in touch with life. You may find this holiday space leaning toward scents and textures, woodsmoke, beeswax smelling of honey, balsam fir. You may find acoustic music from many parts of the world, and work made by hand, and stories … the kinds of stories that revolve around people holding each other, owls in the winter woods, courage and wonder and the essences of things.
They are the kinds of stories I think of when I follow the burning torches down the old road at the Mount, into the woods in the dark. Light sifts like snow through the pine needles, and I imagine the mythic beings who might come to meet me here, dancing to the clear tones of the music.
Familiar celebrations are returning outdoors, and some are expanding — and the lights are on at Naumkeag. Come down to North Adams or Williamstown for their holiday walk, and you might hear the draft horses and catch a ride in a carriage …
For a look at some highlights I’m finding as I explore, holiday events and stories, scroll on down.
A fire pit warms the dark at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
Edith Wharton's lime walk gleams in the dark in NightWood at the Mount.
Torches light the pathway through the trees in NightWood at the Mount.
A family takes in Spring Street at the annual Williamstown Holiday Walk.
Decorating cookies at the Williamstown Holiday Walk. Photo courtesy of the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce
Photo by Kate Abbott
Winterlights dance in the dark at Naumkeag
It’s full moon, and I’m walking up the hill on the old road across the fields, so I can see the hilltop above me steeped in light. The fruit trees are glowing red and gold. Naumkeag in Winterlights is bright as penny candy.
Tonight is one of those zany changes in plans that turn into serendipity — I’m here for a press walk-through, and I can’t find the right way in, so I leave the car on the main road and come up through the cemetery. … The house is above me on the hill, and I can see the whole sweep of thousand of lights.
Vines along the historic house walls glow golden at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
Ornaments glow on the lawn at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
Evergreens glisten with light at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
Ornaments glow after dark at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
Photo by Susan Geller
Tree farms open with balsam and hot cocoa
The grass is frost-scuffed, and the afternoon light gives the bare trees a glow. We park in the field by the barn and walk up the hill carrying a bow saw. The air smells of balsam.
The baby trees on the fringes come up to our knees, but we are in among the larger ones, circling them to look from all angles. If you have ever chosen a Christmas tree with family and friends, you know this conversation — is it tall enough? You can just reach the top. It’s a little uneven, but we can shape it …
Berkshire tree farms grow spruce, fir and pine
Photo by Kate Abbott
NightWood glimmers with music at the Mount
The flame streams sideways in the wind. The bowl of the torch is gleaming copper — it’s an oil lamp, essentially the same as the lamps that burned in Constantinople 2000 years ago, or in the temple of the Macabees. A procession of them coil along the old dirt road here, into the dark. It’s a cold night with a full moon, and NightWood has come back to the Mount.
The lights stretch away until they’re pinpricks hidden in the trees. I’m at the top of the path through the woods to Edith Wharton’s gardens, and I can hear my own footsteps on hard-packed earth …
Firelight and music transform NightWood
Torches light the way as the woods take on a deep purple light in NightWood at the Mount.
Edith Wharton's lime walk gleams in the dark in NightWood at the Mount.
Long tapering forms glow like reeds around a pool at Nightwood.
Lights gleam on a long table in the forecourt at the Mount in NightWood.
For our latest holiday stories and events, have a look below …
Pine trees glisten with green fairy lights at Winterlights at Naumkeag.
The door knocker sports a wreath at Naumkeag.
Cyclamen bloom in the greenhouse at Naumkeag in Winterlights.
Holiday happenings coming up …
Feb 12 2023 @ 1:00 pm
Make a Valentine’s Day card for your sweetheart, friend, or family member and leave with a unique artwork that uses images from the Clark’s collection.
Berkshire holiday stories
Rare local flavors converge at Moon in the Pond Farm
Dominic Palumbo raises Highland cattle, Jersey geese and Dorset sheep, as he grows vegetables and forages for local flavors.
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Joyful holidays from all across the Berkshires — #berkshireweekend
We were talking about music and finding beauty even when it isn’t easy, and translations and the layers of meaning you only hear when you know the original words … and I thought, gifts can come in many forms.
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La Navidadeña honors Mary’s travels
For nine days before Christmas, throughout Latin America, families are celebrating la novena navidadeña — the travels of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.
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Starseed sanctuary in Savoy sows light
Satyana Ananda knows that sometimes after destruction, light returns. Sometimes a terrible thing can end in a miracle. Transformation is part of her mission as director of the Starseed Sanctuary.
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Bennington Museum holds unexpected discoveries — #berkshireweekend
I’ve come looking for ghosts and spirits and mysteries. I’m here to see the new show ‘In the Shadow of the Hills,’ just open now in time for the holidays.
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Jane Austen meets the spirit of Christmas yet to come
Two years past the end of ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ the Bennet family are gathering for the holidays, and Mary, the awkward, bookish middle sister, is about to take center stage for the first time in her life.
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Winterlights glow on full-moon nights — #berkshireweekend
Coming up the hill, you can see the house gleaming in the distance and the birches shining like candy canes all along the Blue Stairs. Naumkeag is decked out again in Winterlights.
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Festivals of lights
Holidays return in the Berkshires — even in an uncertain year, we can find music and storytelling and lights in the dark, and an energy in local places …
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Explorations — Great Barrington in holiday season
One day when I had a story interview in the Southern Berkshires, I came early to wander through downtown Great Barrington, looking for locally made gifts.
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