Williamstown

Williamstown (population 7500), 140 miles (225 km) from Boston in the far northwest corner of Massachusetts (map), is at the northern end of the Berkshire Hills. It boasts renowned Williams College and two fine art museums.

Founded in 1753 as West Hoosuck, its life and its name were soon affected by the career of Ephraim Williams, Jr, a soldier in the British colonial army.

1753 House, built with period tools and materials to celebrate Williamstown's bicentennial (1953).

Born in 1714, Williams surveyed several townships in these parts, then took command of fortifications which demarcated the frontier between the British and French North American empires. Among these defenses was Fort Massachusetts, which stood in North Adams.

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Williams led a column of troops from Massachusetts toward the French positions on Lake George, and died in the fighting (1755).

His will provided for the founding of a school in West Hoosuck, but only if the town took his name. It did, and Williams College enrolled its first students in 1793.

Williams College

Founded in 1793, this small private liberal arts college is renowned for its high standards and famous alumni, and is considered one of the finest undergraduate colleges in the USA. The 100+ buildings on its 450-acre (182-hectare) campus cover the town and its 2,200 students and 334 faculty dominate its social, intellectrual and cultural life.

Clark Art Institute

Among the finest small museums in the USA (map), with rich collections of French Impressionists, 19th-century American masters, and European Old Masters, the marvelous collections of the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute are the achievement of Robert Sterling Clark (1877-1956), a Yale engineer whose forebears had been successful in the sewing machine industry.

The historic old marble building of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Clark began collecting works of art in Paris in 1912, married a French woman named Francine, and eventually housed his masterpieces in a classic white marble temple here in Williamstown (map).

The pristine original museum was greatly expanded in 1973 into new, modern exhibit space adjoining. In 2014 a new entrance, lobby, gift shop and parking lot were added.

The Clark has strong collections of paintings by the Impressionists, their academic contemporaries in France, and the mid-century Barbizon artists, including Millet, Troyon, and Corot. Of the Americans, there are significant works by Cassatt, Homer, Remington, and Sargent.

Earlier centuries are represented by well-chosen pieces of Piero della Francesca, Memling, Gossaert, Jacob van Ruisdael, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Turner, and Goya.

There are some sculptures, including Degas' famous Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, as well as prints, drawings, and noteworthy collections of silver and porcelain.

Williams College Museum of Art

A nice small collection (map) with interesting changing exhibits, the Williams College Museum of Art is in Lawrence Hall, the Greek Revival building with the rotunda, at 76 Spring Street (map).

Admission is free to the permanent collection of about 12,000 objects spanning world cultures and the history of art.

American art from the late 1700s to the present, and especially since 1945, is particularly well-represented, with works by Ida Applebroog, Lynda Benglis, Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Philip Guston, Ann Hamilton, Jenny Holzer, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Robert Morris, Louise Nevelson, Philip Pearlstein, Adrian Piper, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Faith Ringgold, Larry Rivers, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, David Smith, Kiki Smith, Mark Tansey and Andy Warhol.

The museum is closed Monday (though open on major Monday holidays).

Williamstown Theatre Festival

Founded in 1954, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has staged many original works that have moved on to Broadway and other prestigious venues. More...

The '62 Center for Theatre & Dance, Main Stage for the Festival.

Concerts

The Williams College Department of Music arranges numerous concerts from September through May when college is in session.

In the summer, Williamstown Chamber Concerts organizes several chamber music performances at the Clark Art Institute.

North Adams

Church spires in North Adams MA, looking toward Mount Greylock.

North Adams, a former industrial town in the extreme northwestern corner of Massachusetts 131 miles (211 km) northwest of Boston, at the northern extent of the Berkshire Hills (map), is now know mainly for two things: Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts, and MASS MoCA, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

It's a small but pleasant town with a restored and beautified 19th-century Main Street (called DownStreet by locals) grand churches and mansions from the town's 19th-century industrial heyday, and adequate hospitality services, with many more nearby.

MASS MoCA

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, on the Hoosic River (map), wants "to foster and present exciting new work of the highest quality in all media – and in all phases of its production."

Founded in a factory town with lots of cheap, large spaces, MASS MoCA can exhibit huge works of art that other museums can't accommodate.

MASS MoCA's twenty-six 19th-century factory buildings offer plenty of space for art of all sizes.

In other words, you never know what you might see here: a finished gigantic work of sculpture, a performance art piece in rehearsal, artists painting, sculpting, welding, drafting sketches, discussing old work and new work and work yet to be conceived.

It's not just the huge interior spaces of the museum's 26 former industrial buildings on its 13-acre (5.26-hectare) campus. It's the technical, support and administrative staff that help to make an artist's conception a reality.

Once one of the country's largest factories for printed cloth, then a design and manufacturing facility for sophisticated electronics, the factory campus was available in 1986 when Thomas Krens, director of the Williams College Museum of Art, was looking for large spaces in which to display oversize works of contemporary art that couldn't be displayed in traditional museum spaces. The factory campus would have one gallery as long as a (US) football field (300 yards, 91.44 meters), and other, smaller spaces.

You never know what you'll find at MASS MoCA!

The idea for MASS MoCA was born, and the museum opened on May 30, 1999.

The museum stages five major exhibitions each year, and over 80 performance events. For information on current offerings, or to become a member of MASS MoCA, see the MASS MoCA website.

The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA

The best place to stay in North Adams is the 4-star, 47-room The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA, a row of historic 19th-century factory workers' houses restored to much-better-than-new condition. Located right across the Hoosic River from Mass MoCA (less than 5 minutes' stroll), The Porches has all the comforts of a luxury inn, including heated swimming pool (open summer and winter!), sauna, hot tub, Lobby Bar, breakfast room, free Wifi, etc. More...

Natural Bridge State Park

On McAuley Road on the outskirts of North Adams, Natural Bridge is perfect for a picnic—and a geology lesson.

The gorge beneath the natural bridge of marble.

Drive or walk a mile (1.6 km) along MA Route 8 northeast from the center of North Adams MA. You'll pass the Eclipse Mill, then the Beaver Mill (map).

Just past the Beaver Mill, turn left (west) across a bridge, then follow the signs 1/2 mile (800 meters) up a narrow, winding road across a one-lane bridge, past the marble quarry (where the marble factory was) to the Visitor Center and parking area. Pay the small parking fee in the office of the Visitor Center.

You have to look for the sign indicating the bridge, then descend some steps to a dead-end viewing platform to see the cleft and the "natural bridge" above.

Nearby is the only white marble dam in the USA, built of the bedrock to form the pond that would supply water power to the marble factory in the quarry below.

Bring a picnic!

If your visit is around lunchtime, this is the place for a picnic. Tables are set around the park in sunny spots and shady, with good views of the pond, the grounds and the forest.

Mount Greylock

If you're in North Adams or Williamstown, you're only about a 45-minute drive away from the summit of Mount Greylock, highest peak in Massachusetts and, according to Harry Potter author J K Rowling, the location of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Witch or muggle, you'll enjoy the forests, hiking, camping, and 360-degree panoramas from the summit of this peak in the center of the heavily-forested Mount Greylock State Reservation. More...

Transportation

There's little direct public transportation from Boston, New York City, Albany, or other major cities to Williamstown and North Adams. Peter Pan Bus operates buses from Boston to Worcester, where you can connect with a bus to Berkshire towns including Williamstown. Otherwise, make your way to Pittsfield MA, the transportation hub of the Berkshires, and go from there by taxi, rideshare app car, or BRTA regional bus to Williamstown and North Adams. More...

Where to Stay

Lots of places in Williamstown, North Adams and surroundings. Keep in mind they may be particularly busy when big events are scheduled at Williams College.

Use this handy Hotel Map with Prices to find just the lodgings you want in the region: