Birchwood Inn » The Clark Art Institute

We’ve Got Snow and The Arts

innkeeper — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:19:50 +0000

In Winter, Berkshires Culture Moves Indoors

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Top: Ventfort Hall in Lenox, Mass., where Anne Undeland performs “Open Marriage” in the library, right. Above: A work by Adrian Paci, left, at Mass MoCA in North Adams.

Original Article By Mark Vanhoenacker

There’s far more to the Berkshire Mountains than Tanglewood, and the arts and culture do continue after Labor Day all around our Lenox Bed and Breakfast. As Mark Vanhoenacker says in The NYT, “even in January, cultural life here thrives, at museums, theaters and music halls. And when it’s time for a little après-edification, you’ll find acres of elbow-room on area slopes.”

Why not start your cultural tour in North Adams, at Mass MoCA, one of the largest museums of contemporary art in the world? There are currently some exciting exhibits. And Mass MoCA’s performance stages are busy as well, such as jazz vocalist Catherine Russell on Feb. 18.

“The grande dame of Berkshire museums, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, just down the roadin Williamstown. The Rembrandt and Degas exhibition runs until February 5. “Clark Remix” opens Feb. 12. Pittsfield, which celebrated its 250th birthday in 2011, Pittsfield host 10×10 on North, the county’s first-ever winter contemporary arts festival, Feb. 16 to 26, featuring “exactly 10 of a number of things, including short pieces by two theatrical groups, Barrington Stage and New Stage; performances by poets, tango dancers and singer-songwriters; and short films.”At the Colonial Theater, a treasure from the Gilded Age, offers a busy winter calendar, including the Turtle Island Quartet (Feb. 17) and the Cajun masters BeauSoleil Avec Michael Ducet (Feb. 24).

In Lenox, Shakespeare & Co., as Vanhoenacker notes, “never lets the floorboards cool.” This season’s winter programming includes Molière’s comedy “The Learned Ladies,” which opens Feb. 3.

We hope you have the opportunity to enjoy some of these fantastic cultural events during your stay at our Berkshires Inn!

Our Inn in Lenox, MA offers 12 accommodations enjoy Berkshires, Bed & Breakfast,Inn in Lenox MA featuring private baths, cozy fireplaces and more. You can read the original blog post here We’ve Got Snow and The Arts.

A Memorable Day on Mount Greylock

innkeeper — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:11:58 +0000

Meandering through Greylock's forests

Quinn reports: Janice (Ellen’s great friend since 2nd Grade), Ellen and I were on our way to Williamstown the other day to celebrate Ellen’s birthday and to take Janice to the Clark Art Institute‘s Pissarro’s People exhibit. It was a beautiful Indian Summer day, so we left Birchwood Inn and took the scenic route via Mount Greylock.

Greylock, at 3491 feet, is the highest point in MA. But it is also so much more! 12,500 acres. Mountains. Forests. Valleys. Streams. 70 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, back country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling. At the summit you can find Bascom Lodge and the Veterans War Memorial.

A view from the summit

But that doesn’t begin to describe the Greylock experience. In fall, the air is crisp, the foliage vibrant, the light streaming through the trees inspiring, the tranquility soothing, the only sounds are of trickling streams and inhaling the fresh tree-scented air. In the spring experience nature bursting and awakening from the long winter. In summer savor the leafy shade. And the views are awesome year-round. From the summit you can see up to 135 miles in the distance and 5 different states — MA, CT, NY, VT, and NH.

Of course we weren’t the first nor the last to savor the experience. Native Americans hunted and traveled through the Greylock area. The Machicans’ travels created a traditional footpath through Greylock, now known as the Mohawk Trail.

Standing at an Appalachian Trail marker

Another historic footpath runs through the Greylock area, the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail, which follows the Appalachian chain of mountains and hills from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katuhdin in Maine. 11.5 miles of the trail wend their way through the tranquil wilderness.

Greylock has been a Siren, luring hundreds of those seeking to savor the experience, including Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Cullen Bryant, Thoreau and Melville.

Where the only sounds you hear are trickling streams

Melville could see Greylock from his writing desk at Arrowhead in neighboring Pittsfield, and it is said that the fall snow on Greylock inspired his description of the white whale breaching the waves in Moby Dick.

Even driving the newly restored roads, up to the summit from just north of Pittsfied, and down to North Adams, is a heady ooh-aah experience. We meandered around one corner and “oohed” at the view and then turned another corner and aahed.

Please note that the grass on Greylock is quite tasty!

We never did get to The Clark, but what a magic day Greylock shared with us before we headed back to our Lenox MA Bed and Breakfast.

It Was the Best of Times

innkeeper — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:19:14 +0000

Says Quinn: Despite Irene’s unwelcome end-of-summer visit, this was one of the best of my 12 summers at Birchwood Inn.

Ellen and I have created a Top Ten Best of Summer 2011 list:

# 10 -Best play we missed: “Sylvia” — about a dog of course — at the Berkshire Theatre Festival

# 9 -Best Tanglewood Concert we missed: “Porgy and Bess”

# 8 -Best book read this summer: “The Greater Journey”

# 7 -Best exhibit: Pissarro at The Clark Art Institute (until Oct. 6)

# 6 -Best new Lenox food experience: Berkshire Gelato next door to Prime

# 5 -Best new breakfast recipe: Peach Croissant French Toast Panini

# 4 -Best breakfast fruit course: Honeydew “Gazpacho” and Bircher Muesli

# 3 -Best food blog: Eight Broads in the Kitchen at Bed and Breakfast Foodies

8 Broads... and a Dog

# 2 -Best park for hiking or walking a dog: Kennedy Park

# 1 -Best summer weekend: James Taylor and the annual 4th of July Party Time at our Lenox MA Bed and Breakfast!

Dog Days? I’m Insulted

innkeeper — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 07:53:11 +0000

As a most fine and upstanding canine, I am not at all happy that these miserably hot days in the Northeast, with unheard of temperatures in the 90s and humidity that even curls my hair, are called Dog Days. Dogs are cool!

Here in Lenox, in the heart of the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts, there are gentle breezes in the garden and on the front porch at Birchwood Inn.

The leafy hiking trails in Kennedy Park across the street are very pleasant. There is plenty of shade under the ancient oaks at Tanglewood, and fortunately the air-conditioning is working mighty fine at Shakespeare & Co., Jacob’s Pillow, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage Co., The Colonial, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. I also love taking a cool respite at The Norman Rockwell Museum, The Clark Art Institute, and MASS MoCA.

And there’s nothing more refreshing than a swim in one of the many nearby mountain lakes.

Nothing doggy about it. Why not the Cat Days of Summer?

And that’s the way I see it. Quinn