Lenox, Mass.
Lenox, Mass.
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Activities

The Berkshires

Do as we do! Living here, Claire has some ideas from personal experience about how to spend a spare chunk of your time.

Walk to town

Wake up and give yourself 2.5 hours to walk from the inn into town via Under Mountain Rd (Lenox– 4 mile walk). I think Under Mountain Rd has got to one of the prettiest roads in America. It literally has it all:

  • scenic pastures
  • a charming duck pond at Stonover Farm (an excellent high-end B&B)
  • a stunning boardwalk that winds you through boggy woods before you emerge onto a gorgeous vista at Parsons Marsh Reserve (Lenox– 3 min drive), which adds 0.6 mi total out and back
  • HomeFarm, an equestrian center in a Gilded Age estate farm that offers trail rides and you can also just swing by to pat the horses on the nose in their stables
  • gorgeous historic homes, especially once Under Mountain turns into Cliffwood St. Particularly impressive are 101 Yokun (the Winthrop Estate/Ethelwynde), 106 Cliffwood (Underledge), and 80 Cliffwood (Belvoir Terrace). My personal favorites are 71 Cliffwood and 13 Cliffwood.

Right before you enter town, check out the Stebbins Fountain (Lenox– 5 min drive) at the intersection of Cliffwood and Main Sts. I love this little fountain because it makes me feel like I’m in Italy. I also love it because Emma Stebbins was a sculptor who was the first woman to receive a public art commission from New York City (the centerpiece of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain) and she summered in Lenox. It was dedicated in her honor by three of her friends when she died in 1882.

Working morning

Grab a coffee at Lenox Coffee (Lenox – 5 min drive). My signature order is a hot mocha with one shot of espresso. And their pastries are pretty good–I think the best in town. Lenox Coffee is a real locals spot; see if you can eavesdrop on any good gossip.

Read the Berkshire Eagle–the best local paper in America–or get some work done on your laptop in the Reading Room at the Lenox Library (Lenox– 5 min drive). I love this building because it reminds me of boarding school / makes me feel like I’m about to sign the Constitution.

Coffee and a hike

Wake up and drive to No. Six Depot (West Stockbridge – 8 min drive), a charming roastery with a mix of indoor and outdoor seating, from which the hotel gets its coffee.

Stroll around West Stockbridge. There’s a bunch of good shops, a beautiful old book store, and some sculpture gardens — but our favorite thing to do is just to stand on the bridge over the river.

Hike Stevens Glen (4 min drive), a 1.1 mile loop leading to a beautiful waterfall.

Other pairings

  • Get brunch at No Comply and then tour Naumkeag.
  • Get takeout sandwiches at Lost Lamb. There’s nowhere to sit, so do the Housatonic Flats walking loop and eat your sandwich on a bench there. (Or substitute Berkshire Mountain Bakery, where Tartine founder Chad Robertson trained.)
  • Get a classic diner breakfast at Paige’s Place and then walk around Ashintully, the ruins of an old historic home.
  • Get a sandwich at Southfield Store, a nice old-fashioned general store, and then go see Umpachene Falls.
  • For antiques, check out Elise Abrams Antiques and the Berkshire Galleries in Great Barrington; Linda Rosen Antiques, Corner House, and Mix On Main along Route 7 in Sheffield; Sandy Klempner @ Home and Shaker Mill Books in West Stockbridge; or Knollwood Antiques, Retro Pop Shop, Christopher James, Henry’s Eclectic, and Finders Keepers in Lee.
  • Take your kids to all the animal spots: the little duck pond at Stoneover Farm, the stables at HomeFarm, the calf barn at High Lawn, and the variety of animals at the Hancock Shaker Village.
  • For a rainy kid-friendly night, eat at Amici Italian or Xicohtencatl and then go bowling at Cove Bowling and Entertainment.
  • For another rainy kid-friendly night, get fried chicken or cauliflower at Juju’s and then see a movie at the Triplex.
  • If the kids have been extra good, buy them a toy at Acorn in Egremont (fancier and farther away) or The Gifted Child in Lenox (less fancy and closer).
  • Follow the “Arlo Guthrie’s Historic Garbage Trail Walk to Massacree HD” six miles through Stockbridge and Great Barrington along the path described in “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (Alice being our former owner).
  • If our live music isn’t enough, try the Lion’s Den, Dream Away Lodge, Stationery Factory, or Egremont Barn. Mark Greenlaw’s Music in the Berkshires is the definitive guide to smaller local shows (aside from Tanglewood).
  • If you’re not tired when the Ostrich Room kicks you out, the classic place to go next is Ombra (5 minute drive to Lenox downtown).

Industrial heritage

It’s not as suitable for sightseeing as the many Gilded Age mansions, but keep an eye out for remnants of the Berkshires’ old mills and factories hiding in plain sight. The William Stanley Overlook on the Housatonic River Walk in Great Barrington commemorates the birthplace of his and George Westinghouse’s alternating current transformer (and of the Stanley water bottle). Some streetlamps still trace back to Westinghouse. Berkshire Hathaway owes half its name to Berkshire Mill No. 1 up in Adams, now an apartment complex. Monument Mills is “the last un-condofied mill in the Berkshires” (used for photo shoots); Rising Paper Mill is still operating. A former Crane Stationery headquarters is now a multifunction event venue in Dalton, aptly named “The Stationery Factory”. The Becket quarry was once a major source of Chester Blue granite, and is now a good swimming hole if you’re willing and able to scramble down some rocks.