Great Barrington is a
townThe New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. An institution that does not have a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in that they were originally set up so that all...
in
Berkshire CountyBerkshire County is a non-governmental county located on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population was 134,953. Its largest city and county seat is Pittsfield...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is part of the
PittsfieldPittsfield is the largest city in 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. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,527 at the 2000 census. Both a summer resort and home to
Ski ButternutSki Butternut is a ski resort in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, located on Warner Mountain in The Berkshires.The ski area was first opened by the New Haven Railroad as Warner Mountain Ski Area in the 1936-37 ski season...
, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and
HousatonicHousatonic is a census-designated place in the town of Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. It is also the birthplace of W. E. B. Du Bois.
History
The
MahicanThe Mahicans are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley , many then moving to Stockbridge, Massachusetts after 1780, before the remaining descendants moved to northeastern Wisconsin during the 1820s and 1830s.The tribe's name for itself was...
IndiansThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
called the area Mahaiwe, meaning "the place downstream." It lay on the
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
Path, which connected
Fort OrangeFort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River and which served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618, when it was...
near
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with Springfield and then
Massachusetts BayThe Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the large bays of the Atlantic Ocean that form the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay, Quincy...
. The village was first settled in 1726, and from 1742-1761 was the north
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
of
SheffieldSheffield is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,335 at the 2000 census. Sheffield is home to the Berkshire School, a private preparatory school...
. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great Barrington, named after the village of Great Barrington in
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
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 KnoxHenry Knox was an American bookseller from Boston who became the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army and later the nation's first Secretary of War.-Early life and marriage:...
passed through Great Barrington while transporting the cannon from
Fort TiconderogaFort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York...
to the
Siege of BostonThe Siege of Boston was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War, in which New England militiamen—who later became part of the Continental Army—surrounded the town of Boston, Massachusetts, to prevent movement by the British Army garrisoned within...
.
With the arrival of the railroad, Great Barrington developed into a
Gilded AgeIn American history, the Gilded Age refers to substantial growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era, in the late 19th century...
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
LenoxLenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. It is the site of Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra...
and
StockbridgeStockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,276 at the 2000 census...
. Among the earliest estates was that built by
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
banker, industrialist and art patron
David LeavittDavid Leavitt was an early New York City banker and financier. As president of the American Exchange Bank of New York during the Financial Panic of 1837 he represented bondholders of the nascent Illinois and Michigan Canal, allowing completion of the historic canal linking the Midwest with the...
, who built an elaborate 300-acre estate, and was soon followed by those of his sons nearby. Leavitt was instrumental in the development of the local
Housatonic RailroadThe Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.The...
, serving as its president.
Other later estates included
Searles CastleThe Searles Castle is a romantically imagined castle-style house in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Built in the 1880s, and in the French chateau-style, it has seven stories and includes a "dungeon" basement. There are 40 rooms containing over of floor space, as well as 36 fireplaces.It was...
, commissioned in 1888 by the widow of
Mark HopkinsMark Hopkins, Junior was one of four principal investors who formed the Central Pacific Railroad along with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Collis Huntington in 1861.-Early life:...
together with her second husband,
Edward Francis SearlesEdward Francis Searles was an interior and architectural designer.-Biography:Searles was born on July 4 1841, in Methuen, Massachusetts, USA to Jesse Gould Searles and Sarah Littlefield Searles...
, and
Brookside, built for William Hall Walker. In 1895, Colonel William L. Brown, part owner of the
New York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fifth most-widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 632,595, as of June 13, 2009. The first U.S. daily printed in tabloid form, it was founded in 1919, and as of 2007 is owned and run by Mortimer Zuckerman...
, presented Great Barrington with a statue of a newsboy, now a landmark on the western edge of town.
In March 1886, the water mill at Great Barrington was the site of an experiment that first used water to drive an
alternating currentIn alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again...
generator. A transformer was used to increase the
voltageVoltage is commonly used as a short name for electrical potential difference. Its corresponding SI unit is the volt...
and the current was transmitted over a mile away to the nearest town to power street lights. It was the first time electrical power had been transmitted a considerable distance away from its generating station.
The town was the site of an
F4The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
tornado around 7:00 PM on
Memorial DayMemorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May . Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service...
, May 29, 1995. The tornado killed four people and caused damage in the area.
Arlo Guthrie'sArlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
"
Alice's Restaurant"Alice's Restaurant Massacree" is one of singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie's most prominent works, a musical monologue based on a true story that began on Thanksgiving Day 1965, and which inspired a 1969 movie of the same name...
," which runs for 18 1/2 minutes, is based on true-life events that occurred in Great Barrington and the adjoining towns of
StockbridgeStockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,276 at the 2000 census...
and
LeeLee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,985 which was determined in the 2000 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is part of the Berkshires resort...
. The Guthrie Center, which is at the Old Trinity Church and was the home of Ray and Alice Brock at the time of the incidents related in the song, is at 4 Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington.
Great Barrington offers the use of its own
currencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, called
BerkShareBerkShares is a local currency that circulates in The Berkshires region of Massachusetts. It was launched September 29, 2006 by BerkShares Inc., with research and development assistance from the E.F. Schumacher Society. The BerkShares website lists over 370 businesses in Berkshire County that...
notes. There are about 844,000 BerkShare notes in circulation worth about $759,600 at the current exchange rate of one BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper money is available in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty.
Geography
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the town has a total area of 45.7
square mileThe square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
s (118.4 km²), of which, 45.2 square miles (117.0 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) of it (1.12%) is water. Great Barrington is bordered by
West StockbridgeWest Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,416 at the 2000 census.- History :...
,
StockbridgeStockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,276 at the 2000 census...
and
LeeLee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,985 which was determined in the 2000 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is part of the Berkshires resort...
to the north,
TyringhamTyringham is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 350 at the 2000 census.- History :...
to the northeast,
MontereyMonterey is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 934 at the 2000 census.- History :...
to the east,
New MarlboroughNew Marlborough is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,494 at the 2000 census...
to the southeast,
SheffieldSheffield is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,335 at the 2000 census. Sheffield is home to the Berkshire School, a private preparatory school...
to the south,
EgremontEgremont is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,345 at the 2000 census. Egremont consists of two villages, North Egremont and South Egremont....
to the southwest, and
AlfordAlford is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 399 at the 2000 census.- History :...
to the northwest. The town is located 20 miles south of
PittsfieldPittsfield is the largest city in 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. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
, 46 miles west of
SpringfieldSpringfield is the largest city on the Connecticut River and the county seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States.In the 2000 census, the city population was 154,082. It is the third largest city in Massachusetts and fourth largest in New England...
, and 135 miles west of Boston.
Great Barrington is located within the valley of the
Housatonic RiverThe Housatonic River is a river, approximately 149 mi long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
, and is also served by the Williams River, Green River and several brooks. To the east of the river, several mountains of the Berkshires rise, including East Mountain (site of Butternut Basin and a state forest), Beartown Mountain (and the majority of Beartown State Forest) and Monument Mountain. The
Appalachian TrailThe Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply The A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States, extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long. The path is maintained by thirty trail...
crosses through East Mountain State Forest in the southwest corner of town. The southwest corner of town is also the site of several country clubs and a fairgrounds.
U.S. Route 7U.S. Route 7 is a north-south United States highway in western New England that runs for from Norwalk, Connecticut to Highgate, Vermont. The highway's northern terminus is at Interstate 89 near the village of Highgate Springs, Vermont, immediately south of the Canadian border...
passes through the center of town, and was once part of New England Interstate Route 4 (also known as the New York-Berkshire-Burlington Way). Route 23 also passes from west to east through town, combining with Route 41 and Route 7 in the western part of town and Route 183 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 located approximately twelve miles south of Exit 2 of
Interstate 90Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels U.S. Route 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, Washington, at 4th Avenue S. next to Safeco Field and Qwest Field, and its eastern terminus...
(also known as the
Massachusetts TurnpikeThe Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost 138-mile stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
), the nearest interstate highway.
Great Barrington lies along the
Housatonic RailroadThe Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.The...
line, which roughly follows Route 7 and the river through southern New England. The town also has local bus service through the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA) as well as regional service. Great Barrington is home to
Walter J. Koladza AirportWalter J. Koladza Airport, , also known as the Great Barrington Airport, is a privately owned airport in Great Barrington, Massachusetts open to the public. It has a single 2,579 ft runway. Walter J...
, a small local airport. The nearest airport with national service is
Bradley International AirportBradley International Airport is a public airport located in Windsor Locks on the border with East Granby, in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is owned by the State of Connecticut....
in
Windsor Locks, ConnecticutWindsor Locks is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,043 at the 2000 census.Situated on the Connecticut River, the town is named after a set of canal locks...
.
Demographics
See also: Great Barrington (CDP)Great Barrington is a census-designated place located in the town of Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,459 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Great Barrington is located at ....
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
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 densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 166.6 people per square mile (64.3/km²), ranking it eighth in the county and 268th in the Commonwealth. There were 3,352 housing units at an average density of 74.2/sq mi (28.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.74% White, 2.09% Black or
African AmericanRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.16% Native American, 1.25% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.70% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.07% of the population.
There were 3,008 households out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
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 median income for a household in the town was $45,490, and the median income for a family was $53,135. Males had a median income of $38,163 versus $29,474 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the town was $22,655. About 3.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Great Barrington employs the
open town meetingAn open town meeting is a form of municipal legislature, typical in the New England region of the United States.In Massachusetts, for example, generally the least populous towns have open town meeting form of government...
form of government, and is led by a
board of selectmenThe board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms.-History:...
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, located in in the town center, and a branch library, Ramsdell Library, located in the village of Housatonic. Both are part of the regional library network. The town is also home to two county courthouses (as it is the main town in the southern third of the county), as well as Fairview Hospital, the main hospital in the southern end of the county.
On the state level, Great Barrington is represented in the
Massachusetts House of RepresentativesThe 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 an equal number of single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives...
by the Fourth Berkshire district, which covers southern Berkshire County, as well as the westernmost towns in Hampden County. In the
Massachusetts SenateThe Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate consists of 40 elected members from an equal amount of single-member senatorial districts in commonwealth...
, 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 First (Lee) Station of Barracks "B" of the
Massachusetts State PoliceThe Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
.
On the national level, Great Barrington is represented in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
as part of
Massachusetts's 1st congressional districtMassachusetts's first congressional district is in western and central Massachusetts. The largest Massachusetts district in area, it covers about one-third of the state and is more rural than the rest. It has the state's highest point, Mount Greylock...
, and has been represented by
John OlverJohn Walter Olver , American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, representing , a primarily rural district that makes up most of Western Massachusetts....
of
AmherstAmherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2000 census, the population was 34,874. The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, three of the Five Colleges...
since June 1991. Massachusetts is currently represented in the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
by senior Senator
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
and interim junior senator Paul Kirk. A
special electionThe 2010 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts will take place on January 19, 2010, with a party primary election on December 8, 2009. It will be a special election to fill the Massachusetts Class I Senate seat, for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013...
is scheduled to be held on January 19, 2010 to fill the Class 1 seat currently held by Kirk.
Local currency
The local currency of the region, including Great Barrington, is the
BerkSharesBerkShares is a local currency that circulates in The Berkshires region of Massachusetts. It was launched September 29, 2006 by BerkShares Inc., with research and development assistance from the E.F. Schumacher Society. The BerkShares website lists over 370 businesses in Berkshire County that...
; proponents say that 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 dollarThe United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
and are in paper only.
Education
Great Barrington is the central town of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, which includes the towns of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. All three school levels are located in Great Barrington. Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School serves students through fourth grade, and is located off of Route 7 in the northern part of town. Monument Valley Regional Middle School serves through eighth grade, and Monument Mountain Regional High School serves the high school students of the district. The school's athletic teams are called the Spartans, and their colors are maroon and white. Students from Otis and Sandisfield also attend the school as part of a tuition agreement for high schools. The town also is home to several private schools, including the
Rudolf SteinerRudolf Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social thinker, architect and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
School, the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, and the
John Dewey AcademyThe John Dewey Academy is a therapeutic college preparatory boarding school in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, housed in Searles Castle.It is coeducational and enrolls about 35 high school students, ages 16 to 21, in grades 10 to postgraduate. Students are self-destructive adolescents who have not...
.
Great Barrington is home to Bard College at Simon's Rock, a private college, and the South County Center of the
Berkshire Community CollegeBerkshire Community College is a two-year community college in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States. It offers associate degrees as well as a transfer program for students to earn credits for transfer to other colleges...
. The nearest state college is
Westfield State CollegeWestfield State College is a comprehensive, coeducational, four-year public college. It is the most residential of the Massachusetts state colleges and is located about 20 minutes from Springfield, at 577 Western Avenue, in Westfield, Massachusetts. The college is most recognized for its Criminal...
, and the nearest state university is the
University of Massachusetts AmherstThe University of Massachusetts is a selective research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts...
.
Great Barrington also plays host to the
American Institute for Economic ResearchAmerican Institute for Economic Research , located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest economic research organizations in the United States. Founded in 1933, AIER is an independent 501 organization that represents no fund, concentration of wealth, or other special interests...
. AIER was founded in 1933 as non-profit scientific and educational organization. Originally located at MIT, it relocated to the southern shore of Great Barrington's
Long Pond-In Massachusetts:* Long Pond , a lake/reservoir/pond within the towns of Lakeville and Freetown* Long Pond , a lake and village in Plymouth* Long Pond , a lake in Great Barrington...
in 1946.
Media
Great Barrington is served by a local weekly newspaper, The Berkshire Record, and a weekly shopper, The Shoppers Guide.
The town also gets newspaper delivery from
The Berkshire EagleThe Berkshire Eagle is a daily newspaper published in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and covering all of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, as well as four New York communities near Pittsfield...
.
There used to be a second newspaper, The Berkshire Courier, which has since gone out of print but the masthead of the Berkshire Courier was incorporated by the Berkshire Record in 1995.
Great Barrington has a few local radio stations.
- WSBS 860 kHz (Full Service)
- W231AK 94.1 MHz (//WUPE
WUPE-FM is a radio station simulcasting a Oldies format. Licensed to North Adams, Massachusetts, USA, WUPE-AM serves the Pittsfield area. The station is currently owned by Berkshire Broadcasting Co., Inc..-History:...
Oldies)
- WBCR-LP 97.7 MHz (Local Variety)
- W254AU 98.7 MHz (//WFCR
WFCR is a U.S. radio station operating at 88.5 MHz in the FM band.It is located at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts and its broadcasting range extends to western and central Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and southern Vermont and New Hampshire...
NPR Amherst)
- WAMQ 105.1 MHz (//WAMC
WAMC is a public radio station out of Albany, New York, broadcasting on the 90.3 FM frequency and several others. The organization's legal name is "WAMC, Inc.," and it is also known as "WAMC Public Radio" or "WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network."...
[NPR] Albany)
Great Barrington is in the
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
television market with three Springfield TV stations appearing on the cable lineup,
WWLPWWLP is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts that is licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter located on Provin Mountain in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam...
(NBC 22), WGBY (PBS 57),
WSHM-LPWSHM-LD is the low-powered CBS-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts that is licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 41 from a transmitter in Westfield. Owned by the Meredith Corporation, it has studios at Monarch Place in downtown...
(CBS 67). The town is served by
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
cable out of Lee.
Sites of interest
- Aston Magna Festival
- Bard College at Simon's Rock
- First Congregational Church of Great Barrington
- Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum
- Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
External links