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The Bookish Side of the Berkshires
by David Emblidge

When Ishmael, Herman Melville’s famous narrator of Moby Dick, was feeling a cold November in his soul, he went to sea for the tonic fresh air. You don’t have to venture out so far; a visit to the tonic Berkshires should do the trick. Located in mountainous western Massachusetts, it’s where numerous world-class authors once took up residence and where, today, a vibrant cultural and outdoor recreation scene draws myriad visitors.

After years at sea, Melville settled in Pittsfield at Arrowhead Farm to write his masterpiece. Nowadays, you can visit his study and stare out the window at distant, humpbacked Mt. Greylock, which Melville likened to the demonic white whale that bedeviled the Pequod and sent Captain Ahab to a watery grave. Greylock is a huge state park with superb hiking and camping opportunities.

America’s most famous sea story celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2001. Many cultural activities are planned at Arrowhead for the next two years. Melville’s beautifully restored home, on the National Register of Historic Places, is run by the Berkshire County Historical Society, whose broad collection is on display. House tours are witty and brief.

If you prefer elegance to adventure, check out Edith Wharton’s American home, The Mount, in Lenox, also on the National Register. A neo-Georgian mansion built in 1902, to Wharton’s specifications, the house has served for twenty years as a Shakespearean theater (moving soon to another Lenox location). Now, The Mount is nearly restored to its original glory. The walls seem to echo conversations on lazy summer afternoons between Wharton (Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth) and her many sophisticated guests, among them Henry James. Tours with a literary bent run throughout the summer and fall. One act plays based on Wharton stories turn the drawing room into a stage. Picnicking on the grounds is delightful. The Mount is one of numerous palatial homes dating from the Gilded Age when the Berkshires were known as the “Inland Newport.”

The biggest magnet in the Berkshires is Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Combining two old estates, the concert grounds provide spectacular views over the hills. Long before train and automobile made all this possible, the young Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter, House of the Seven Gables) came to the mountains to write and to be near Melville whom he greatly admired. A reconstruction of Hawthorne’s charming “little red house” stands across the road from Tanglewood’s “Lion’s Gate.” Used nowadays as a practice studio for musicians, it’s worth a walk-by visit if only to drink in the million-dollar view over Lake Makeenac and the Taconic Range. Hawthorne found the view so sublime he couldn’t get his writing done and soon moved back to gritty, congested Salem. A walk around the Tanglewood grounds (free when concerts are not underway) makes a pleasant hour; picnicking is superb on the velvety lawn.

Practically Speaking
Access the Berkshires by car via the Taconic State Parkway or NY 22 to NY 23 at Hillsdale, then east on NY 23 into Berkshire County, MA at Gt. Barrington. MA 7 is the spine of the county. Arrowhead is on Holmes Rd., Pittsfield (about 1.5 mi. east of Rte. 7); phone 413-442-1793; Open Memorial Day to Halloween, tours hourly, 10-4, $5. The Mount is at the corner of Rte. 7 and Plunkett Street, in Lenox; phone 413-637-1902; Open Memorial Day through October, 9-3, self-guided tours, $6. Hawthorne’s house is on Hawthorne Street, bordering the Tanglewood concert grounds, on the Stockbridge/Lenox town line (access Tanglewood from either Stockbridge or Lenox); Tanglewood information phone 413-637-1600. Lodgings in the Berkshires range from palatial inns to wilderness camping. Reservations are a must in summer and fall. Call Berkshire Visitors Bureau, 800-237-5747, 413-443-9186.

Related Links
Melville’s Arrowhead
Edith Wharton’s The Mount
Berkshire Visitors Bureau
David Emblidge is the editor of Exploring the Appalachian Trail (Stackpole Books), a detailed, five-volume series covering day and overnight hikes along the AT.

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