Bridges are inherently picturesque, and covered bridges even more so. The engineering and craftsmanship required to suspend materials over rivers, streams, and gorges is often remarkable to behold. This seems to be doubly true when it comes to covered bridges. Humans have constructed bridges – and covered them – for thousands of years. As bridge [...]

Hancock Shaker Village is always an interesting place to visit. Shaker communities are uniquely American, though their origins can be traced back to French and English groups in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1774, a small group of Shaking Quakers led by Mother Ann (Ann Lee) traveled to the New World to establish [...]

Herman Melville had deep ties to the land and deep ties to the sea. He loved the Berkshire Hills, where his uncle had a farm and where he spent many summers during his youth. Yet at the age of 22, Melville did not head to the Berkshires. Instead, he went to sea. Melville shipped out [...]

Herman Melville, author of the American classic Moby-Dick (among others), spent his early childhood in the high society of New York City and his adolescence living less affluently in Albany, NY. His first visit to the farm in Pittsfield that was purchased by his grandfather was in 1832, when Herman Melville was just thirteen. His [...]

Chesterwood is the historic country home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French, one of the country’s foremost public sculptors. His creations are found from Boston to San Francisco, New York City to Florida. Chesterwood was designed by architect Henry Bacon, best known for his Lincoln Memorial. Daniel French and his family spent every summer [...]

Less than twenty miles from our Western MA bed and breakfast is a special place known as Hancock Shaker Village. The third village created by the Shakers after their arrival in the New World in 1774, Hancock is a testament to the Shaker commitment to beauty, simplicity and hard work. The architecture of the twenty [...]

The Bidwell House, in Monterey, MA, is less than 10 miles from our Lee MA bed and breakfast. Originally built as a parsonage around 1750, the house is a great spot to learn about early American architecture (the house was built in three distinct phases) and life. Bidwell House was lovingly restored to its present [...]

Spring is indeed coming to the Berkshires, and a great place to experience spring is at our Berkshires Bed and Breakfast. The days have been warming the earth and the flowers are starting to show their appreciation. The grounds of the Applegate Inn are a great place to witness the arrival of spring. We have [...]

Combine art and American history by taking a trip to Chesterwood Museum and Gardens, only 7 miles from our Lenox Bed and Breakfast. Chesterwood is the country home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Memorial in Washington, DC, and The Minute Man, Concord, MA. [...]

The Mount is the self-designed estate & gardens of Pulitzer-prize winning Edith Wharton, author of “The Age of Innocence”, “The House of Mirth”, as well as many other novels and non-fiction books on the subject of Architecture, design, decoration and travel. Her home is a work of art, worthy of the seven-minute drive from our [...]