Get Outta Town: The Berkshires
When culture calls, sometimes a reinvigorated Massachusetts mill town is the only answer.
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) is nestled into the Berkshire Mountains. Photo courtesy of MASS MOCA/Doug Mason/Zoran Orlic.
Every few years, my boyfriend Kurt and I get the itch to head to the Berkshires.
With its heady mix of outdoor activities, world-class museums and creative eateries, is it any wonder the area beckons us with its siren call? Of course, we must oblige, especially in the cozy fall and winter months when the foliage or the snowy hills illuminate our route to western Massachusetts.
On our latest trip, we headed first for Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, (Mass MoCA), as we always do. The sprawling 19th century mill complex — first a textile mill and later an electronics plant — was transformed into one of the country’s largest contemporary art museums in 1999. The North Adams, Massachusetts, landmark features art, sculpture, installations, performances, films and more within its twenty-six buildings and numerous courtyards.
Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang’s virtual reality installation, “Chalkroom.” Photo courtesy of MASS MOCA/Doug Mason/Zoran Orlic.
We like to think of it as a design-your-own adventure kind of place: You can visit with one or two must-see exhibits in mind, or just wander the grounds and be amazed at the artwork you’ll find just around a corner, or up an elevated walkway, inside a tunnel or through a darkened room, with only your hands leading the way, tracing a wall for guidance.
We strolled in around 10:30 to the sounds of a traditional Irish music session, with a fiddler, guitarists and flautist setting a merry stage for museum visitors. We made our way to Jeffrey Gibson’s “Power Full Because We’re Different,” which fills an entire building — yes, there are entire buildings devoted to exhibits — with intricately designed garments hanging from the ceiling above corresponding dance floors. Gibson, an Indigenous artist based in New York, fills the show with nods to and affirmations of queer and Two-Spirit culture. The show runs through Sept. 7.
The colorful “Almanac” exhibit by Carly Glovinski. Photo courtesy of MASS MOCA/Doug Mason/Zoran Orlic.
Other must-see exhibits include Carly Glovinski’s “Almanac” — a 100-foot-long hallway filled with reproductions of giant pressed flowers based on varieties that grow in her garden — anything by Laurie Anderson, and the soundscapes inside the boiler house and a covered walkway (half the fun will be in finding them within the sprawling campus).
Our home for the weekend was the Porches Inn at Mass MoCA, Victorian rowhouses-turned-boutique hotel that is mere steps away from the museum. We love the funky, eclectic vibe, the friendly employees and the laid-back atmosphere of the guests, mostly museum nerds and outdoor enthusiasts like us. (Breakfast is included in your stay, and most other guests we saw were either paging through Mass MoCA maps or dressed in flannel and hiking books, ready for the area’s many trails.)
The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA is located just steps from the museum. Photo courtesy of Porches Inn.
Porches’ on-site recording studio, Studio 9, hosts visiting musicians, workshops and concerts. Photo courtesy of Porches Inn.
There’s also an outdoor heated pool, hot tub, indoor sauna and gym. But our favorite amenity was the property’s newest: an onsite, state-of-the-art recording studio dubbed Studio 9, which hosts artists’ workshops, residencies and concerts. We popped into the warm, wooden space on Saturday night to catch a performance of Trooko and Friends, a group of Latin American producers, singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists who played soulful, percussive and piano-tinged tunes created during their weeklong residency.
When we left, I couldn’t help but pause and think about our day. It started with an impromptu Irish session, continued with work by talented artists throughout the globe, and ended with a concert by Latin American musicians. We traveled around the globe and experienced world-class art, all within a three-hour drive of Little Rhody.
One of the eclectically decorated rooms at the Porches Inn. Photo courtesy of Porches Inn.
Next day, Mount Greylock would beckon. But for now, we were art-drunk and culturally sated with our trip to North Adams, a once-sleepy mill town that’s reinvented itself in the best possible way.
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About Dana Laverty
Dana coordinates and assigns stories for The 401 and the Spaces department, serves as copy editor for the magazine, compiles the magazine’s yearly editorial calendar, and helps coordinate the magazine’s production and news coverage. She also facilitates the annual Design Awards and contributes to RIMonthly.com. She loves writing about art and artists, culture, books, the outdoors, history, trends, historic homes and the quirky people and places that make Rhode Island great. A Rumford native and URI journalism grad (go Rams!), you can often find her hanging out with her college-aged kiddo, hiking, traveling, reading and spending as much time as possible outdoors.
