Berkshires Travel Guide

Introduction

Sheffield: 119 miles N of New York City and 143 miles W of Boston; Great Barrington: 6 miles N of Sheffield; Stockbridge: 8 miles N of Great Barrington; Lee: 4 miles NE of Stockbridge; Lenox: 6 miles north of Stockbridge; Pittsfield: 7 miles north of Lenox; Williamstown and North Adams: 21 miles N of Pittsfield, 202 miles N of New York City, and 131 miles NW of Boston.

More than hills but less than mountains, the Taconic and Hoosac ranges that define this region at the western end of Massachusetts go by the collective name "The Berkshires." The hamlets, villages, and two small cities have long drawn sustenance from the region's kindly Housatonic River and its tranquil tributaries, and are as New England as can be.

Mohawks and Mohegans lived and hunted here, and while white missionaries established settlements at Stockbridge and elsewhere in an attempt to Christianize the native tribes, the Indians eventually moved west. Farmers, drawn to the narrow but fertile flood plains...