Historic Sites in Berkshire County

History of Berkshire County

Berkshire County fills the far western end of Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills and the Taconic Range, with Mount Greylock, the state's highest point, at its northern end. It was incorporated in 1761. Before that, Stockbridge was founded as a mission town for the Stockbridge Mohicans, and the Mission House built for missionary John Sergeant still stands.

The hills have long drawn writers and wealthy summer residents. Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick at Arrowhead, his farm in Pittsfield. Edith Wharton built The Mount in Lenox in 1902, one of dozens of Gilded Age "cottages" in Lenox and Stockbridge. The Shakers built their round stone barn at Hancock in 1826, and W.E.B. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington in 1868.