Events

Please join us for an unforgettable evening as noted Pittsfield author Kevin O'Hara shares joyous and heartfelt tales of his Pittsfield childhood. Kevin will  read a selection of his own Christmas tales from his illustrated book,  A Christmas Journey, published last December by The Berkshire Eagle.  Readings available at 5:30 and 6:30 pm, tickets are …

A virtual program that offers a tour of Arrowhead decorated for the holidays, seasonal readings, 19th century holiday recipes, and a peek at some objects from our collection that are not often on view.   This event is free, but registration is required.  Click here to register or call 413 442 1793 or email melville@berkshirehistory.org …

Drive around the county, and it’s hard to miss the large, brick building on the corner, behind the trees, or down the street. These massive factories were in almost every town, over 500 of them in the Berkshires by the end of the 1800s - producing glass, cloth, iron, paper, shoes, rakes, or dozens of …

2022-23 Melville Fellows Ashton Bird and Josie Overbook, both students at Berkshire Community College, will present free readings of original works created during their time at Arrowhead as part of Pittsfield’s 10 x 10 Winter Upstreet Arts Festival.  In addition, both fellows will present original artwork inspired by their time at Melville’s home. Reservations are …

Click here for tickets. Pittsfield’s commercial brewing history was over 60 years in the making when, in 1886, Jacob Gimlich, one of the principals of the successful Pittsfield brewery firm Gimlich and White, declared people should “use beer for their refreshment and invigoration in a temperate, manly, proper way.” Join the Berkshire County Historical  Society …

Click here to purchase tickets. Birds are miraculous!  Especially in Spring when they dazzle us with bright, nuptial colors and serenade us with a profusion of happy song.  This Earth Day the Berkshire County Historical Society will host a bird walk at Herman Melville’s historic home, Arrowhead. Ben Nickley, Director of Berkshire Bird Observatory, will …

Celebrate BCHS's partnership with Berkshire Mountain Distillers and their Cultural Cocktail program with a pub crawl through downtown Pittsfield. We'll begin at Patrick's Pub and wind up at Methuselah Bar and Lounge where you can taste BCHS's Cultural Cocktail developed with Berkshire Mountain Distillers. Along the way we'll visit also visit Thistle and Mirth, Hot …

Local author Lorraine German discusses her book Soil and Shul in the Berkshires: The Untold Story of Sandisfield’s Jewish Farm Colony. Learn about the 1902 settlement in south Berkshire county and its final days when the congregation turned the synagogue over to the Sandisfield Arts Center in 1995. FREE Sponsored by MountainOne

Sailing Towards My Father is a one-man play about Herman Melville. The play chronicles Melville’s life from youth to old age, concentrating on his evolution as a writer and his complex relations with God, his parents and siblings, his wife and children, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Performed by Stephen Collins, written and directed by Carl A. …