Community

Community

Berkshire Museum's Festival of Trees Goes Green

It seems as if every school and not-for-profit group in the Berkshires is participating in the 24th annual Festival of Trees, which has an "eco-savvy and eco-fabulous" theme this year. There will be more than 200 trees on display made from sustainable, earth-friendly materials such as post-consumer paper

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Community

Dan's Diary: Red, White and Mostly Blue

We know intuitively and anecdotally that we live in a very liberal corridor of the country but just how blue is our region in actuality? Here are the percentage of votes that Barack Obama and Joe Biden received in a cross-section of towns in our region in Tuesday's

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Community

Early Voting, An Option?

For registered voters who at the last minute find it impossible to vote locally on Election Day, options vary state-to-state. Alas, Connecticut voters with a last-minute change of plans are out of luck unless they had the foresight to apply for an absentee ballot. In Massachusetts "absentee in person&

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Community

Stealing Beauty: the Olana Viewshed Tour

It's like having a license to trespass on some of the most felicitously sited private properties on earth. On Saturday, November 1, friends and supporters of Olana, the Frederic Church historic site in Greenport, NY, will be permitted, thanks to the generous owners of twelve Olana-adjacent properties, onto

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Community

Dan's Diary: The Amazing Miller as the Amazing Martha

Two summers ago, a friend introduced me to Annette Miller who insisted that I see her peform in the play Martha Mitchell Calling at Stageworks in Hudson. Miller had debuted the show at her artistic home, Shakesepeare & Company, but she wanted the show to reach a wider audience, hoping

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Community

Dan's Diary: Gulp!

One of the nicest things about Dottie's Coffee Lounge on North Street in Pittsfield is that they serve coffee in real ceramic mugs; you certainly won't find that at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. The cups at Dottie's gave me pause because they are so

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Community

Dan's Diary: There's a New Path to Paper Trail

One of our favorite shops, Paper Trail in Rhinebeck, was always a sort of secret because of its location. Now Paper Trail has moved to a storefront on Route 9 (across from Gigi's Trattoria), and co-owner Maureen Missner says that business is booming because of the shop'

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Community

Old Houses, New Life: The Ancram Historic House Tour

Ancram is one of those off-the-beaten track towns that feels more remote than it actually is. For the most part, the residents like it that way, but they are also fiercely proud of their community's history which dates back to pre-Revolutionary days when it was home to the

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Community

Dan's Diary: The Lesbian Next Door

Leslie Ferrin, who runs the Ferrin Gallery in Pittsfield and lives in Cummington, MA, says her town was excited to see their neighbor Rachel Maddow—the rising star of MSNBC—featured in this week's New York Times Magazine . Everywhere you go, people are talking about the first openly-gay

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Community

Historic Hudson Offers a Tour of. . .Claverack?

Before the town we now know as Hudson, New York was formed, the area by the river was called Claverack Landing, and it was a whaling port teeming with sailors and sin. Fortunately, all this lurid conduct took place at a seemly remove from the respectable town of Claverack proper,

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Community

Cornwall House Tour Spans Four Centuries

There's a difference between impressive houses and important ones, and the 9th annual Cornwall House Tour has both, None of the five residences on this year's tour are ordinary: They include a 1950s Fieldstone cottage connected to a corn crib and barn, which the owners describe

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Community

The Granddaddy of All Harvest Festivals

Breathes there a man, woman, or child with soul so dead that he/she hasn’t always secretly wanted to take a ride in a cherry picker? Now’s your chance. Ever since 1935, mid-Great Depression, the Berkshire Botanical Garden has rallied its neighbors and supporters each October to celebrate

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