North Adams, Massachusetts
You can get high two ways in North Adams: on Massachusetts's highest mountain, and on contemporary art and performances.
Church spires in an early
morning scene
in North Adams MA, looking toward Mount Greylock.
North Adams, a former industrial town in the extreme northwestern corner of Massachusetts 131 miles (211 km) northwest of Boston, at the northern extent of the Berkshire Hills (map), is now know mainly for two things: Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts, and MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).
It is a small but pleasant town with a restored and beautified 19th-century Main Street (called DownStreet by locals) grand churches and mansions from the town's 19th-century industrial heyday, and adequate hospitality services, with many more nearby.
What to See & Do
Mass MoCA
MASS MoCA's reason for being is to present moern works of art that cannot easily be displayed in traditional museums. Its many renovated factory spaces can easily shelter gigantic works and display them to advantage.
Xu Bing's gigantic 99-foot-long (30-meter), 12-ton Phoenixes have plenty of room to fly
at MASS MoCA.
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) on the Hoosic River in North Adams MA (map) wants "to foster and present exciting new work of the highest quality in all media – and in all phases of its production."
Founded in a factory town with lots of cheap, large spaces, Mass MoCA can exhibit huge works of art that other museums can't accommodate.
In other words, you never know what you might see here: a finished gigantic work of sculpture, a performance art piece in rehearsal, artists painting, sculpting, welding, drafting sketches, discussing old work and new work and work yet to be conceived.
It's not just the huge interior spaces of the museum's 26 former industrial buildings on its 13-acre (5.26-hectare) campus. It's the technical, support and administrative staff that help to make an artist's conception a reality.
Once one of the country's largest factories for printed cloth, then a design and manufacturing facility for sophisticated electronics, the factory campus was available in 1986 when Thomas Krens, director of the Williams College Museum of Art, was looking for large spaces in which to display oversize works of contemporary art that couldn't be displayed in traditional museum spaces. The factory campus would have one gallery as long as a (US) football field (300 yards, 91.44 meters), and other, smaller spaces.
You never know what you'll find at Mass MoCA!
The idea for Mass MoCA was born, and the museum opened on May 30, 1999.
The museum stages five major exhibitions each year, and over 80 performance events. For information on current offerings, or to become a member of MASS MoCA, see the Mass MoCA website.
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary
Art
87 Marshall Street (map)
North Adams MA 01247
info@massmoca.org
Tel: 413-662-2111
Fax: 413-663-8548
MASS MoCA's presence here has enhanced the lively arts scene in this corner of Massachusetts. Visit this world-renowned innovative museum and you can also easily visit the nearby Clark Art Institute, the Williams College Museum of Art, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Bennington Museum in neighboring Vermont. More...
Mount Greylock
At 3491 feet (1064 meters), Mount Greylock is no Matterhorn, but it is a great hiking and scenic-view destination and, according to Harry Potter author J K Rowling, it is where Mayflower Pilgrim Isolt Sayre established the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Veterans War Memorial Tower at the summit
of Mount Greylock.
What's magical is the view.
The summit of Mount Greylock (3491 feet/1064 meters) in the northwest corner of Massachusetts (map), is the highest point in the state and worth a visit for its spectacular views and its hiking trails.
The Summit
At the summit, a small parking fee is charged for those arriving by car.
The 92-foot Veterans War Memorial Tower, originally designed to be a lighthouse in Boston's Charles River Estuary, is an observatory with windows at the top, but the tower was closed in 2013 due to deterioration. Renovation is scheduled to be completed, and the staircase to the top re-opened, in 2017, but you should check on the current status if climbing the tower is essential for you. (The view from the ground on the summit is nearly as good.)
Explore some of the 40 miles (64 km) of hiking trails (including part of the Appalachian Trail) which thread through the forest of the Mount Greylock State Reservation's 11,000 acres (4452 hectares). Perhaps you'll run across Isolt Sayre's 17th-century stone house (see below).
Bascom Lodge
Along with the marvelous views, you'll find Bascom Lodge (tel 413-743-1591), a hikers' hostel and dining room which can provide sleeping accommodations in private rooms or bunkrooms; breakfast of home-made pastries and hearty fare from 8:00 am to 10:00 am; lunch of soups, salads and sandwiches from 11 am to 4:30 pm; a sunset beverage hour of beer, wine and other refreshments from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm; dinner Wednesday through Sunday at 7:00 pm (one seating, menus online, reservations required).
The lodge is open from mid-May through mid-October.
Ilvermorny School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry
According to Harry Potter author J K Rowling, the summit is also the location of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, founded in the 1600s by a wizard who came to Massachusetts with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. An Irish orphan, Isolt Sayre, is said to have left Plimoth Plantation with a muggle friend and constructed a stone house on the summit in which to teach witchcraft and wizardry.
Getting to the Summit
Roads to the summit are open in warm weather (usually late June through October; closed in winter. Access to the summit, its Veterans War Memorial Tower and Bascom Lodge, is from either MA Route 2 in North Adams on the mountain's north side, or from US 7 at New Ashford on its west side, or Lanesborough on its south side. The Visitor Center is on Rockwell Road from Lanesborough to the summit.
There is no public transportation from the mountain's base to the summit. Even taxis will usually not take you.
Driving, please note that your GPS may mislead you! Do not depend on it alone. Follow these directions:
From Williamstown
Four miles east of Williamstown along MA Route 2, just past a Shell fuel station, turn right (south) onto Notch Road, following a sign for Mount Greylock State Reservation.
From North Adams
About 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the center of North Adams along MA Route 2, Notch Road is on the left (south) just before a Shell fuel station. A sma sign indicates this turn for Mount Greylock State Reservation.
Notch Road
If you have a GPS device, or a smartphone with GPS capability, use it for this ascent, as there are two tricky turns in the road. For your destination, input Mount Greylock State Reservation.
About 1.2 miles (2 km) up the hill, Notch Road makes a sharp turn to the left. There is a sign but the sign is easy to miss. (Pattison Road bears to the right along the shore of the Mt Williams Reservoir. If you see a body of water on your left, you've missed the turn, you're on Pattison Road, and you must turn around and return to Notch Road.)
The distance from MA Route 2 to the summit is about 8.9 miles (14 km). The road is narrow and winding, with an average speed of 20 to 25 miles per hour. The ascent by car takes between 25 and 30 minutes, the descent about the same.
From Lanesborough
Approaching from the south, follow US Route 7 north to Lanesborough. About 2 miles (3.2 km) after crossing the town line into Lanesborough, turn right on North Main Street and follow the signs 9 miles (14.5 km) to the summit along Rockwell Road.
The Mount Greylock Visitor Center is on this road just before you enter the gate to the Mount Greylock State Reservation.
From New Ashford
From US Route 7 in New Ashford, turn east onto Greylock Road (there's a sign) and follow it to the summit.
Mount Greylock State Reservation
Visitor Center
30 Rockwell Road (map)
P O Box 138
Lanesborough MA 01237
Tel: 413-499-4262
Natural Bridge State Park
On the outskirts of North Adams in the northern Berkshire Hills, this natural site is perfect for a picnic—and a geology lesson.
The gorge beneath the natural bridge of marble.
Drive or walk a mile (1.6 km) along MA Route 8 northeast from the center of North Adams MA. You'll pass the Eclipse Mill, then the Beaver Mill.
Just past the Beaver Mill, turn left (west) across a bridge, then follow the signs 1/2 mile (800 meters) up a narrow, winding road across a one-lane bridge, past the marble quarry (where the marble factory was) to the Visitor Center and parking area (map).
Pay the small parking fee in the office of the Visitor Center.
Natural Bridge is not a blow-your-mind natural wonder, but a curiosity: water made its way through a fault in the marble bedrock, and over millennia carved a 30-foot cleft through the soft white stone, leaving the surface rock intact to become a bridge over the cleft.
You have to look for the sign indicating the bridge, then descend some steps to a dead-end viewing platform to see the cleft and the "natural bridge" above.
Nearby is the only whitel marble dam in the USA, built of the bedrock to form the pond that would supply water power to the marble factory in the quarry below.
Bring a picnic!
If your visit is around lunchtime, this is the place for a picnic. Tables are set around the park in sunny spots and shady, with good views of the pond, the grounds and the forest.
Other Attractions
It's worth visiting the town for these attractions alone, but many visitors include nearby cultural destinations such as other Berkshire Hills towns such as Pittsfield, Lenox, Lee and Stockbridge.
Where to Stay
Though it doesn't have many hotels and inns, the ones it has are very satisfying, and there are plenty more in nearby Williamstown and Bennington.
North Adams, Massachusetts, has a small but satifying selection of inns, hotels and other lodgings.
The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA
The best place to stay in North Adams is the 4-star, 47-room The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA, a row of historic 19th-century factory workers' houses restored to much-better-than-new condition. Located right across the Hoosic River from Mass MoCA (less than 5 minutes' stroll), The Porches has all the comforts of a luxury inn, including heated swimming pool (open summer and winter!), sauna, hot tub, Lobby Bar, breakfast room, free Wifi, etc. More...
Tourists
Yes, that's the name of the hotel, the newest resort hotel in the area. Tourists is heavily "concept," an updated throwback to Mid-century modern (the 1950s), when that American invention, the motel, was replacing the rent-a-room B&B tourist homes that had welcomed travelers during the first half of the 20th century. The 48 rooms at Tourists are hardly the spartan motel rooms of yesteryear; rather, they're Berkshires luxurious, as is the celebrity-chef restaurant, Loom. The owners of the hotel expect guests to visit the area's four excellent museums (Clark, Williams, MoCA & Bennington), and also to enjoy nature: the resort has 30 acres of its own hiking trails, and views of the Hoosic River. The Appalachian Trail is less tha a mile away, and Mount Greylock looms over the town. More...
North Adams also has a convenient 3-star, 86-room Holiday Inn Berkshires in the city center. More...
Lodging in Wiliamstown MA
There are even more hotels, motels and inns in neighboring Williamstown. More...
More Information...
The North Adams Rotary Club and the North Adams Chamber of Commerce maintain a small Visitor Center on MA Route 2 on the east side of town, and also the website ExploreNorthAdams.com, which has some information on things to see and do in Massachusetts' smallest city. More...
The City of North Adams, Mayor's Office of Tourism has information on its website:
City
of North Adams, Mayor's Office of Tourism
6 West
Main Street (map)
North Adams MA 01247
tourism@northadams-ma.gov
Tel: 413-664-6180
The Berkshire Visitors Bureau can provide you with information on all of Berkshire County, including North Adams, and indeed the entire western end of Massachusetts.