v v v v v v  LEAF PEEPING IN MASSACHUSETTS  v v v v v

 

 

v  Introduction to Massachusetts

 

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·          Massachusetts Travel

 

   

v Information about the cities we visited

Massachusetts Moto: By the Sword We Seek Peace, but Peace Only Under Libery / Massachusetts Nickname: Bay State

We essentially drove down from southeastern Vermont on I-91 to the Pioneer Valley and turned onto the Mohawk Trail (Historic Deerfield, Shelbourne Falls, Williamstown) at Shelbourne Falls where we then continued down through the Berkshires (Lenox, Stockbridge).

·          Massachusetts Info

·          Berkshire Hills area – highest peak is Mt Greylock (3,491 ft) with access road off Route 7 and is famous for the culture in the area (Tanglewood Music Festival at Tanglewood in Lenox and the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge)

·          Pioneer Valley is what they call the string of historic settlements long the Connecticut River.  These communities formed the western frontier of New England.

·          The Mohawk Trail – Route 2 officially called this because it is said to shadow an old Indian trail through the hills. We rode from Shelbourne Falls to Williamstown.  Went through Old Deefield (saw its many historic house museums along “The Street” (a mile-long stretch of 80 houses, many dating from the 18^th and early 19^th centuries) but didn’t go inside, also saw the nationally famous boarding school Deefield Academy – open since 1797). Deefield was originally a Pocumtuck village more than 8,000 years ago and as plagued with Indian wars until 1707 when many of buildings still there were built.  We then stopped in Shelburne Falls to see the Bridge of Flowers (a 400-ft trolley bridge over the Deerfield River that was transformed into a garden) and artsy shops and galleries.  Continued on the Mohawk Trail through the Deefield River Valley, and the heavily wooded Mohawk Trail Forest, and then through a series of hairpin turns into the Hoosac Valley where we then passed through North Adams (passed MoCA which is the country’s largest center for contemporary arts) and stopped in Willliamstown. We visited the Chapin Library to see the original historic documents (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights) at Williams College (known for the arts).  We then took Route 7 down through Pittsfield (where we ate at the Misty Moonlite Diner) to  Stockbridge where we stopped and walked around the town (town was established as a mission, Norman Rockwell lived and painted here from 1953 through 1978, we didn’t get to see the Norman Rockwell Museum)  and then back up to Lenox (we didn’t get to see the world-famous Tanglewood which is where Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote and is now the summer home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, we stayed at the Yankee Inn in a King Deluxe room with a fireplace – not the nicest place but great for the price, hotel is a little dated) where we spent the night. Leaving to go back to Alabama, we drove through Great Barrington which was a neat town

v Information

These are places that we would like to revisit on a future trip or places we didn’t get to see and would like to next time.

·          Greater Barrington – asdf

·          Historic Deerfield – see the old houses (52 buildings on 93 acres) and just stroll down “The Street”.

·          Lenox - see Tanglewood and The Mount.

·          Cornell Inn – I’d like to stay here if we are ever in the Lenox area again, quaint looking inn.

·          Pittsfield – see the Hancock Shaker Village.

·          North Adams – stop and see the MoCA

·          Williamstown – stop and see the Clark Art Institue

 

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