Gardens in Berkshires/Pioneer Valley/Mohawk Trail
Sodem and Main Roads
Tyringham, MA 01238
Phone: 413-298-3239
Fax: 413-298-5239
A rushing stream, native deciduous trees, a rounded knoll, and rising meadows are blended into an arrangement of both formal and informal beauty. Garden features include the fountain pond, pine park, rams head terrace, bowling green, regency bridge, and trellis triptych.
Hours: Mid-June to mid-September, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, 1-5 p.m.
Routes 102 and 183
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Phone: 413-298-3926
Both functional and ornamental, the Berkshire Botanical Garden is among the oldest in the United States.The collections emphasize plants that are indigenous to or thrive in the Berkshires; more than 3,000 species and varieties are represented.Classes, workshops, lectures and special events are offered year-round.
Major annual events include the Plant Sale, the Flower Show, the Fete des Fleurs Garden Party, the Harvest Festival and the Holiday Fair. The Harvest Festival was first held in 1934 as the Garden’s first fundraising event and has since become the Berkshires’ best-known community gathering.
Hours: May to October, daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $12; seniors and students, $10; children under age 12, free.
Art School Road
Monterey, MA 01245
Phone: 413-528-6888
The Bidwell House was built circa 1750 as the parsonage for the first minister to the the present-day towns of Monterey and Tyringham. Surrounding the house are terraced stone walls brimming with perennial beds. these provide a fabulous setting for this gem of a Georgian saltbox. The remaining acreage is woodlands laced with hiking trails and foot paths leading to historical landmarks throughout the property.
Beautiful in all seasons, the grounds and gardens ARE a pleasant adjunct to a visit to the museum. Additionally, The Kitchen Garden demonstrates the early colonial style and variety of plants and 19th-century Shaker vegetable gardening. Near it is an heirloom herb garden. There is also the remains of an old orchard.
Hours: Late May to mid-October, Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
15 College Lane
Northampton, MA 01063
Phone: 413-585-2740
Today, the Botanic Garden includes thousands of plants, including those grown under glass in the Lyman Conservatory and outdoors in the campus areboretum — our landscape for learning — and various specialty gardens around campus. Additionally, there are 60,000 pressed specimens available for research in the herbarium. Botanic Garden activities and collections include not only plants but also books and other resource materials (including our newsletter, Botanic Garden News), an international seed exchange, research and conservation, and diverse events.
Major events include the two-week Spring Bulb Show and Fall Chrysanthemum Show.
Hours: Daily year-round.
Admission: Free.
Williamsville Road, one mile south of Routes 183 and 102
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Phone: 413-298-3579
Chesterwood is the country home, studio, and gardens of America’s foremost sculptor of public monuments, Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), creator of the Minute Man and Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial. It is situated on 122 acres in the idyllic hamlet of Glendale near Stockbridge. Each year, during the month of May, French left his permanent home and studio in New York for six months and moved with his family to Chesterwood, where he worked on 201 commissions. Many of French’s plaster sketches, including models of his Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial, are on view today in his studio as well as in the permanent exhibit in Barn Gallery. Visitors to Chesterwood are invited to explore a self-guided tour of the beautiful formal gardens and woodland paths created by French himself.
Hours: Late May-early October, daily, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $16; children age 13-17, $8
19 Main St.
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Phone: 413-298-3239
Built in 1739 and originally located atop Prospect Hill, this National Historic Landmark was disassembled, moved, and restored between 1926 and 1927. Landscape architect Fletcher Steele designed the Colonial Revival garden, which features a colonial-style dooryard garden of circular brick paths enclosed by a tidewater cypress fence. A replica of an old cobbler shop serves as the entrance to the property; a grape arbor in the Well Courtyard behind the house leads to a small Native American museum.
Hours: Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day, daily, 10 a.m.- to 5 p.m. Fee charged.
Prospect Hill Road
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Phone: 413-298-3239
Fax: 413-298-5239
Eight acres of terraced gardens
This 44-room house was the summer cottage of the Choate family, and features original furniture, ceramics, and artwork collected from America, Europe, and the Far East. Famous for its eight acres of terraced gardens and landscaped grounds, transformed from 1926 to 1956 into separate garden rooms such as the afternoon garden, rose garden, evergreen garden, Chinese garden, arborvitae walk, and linden walk. The most famous feature of the landscape is Steele’s Blue Steps, a series of deep blue fountain pools flanked by four flights of stairs overhung by birch trees.
Hours: Memorial Day to Columbus Day, daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission fee for non-members.
