FINAL The Rough Guide to New England by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, USA
Publisher: APA Publications
Published: 2022-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Norman Rockwell Museum

9 Rte-183 (3 miles west of Stockbridge) • May–Oct daily 10am–5pm (Aug Thurs till 7pm); Nov–April Mon–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm • Charge • http://nrm.org

The most comprehensive of several tributes to the artist in New England, the Norman Rockwell Museum displays some 574 of his original paintings and drawings, most of which were Saturday Evening Post covers. Despite Rockwell’s penchant for advertising endorsements, and the idealism that infused much of his work, it’s hard not be drawn in by the artist’s obsessive attention to detail, and his simple but clever ideas – see Girl Reading the Post, Four Freedoms and the witty Triple Self-Portrait.

Accommodation Stockbridge

Red Lion Inn 30 Main St http://redlioninn.com. This grandmotherly inn, which also offers accommodation in historic cottages all over town, is for many the quintessential New England inn, with a vast range of rooms. Repair to the Lion’s Den, its atmospheric cellar tavern, to get down with the rest of the town. $$

Lenox and around

Roughly five miles north of Stockbridge on US-7, tourists flock to LENOX each year for its summer performing arts festivals (see box, page 85), but there are also a couple of literary attractions hereabouts worth checking out. In 1902, writer Edith Wharton (1862–1937) joined a long list of artists summering in the Berkshires when she moved into The Mount, 2 Plunkett St, US-7 (May–Oct daily 10am–5pm; Nov–Feb Sat & Sun 10am–5pm; charge; http://edithwharton.org), an elegant country house she designed. Guided tours (50min) of the house provide a mine of information.

Author Herman Melville moved to Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Rd (late May to late Oct daily 9.30am–5pm; tours hourly 10am–4pm; charge; http://mobydick.org), near Pittsfield, north of Lenox, in 1850, finishing Moby Dick here soon after. Guided tours (45min) of his creaking wooden home – which dates from 1796 – add colour to his life and work (it’s the only museum dedicated to Melville in the USA).

Hancock Shaker Village

1843 W Housatonic St • Daily: mid-April to June 10am–4pm; July–Oct 10am–5pm • Charge • http://hancockshakervillage.org

From 1790 until 1960, the Hancock Shaker Village, eleven miles northwest of Lenox, was an active Shaker community, and today offers an illuminating insight into this remarkable Christian sect. A branch of the Quakers that had fled England to America in 1774, the Shakers were named for the convulsive fits of glee they experienced when worshipping. Hancock retains one of the biggest collections of Shaker furniture in the country and is home to eighteen preserved clapboard buildings. Top off the experience at the Seeds Market Café, with a menu rooted in the herbs and heirloom vegetables grown in the village gardens.

Performing arts in Lenox

Lenox is home to some of the Berkshires’ most popular festivals: the summer season of Shakespeare & Company (70 Kemble St; http://shakespeare.org) and Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (297 W St; advance tickets Sept–May http://bso.org); it’s cheaper and arguably more enjoyable to sit on the grass [tickets from $22]. On Rte-20 between Becket and Lee, Jacob’s Pillow (mid-June to Aug Wed–Sun; http://jacobspillow.

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