1. Red Lion Inn
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (413) 290-5545
Address: 01262
Insider Pick:
Description: If this historic inn conjures up images of a Norman Rockwell painting, there’s a good reason. The Red Lion was prominently featured in Rockwell’s Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas painting. A Stockbridge fixture since 1773, the Red Lion offers 108 rooms and suites that are spread across the Main Inn and 4 adjacent houses. The rooms are of different shapes and sizes, but all exude cozy New England country charm with lots of antiques and folk art along with modern touches (high-count thread sheets, pillow-top mattresses, totally wired rooms and public spaces) that present-day travelers expect. Other amenities include a year-round heated outdoor pool and several on-site restaurant options, including the Main Dining Room, the Widow Bingham’s Tavern for pub fare, and courtyard dining from June through October. Sit a spell on the inn’s wide front porch—it has rocking chairs and wicker seating aplenty—and enjoy the sights of Main Street USA.
2. Berkshire Botanical Gardens
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (413) 298-3926
Address: 5 W. Stockbridge Rd.
Description: This little-known gem, not far from the Norman Rockwell Museum, is one of America’s oldest botanical gardens. The many specialty gardens are the highlight of the 15-acre formally designed landscape, which is open daily from May through Oct. The Procter garden features a charming display of blue-purple perennial blooms amid benches sheltered by vine-covered bowers. The rose garden dazzles in late June with a touch of fragrance from thyme planted between the paving stones and a children’s garden is tailor-made for budding horticulturalists. Everything is well labeled to help in identification (some 3,000 cultivars are represented) so that you can add your favorites to your home garden.
3. Chesterwood
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (413) 298-3579
Address: 01262
Insider Pick:
Description: Chesterwood was the summer home of Daniel Chester French, most famously known as the artist who created the monumental sculpture of the seated Lincoln in Washington, DC. French summered at Chesterwood from 1897 to 1931. The house and its next-door studio were designed for French by his friend Henry Bacon. (Bacon was the architect of the Lincoln Memorial and the two men collaborated often on projects.) Guided tours allow access to the studio, which is artistically cluttered with clay models, drawings, and sculpting tools. The house is modest by the grand Berkshire summerhouse standard of the time, but it has lovely formal gardens. Afterward check out the annual exhibit, “Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood,” which features a dozen or more large-scale pieces scattered on the manicured lawn and in the estate’s small forest. The house is open for tours May through Oct; check website for days and times.
4. Naumkeag
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (413) 298-3239
Address: 5 Prospect Hill Rd.
Description: A Gilded Age estate known for its gardens as much as for its home, this 1885 shingle-style estate was built for Joseph Hodges Choate, a New York lawyer who was ambassador to Great Britain from 1899 to 1905. He named his summer home Naumkeag, which is the Indian name for his birthplace of Salem, Massachusetts. The home is popular with historic-home enthusiasts because the 44-room estate was donated together with its original furniture. Gardeners enjoy the 8 terraced acres and the garden “rooms,” including an Afternoon Garden, a Chinese Garden, and the Blue Step fountain garden. Open seasonally from the end of May to mid-October.
5. Norman Rockwell Museum
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (413) 298-4100
Address: 9 Route 183
Insider Pick:
Description: Beloved American artist Norman Rockwell lived in Stockbridge from 1953 until his death in 1978. This museum holds the largest collection of his works, including all 322 of his Saturday Evening Post covers. Highlights of the collection include “The Four Freedoms” paintings, which were inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. “Freedom from Want,” or the “Thanksgiving Picture,” is the most well-known. The dedicated gallery has an almost reverential feel and there are benches for quiet contemplation. Check out, too, Rockwell’s actual art studio, which was moved to the museum site from its original location on Main Street. Apparently Rockwell was a very neat artist.
6. Berkshire Theatre Festival
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (413) 298-5576
Address: 6 East St.
Description: Since 1929 this festival has presented a full summer season of classic and new, musical and nonmusical productions. The 2012 season included A Chorus Line and its lesser-known companion piece, A Class Act, a smaller musical about the artists behind A Chorus Line.
7. Kripalu Center For Yoga & Health
City: Stockbridge, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (866) 200-5203
Address: 57 Interlaken Rd.
Description: Looking for a no-frills holistic hideaway experience? Housed in a former Jesuit seminary on 150 acres, Kripalu is the country’s largest and most well-established year-round yoga retreat. Totally health focused, the center buzzes with activity; dozens of yoga classes and lifestyle workshops are offered each day, yet the place still manages to exude a general air of quietude. Overnight guests can choose from either shared or dormitory accommodations in the main house or a private room in the Green Annex. Rates include 3 buffet-style (mostly vegetarian) meals and full participation in program activities. Spa treatments are offered (they call them “healing arts” here) but they are extra. You can also purchase a day pass, if you just need a kick-start to a new and improved you.