1st Traveler's Choice

Destination:
The Berkshires
of Western Massachusetts

Aston Magna Festival
St. James Church, Great Barrington (413) 528-3595

This is the nation's oldest annual summer festival dedicated to classical and baroque music performed on period instruments. The intimate venue serves to bring out the rich luster of 17th- and 18th-century chamber works.

Barrington Stage Company
Great Barrington (413) 528-8888

This relatively new theater troupe was founded in 1994 by artistic director Julianne Boyd and former managing director Susan Sperber. Despite its brief history, the Barrington Stage Company already has drawn rave reviews from the critics. And its dedication to top-notch professional theater is equaled only by its efforts to develop a strong rapport with those who support theater at a grass-roots level.

Colonel John Ashley House
Cooper Hill Road, Ashley Falls (413) 229-8600

This 1735 home marks the Berkshires' oldest on record. Seasonal tours provide an up-close look at the home's period furnishings and accessories, as well as its special pottery and tool collections. John Ashley designed and built the home for him and his new wife and ultimately made it into an estate that would be considered one of Sheffield's finest even at the dawn of the 21st century. Exquisite mill-cut paneling, a gracefully curved staircase, and a hand-carved sunburst atop a recessed cupboard attest to the attention to detail found amongst 18th-century New England craftsmen.

Berkshire Choral Festival
Route 41, Sheffield (413) 229-3522

This non-profit organization brings together 200 choristers a week for a singing vacation for eight weeks each year. Singers rehearse, study, relax, and perform the great choral masterpieces under the leadership of the most distinguished choral conductors. Five of those weeks take place in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The other three weeks occur in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Canterbury, England; and Salzburg, Austria.

More Attractions in the Berkshires:
In Lenox, Becket, Stockbridge, and Richmond
In Pittsfield, Hancock, North Adams and Williamstown