Great Barrington is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Berkshire County (pronounced ) is a county on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in ...
, United States. It is part of the
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield ...
,
Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...
. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census.
Both a summer resort and home to
Ski Butternut
Ski Butternut, also known as Butternut Basin, is a ski resort in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, located on Warner Mountain in The Berkshires.
Channing and Jane Murdock took control of the area in 1963, naming the area Butternut Basin after the ...
, a ski resort, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and
Housatonic.
History
1676–1995
The
Mahican
The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...
Indians called the area ''Mahaiwe'', meaning "the place downstream". It lay on the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
Path, which connected
Fort Orange
Fort Orange ( nl, Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearb ...
near
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, with
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
and
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
.
The first recorded account of Europeans in the area happened in August 1676, during
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
.
Major John Talcott and his troops chased a group of 200 Mahican Natives west from Westfield, eventually overtaking them at the Housatonic River in what is now Great Barrington. According to reports at the time, Talcott's troops killed twenty-five Indians and imprisoned another twenty.
Today, a plaque for John Talcott marks the spot where the massacre is believed to have happened.
![Civil War Monument, Great Barrington, Massachusetts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Civil_War_Monument%2C_Great_Barrington%2C_Massachusetts.jpg)
On April 25, 1724, Captain John Ashley of
Westfield, Massachusetts
Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...
, bought on behalf of himself and a committee of the
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
the land that became the towns of Great Barrington,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
Egremont,
Alford,
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
, and
Boston Corner for £460, three barrels of "sider," and thirty quarts of rum from 21 Native American
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
s headed by Conkepot Poneyote. The
Konkapot River
The Konkapot River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in southwestern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. It is a tributary of the Housatonic Ri ...
in southwestern Massachusetts is named after him.
The village was first settled by colonists in 1726 and from 1742 to 1761 was the north parish of Sheffield. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great Barrington, named after the village of
Great Barrington in Gloucestershire, England.
In the summer of 1774, 1,500 men shut down the Berkshire County Court in response to British oppression. In the winter of 1776,
Henry Knox
Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, serving as chief of artillery in most of Washington's campaigns. Following the ...
passed through Great Barrington while
transporting the cannon from
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French mi ...
to the
Siege of Boston
The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
. Due to his time in the area, he established an agricultural interest in the area of Great Barrington.
With the arrival of the railroad in the late 19th century, Great Barrington developed as a
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
resort community for those seeking relief from the heat and pollution of cities. Wealthy families built grand homes called Berkshire Cottages here, as others would in
Lenox and
Stockbridge.
Among the earliest estates was one built by New York City banker, industrialist and art patron
David Leavitt
David Leavitt (; born June 23, 1961) is an American novelist, short story writer, and biographer.
Biography
Leavitt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Harold and Gloria Leavitt. Harold was a professor who taught at Stanford University and G ...
, who built an elaborate estate, and was soon followed by those of his sons nearby. Leavitt was instrumental in the development of the local
Housatonic Railroad
The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and ...
, serving as its president.
Later estates included
Searles Castle, commissioned in 1888 by the widow of
Mark Hopkins together with her second husband,
Edward Francis Searles
Edward Francis Searles (July 4, 1841 – August 6, 1920) was an interior and architectural designer.
Biography
Searles was born on July 4, 1841, in Methuen, Massachusetts, US to Jesse Gould Searles (1805–1844) and Sarah (Littlefield) Searles. ...
, and "Brookside", built for William Hall Walker. In 1895, Colonel
William L. Brown, part owner of the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'', presented Great Barrington with a statue of a newsboy, now a landmark on the western edge of town.
World's first alternating current/transformer system
In November 1885 electrical engineer
William Stanley, Jr.
William Stanley Jr. (November 28, 1858 – May 14, 1916) was an American physicist born in Brooklyn, New York. During his career, he obtained 129 patents covering a variety of electric devices. In 1913, he also patented an all-steel vacuum bottl ...
, a sometime Great Barrington resident working for
George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of ...
, began installing a demonstration
transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
based
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
lighting system. Stanley felt alternating current was an improvement over the
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...
system being used by
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...
. Stanley was trying to get Westinghouse to adopt it. Stanley had developed a series transformer he thought would make alternating current practical. He built his components at the "Old Rubber Factory" south of Cottage Street and installed a Westinghouse steam engine powering a 500 volt Siemens generator. Stringing the power lines from tree to tree down the street, in March 1886 Stanley powered the system up and was able to expand it to the point where it could light 23 businesses along Main Street with very little power loss over . Using the new Stanley transformers, at each location, the system's 500 volts were stepped down to 100 volts which was used to power incandescent lamps. This was the world's first practical demonstration of an alternating current with transformers system. It was the basis of the alternating current systems Westinghouse would begin installing later that year.
Alice's Restaurant
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gut ...
's song "
Alice's Restaurant
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree", commonly known as "Alice's Restaurant", is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album ''Alice's Restaurant''. The song is a deadpan protest ...
," which runs for minutes, is based on true-life events of the mid-20th century in Great Barrington and the adjoining towns of
Stockbridge and
Lee. The Old Trinity Church, which was the home of Ray and Alice Brock at the time of these incidents, is now owned by Guthrie, and is at 4 Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington.
Recent history
![Great Barrington, Massachusetts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Great_Barrington%2C_Massachusetts.jpg)
The town was the site of an
F4 tornado
The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...
around 7:00 pm on
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
, May 29, 1995. The tornado killed three people and caused damage in the area.
On July 24, 2009, Great Barrington was named an Appalachian Trail Community by application and acceptance by the
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) (formerly Appalachian Trail Conference) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Appalachian Trail, a route in the eastern United States that runs from Maine to Georgia. Founded in ...
.
On June 1, 2010, a new
fire station
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
was opened for the Great Barrington Fire Department, located on Route 7.
The new fire station replaced the old one, on Castle Street. It had deteriorated and was too small for the growing needs of the fire department. The new $9.1 million facility was planned as a center for community events such as elections. It serves as the hub for emergency operations in southern Berkshire County.
The town celebrated its 250th anniversary with a large parade on July 10, 2011. Other events celebrating the 250th anniversary were held throughout the year as well.
The "" was launched in 2011, involving major improvements along Main Street between Saint James Place and Cottage Street. The plan elements include new pavement, new sidewalks, sewer and utility improvements, and the removal of the large
pear tree
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...
s that span Main Street, to be replaced with a much wider array of trees of varying sizes and growth habits. The project had finished its design phase as of 2012, and construction was to be completed in 2016.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the town has an area of , of which is land and , or 2.09%, is water.
Great Barrington is bordered by
West Stockbridge,
Stockbridge and
Lee to the north,
Tyringham
Tyringham (/ˈtiːrɪŋəm/) is a village in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about a mile and a half north of Newport Pagnell.
The village name is an Old English language word, an ...
to the northeast,
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...
to the east,
New Marlborough to the southeast,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
to the south,
Egremont to the southwest, and
Alford to the northwest. The town is south of
Pittsfield
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield ...
, west of
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
, west of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and north-northeast of New York City.
Great Barrington is in the valley of the
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United S ...
. The Williams River, Green River and several brooks also flow through the valley into the Housatonic. To the east of the river, several mountains of
the Berkshires
The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...
rise, including East Mountain (site of the
Ski Butternut
Ski Butternut, also known as Butternut Basin, is a ski resort in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, located on Warner Mountain in The Berkshires.
Channing and Jane Murdock took control of the area in 1963, naming the area Butternut Basin after the ...
resort (also known as Butternut Basin) and a state forest), Beartown Mountain (and the majority of
Beartown State Forest
Beartown State Forest is a publicly owned forest with recreational features located in the towns of Great Barrington, Monterey, Lee, and Tyringham, Massachusetts. The state forest's more than include of recreational parkland. It is manage ...
) and
Monument Mountain. The
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...
crosses through East Mountain State Forest in the southeast corner of town. The southwest corner of town is the site of several country clubs and a
fairgrounds
Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs.
Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to:
Places
Canada
* Fairground, Ontario, a community
United States
* Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...
.
U.S. Route 7
U.S. Route 7 (US 7) is a north–south United States highway in western New England that runs for through the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 95 (I-95) exit 15 ...
passes through the center of town, and was once part of
New England Interstate Route 4
,
,
,
,
,
The New England road marking system was a regional system of marked numbered routes in the six-state region of New England in the United States. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular sign with black numbers and border. M ...
(also known as the New York-Berkshire-
Burlington
Burlington may refer to:
Places Canada Geography
* Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Burlington, Nova Scotia
* Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington"
* Burlington, Prince Edward Island
* Burlington Bay, no ...
Way).
Massachusetts Route 23
Route 23 is a west–east route in the western Massachusetts counties of Berkshire and Hampden. The entire route is . Most of the road, approximately , follows the Knox Trail, the historic route of General Henry Knox took to bring cannon fr ...
passes from west to east through town, combining with
Massachusetts Route 41
Route 41 is a extension of Connecticut Route 41 into Massachusetts. It begins at the Connecticut state line in Sheffield and ends at U.S. Route 20 (US 20) in Pittsfield. Route 41 was the original alignment for New England Interstate Route 4 sout ...
and U.S. Route 7 in the western part of town and
Massachusetts Route 183
Massachusetts Route 183 (MA 183) is a north–south state highway in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The entire route travels from a continuation of Connecticut Route 183 by Colebrook, Connecticut to U.S. Route 7 (US 7) and US 20 in Le ...
in the eastern part of town, which also follows part of the path of Route 7 northward from Route 23 before splitting towards the village of
Housatonic. Great Barrington is approximately south of Exit 2 of
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
(the
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
), the nearest interstate highway.
Climate
Demographics
As of the census
of 2000, there were 7,527 people, 3,008 households, and 1,825 families residing in the town. By population, the town ranks fifth out of the 32 cities and towns in Berkshire County, and 202nd out of 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. The population density was 166.6 people per square mile (64.3/km
2), ranking it eighth in the county and 268th in the Commonwealth. There were 3,352 housing units at an average density of 74.2 per square mile (28.6/km
2). The racial makeup of the town was 94.74%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 2.09%
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
or
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.16%
Native American, 1.25%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.03%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 0.70% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 1.04% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
people of any race were 2.07% of the population. 17% were of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent, 12%
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, 11%
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, 10%
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and 9%
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
.
There were 3,008 households, of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The town's median household income was $95,490, and the median family income was $103,135. Males had a median income of $68,163 versus $49,474 for females. The town's per capita income was $42,655. About 2.4% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 2.5% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Great Barrington is the location of the
Ski Butternut
Ski Butternut, also known as Butternut Basin, is a ski resort in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, located on Warner Mountain in The Berkshires.
Channing and Jane Murdock took control of the area in 1963, naming the area Butternut Basin after the ...
resort. The
Berkshire Humane Society
The Berkshire Humane Society (BHS) is a private non-profit humane organization in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Founded in 1992, BHS is an open admissions shelter. The humane society operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilit ...
operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilities in the town.
Arts and culture
Sites of interest
*
Bard College at Simon's Rock
Bard College at Simon's Rock (more commonly known as Simon's Rock) is a private residential liberal arts college in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is a unit of Bard College, which is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
The school is ...
*
First Congregational Church of Great Barrington
*
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
*
Monument Mountain
*
Searles Castle
*
W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite
The W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite (or W.E.B. Du Bois Homesite) is a National Historic Landmark in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, commemorating an important location in the life of African American intellectual and civil rights activist W.E ...
Government
![Town Hall, Great Barrington MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Town_Hall%2C_Great_Barrington_MA.jpg)
Great Barrington employs the
open town meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
form of government, and is led by a
board of selectmen and a town manager. Great Barrington has its own public services, including police, fire and public works departments. The town has two libraries, with the main branch, Mason Library, at 231 Main Street in Great Barrington, and a branch library,
Ramsdell Library, at 1087 Main Street in the village of Housatonic, both of which are part of the regional library network. The town is home to Southern Berkshire District Court, as well as Fairview Hospital, the largest hospital in the southern end of the county (based on the number of beds).
On the state level, Great Barrington is represented in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
by the Fourth Berkshire district, which covers southern Berkshire County, as well as the westernmost towns in Hampden County. In the
Massachusetts Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...
, the town is represented by the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin district, which includes all of Berkshire County and western Hampshire and Franklin counties. The town is patrolled by the Great Barrington Police Department which is a 24/7/365 service.
On the national level, Great Barrington is represented in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
as part of
Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
Massachusetts's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district located in the western and central part of Massachusetts. The state's largest congressional district in area, it covers about one-third of the state and is more ...
. Democrat
Richard Neal
Richard Edmund Neal (born February 14, 1949) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1989. The district, numbered as the 2nd district from 1989 to 2013, includes Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Hol ...
of
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
has represented the district since 2012.
Great Barrington has a paid by call Fire Department, The Great Barrington Fire Department (GBFD), consists of about 40 members and five pumpers, one tower ladder, two rescue vehicles, and one brush truck. Most members are trained to the
First responder
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, disaster, medical emergency, structure fire, crime, or terr ...
level; some are trained to the
EMT-Basic level. The Fire Department responds to about 600 calls per year, which vary but are mainly fire alarm activations and medical emergencies.
Great Barrington's Emergency Medical Services are covered by Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad Inc. (SBVAS), operated from the grounds of
Fairview Hospital. The service provides 24/7/365 paramedic level service to the towns of Great Barrington,
Housatonic,
Alford,
Egremont,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
Ashley Falls,
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...
, and
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
. SBVAS is the primary paramedic intercept service for ambulances going into Fairview, including
New Marlborough,
Sandisfield, and
Otis. The squad consists of a mix of full-time EMTs, paramedics, and volunteer EMTs. The squad responds to 3,000 to 5,000 calls a year.
Local currency
Great Barrington offers the use of its own
local currency
In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community curren ...
, called
BerkShare notes. There are about 844,000 BerkShare notes in circulation, worth about $801,800 at the exchange rate of one BerkShare to 95 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper money is available in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty. Proponents say the currency gets residents to shop at local stores. Local areas may have their own currencies as long as they do not resemble the United States dollar and are in paper only.
Great Barrington Declaration
Great Barrington plays host to the
American Institute for Economic Research
The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is a libertarian think tank located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1933 by Edward C. Harwood, an economist and investment advisor. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
History
...
. AIER was founded in 1933 as a non-profit scientific and educational organization. Originally at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
, it relocated to the southern shore of Great Barrington's Long Pond in 1946. In October 2020 the Institute held a meeting of epidemiologists, economists and journalists to discuss government responses to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The result was the
Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration was an open letter published in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. It claimed harmful COVID-19 lockdowns could be avoided via the fringe notion of "focused protection", by which th ...
, signed at the Institute's headquarters on October 4, 2020, and released to the public the following day, which advocated an alternative, risk-based approach to the pandemic involving "focused protection" of those most at risk and seeking to avoid or minimize the societal harm of
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
s.
Education
![Mason Library GB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Mason_Library_GB.jpg)
Great Barrington is the largest town in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, which includes the towns of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, and the villages of Housatonic, Glendale and Interlaken. All three school levels are in Great Barrington. Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School offers pre-kindergarten through fourth grade classes and is off Route 7 in the northern part of town. W.E.B Du Bois Regional Middle School offers grades five through eight. Monument Mountain Regional High School (MMRHS) opened in 1968, consolidating the former
Searles High School
Searles High School, now Methuen City Hall, is a historic former school building at 41 Pleasant Street in Methuen, Massachusetts, and an excellent example of English Renaissance Revival architecture. It was designed by Henry Vaughan, a favorite ...
in Great Barrington and
Williams High School in Stockbridge, and serves the high school students of the district.
The town is home to several private schools, including the
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
School, the Great Barrington
Waldorf High School Waldorf can have the following meanings:
People
* William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (1848–1919), financier and statesman
* Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879–1952), businessman and politician
* Pappy Waldorf (1902–1981), 1966 ...
, and the
John Dewey Academy.
Great Barrington is home to
Bard College at Simon's Rock
Bard College at Simon's Rock (more commonly known as Simon's Rock) is a private residential liberal arts college in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is a unit of Bard College, which is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
The school is ...
, which was the first-ever early college, and remains the only accredited four-year early college program in the country. Also here is the South County Center of the
Berkshire Community College
Berkshire Community College is a public community college in Berkshire County, Massachusetts with its primary campus in Pittsfield. It also has a satellite campus in Great Barrington and classroom spaces in the city of Pittsfield. Established i ...
. The nearest state university is
Westfield State University
Westfield State University (Westfield State) is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by Horace Mann as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender, or economic class.
Ran ...
.
Media
Two radio stations are located in Great Barrington:
*
WSBS 860 kHz
*
WBCR-LP
WBCR-LP is a low power FM radio station with office and studio located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, broadcasting on the 97.7 FM frequency. The organization's legal name is "Berkshire Community Radio Alliance," and is also known as "Berkshi ...
97.7 MHz (local variety)
Infrastructure
Transportation
US Route 7 serves as the Main Street in Great Barrington. The town is located about 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of
I-90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
and the
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
, the nearest
Interstate Highway
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
.
Ground
Great Barrington is served by the
Berkshire Regional Transit Authority
Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is a bus transportation system serving the City of Pittsfield and Greater Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It provides year-round bus service with connections to Amtrak at the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transp ...
, which offers bus transportation throughout Berkshire County.
Peter Pan Bus Lines
Peter Pan Bus Lines operates an intercity bus service in the Northeastern United States. It is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts.
It operates service to/from to Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hamps ...
and
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...
have stops in Great Barrington for long-range bus transportation. The town lies along the
Housatonic Railroad
The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and ...
line, which roughly follows Route 7 and the river through southern New England.
Air
Walter J. Koladza Airport is in Great Barrington, and features a full service
FBO for
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
aircraft.
Notable people
*
Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen (born October 5, 1951) is an American film and stage actress. After making her film debut in ''Animal House'' (1978), she portrayed Marion Ravenwood opposite Harrison Ford in '' Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981), a role she lat ...
, actress known for ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark
''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
''
*
Jim Bouton
James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 1 ...
, major league pitcher
*
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin (née Smith; December 3, 1921 – June 5, 2016) was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in ope ...
, classical soprano
*
W. E. B. Du Bois, academic, scholar, activist, journalist, sociologist
*
Michel Gill
Michel Gill (born April 16, 1960), also known as Michael Gill, is an American actor best known for playing President Garrett Walker in the Netflix series ''House of Cards'' and Gideon Goddard on ''Mr. Robot''.
Early life
Gill is a first genera ...
, actor known for ''
House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...
''
*
Cynthia Roberts Gorton
Cynthia M. Gorton ( Roberts; pen name, Ida Glenwood; February 27, 1826 - August 10, 1894) was a blind 19th-century American poet and author. For 20 years, Gorton lectured on behalf of the temperance movement.
Early life and education
Cynthia ...
, writer
*
Thomas Ingersoll, founder of
Ingersoll, Ontario
Ingersoll is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The nearest cities are Woodstock to the east and London to the west.
Ingersoll is situated north of and along Highway 401. Oxford County Road 119 (formerl ...
;
Laura Secord
Laura Secord ( Ingersoll; 13 September 1775 – 17 October 1868) was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812. She is known for having walked out of American-occupied territory in 1813 to warn British forces of an impending American atta ...
's father
*
Anson Jones
Anson Jones (January 20, 1798 – January 09, 1858) was a doctor, businessman, member of Congress, and the fourth and last President of the Republic of Texas.
Early life
Jones was born on January 20, 1798, in Great Barrington, Massachus ...
, doctor, businessperson,
member of Congress
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
, and last
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
of the
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
*
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
, film critic (
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
)
*
Hamish Linklater
Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in '' The New Adventures of Old Christine'', Andrew Keanelly in ''The Crazy Ones'', and Clark Debussy in ''Legion''. He is the son of ...
, actor
*
Dorinda Medley
''The Real Housewives of New York City'' (abbreviated ''RHONY'') is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 4, 2008. Developed as the second installment of ''The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has aired thirteen ...
, notable for role on
The Real Housewives of New York City
''The Real Housewives of New York City'' (abbreviated ''RHONY'') is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 4, 2008. Developed as the second installment of ''The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has aired thirteen ...
*
Fantastic Negrito
Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz (born January 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album '' The Last Days of Oakland'' won a Grammy award f ...
, Grammy-winning blues musician
*
Chris Noth
Christopher David Noth ( ; born November 13, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on ''Law & Order'' (1990–95), Big on ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on ''The ...
, actor notable for roles in the TV shows ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'', ''
Law and Order
In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...
'' and ''
The Good Wife
''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...
''
*
Franklin Pope, electrical engineer and inventor
*
Shorty Rogers
Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arran ...
, jazz trumpeter and one of the principal creators of
West Coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...
*
John Schroeder, golfer
*
Laura Secord
Laura Secord ( Ingersoll; 13 September 1775 – 17 October 1868) was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812. She is known for having walked out of American-occupied territory in 1813 to warn British forces of an impending American atta ...
, warned the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
of an impending American attack on Canada
*
Mark H. Sibley, U.S. congressman
Sister cities
Great Barrington has the following
sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
:
*
Ingersoll Ingersoll may refer to:
People
*Ingersoll (surname)
*Ingersoll Lockwood (1841–1918), American lawyer and writer
Places Canada
* Ingersoll, Ontario
United States
* Ingersoll, Oklahoma
* Ingersoll, Wisconsin
* Ingersoll Township, Michigan
* ...
, Ontario, Canada
*
Fada N'gourma
Fada N'gourma, also written Fada-Ngourma or Noungu, is a city and an important market town in eastern Burkina Faso, lying east of Ouagadougou, in the Gourmantché area. It is the capital of the East region and of Gourma province. It is known fo ...
,
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
See also
*
Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration was an open letter published in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. It claimed harmful COVID-19 lockdowns could be avoided via the fringe notion of "focused protection", by which th ...
References
History of Great Barrington, Massachusetts
External links
Town of Great Barrington official website*
{{authority control
Towns in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
1761 establishments in Massachusetts
Towns in Massachusetts