Reading of New Works by 2022-23 Melville Fellows
2023-02-16 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Berkshire Athenaeum, 1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
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 not required.
Ashton Bird will be presenting a mixed-media piece that involves a digital rendering of Arrowhead’s Piazza, and an abstract component completed with acrylic paint. He will read an introduction about the piece’s inspiration and process, as well as a poem titled “The Dance Of Apollo” that reflects the experience of an artist, both in writing and painting. Bird is a Sophomore at BCC majoring in Psychology preparing to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
Josie Overbeck is a visual artist based in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Through her practice as a writer and painter, her primary interest is exploring the human condition and form. Her current project, “Bury Me Beneath the Apple Tree,” is a collection of poems, drawings, and paintings exploring grief, existentialism, and the universal experiences that make us human. Outside of her artistic practice, Josie is an avid outdoor and travel enthusiast. At the 10 x 10 festival Josie will be presenting an original illustration that captures the spirit of Herman Melville alongside a series of original short texts written at Arrowhead as part of her experience as a Melville Fellow.

Lecture and Craft Beer Tasting
2023-03-23 17:30 - 19:00 | The Garage at the Colonial Theatre, 111 South Street, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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 as it explores this history as well as contemporary Berkshire brewing with a lecture by Cynthia Brown, historian and BCHS President, and tasting from Hot Plate Brewing Co., Shire Breu-Haus, Big Elm Brewing, and Berkshire Brewing Company at Berkshire Theatre Festival’s “The Garage” at 111 South Street. Tickets are $25 for BCHS members, $30 for non-members and can be purchased in advance here. You must be 21 years of age to participate in the tasting, but the lecture is open to all ages.
Brown’s talk, Beer for Their Refreshment: Brewing in Pittsfield from the 18th Century to Prohibition, will present original research and images that will illuminate this fascinating part of Pittsfield’s history and culture. Gimlich’s 1886 proud proclamation was evidenced by the success of the firm, which employed over 100 workers and manufactured tens of thousands of barrels a year at its peak. Later known as the Berkshire Brewing Association, this long-time Pittsfield business was the apogee of a series of commercial brewing concerns that supplied Pittsfield taverns, inns, families and individuals with their beer, starting before 1800 and lasting into the first years of Prohibition.
More recently, Pittsfield as well as Berkshire County have seen the rise and success of several new breweries, growing out of the microbrewery movement that took hold in the 1990s. Exploring the early history of local breweries provides a connection between older brewing traditions and practices and provides rich stories and some intriguing mysteries still to be explored.
Following the lecture, Berkshire-based breweries Hot Plate Brewing Co., Shire Breu-Haus, Big Elm Brewing, and Berkshire Brewing Company will be providing free tasting samples. Additional flights and full pours will also be available for purchase.
Image: Berkshire Brewing Association ca. 1905, from the collection of Berkshire County Historical Society

Bird Walk with Ben Nickley
2023-04-22 08:00 - 09:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
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 lead the walk, helping participants find and identify many newly arrived migratory birds. This walk will be a celebration of 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
Registration is required and limited; participants are encouraged to bring their own binoculars.
Not a member yet? Click here to learn more and begin saving on programs and events.

Historic Downtown Pittsfield Pub Crawl --- SOLD OUT
2023-05-13 16:00 - 19:00 | Downton Pittsfield, Pittsfield, MA, United States
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 Plate Brewing Co., and Berkshire Palate and explore various aspects of downtown Pittsfield history. Learn about the famous “Fighting Parson,” a Revolutionary War prison, the once-prominent Union Station, and much more!
Tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance online here or by phoning 413 442 1793.
$20 for BCHS members, $25 for non-members. You must be 21 years of age or older to participate in this event.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.

Book Talk and Signing with Author Lorraine German
2023-06-07 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
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
2023-06-21 17:00 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
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. Rossi.
$10 BCHS Members, $15 non members. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage
Image: Mackenzie Arts and Design

ReWritten - July 13
2023-07-13 07:30 - 20:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Thursday, July 13, 7:30 pm
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT TAKES PLACE RAIN OR SHINE
ReWritten, created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie, is an immersive performance that explores the intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through dance, live music, projection, art installations, and text, ReWritten moves in and around the grounds of Arrowhead and reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that has shaped American literature. Our third year in residence at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, this year’s production will prove to be (yet again) different from previous iterations, by weaving in the stories of some of the women central in the lives of Melville and Hawthorne.
$15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members; children 12 and under free, $30 combo ReWritten ticket and tour of Arrowhead. Use your EBT card and get 50% off. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage, Pittsfield Co-Op
NEFA supports ReWritten – Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. Presented in partnership with MCLA Arts & Culture

ReWritten - July 14
2023-07-14 19:30 - 20:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Friday, July 14, 7:30 pm
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT TAKES PLACE RAIN OR SHINE
ReWritten, created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie, is an immersive performance that explores the intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through dance, live music, projection, art installations, and text, ReWritten moves in and around the grounds of Arrowhead and reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that has shaped American literature. Our third year in residence at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, this year’s production will prove to be (yet again) different from previous iterations, by weaving in the stories of some of the women central in the lives of Melville and Hawthorne.
$15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members; children 12 and under free, $30 combo ReWritten ticket and tour of Arrowhead. Use your EBT card and get 50% off. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.

Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage, Pittsfield Co-Op
NEFA supports ReWritten – Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. Presented in partnership with MCLA Arts & Culture

ReWritten - July 15
2023-07-15 19:30 - 20:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Thursday, July 15, 7:30 pm
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT TAKES PLACE RAIN OR SHINE
ReWritten, created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie, is an immersive performance that explores the intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through dance, live music, projection, art installations, and text, ReWritten moves in and around the grounds of Arrowhead and reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that has shaped American literature. Our third year in residence at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, this year’s production will prove to be (yet again) different from previous iterations, by weaving in the stories of some of the women central in the lives of Melville and Hawthorne.
$15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members; children 12 and under free, $30 combo ReWritten ticket and tour of Arrowhead. Use your EBT card and get 50% off. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage, Pittsfield Co-Op
NEFA supports ReWritten – Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
Presented in partnership with MCLA Arts & Culture

ReWritten - July 16
2023-07-16 19:30 - 20:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Sunday, July 16, 7:30 pm
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT TAKES PLACE RAIN OR SHINE
ReWritten, created band performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie, is an immersive performance that explores the intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Through dance, live music, projection, art installations, and text, ReWritten moves in and around the grounds of Arrowhead and reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that has shaped American literature. Our third year in residence at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, this year’s production will prove to be (yet again) different from previous iterations, by weaving in the stories of some of the women central in the lives of Melville and Hawthorne.
$15 for BCHS members, $20 for non-members; children 12 and under free, $30 combo ReWritten ticket and tour of Arrowhead. Use your EBT card and get 50% off. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.

Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage, Pittsfield Co-Op
NEFA supports ReWritten – Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
Presented in partnership with MCLA Arts & Culture

The Mastheads Summer Finale
2023-07-20 18:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join us at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead for a spectacular evening of award-winning music, reading, and performance by The Mastheads’ Summer Residents: Auyon Mukharji, Daniel Lavery, Elisa Gonzalez, Julia Mounsey, and Kristina Gaddy.
FREE- BYOB and picnic
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage

Author Talk and Book Signing: Mark Vanhoenacker in conversation with Kirun Kapur
2023-07-27 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Mark Vanhoenacker is a native of Pittsfield, a commercial airline pilot and the author of the international bestseller Skyfaring as well as a columnist for the Financial Times and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. In his latest book, Imagine a City—“a love song to cities the world over,” according to the Wall Street Journal—he explores the storied metropolises he visits as an airline pilot, through the lens of the hometown his heart has never left. Vanhoenacker will be in conversation with the poet Kirun Kapur, author of Women in the Waiting Room and the Director of Creative Writing at Amherst College. $10 BCHS Members, $15 non members. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Debby Applegate in conversation with local author Kevin O’Hara.
2023-08-02 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Please join authors Kevin O’Hara and Debby Applegate for an entertaining and wide-ranging conversation on literary life and the Berkshires. O’Hara is a memoirist and columnist for the Berkshire Eagle (and former Writer-in-Residence at Arrowhead). Applegate is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher who has written about the role of the Berkshires in creating the American literary renaissance of the 19th century.
$10 BCHS members, $15 non members. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage

Seventh Annual Moby-Dick Read-A-Thon
2023-08-03 10:00 - 17:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Beginning Thursday, August 3
“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. Or join online with people from around the globe.
Pre-registration is required, sign up HERE.
$5 recommended donation.
This event is sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage, Berkshire Bank, and Adams Community Bank.

Monument Mountain Hike
2023-08-05 09:00 - 12:00 | Monument Mountain, Rte 7, Great Barrington, MA, United States
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). Meet in the parking lot at Monument Mountain, off Route 7 in Great Barrington.
FREE
Sponsored by MountainOne

Historian Tim Abbott speaks about Shay’s Rebellion
2023-08-22 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Tim Abbott, an independent researcher and 18th century living history practitioner living in North Canaan, Connecticut, has made a study of Shay’s Rebellion in the Berkshires. He will present his research on the final fight of that conflict that took place in Sheffield on February 27, 1787, and its impact not only on local communities but on larger issues that would play out in the Constitutional Convention later that summer in Philadelphia.
$10 BCHS members, $15 non-members. Use the Book Now button to purchase tickets.
Not a member? Join here and start saving on programs and events.
Sponsored by MountainOne, MCC, Housatonic Heritage

Writer’s Salon
2023-09-08 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join us in Herman Melville’s historic barn at Arrowhead for an evening of new and inspired writing. Participants from our recent and highly successful Writers Workshop Series will celebrate the series with readings of their works. Reception to follow, FREE
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Arrowhead Community Day
2023-09-16 10:00 - 16:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Enjoy the start of the fall season at Arrowhead with a FREE day of food, fun, music, history, hands-on activities, traditional craft demonstrations, and more! House tours are available by ticket only,
Revolutionary War reenactors will be interpreting camp life, and visitors are encouraged to speak with participants about their activities and everyday life during the war. Drills will be performed, along with three separate musket demonstrations throughout the day.
Refreshments for purchase will be provided by SoCo Creamery. In addition, Berkshire Cider Project will offer free tastings and bottled cider for sale.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Fall Fundraising Dinner
2023-09-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Enjoy a special farm to table dinner in Arrowhead’s historic barn. Brennan’s Catering has created a menu highlighting the bounty of fall including pork, brisket and butternut squash ravioli. Dinner will be served with cider pairings selected by Berkshire Cider Project. .
Our special guest is renown historian John Demos, who will present the lecture In the Shadow of the Founders: Greatest Generations in American History (see more info below). The event also includes a silent auction that includes food, recreation, art and history packages (see list below)..
Use the BOOK NOW button to purchase tickets.
$150 for BCHS members; $175 for non-members
ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT BERKSHIRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION PROGRAMS.

The Evening’s Menu
Appetizers
Asparagus, Gruyere and Caramelized Onion Tarts
Spanikopita
Scallops Wrapped in Bacon with Maple Glaze
Buffet Dinner
Pear, Walnut and Gorgonzola Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette or House Salad
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Leeks and Cider Brandy Sauce
Beef Brisket with Berkshire Brewing Coffee House Reduction
Roasted Red Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary
Autumn Vegetable Medley
Butternut Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce with Pistachios
Dessert
Warm Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream
About the Ciders
Golden Russet Champagne
A fine champagne-method cider featuring one of our favorite apples. Delicate acid and a nutty profile pairs well with cheese and lighter faire.
Windy Hill
Sparkling barrel-aged cider selected and pressed right at the orchard in Great Barrington. Bright acid pairs well with pasta and fish with subtle oak finish.
Bittersweet
Dry and hazy, inspired by our favorite draught ciders and cozy pubs. English bittersweet apples add bold tannins and warm cider notes, pairs well with pork and slow-cooked meats.
About John Demos
John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor of American History Emeritus at Yale University, is an award-winning author and Tyringham resident. He is the author of numerous books, including The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America, and The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic, a 2014 National Book Award finalist, and most recently Puritan Girl Mohawk Girl. His book Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England (1982) won the Bancroft Prize.
At several strategic points in the American past, events have cast a particular generational cohort in a special, outsize role. The first colonial “settlers” (born 1580-1600); the nation’s “founding fathers” (born 1740-1760); the generation that fought the Civil War (born 1810-1840); and, most recently, the so-called “greatest generation,” the one that overcame the Great Depression and won World War Two (born 1890-1920): those are the leading examples. Their lives and deeds have given a distinctive shape to our history, a recurrent and transformative charge of renewal. In each case, the immediately following generations have lived in their shadow–beholden, as it were, to their “greatness.” The regularity of their spacing is notable; with one omission they appear at 70-80 year intervals, which might suggest that we’re about due for the next one. Born 1981-1996, hello, millennials. What have you got for us?
Silent Auction Items

FORE! Experience the beauty of fall golf in the Berkshires with a round of golf and cart for two at Miraval Resort and Country Club of Pittsfield. Sharpen up your game pre-round with tees and practice balls.
The Spirit of the Berkshires The Berkshires is fast becoming a hub for creative wine and spirit makers. Enjoy the bounty with a gift basket from Balderdash Cellar, a tasting for six at Berkshire Mountain Distillery Tasting plus two Complimentary Bottles of Spirits, and a gift basket from one of Berkshire County’s most respected food and spirits stores, Spirited Wine and Liquor.
Let’s Get Cookin’ Restock your kitchen drawers and cupboards with Cutting Boards, a vegetable peeler, an ice cream scoop and towels and oven mitts from Berkshire County’s inimitable Blue Q.
Coffee’s on Us! Gift certificates from some of Berkshire County’s favorite coffee purveyors: Currency Coffee, Panera Bread, Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, and Dory and Ginger.
A Whale of a Time Visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum (and bring a friend!), followed by a meal at The Black Whale Kitchen + Restaurant courtesy of a $50 gift certificate.
Hopping along with Brewers of the Berkshires Explore the Berkshires craft beer scene with a $25 gift certificate from Downtown Pittsfield’s Hot Plate Brewing and a $50 gift certificate from Antimony Brewing in Lenox. Needing to chill after that? We’re throwing in four tickets to the Beacon Cinema.
A Hauntingly Fun Evening Do you love ghost stories? Have a frighteningly good time learning about some of the Berkshires famous hauntings with a haunted tour of The Mount, and Ventfort Hall. Can’t get enough of spooky stories? This item also includes the book Ghosts of the Berkshires, by Robert Oakes.
It’s Doggone Pawfect We know you love them. It’s time to treat your fur baby with a $50 gift certificate to Benson’s, a doggie toy basket with accessories, and a $75 gift certificate to Animal Inn.

Author Talk with Tom Piazza
2023-09-22 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Noted author Tom Piazza will discuss The Auburn Conference, his new historical novel that features Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and other notable figures appearing at a fictionalized tiny upstate New York college in 1883.
Tom Piazza is celebrated both as a novelist and as a writer on American music. His twelve books include the novels The Auburn Conference and City Of Refuge, the short-story collection Blues and Trouble, the post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Matters, and the essay collection Devil Sent The Rain: Music and Writing in Desperate America.
He was a principal writer for the innovative New Orleans-based HBO drama series Treme, and the winner of a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey.
$10 BCHS members, $15 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Read Elvis Costello’s interview with Tom here.
Read Library of American interview with Tom here.
Photo by Mary Howell

Planting Lucretia’s Elm
2023-09-28 17:30 - 18:30 | BCHS Park Square
Join us on Park Square for the ceremonial planting of a young elm tree on Plant a Tree Day. The tree will be planted to honor the Berkshires’ first known environmentalist Lucretia Williams. Learn about the woman who threw herself before the woodsman’s axe to save the towering elm on Park Square in 1789. The tree planting is made possible with the help of the Pittsfield Parks Department and George and Alice Wislocki.
Image: The Old Elm, mid-19th century. Collection of the Berkshire County Historical Society.

Architecture and Landscape at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead
2023-09-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join veteran tour guide John Dickson and Executive Director Lesley Herzberg for a FREE enlightening walk around the grounds of Arrowhead. John Dickson will provide an overview of the evolution of the architectural features of the building from the 1780s to the present. This talk is followed by Lesley Herzberg’s walk through the north field to discuss the cultural landscape where the entire Melville family participated in the cultivation of the farm and gardens in the 19th century. (Rain date: Sunday, October 1, 11 am)
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council; offered as part of the Housatonic Heritage Walks.

Virtual Discussion with Dayswork Authors
2023-10-03 16:00 - 17:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Please join us online as we discuss, Dayswork, a new novel written collaboratively by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel. The novel is about a woman, who during the pandemic quarantine, becomes obsessed with Melville and particularly his life at Arrowhead.
The novel has been hailed as “A remarkable, unusually rewarding work” by Kirkus Reviews and “A love letter to literature” Alexander Chee

email melville@berkshirehistory.org to receive the zoom link

Highlights of Massachusetts Archaeology
2023-10-10 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
When you think of archaeology, you might think of Egypt, Ancient Greece, or Mexico before considering Massachusetts. But here in our state we have some fascinating archaeology and some sites with memorable stories to tell. This FREE lecture takes you from Boston to the Berkshires showing sites from thousands of years ago to the late-nineteenth century.
The lecture is presented by Eric Johnson, PhD, a semi-retired lecturer from the Department of Anthropology at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. FREE
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Tour of the Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox
2023-10-11 17:00 - 18:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join Tyringham resident and historian John Hanson on a walking tour of significant gravestones in this historic Lenox cemetery. Hanson has been collecting epitaphs and studying early New England gravestones for years. 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 the Church on the Hill parking lot.
$15 BCHS members, $20 nonmembers
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Theater: Bartleby Prefers Not To - October 13
2023-10-13 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join us at the Arrowhead barn for a theatrical performance of one of Herman Melville’s most iconic and enigmatic short stories – “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” Presented by the Amateur Comedy Club’s Special Projects Committee of New York, “Bartleby Prefers Not To’ is adapted and written by Jim Aucoin and directed by Steve Butler.
Originally produced at the Amateur Comedy Club in New York, “Bartleby Prefers Not To” is the tale of a young man who gains employment as a scrivener in the well-respected Wall Street law office of Mr. Allan Gansevoort, Esquire. Excelling at his job at first, he gradually stops working exasperating his boss and the other copyists. A moral dilemma erupts.
This performance will also be presented on October 14.
$20 BCHS members, $25 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Theater: Bartleby Prefers Not To - October 14
2023-10-14 17:30 - 18:30 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join us at the Arrowhead barn for a theatrical performance of one of Herman Melville’s most iconic and enigmatic short stories – “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” Presented by the Amateur Comedy Club’s Special Projects Committee of New York, “Bartleby Prefers Not To’ is adapted and written by Jim Aucoin and directed by Steve Butler.
Originally produced at the Amateur Comedy Club in New York, “Bartleby Prefers Not To” is the tale of a young man who gains employment as a scrivener in the well-respected Wall Street law office of Mr. Allan Gansevoort, Esquire. Excelling at his job at first, he gradually stops working exasperating his boss and the other copyists. A moral dilemma erupts.
This performance is also presented on October 13.
$20 BCHS members, $25 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Tour of Hillside Cemetery, North Adams
2023-10-22 14:00 - 15:00 | Hillside Cemetery, Brown Street, North Adams
Where can you find a personal friend of two U.S. Presidents, the attorney who invented a railroad brake, the Father of Archaeological Photography, two physicians who started a school, and an eyewitness to President Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address?
Join historian Jason Vivori for a walk through one of the historic cemeteries of northern Berkshire County and learn about some of the fascinating people laid to rest there. Please wear sensible walking shoes and meet at the top of the hill off Brown Street.
$15 BCHS members, $20 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Tour of the Woods Cemetery in Monterey
2023-10-25 16:30 - 17:30 | Woods Cemetery, Monterey
Join historian Robert Hoogs as we explore the historic Woods Cemetery. Take a walking tour of the oldest cemetery in Monterey where Rev. Adonijah Bidwell and two of his wives are buried along with many of the early settlers of what was once Township #1 (modern day Tyringham and Monterey).
Meet at the Bidwell House Museum parking lot at the end of Art School Road. We will carpool from there to the cemetery as parking is limited on Beartown Mountain Road. Wear sturdy walking shoes and bring bug repellant.
$15 BCHS members, $20 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Forest Bathing at Arrowhead
2023-10-29 11:00 - 12:00 | Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, MA, 01201, United States
Join licensed leader Kathleen Schoenberg on a new adventure in ecotherapy. Start your Sunday 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.
The term “forest bathing” emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”). The purpose was twofold: to offer an eco-antidote to tech-boom burnout and to inspire residents to reconnect with and protect the country’s forests.
$25 BCHS members, $30 non-members
Use the BOOK NOW button to reserve tickets.
This event is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts Cultural Council.
