Led by Cynthia Farr Brown, Neighbors and Strangers links the big story of America’s rapidly changing population during the 19th and early 20th centuries, as European immigrants flocked to the U.S. to realize opportunities and escape oppression or catastrophe, to a series of sites in downtown Pittsfield. Learn about how Irish, German, French and Italian immigrants came to Pittsfield, settled themselves and their families, and contributed to the Berkshire community. The Berkshire County Historical Society will kick off a series of walking tours in downtown Pittsfield that highlight various aspects of Pittsfield’s rich and diverse history. Tour themes touch on the people and places that helped shape our community including the city’s industrial past, its role in the Revolutionary War, the impact of immigrant communities during the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries, art, architecture, and sports. Most tours begin at 11 am and last approximately 60 – 90 minutes. Tours are offered rain or shine, but extreme weather may necessitate cancellation.  Participants should dress for the weather and in comfortable walking shoes; sunscreen and a hat are recommended.