Pittsfield

and commercial center of the Berkshires, with a proud history of manufacturing—and the contemporary challenges and opportunities that the decline of the sector has brought. Cultural initiatives have lifted the city’s mood and kindled its aspirations to become a hub for the arts. The opening of cannabis dispensaries Temescal Wellness west of town and Berkshire Roots and Bloom Brothers to the east has also lifted moods. The recent opening of the $13.8 million Berkshire Innovation Center, after eleven years of planning and building, is another sign of the city’s resilience. Pittsfield’s downtown is now its Upstreet Cultural District, anchored by the beautifully restored 1903 Colonial Theatre, part of Berkshire Theatre Group, and the innovative Barrington Stage Company, which normally attracts almost 60,000 patrons per year to its four downtown venues and has become the incubator of shows that regularly go on to stages in Boston and New York. Throughout December, the Berkshire Theatre Group is offering a stage production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas—The Musical at the Colonial. Barrington Stage will present the 10x10 New Play Festival in February. The Whitney Center for the Arts, established by Pittsfield native Lisa Whitney in 2012 and located in the creatively repurposed 1865 Thomas Colt House, is normally another beehive of culture, with art shows, intimate theatre and music performances, and special events. It’s temporarily closed but offering online exhibits. The vibrant Pittsfield visual arts scene features public art, galleries, studios, and cooperatives, and the First Fridays Artswalk (5 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday of the month.) Located in the center of town on North Street, the Berkshire Museum, a wonderful resource for the community, open for in-person visits, is also offering a full schedule of online programming, and will host summer camps beginning in June. Clockwise from top left: Hiking, Methuselah Bar and Lounge, Bousquet Mountain.

Like many small-city museums, its holdings range across subjects and fields of knowledge, but highlights, including an aquarium, natural history specimens, a mummy, and the Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation, make it a great place to take children to discover worlds beyond their screens. The new, immersive “Curiosity Incubator” gallery is a portal to greater awareness of the human family.

Right next door to the Berkshire Museum is Museum Outlets, a fun store for gifts. If you’re in the market for furniture, Paul Rich & Sons, also on North Street, has 30,000 square feet of floor space to look at, most of it American made (and no assembly required), and Circa Berkshires, a few blocks away, offers a treasure trove of hand-picked Danish and Mid-Century

From Left: Park Square, Museum Outlets.

Modern furnishings. You never know what you may find at ReStore at 347 Columbus Avenue; the store carries donated home improvement products, building materials, and more. Profits go to Habitat for Humanity.

In the mood for more shopping? You’ll want to pop into Township Four on North Street. Technically a florist, but really so much more, the deceptively small store is bursting with handmade candles, soaps, and scents; hand-printed tea towels and greeting cards; build-your-own terrarium kits, seeds, gardening tools, etc. Pittsfield isn’t all urban: the 11,000-acre Pittsfield State Forest offers fall camping and hiking, and the Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, Lake Onota, and Bousquet Mountain Adventure Park also provide fun outdoor experiences. If you’re looking for a pleasant spot to serve as a base for Berkshires experiences, the Bonnie Brae Campground, now under new management, has cabins and RV sites north of town near Pontoosuc Lake (see website for COVID-19 guidelines.) Buy a bike at Berkshire Bike & Board on East Street and explore! Let Whitman keep Brooklyn; Herman Melville had Pittsfield. The native New Yorker bought a 1785 farmhouse in 1850 and settled in for some serious writing—and an intense affair with the mistress of the neighboring manor. He named his new digs Arrowhead after the many Indian ‘points’ that turned up in his fields, and it’s now a museum run by the Berkshire Historical Society dedicated to his 13 years’ residence under its roof. Visitors can see the room where Melville wrote Moby Dick, with its view north to Mount Greylock, whose profile is said to have evoked for the author the whale that obsessed Captain Ahab. He built a porch on the north side, too, and called it a piazza; you too can sit and look. The house is open Thursday through Monday with call-ahead reservations and online ticketing; a guide takes you through. (See this magazine’s online article about Arrowhead at BerkshireCalendarMagazine.com.)

You’ll have to eat and you’ll have to sleep: you can do both at trendy, 45-room Hotel on North, another repurposed downtown building that successfully blends new and old; its stylish bar, restaurant and shops attract both a local and out-oftown clientele.

For eating and drinking, there are 50 other restaurants, cafés, and wine bars to choose from. Meet a friend for coffee at Dottie’s, pick up lunch at the Marketplace Café, drop into Mission for a locally sourced seasonal menu or a glass of wine, or settle into Methuselah and sixteen taps of craft beer, artful cocktails, and artful eats. Thistle and Mirth has great beer and great company and has expanded into the storefront next door to offer imbibers a new ramen restaurant. If you’re still pubcrawling, finish up at The Lantern Bar and Grill, a venerable and recently reopened Pittsfield institution. If you’re going to have something to eat before heading to Barrington Stage in the center of town, District Kitchen & Bar, Patrick’s Pub, and Trattoria Rustica are close by. Pittsfield is a good movie town. The Regal Cinema at the Berkshire Mall 4 miles north of downtown has ten screens, reclining seats, reserved tickets, and popular movies. The renovated, five-screen, Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound-equipped Beacon Cinema downtown on North has very comfortable reclining seats and shows operas in the Met’s “Live in HD” series. For a glimpse into a different way of living, 700-acre Hancock Shaker Village beckons from outside of town along Route 20 in Hancock. The Shakers created a religious, utopian farming community here in the 1780s around the ideas of pacifism, celibacy, and communal living. No Shakers remain, but their way of life forms the basis for a living history museum, with twenty authentic Shaker buildings and rich collections of Shaker furniture and artifacts. At the same time, it’s a working farm, with extensive gardens and heritage livestock. Check their website for even more fun events.