Arrowhead Opening Day

Celebrate Arrowhead’s summer opening with free fun for the whole family.  Activities include free wagon rides, story hour featuring children’s books based on classic Melville tales, silk screening demonstrations with Penny Arcade Press, and a book launch and signing  for Herman Melville in the Berkshires by John Dickson, historian and BCHS volunteer.

FREE EVENT – tours of the historic house are available. Tickets are required, reserve your time by using the BOOK NOW button.

Silk Screening, 1 – 3 pm –  Pittsfield’s Penny Arcarde Press  will be on site demonstrating silkscreen printing with water-based ink. Prints made using this traditional, hand-pulled method will be available for purchase in the museum shop.

Children’s Story Hour, 2 pm – Explore new children’s books based on works by Herman Melville – Call Me Moby by Lars Kenseth and Bartleby by Matt Phelan.

Herman Melville in the Berkshires with author John Dickson, 4 pm –The Berkshires have long attracted artists and writers, drawn to the mountains, rivers, forests, and lakes of Western Massachusetts. Herman Melville first came here as a young boy and was so inspired by the surroundings that he returned to live here for thirteen years during one of the most productive writing periods of his life. He finished his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, in his first year here, seated in his study with a view of Mount Greylock. “His first love,” is the way his cousin described his relationship to his adopted home. He wandered on foot and horseback to all corners of the county, tapping into the Berkshires in his art. The places he explored are sprinkled through the pages in his stories. Herman Melville in the Berkshires reveals the connections between Melville’s writing and the beauty of the landscape that inspired him. Sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).

About John Dickson
John Dickson serves as Chair of the Pittsfield Historical Commission and was a former board member of the Berkshire County Historical Society.  He has authored a local history book, Berkshire County’s Industrial Heritage, on the 19^th century mills in this corner of Massachusetts.  He received a master’s degree in public history having completed a thesis on the Berkshire Athenaeum.

This event is sponsored by Massachusetts Cultural Council and Housatonic Heritage.