Don’t miss these lesser-known Berkshires delights

TimesUnion.com, June 2021
By Steve Barnes

The Berkshires of western Massachusetts have been a summer getaway for more than 150 years, with elites of the Gilded Age building at least 40 “cottages,” which is to say mansions on grand estate grounds, during the latter third of the 19th century in Lenox and Stockbridge alone. Along with Newport, R.I., and Mount Desert Island in Maine, the Berkshires were where the wealthy sought relief from the heat of summers in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.