The 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival is in town, and Pittsfield is at play. Every year in late February, downtown Pittsfield holds a weeklong celebration with art and music, new plays, independent film and more.
Read articleThe Berkshires are rich in walks and hikes — gentle rambles in the hills and treks along the Appalachian Trail, and anything in between. Kayak on a mountain lake or get a taste of white water.
Movement and light come to the Berkshires midway between winter and spring (By the Way column)
Sunday is midwinter, halfway between the first day of winter and the first day of spring, and in the Berkshires energy is stirring in performances like Vuyani Dance Company’s Cion, on college campuses and in the woods.
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The Berkshires welcome winter solstice with firelight and evergreens (BTW column)
We have almost reached the longest night of the year, and for hundreds of years people have taken time for it around the world, and in the Berkshires too.
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Mass Audubon’s Pleasant Valley Sanctuary celebrates 90 years
A quiet walk in Lenox years ago has changed many lives. Mass Audobon’s Pleasant Valley Sanctuary is celebrating its 90th year in Lenox.
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Fall wildflowers come in with a flourish
Throughout the Northeast, nature rushes to display one last event of the growing season. The late summer and early autumn flourish of brilliant wildflowers on a September or October afternoon are worth an outing. To see it at its best, you’ll need to stroll through meadows and fields, although in […]
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Honey on the roof: Clark Art Institute cultivates bees and meadows
The scent of honey and wood smoke is as thick as the warm, dense hum. The worker bees are active today. A few hot days have come after cool, wet weeks, and the wild primrose are blooming in the pastures. David Thayer gently lifts a small wood and mesh box to […]
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Forest bathing takes a cold plunge: A winter walk at Canoe Meadows
We finally had a day of sun on new snow. I’ve been waiting all winter as every snowstorm slid into rain and froze solid. This time snow fell at night and we woke up to fresh powder and a gleam in the evergreens, and I went for a walk at […]
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Thom Smith snowshoes in the back country
Thinking back 16 years, Scott Jervas who worked with me managing the Berkshire Museum aquarium, had an unlikely winter pastime — searching for long-closed ski areas returning to forest. In 2003, a winter of deep snow in the Berkshires, three of us — Scott and I and Al Krupa, of […]
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Gentle snowshoe treks in the Central Berkshires
When temperatures hover around 25 degrees F, or even a bit higher, it seems only logical to take a hefty dose of cabin fever remedy — head to the woods and give the snowshoes a workout. The Berkshires border the Snow Belt, and not every winter is a snowshoe winter, […]
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Gentle fall walks explore the Williamstown hills
Field Farm, Cricket Creek Farm, Stone Hill, Mountain Meadow Preserve and Sheep Hill — slopes and gentle trails lie just up the road from The Clark, Williams College and the Williamstown Theater Festival. And many visitors and locals alike may have driven past without ever driving in. Field Farm Barely […]
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