VISITOR NEWSLETTER
Spring and Summer 2008
Welcome to Williamstown and the Northern Berkshires!
Spring has finally landed upon us and there are great outdoor and indoor activities, as well as shopping, dining, and relaxing/rejuvenating "get-away from it all" experiences, to enjoy. The Northern Berkshires is widely acclaimed as a premier vacation destination, combining breathtaking scenic landscape with world-class cultural and recreational offerings, for visitors from around the world.
In this quarterly newsletter, the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce presents four seasons' worth of the best of the Northern Berkshires for your enjoyment. The Williamstown Chamber invites you to come and experience how wonderful winter is in the Northern Berkshires!
DINING FOR EVERY TASTE
When you explore our community, be sure to sample our area’s diverse and unforgettable dining experiences that range from upscale, elegant restaurants to casual, New England-style cooking. A number of the Chamber’s restaurant members offer al fresco dining in the summertime and have received noteworthy accolades from the New York Times, Town & Country, Travel & Leisure, Time Out New York, The Boston Globe, InStyle, and the National Geographic Traveler.
Dining in the Northern Berkshires offers a wide range of options - everything from sushi, contemporary cuisine, and Chinese to Italian cuisine, Indian curries, French and Continental fare. Pizza and ice cream parlors, bakeries, and coffee shops are easy to find! So enjoy and bon appetit! For a complete listing of the chamber’s restaurant members, please click here.
LODGINGS: FULL SPECTRUM OF ACCOMMODATIONS
We know the rest, relaxation, and enjoyment afforded by your choice of accommodation are essential to a memorable vacation. The Northern Berkshires offers a full range of the finest quality bed and breakfasts, hotels, inns, and motels to make your visit outstanding. Our lodging establishments have received awards and rave reviews for their first-rate properties, the gracious attentive service offered guests, and their amenities. Just the right lodging choice that meets your every need can be found in the Northern Berkshires. For a complete listing of the chamber’s lodging members, please click here.
MUSEUMS ENGAGE MULTI-FACETED INTERESTS
Culture is second nature in the Northern Berkshires. Our museums are world renowned and draw visitors year-round. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, located at 225 South Street, Williamstown, features French Impressionist, Old Master and American paintings, and a dynamic program of special exhibitions, performances, and programs. The museum is set on a beautiful 140-acre campus of meadows, woods, and hiking trails. Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is one of the finest college art museums with 12,000 works that span the history of art, emphasizing modern and contemporary art, American art from the late 18th century to present, and the art of world cultures. The museum is located at 15 Lawrence Hall Drive, Williamstown. MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) features the best art of our time on a restored 19th-century factory campus, with a full roster of performing arts events offered year-round. The museum is located at 87 Marshall Street, North Adams. The history of the Berkshires is a rich one and is a strong interest for many visitors. The Williamstown House of Local History, located at the Milne Public Library, 1095 Main Street, documents Williamstown’s history from earliest days to present times. Its collection features the diverse people and buildings, associations and businesses, institutions and events which formed the town’s history. An orientation exhibit traces the forces that have shaped town growth and change, and smaller rotating exhibits focus on specific topics. Other resources include an archive for research, and a Children's Discovery Room. The Bidwell House Museum, located in the southern portion of Berkshire County a few miles south of the Lee Outlets at 100 Art School Road, Monterey, showcases a 1750 Georgian colonial saltbox on 196 acres of land. Open to the public year round for woodland trail walks and picnics. The museum provides an experience of life in the Berkshires in the 18th century featuring the museum’s furnishings, quilts, redware and colonial garden. For further details on each of the museums, click on their individual links. For a complete listing of the Chamber’s Cultural Attractions, please click here.
NON-STOP FAMILY FUN
The Northern Berkshires offers fun family activities that create happy memories. Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation’s Sheep Hill (WRLF), 671 Cold Spring Road, includes the Lewis Center for Nature and Rural Heritage which provides the entire family with ways to experience the natural world, including hiking, bird watching, picnicking, and demonstration and farmhouse gardens. Knowing that children are wonderfully creative, MASS MoCA’s Kidspace (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), 87 Marshall Street, North Adams, offers an art gallery and art-making space with exhibitions curated for kids. For a complete listing of Recreation, please click here.
GALLERIES SHOWCASE ARTISTS UP CLOSE & PERSONAL
Northern Berkshires’ art and antique galleries provide a unique venue for nurturing the relationship between the artist, the art, and the art lover. The Chamber encourages visitors to connect personally with the art world through our gallery members. The Harrison Gallery, 39 Spring Street, Williamstown, is recipient of the prestigious International Association of Art Critics’ second place award for best show in a commercial gallery in 2006. The Harrison Gallery specializes in contemporary American artists, with a focus on landscapes. Each month a new show opens in the north gallery space, highlighting a large body of work by one artist or multiple artists. The gallery’s collection also includes etchings, sculpture, pottery, furniture, jewelry, scorched paper, and bronze cutouts. MCLA Gallery 51, 51 Main Street, North Adams, is operated by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and features the work of international, national, and local artists, including MCLA faculty and students. MCLA Gallery 51 is the result of a unique collaboration between area business and community leaders, the City of North Adams and MCLA. The Library Antiques, 70 Spring Street, presents the fine craftsmanship of American, European, Chinese, and Asian antiques and a curious and diverse selection of home furnishings and gifts. LiAsia Gallery, 31 Spring Street, Williamstown, specializes in antique Chinese furniture, works of art, and architectural elements.
QUALITY SHOPPING & SERVICES FOR EVERYONE’S ENJOYMENT
Chamber businesses include an array of shops and services which visitors frequent with each trip to the Northern Berkshires. Their quality and uniqueness have received noteworthy recognition. Featuring designer apparel for men and women, theBrowns, 16 Water Street, Williamstown, has been touted in the July/August 2006 issue of Elle Décor magazine as “the Berkshires’ most urbane boutique yet.” Zanna, 41 Spring Street, Williamstown, carries the latest in women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. The Williams Shop and Goff’s Sports, 15 Spring Street, provides quality Williams College merchandise and sporting goods to students and graduates. In June 2000, the New York Times praised Where’d You Get That?!, a specialty toy store offering intelligent toys for all ages located at 100 Spring Street, stating the store “offered the best window shopping.”
An assortment of specialty shops promises to delight, including Water Street Books, Toonerville Trolley CDs and Records on Water Street in Williamstown, Atef Fine Jeweler, Inc. on Main Street in North Adams, and Goodman’s Jewelers and Harts’ Pharmacists on Spring Street in Williamstown. The museum gift shops at Williams College Museum of Art, 15 Lawrence Hall Drive and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 225 South Street, engage shoppers’ interests and curiosity.
Services to pamper the body and soul while on vacation are readily available in the Northern Berkshires. InTouch Massage & Day Spa, 84 Water Street, offers massage therapy, facials, skin care, a full service hair salon, private outdoor hot tub and more. TSUBO Massage, 136 Water Street, is an integrative wellness center offering massage therapies as well as Acupuncture and CranioSacral therapies. Jae’s Inn Spa, 1111 South State Street in North Adams, provides massage therapies, beauty services, and AVEDA products. Shear Creations (458-3845) provides hairstyling services. Day & Beth Healing Arts, 210 Water Street, offers Acupuncture, CranioSacral therapies, and advanced body therapy among its services. If yoga rejuvenates your spirit and body, Berkshire Yoga, Frog Lotus Yoga, and Sunflower Yoga offer public classes as well as private sessions throughout the summer.
However you choose to enjoy your time in the Northern Berkshires, the business community proudly goes above and beyond to meet your every need with stellar personal service. For a complete listing of the Chamber’s businesses and services, please click here.
