Berkshire County Historical Society

Getting Started in Genealogy
2024-03-20 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
The Berkshire County Historical Society welcomes Senior Genealogist Rhonda R. McClure for a virtual presentation introducing the genealogical research process and the tools and techniques that support the research. Participants will learn how to create a solid research plan. The first part of the lecture introduces key genealogical tools such as the multi-generational chart, family group sheet, and the research log. The second part of the lecture introduces the range of records and documents that genealogists use in the course of research. Census, vital, and immigration records are highlighted. By the end of the program, participants will understand the most important types of records used in genealogical research and the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Pre-registration is required; use the BOOK NOW button to reserve your spot. Fee is $15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members. Become a member here.
About Rhonda R. McClure
Rhonda is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. Before joining American Ancestors/NEHGS in 2006, she ran her own genealogical business for 18 years. She was a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of twelve books including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, Finding your Famous and Infamous Ancestors, and Digitizing Your Family History. She is also the editor of the recently released 6th edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research. Her areas of expertise include: immigration and naturalization, Late 19th and early 20th Century urban research, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research.

Marathon Reading of Billy Budd, Sailor
2024-04-07 12:00 - 16:00 | Hot Plate Brewing, 1 School Stret, Pittsfield, MA, United States
Join us and our friends at Hot Plate Brewing Co. (1 School Street, Pittsfield, MA) for a special marathon reading of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor. The event is the official kickoff of a months-long celebration of the centennial of the novella’s publication. To mark the occasion, Sarah Real, Hot Plate owner and head brewer, has created an English IPA, appropriately named the Handsome Sailor. Sign up for a reading slot or just come, imbibe, and listen!
Published posthumously in 1924, Billy Budd, Sailor brought Melville out of obscurity, earning him the fame he so richly deserved, and ensuring his place among America’s literary giants.
Use the BOOK NOW button at berkshirehistory.org to sign up for a 15-minute reading slot. The event is free, but a $5 donation is appreciated.
This event is sponsored by The Feigenbaum Foundation.

Melville's Print Collection
2024-04-17 17:30 - 18:30 | Virtual Event
In 2020 scholars Robert K. Wallace and Samuel Otter set out to create a website that would allow viewers to see all the prints Herman Melville is known to have collected, to appreciate the passion with which he acquired them, and to recognize the illumination they bring to his life, his writing, and his living legacy as an interdisciplinary intellect and global citizen.
Join us as we present a virtual lecture by Wallace and Otter during which they will discuss their findings and progress creating Melville’s Print Collection Online. Discussion will include the importance of the collection held by The Berkshire Athenaeum and its role in bringing Melville’s passion for collecting to light.
This event is free, but reservations are required; email melville@berkshirehistory.org to receive the lecture link.
Melville was known to have collected prints and etchings, but until 1984 no actual prints had surfaced. It was in that year that Wallace came upon a memorandum in the Houghton Library at Harvard University indicating that Eleanor Melville Metcalf, Herman’s granddaughter, had donated three portfolios of engravings from his personal collection of art to the Berkshire Athenaeum in 1952. Since that time Wallace has identified 420 works known to have been collected by Melville.
Image: Persian Tile with Figure of a Horseman and Bird in a Fanciful Landscape; Collection of Berkshire County Historical Society

Melville Fellows Readings
2024-05-08 16:30 - 17:30 | Berkshire Community College, West Street, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Berkshire County Historical Society Melville Fellows and Berkshire Community College (BCC) Honors Scholar Program students Rowan Boyer, Mwila Malama and Clarise Seguin have been busy creating original writings and art while spending time at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, the location where Melville wrote “Moby-Dick,” working with Writer-in-Residence Emeritus Jana Laiz.
On May 8 they will present a public reading of their works in Melville Hall’s Room M-21 at BCC on West Street in Pittsfield. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For those who cannot attend in person, join via Zoom, visit zoom.us/j/6236694683.

A House Restored
2024-05-08 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Old houses share their secrets only if they survive.
Join author Lee McColgan for a free lecture and book signing during which he will share his renovation tales of the Loring House as detailed in his new book, A House Restored.
Trading the corporate ladder for a stepladder, Lee McColgan commits to preserving the ramshackle Loring House, built in 1702, using period materials and methods and on a holiday deadline. But his enchantment withers as he discovers the massive repairs it needs. A small kitchen fix reveals that the structure’s rotten frame could collapse at any moment. In a bathroom, mold appears and spreads. He fights deteriorating bricks, frozen pipes, shattered windows, a punctured foundation, and even an airborne chimney cap while learning from a diverse cast of preservationists, including a master mason named Irons, a stone whisperer, and the Window Witch. But can he meet his deadline before family and friends arrive, or will it all come crashing down? McColgan’s journey expertly examines our relationship to history through the homes we inhabit, beautifully articulating the philosophy of preserving the past to find purpose for the future.
Lee McColgan has worked on Boston’s Old North Church, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, and other buildings. His work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Boston Globe, and Wall Street Journal. He lives with his wife in the Loring House in Pembroke, Massachusetts.
PRAISE FOR A HOUSE RESTORED:
“To many, preserving the past seems like a tragic endeavor, but to Lee McColgan, it’s anything but. The journey of his old house is a joyous trip well told with warmth, reverence, and curiosity that will delight. He tells its story with the same craft and care that he uses to form his plaster and hew his timber. His prose is as sharp as his steel. Any lover of old homes and craftsmanship will thoroughly enjoy this tale.” Kevin O’Connor, Emmy Award–winning host of This Old House
“Full of warmth, charm, and beauty, this book invites you in and makes you glad you came. In his tale of ar estoration project, Lee McColgan restores our sense of what makes a house a home. Really terrific, very nicely written.” Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life
“This meticulous chronicle describes a series of discoveries: of materials, techniques, and principles common in the time of the Salem Witch Trials but now confined largely to the hands of specialists. It’s also a story of innocence lost. As he confronts the cracks, rot, dissolutions, and disconnections of a very old building, McColgan comes to question his motivation. ‘Why restore anything?’ he eventually asks. Still, with admirable persistence, he gets his happy ending, and we get an intense primer in the joys and horrors of historic restoration.” Kevin Gardner, award-winning author of The Granite Kiss and Stone Building
This lecture is sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Voices of Melville: The Linguistic Landscape of Nineteenth-Century America Through a Literary Lens
2024-05-29 18:30 - 19:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
We can’t know how Herman Melville sounded or hear his characters’ voices…or can we? In linguistics, the study of language, we can study how English has changed since Melville’s time and why languages are always changing. Join us as we welcome linguist Wren Wood to Arrowhead for a lecture demonstrating how we can hear Melville’s dialect in samples of his work, even without audio recording.
Wren Wood is a linguist and webmaster for the Chicopee Historical Society. They use maps, statistics and linguistics to encourage discussions around local history and historic preservation, which can be found on Instagram @FollowingMassHistories. Prior to moving to Western Massachusetts, they used GIS to study bilingualism and threatened languages in the U.S. They earned a bachelor’s in English from Bridgewater State University and a master’s in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of New Mexico.
Tickets are $5 for BCHS members, $10 for non-members and can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button. Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.

Bird Walk
2024-06-02 07:30 - 08:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Birds are miraculous! Especially in Spring when they dazzle us with bright, nuptial colors and serenade us with a profusion of happy song. Join us for a bird walk led by Ben Nickley, Director of Berkshire Bird Observatory. Ben will help us find and identify many newly arrived migratory birds as we explore the historic grounds of Arrowhead together. Come celebrate nature, renewal, and all that birds do to inspire and uplift us.
Ben Nickley loves sharing his passion for birds and the natural landscapes they inhabit. He is a published scientist and master bird bander who has conducted field studies on birds across North America. Currently, he is the Director of Berkshire Bird Observatory, where he leads research projects that promote bird conservation in the Berkshires. He posts regular updates from the field on Facebook and Instagram @berkshire_bird_observatory,
Limit 20, please bring your own binoculars.
Tickets are $10 for BCHS members, $15 for non-members and can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button. Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.

Sailing Towards My Father
2024-06-26 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
SOLD OUT!
The Berkshire County Historical Society presents Sailing Towards My Father, a one-man play about Herman Melville performed by Stephen Collins and written and directed by Carl A. Rossi. The play chronicles Melville’s life from youth to old age, concentrating on his evolution as a writer and his complex relationship with God; his parents and siblings; his wife and children; and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The performance takes place at Herman Melville’s historic home Arrowhead at 5:30 pm.
About Stephen Collins
Stephen Collins grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received a BA in Literature from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. After over twenty years in a sales career, he is currently doing what he truly loves – performing and teaching. He teaches seminars on Walt Whitman,Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, and Contemporary Poetry. He also performs in one-man plays by Carl A. Rossi. In addition to Sailing Towards my Father, he performs as James Abbott McNeill Whistler in Butterfly. Collins also works as a professionally licensed tour guide narrating historical tours of Boston. His Walt Whitman performances have taken him all over the country. He now has eight one-man shows and seven courses where his teaching style has been described as a hybrid between lecture and performance.
Tickets are $15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members and can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button. Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.
This event is sponsored by:

Sea Shanties with Alex Harvey and ShinBone Alley
2024-07-24 19:00 - 20:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Alex Harvey is an old world folklorist who performs street ballads and songs of the sea in a project he calls ShinBone Alley. At his performances listeners learn to celebrate the haunting intercultural exchange of 18th and 19th century maritime music – whose ingredients travelled from the furthest corners of the globe to be remade and stitched anew by sailors of every shade and shape at port and at sea. By teaching the audience to join in on most of the tunes in his concerts Harvey and his ShinBone Alley builds bridges of time through communal singing. From Sea Shanties to Broadsheet ballads to Come-All-Ye’s to Last Good Nights to Hard Luck Satires to Lovesick Dirges to Whaling Serenades – this music was meant as the earliest form of group therapy. And so it is again – a sepia-toned balm for our topsy-turvy time.
The grounds are open for picnicking this evening.
Tickets are $15 for BCHS members, $20 non-members and can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button. Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.
This event is sponsored by:

Poor Herman - July 26
2024-07-26 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
July 26 — August3
Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. Poor Herman unearths the life of Herman Melville, who arguably wrote America’s best and worst novels back-to-back in 1850 and 1851. The production considers what compelled Melville, struggling to salvage his declining reputation while trying to feed a growing family, to write a virtually unreadable book, Pierre or the Ambiguities, in the aftermath of Moby Dick’s initial failure with critics and readers. The play gives voice to the unsung people in his life, chiefly his mother, wife, sisters, and daughters who each contributed to his fame and flourishing and endured his decline and demise. While hindsight now celebrates his achievements, this production will investigate what it cost him to make history.
Poor Herman is a beautiful, fresh theatrical experience – David Glen Robinson, CTX Live Theatre
Tickets can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button.
$25 for BCHS members
$30 for non-members
$45 Poor Herman ticket and tour of Arrowhead
$10 EBT card holders
12 and under free
Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.
This event is sponsored by:

Poor Herman - July 27
2024-07-27 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States

Poor Herman - July 28
2024-07-28 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
July 26 — August 3
Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. Poor Herman unearths the life of Herman Melville, who arguably wrote America’s best and worst novels back-to-back in 1850 and 1851. The production considers what compelled Melville, struggling to salvage his declining reputation while trying to feed a growing family, to write a virtually unreadable book, Pierre or the Ambiguities, in the aftermath of Moby Dick’s initial failure with critics and readers. The play gives voice to the unsung people in his life, chiefly his mother, wife, sisters, and daughters who each contributed to his fame and flourishing and endured his decline and demise. While hindsight now celebrates his achievements, this production will investigate what it cost him to make history.
Poor Herman is a beautiful, fresh theatrical experience – David Glen Robinson, CTX Live Theatre
Tickets can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button.
$25 for BCHS members
$30 for non-members
$45 Poor Herman ticket and tour of Arrowhead
$10 EBT card holders
12 and under free
Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.
This event is sponsored by:

Poor Herman - July 31
2024-07-31 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
July 26 — August 3
Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. Poor Herman unearths the life of Herman Melville, who arguably wrote America’s best and worst novels back-to-back in 1850 and 1851. The production considers what compelled Melville, struggling to salvage his declining reputation while trying to feed a growing family, to write a virtually unreadable book, Pierre or the Ambiguities, in the aftermath of Moby Dick’s initial failure with critics and readers. The play gives voice to the unsung people in his life, chiefly his mother, wife, sisters, and daughters who each contributed to his fame and flourishing and endured his decline and demise. While hindsight now celebrates his achievements, this production will investigate what it cost him to make history.
Poor Herman is a beautiful, fresh theatrical experience – David Glen Robinson, CTX Live Theatre
Tickets can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button.
$25 for BCHS members
$30 for non-members
$45 Poor Herman ticket and tour of Arrowhead
$10 EBT card holders
12 and under free
Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop
This event is sponsored by:

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Eighth Annual Moby-Dick Read-A-Thon
2024-08-01 10:00 - 17:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Eighth Annual Moby-Dick Read-A-Thon – August 1- 4
“Call me Ishmael” and sign up to read part of Melville’s masterpiece on the site where it was written. Come on your own or bring a group to read with us until we finish the book.
August 1 – 10 am-2 pm; all other days 10 am – 5 pm.
Reserve your 15 minute space by using the BOOK NOW button.
$5 recommended donation
This event is sponsored by :

Melville Symposium
2024-08-01 15:00 - 17:00 | Berkshire Athenaeum, 1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
The Berkshire County Historical Society celebrates Herman Melville’s birthday with a symposium exploring a variety of topics including the Berkshires as inspiration, new research into his sources, and Arrowhead as a source of inspiration for contemporary writers and performers.
Lectures take place at the Berkshire Athenaeum (1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA) and are free and open to the public.
A reception at Arrowhead (780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA) follows.
PROGRAM
3-3:30 pm – John Dickson – Inspired by the Berkshires
From his first visit to Pittsfield as a young boy, the Berkshires captivated Herman Melville. “His first love,” is the way his cousin described his relationship to the setting. Whether he was seated at his writing table gazing north toward Mount Greylock or on the move around the county, Melville tapped into the Berkshires in his art. The places he visited are sprinkled through the pages. The mountains, the forest, the flowers, the lakes, the stones all make appearances. He wrote what he saw; and what he saw helped him compose.
John Dickson is a former board member of the Berkshire County Historical Society. He also serves on the Pittsfield Historic Commission, is a docent at Arrowhead and teaches classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Dickson is a retired Foreign Service officer with the US Information Agency from 1984–1999 and with the US State Department from 1999–2010. He is the author of several books and articles that focus on history and foreign service.
3:30-4 pm – Warren Broderick – Allan Melville, Bartleby, and the Court of Chancery
Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street (1853), is considered by many to constitute one of the earliest pieces of existential literature. Bartleby’s publication even predates Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s landmark work, Notes From the Underground (1864).
Melville’s sources for Bartleby’s tragic story include brief articles on the so-called “Dead Letter Office” and a popular sentimental novel about an unfortunate law clerk. But the plot of Bartleby is inseparably connected to the state of New York’s Court of Chancery in the 1840s.
Documents recently discovered in the Archives of the New York County Clerk reveal that Herman’s younger brother, Allan Melville, worked with a Master in Chancery such as Bartleby’s employer. This presentation will demonstrate how previously untapped sources, including original documentary materials, can still be discovered that shed new light on Herman Melville’s life and the genus of his writing.
A senior archives and records management specialist at the New York State Archives, Warren F. Broderick has published extensively on topics including local, American literary, and Native American history. He is co-author of Pottery Works (1995), editor of a new edition of Granville Hicks’s Small Town (2004), and a contributor of numerous journal articles of historical subjects.
4-4:30 pm – Richard Matturro – Electra
Local author Richard Matturro will read his short story “Electra,” in which a young woman’s plot to avenge her father’s death turns upon the fateful meeting of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne on their hike up Monument Mountain, August 5, 1850.
Richard Matturro, a native of Rye, New York, holds a doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology. After sixteen years at the Albany Times Union, and another fourteen teaching literature at the University at Albany, he now lives on an old farm in the foothills of the Berkshires.
4:30-5 pm – Performing Arrowhead: Expanding Research Practices Through ReWritten, Matthew Cumbie, Tom Truss, Roma Flowers, Dr. Katherine Stubbs
Join artists and scholars from the performance project ReWritten as they share their research, performance, and pedagogical outcomes around the relationship between and writing of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Co-created and led by Matthew Cumbie and Tom Truss, ReWritten uses the relationship between Melville and Hawthorne as a way to explore notions about history, queerness, and how we bring our bodies to the written word. In this symposium session Cumbie and Truss will be joined by ReWritten collaborators Roma Flowers (project design) and Dr. Katherine Stubbs (dramaturg) to reflect on performance-making as research methodology and discuss their use of Arrowhead as the backdrop for site-specific performances.
Matthew Cumbie is a collaborative dancemaker, writer, and artist educator. His choreography and dancemaking weaves together a physical vocabulary of momentum and clarity, moving imagery, and a commitment to relationship-building and community participation. He was a part of the inaugural Artist Leadership Cohort for APAP and is currently a Creative Community Fellow with the National Arts Strategies. Matthew has an MFA in dance from Texas Woman’s University and is on faculty at Colby College.
Roma Flowers, a theatrical lighting and projection designer and screen dance filmmaker, has worked with theatre, concert and dance and video productions for over thirty years. Roma recently retired from Texas Christian University, where she was an Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Dance Production in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance.
Katherine Stubbs is Chair and Associate Professor of English at Colby College. She is a scholar and teacher of late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century US American literature. Her publications include investigations of representations of women in industrial culture; the role of ready-made clothing in the writing of Anzia Yezierska; the literary legacy of Anzia Yezierska; early communications technology, gender, and queerness; and Alex Katz’s sketches of Melville’s Moby-Dick. She teaches a course at Colby on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.
Tom Truss is a performer, creator and educator. His thirty plus year career has included dancing, acting, choreographing and directing. Truss has worked with all ages and abilities from children, firefighters, and inmates to teens, older adults, and professional actors and dancers. Truss graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Texas, obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the College of Wooster. He has been published in Dance Magazine, was a frequent contributor to OutRightRadio an award-winning radio show on PRI and a recipient of Austin Critics Table Awards for best actor.
Haven’t had enough Melville?
Here are a few complimentary events happening on August 1.
Moby Dick Read-a-Thon – Read a passage from the book at the place where it was written. Pre-Registration required.
Poor Herman – Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. The play gives voice to the unsung people in Melville’s life, chiefly his mother, wife, sisters, and daughters who each contributed to his fame and flourishing and endured his decline and demise. While hindsight now celebrates his achievements, this production will investigate what it cost him to make history.

Poor Herman - August 1
2024-08-01 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States

Poor Herman - August 2
2024-08-02 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States

Poor Herman - August 3
2024-08-03 19:30 - 20:50 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
July 26 — August 3
Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, Austin playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. Poor Herman unearths the life of Herman Melville, who arguably wrote America’s best and worst novels back-to-back in 1850 and 1851. The production considers what compelled Melville, struggling to salvage his declining reputation while trying to feed a growing family, to write a virtually unreadable book, Pierre or the Ambiguities, in the aftermath of Moby Dick’s initial failure with critics and readers. The play gives voice to the unsung people in his life, chiefly his mother, wife, sisters, and daughters who each contributed to his fame and flourishing and endured his decline and demise. While hindsight now celebrates his achievements, this production will investigate what it cost him to make history. T
Poor Herman is a beautiful, fresh theatrical experience – David Glen Robinson, CTX Live Theatre
Tickets can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button.
$25 for BCHS members
$30 for non-members
$45 Poor Herman ticket and tour of Arrowhead
$10 EBT card holders
12 and under free
Not a member yet? Join now and begin receiving discounted event tickets, free admission to Arrowhead, and a discount in the museum shop.
This event is sponsored by:

Monument Mountain Hike
2024-08-04 09:00 - 11:30 | Monument Mountain, Rte 7, Great Barrington, MA, United States
Hikers are invited to celebrate the day (August 5, 1850) Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne on a walk up Monument Mountain by joining BCHS for a similar hike and reading of local poet William Cullen Bryant’s Monument Mountain. The guided hike takes approximately 2 ½ hours and is appropriate for families. Hikers should meet at the Monument Mountain Reservation Parking lot on Route 7 and should be prepared with their own water, proper footwear, hiking gear and bug repellent.
This event is free. Parking is free for members of The Trustees of Reservations; $6 for others.
This event is sponsored by:

Hike to Balance Rock
2024-09-14 11:00 - 12:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Take a leisurely stroll over uneven terrain to retrace the excursion Herman Melville took with Sarah Morewood and other friends in the summer of 1851 to Balance Rock in Balance Rock State Park within Pittsfield State Forest. Explore the history of the site and how it made its way into Melville’s prose. Finally, we will wander through the woods and along the streams that feed into the headwaters of the Housatonic River. 1.5 hours – 1 mile
Driving north on Rt 7 in Pittsfield, at the dam and road light at the south end of Pontoosuc Lake, (located just before reaching the Lanesborough town line), turn left on Hancock Road. Drive a few miles, to the intersection of Peck Rd. and Balance Rock Rd. Take a right on Balance Rock Road, and shortly, turn left off Balance Rock Road to the parking lot. GPS 42.508219, -73.264630
This hike is part of the 2024 Housatonic Heritage Walks. To learn about other walks, visit their website: https://housatonicheritage.org/heritage-experiences/heritage-walks/

Billy Budd, Sailor Gala
2024-09-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Tanglewood Learning Institute, Linde Center, 3 W. Hawthorne Streeet, Lenox, MA, United States
Join BCHS and collaborators Berkshire Opera Festival and Tanglewood Learning Institute at the Linde Center for Music and Learning for an evening of selections from the opera Billy Budd, Sailor paired with readings by Ryan Winkles from the classic novella. This 1951 opera is scored by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by authors E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier.
The evening begins at 7 pm with a celebratory toast and “taste of history” provided by Berkshire Cider Project. Our friends at Berkshire Cider Project have created a special cider made exclusively from a single heirloom apple tree on the site of Herman Melville’s Arrowhead. This extremely limited cider is dry and sparkling, with crisp acid balanced by the natural tannins of these historic apples.
Nautical-themed desserts and cocktails by Gourmet Caterers follow the performance.
Open seating, $100; use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
THE PERFORMANCE
Captain Vere: “I am an old man” — prologue; first music in the opera (3:45)
Billy Budd: “Jemmy Legs likes me” — Act 1, scene 3; finale of Act 1 (3:00)
Billy Budd: “Look! Through the port” (“Billy in the Darbies”) — Act 2, scene 3 (5:30)
Captain Vere: “We committed his body to the deep” — epilogue; final music in the opera (4:40)
THE PERFORMERS
Markel Reed, baritone, sings Billy Budd
Baritone Markel Reed “brings great articulate power and style” (Broadway World) to his performances. At the Metropolitan Opera, he performed in productions of Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and in their Grammy-winning Porgy and Bess in 2019, when he also created the role of Chester in Fire Shut Up in My Bones at its premiere in St. Louis. This season has featured Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Virginia Opera, and returns to the Omaha Symphony and the Steamboat Symphony. His previous credits include performances with Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Opera, Detroit Symphony, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Colin Aikins, tenor, sings Captain Vere
A heralded tenor from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Colin is currently pursuing his Master’s in vocal performance at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of William Burden. Colin received his Bachelor’s Degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA and studied under the tutelage of Julia Faulkner of the Chicago Lyric Opera. Most recently, he made his role debut as Alfredo from Verdi’s La Traviata with City Lyric Opera and Gherardo in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Juilliard Opera. He has sung in numerous productions at the Curtis Opera Theatre.

Noah Palmer, Pianist
Noah is a conductor, accomplished vocal coach and pianist. He has worked with several regional opera companies, including Sarasota Opera and Opera North. In 2021, Noah was the principal coach and rehearsal pianist for Tom Cipullo’s “Glory Denied” at the Berkshire Opera Festival and was subsequently invited back in 2022 for their production of Jake Heggie’s “Three Decembers”. Noah has performed with some of the Capital Region’s finest singers, including Andrew Boisvert, Vedrana Kalas, Sylvia Stoner, Irina Petrik, and the late Kevin Kees. In 2022, he accompanied violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn in a vibrant program of Russian and Polish music at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.

Luca Antonucci, Host
A native of Watertown, Massachusetts, Luca Antonucci holds an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Hartt School, where he studied with Edward Cumming and Glen Adsit, and is currently completing a D.M.A. from the world-renowned University of Michigan, where he studies with Kenneth Kiesler. Luca graduated summa cum Laude from Amherst College and was a Fulbright Fellow in Vienna, where he conducted research and published “Schönberg Conducts Mahler: Exploring A Performance from Schönberg’s East Coast Year” in the Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center.

Ryan Winkles, Actor
Ryan is an actor based in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. He was most recently seen playing Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale on Boston Common with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Regional Credits include: Joy and Pandemic (Huntington Theatre Company); Mr Fullerton Between the Sheets (Gloucester Stage); Pericles (the rig); ROE (WAM Theater); The Stones (Great Barrington Public Theatre); Visitors (Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse). Ryan is also a company member of Shakespeare & Company where credits include As You Like It, The Tempest, Henry V, King Lear, Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Othello, and Richard III. Television: “Time Traveling Bong”(Comedy Central). Film: The Boston Strangler(Hulu), Paper Birds(French Press Films), UFOTOG(Trumbull Studios). Ryan is a proud member of Actors Equity and SAG.
Berkshire Opera Festival
BOF is a fully-producing summer festival founded by Jonathon Loy and Brian Garman which presented its first season in 2016. The mission of Berkshire Opera Festival is to entertain and enrich the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds throughout the Berkshire region by providing accessible and affordable performances of a broad range of operas with the highest artistic standards. Each summer, BOF presents musically and dramatically compelling operatic productions, in addition to recitals and other related musical events. Recent productions include Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s La Bohème.
Tanglewood Learning Institute
Performances by unconventional artists. Open rehearsals and master classes led by world-renowned musicians. Weekends dedicated to film, masterpieces old and new, and more. Eye-opening discussions with noted biographers, civic leaders, and playwrights. Only at TLI will you find such a diverse and daring mosaic of voices and visions, because at TLI, everything—every idea, every story, every perspective—is in play.
This program is made possible with financial support from

Thank you to our event collaborators

Arrowhead Community Day
2024-09-28 10:00 - 16:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Enjoy the fall season at Arrowhead with a food truck, music, hands-on activities, local history and preservation exhibits, Revolutionary War reenactors, ice cream from SoCo creamery, cider tastings, and more.
FREE (Tickets for house tours required)

Becket Cemetery Walk
2024-10-04 16:00 - 17:30 | Becket Center Cemetery, 55 YMCA Road, Becket, MA, 01223, United States
Tyringham resident John Hanson will give a walking tour of interesting gravestones in the Becket Center Cemetery. Hanson has been studying early New England gravestones and epitaphs for years and has published and lectured extensively. On this tour, he will discuss the iconography of the stones, share some noteworthy verses, and discuss what they tell us about early New Englanders’ attitudes towards life and death. Meet at 55 YMCA Road, right on Route 8.
$15 Members, $20 Non-Members
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

Guided Photography Walk at Arrowhead
2024-10-08 16:00 - 17:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
In celebration of our exhibition on Berkshire photographer Arthur Palme, join Berkshire native photographer Bella Vendetta of Bella Luna Rosa Photo Studio on a guided group photo tour. Amateur, professional, hobbyist, and all folks who are curious about nature photography are invited to join us for this free event. We’ll walk from the side lawn of the Arrowhead up to the wooded area a bit and back down again. Plenty of opportunity to take beautiful fall photos of a historic and important iconic Berkshire location. After the photo walk has concluded, participants will email Bella their five favorite photos from the day, and she will create a folder for everyone to view and comment on each other’s work.
Meet at the picnic tables by the barn, and bring your own water, sunscreen, snacks (if needed), closed-toed hiking shoes and walking stick if desired. Bring your own camera! Any type!
No reservations required – FREE

Get to Know Susan B. Anthony
2024-10-09 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Historic presenter Muriel Dyas portrays Berkshire-born Susan B. Anthony as she describes her life from her birth in Adams, MA through her years of social activism. Temperance, Abolition, and Women’s Suffrage along with other fascinating stories of her life will be shared with historical accuracy and humor. Guests are also invited to sample a treat made from the Suffrage Cookbook. Muriel Dyas had been a historical reenactor for the past 25 years representing scandalous women throughout the centuries. She is presently a docent at the Susan B Anthony Birthplace Museum. Having had a career in science, she uses her research techniques to delve into her character’s life. Writing her own plays also allows her to get better acquainted with her subject’s life as well as their personality.
$15 BCHS Members, $20 Non-Members
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

Tour of the Riverside Cemetery
2024-10-16 17:00 - 18:00 | Riverside Cemetery, Route 71, Egremont, MA, 01230, United States
Some say that Riverside Cemetery in North Egremont is haunted. Mysterious tales have been written about this ancient cemetery bordering the Green River. It is the final resting place for some very interesting people, famous folks, and local legends. Join historian Gary Leveille for a walk through one of the older cemeteries in Berkshire County. Park carefully and meet at the cemetery entrance off Route 71.
$15 BCHS Members, $20 Non-Members
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

The Art and Architecture of the American Cemetery
2024-10-19 14:00 - 15:00 | Hillside Cemetery, Brown Street, North Adams
Have you ever wondered about the strange symbols that can be found on old gravestones? Join us as we explore the history, customs, myths and lore surrounding American cemeteries and the Rural Cemetery Movement through the lens of one the most unusual cemeteries in Massachusetts – the Hillside Cemetery in North Adams.
$15 BCHS Members, $20 Non-Members, Free for North Adams Residents
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

Historic North Adams Cemetery Tour
2024-10-20 14:00 - 15:00 | Hillside Cemetery, Brown Street, North Adams
We are surrounded by history! Where else can you find the fathers of Archaeological Photography and the Railway Air Brake? Just who were the Johnson Greys? Join local historian Jason Vivori as we explore historic Hillside Cemetery seeking the movers and shakers of North Adams and learn how their contributions changed history and echoed into the present. Please wear sensible walking shoes and meet at the top of the hill off Brown Street.
$15 BCHS Members, $20 Non-Members, Free for North Adams Residents
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

Forest Bathing at Arrowhead
2024-10-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Start your weekend with a guided, gentle stroll on the peaceful nature trail at Arrowhead. Forest bathing can elevate your mood, reduce stress and improve your health. The walk will be less than a mile and includes several breaks for meditation and mindful activities. Join licensed leader Kathleen Schoenberg on a new adventure!
$25 BCHS Members, $30 Non-Members
Tickets can be purchased by clicking the orange “Book Now” button on the lower left of our homepage: https://berkshirehistory.org/

FILM: Billy Budd
2024-11-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Beacon Cinema, 57 North Street, Pittsfield, 01201, United States
Join us at the Beacon Cinema in downtown Pittsfield for a screening of the 1962 film Billy Budd, directed and produced by Peter Ustinov; also starring Terrence Stamp, Robert Ryan, and Melvyn Douglas. Enjoy this critically-acclaimed British historical drama on the big screen.
The film will be introduced by Arrowhead docent Richard Matturro. Matturro is a native of Rye, New York, and holds a doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology. After sixteen years at the Albany Times Union, he taught literature at the University of Albany for fourteen years. He is the author of numerous newspaper articles and six novels.
