Events

Picnic on the lawn of Arrowhead’s historic barn as The Mastheads eighth-annual summer residents perform new fiction, poetry, and theatre created in the studios this month. $10-$20 donation suggested to support public programming, including poetry workshops in Pittsfield Public Schools.  This event is sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Join us at Arrowhead to celebrate Herman’s birthday and the launch of a brand-new audiobook  Billy Budd, Sailor, read by Paul Giamatti. We’ll have light refreshments, drinks, and cake. Listen to selections from the book and toast to the work that brought Herman out of obscurity when it was published in 1924. FREE Learn the …

Join Berkshire County Historical Society and celebrate the day (August 5, 1850) when Melville met Hawthorne on a hike up Monument Mountain. Read the poem they read together at the summit and share sparkling wine (they had champagne).  The guided hike takes approximately 2 ½ hours and is appropriate for families. Hikers should meet at …

Join us for an evening of Pittsfield ghost lore in this talk by Robert Oakes, author of Ghosts of the Berkshires and ghost tour guide at The Mount and Ventfort Hall. In addition to Pittsfield ghost stories, Oakes will discuss Herman Melville's own "strange fancies," and the ghost writings of his friend and frequent Arrowhead …

Join us for an evening of Pittsfield ghost lore in this talk by Robert Oakes, author of Ghosts of the Berkshires and ghost tour guide at The Mount and Ventfort Hall. In addition to Pittsfield ghost stories, Oakes will discuss Herman Melville's own "strange fancies," and the ghost writings of his friend and frequent Arrowhead …

Actor Marcus Kearns and historian John Dickson team up for a program discussing Herman Melville’s influence on industry in Berkshire County during the nineteenth century.   Old Red Mill The evening begins with a dramatic reading of Melville’s short story The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids. First published in 1855, the story …

On August 5, 1850, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne met and hiked to the top of Monument Mountain beginning what would be a long and close friendship.  On that day, they also hiked Ice Glen, a small but stunning glacial ravine in Stockbridge. Berkshire County Historical Society volunteers will lead a leisurely stroll through Laurel …

Join us for an evening of Pittsfield ghost lore in this talk by Robert Oakes, author of Ghosts of the Berkshires and ghost tour guide at The Mount and Ventfort Hall. In addition to Pittsfield ghost stories, Oakes will discuss Herman Melville's own "strange fancies," and the ghost writings of his friend and frequent Arrowhead …

The “noble train of artillery,” also known as the Knox Expedition, was an expedition led by Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox to transport sixty tons of heavy weaponry that had been captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the Continental Army camps outside Boston—a journey of 300 miles—during the winter of 1775–76.  To commemorate the 250th anniversary …

In late December 1840, adrift in his personal life, 21-year-old Herman Melville arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, preparing to embark on a South Seas whaling voyage. His diverse experiences and adventures in the course of the ensuing nearly four years would profoundly shape him and his writings. During this time, young Melville toiled as a …