Stockbridge

Norman Rockwell was—and still is—here

From top: The Mission House, The Lost Lamb.

If Stockbridge seems strangely familiar, blame Norman Rockwell, who spent his last 25 years living and working right in the heart of town. He created some of his most visionary and socially engaged work here, without losing the touch that had already made him the beloved painter of small-town American life. At his death, he bequeathed his studio, archive, and many paintings to establish a museum of his work, now the Norman Rockwell Museum on 36 acres outside the town center.

Visitors have returned to the classic rockers on the porch of the venerable Red Lion Inn on the corner of Main and Route 7. The Inn has been there since the 1770s, when an influx of white settlers was displacing the native Mohican population for whom the town had been created (as Indian Town, complete with an English missionary) in 1737. When the railroad arrived in 1850, so did the wealthy summer folk. Artists and writers came too, among them Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial and the Concord Minute Man, whose home and studio, Chesterwood, is open to the public.

The Mission House, house, museum, and garden tell the story of the Stockbridge Mohicans and missionary John Sergeant. Naumkeag, designed by Stanford White, is a 44-room Berkshire cottage fantasy a mile from the town center with extensive gardens. From a perch a couple of miles from the town center, the nonprofit Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, opening August 19, affords a stunning view over the Stockbridge Bowl and offers day-visits and residential stays that focus on yoga, creative expression, wellness and self-discovery.

Some drive, some walk, some cycle: most of Stockbridge’s attractions are within easy reach. The self-guided walking tour of the town is highly recommended by the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce. On the tour, don’t miss the 1884 former Town Hall (you may know the interior from Rockwell’s The Marriage License).

The Stockbridge Library is a particularly fine small-town library, and some of the portraits of former citizens on the walls date from the 18th century; you’re welcome to stop in. The Austen Riggs Center, a therapeutic community, an open psychiatric hospital, and a center for education and research now in its one hundred and first year, is unobtrusively located right in the center of town; Norman Rockwell and his wife were patients.

Stockbridge is also home to some exceptional nature trails just south of town. Park at the end of Park Street, take the footbridge across the Housatonic, and take your choice of trails: a paved, handicapped-accessible trail that runs beside the river; a trail that leads up to Laura’s Tower, with a three-state view; and—not to be missed on a hot day—the trail into Ice Glen, with glacial boulders and icy caves that exhale geo-airconditioned air. If you prefer strolling to hiking, head to the outstanding 16-acre Berkshire Botanical Garden just west of town.

In the evening, the Berkshire Theatre Group, just east of downtown, is presenting performances both indoors at the 122-seat Unicorn Theatre (masks required as of this writing) and outside in a tent (no masks for vaccinated patrons).

Once Upon A Table is a cozy spot for lunch or dinner in “The Mews,” an alley right off Main Street. Those with a sweet tooth will also want to check out Peace, Love & Chocolate, right next door. Alice’s Restaurant, which was nearby, exists now only in song (Arlo Guthrie’s song, released in 1969). The new Tiffany’s Café has taken up residence at the Elm Street Market, also just off Main. The recent arrival of The Lost Lamb, “a French-style patisserie and snackerie,” is good news for croissant lovers—and lovers in general. The Lion’s Den, a basement bistro known for burgers and local brews at The Red Lion Inn (all roads lead to—and from—The Red Lion Inn), is temporarily closed, but finer dining is available upstairs. Many other first-rate restaurants and congenial eateries are located south of town along the road to Great Barrington and in other surrounding towns.