Stay in hotels and inns where history happened

Two elegant Federalist mansions make up the lovely Harbor Light Inn, where its 18th century past is celebrated in everything from hand carvings to finely tooled furnishings to paintings and other artwork. Stay in a room with a four-poster or canopy bed, with a working fireplace and cozy window seating, and you’ll feel you have slipped back into a more serene time. The gracious inn is located in Marblehead’s historic harbor district, not only close to shops, galleries and restaurants but also to other colonial homes. Guests can get a glimpse of this famous sailing town’s past at the Marblehead Museum or by visiting Old Burial Hill, with gravestones going back to the 1600s. The inn’s modern amenities include an outdoor pool and popular tavern.

Don’t be surprised if you hear whispers of the past in the corridors of the Hotel on North, the boutique hotel in the center of the Berkshires region. The hotel’s buildings, on the National Register of Historic Places, have a long heritage as the legendary menswear and sporting goods emporium, Besse-Clarke. Many century-old details have been preserved, including exposed brick walls, tin ceilings, decorative columns – even a (stationary) birdcage elevator. But the present is evident here, too, with 45 individually appointed rooms, all with lightning-fast wifi, pillowtop mattresses and luxurious linens. The hotel is minutes away from all the great Berkshires attractions, from art and history museums to cultural venues, ski slopes, hiking, biking and shopping.

The Ponds at Foxhollow has been part of the Berkshires scene since the late 19th century, when George Westinghouse built a “cottage” on the 223-acre estate for his wife, Marguerite. The estate, originally called Erskine Park, went on to do service as a girls school for 40 years in the mid-20th century. Today, it welcomes guests seeking a respite in a scenic, secluded resort with in-room amenities including fireplaces, decks overlooking the pond, fully equipped kitchens and jetted tubs. Two-bedroom condos have loft sitting rooms. The resort has indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center, hot tub, sauna, a playground and courts for tennis, bocce and basketball and is close to the region’s great restaurants, museums, recreational activities and arts venues.

Guests at the Deerfield Inn used to arrive by stagecoach back in 1884, when the inn first welcomed travelers to the aptly named Happy Valley region of Massachusetts. Parts of that past are still in evidence in the gracious 24-room inn: There’s the original hayloft door, the horse weathercock still turns, there are native plantings in the gardens, and the front porch ceilings are still painted robin’s-egg blue. Some of the uniquely appointed rooms and suites have period furniture, there’s a quaint parlor, and the restaurant, which serves superb meals, has period wallpaper along with its cheery fireplace. The inn is perched among fine examples of 19th- and 20th-century homes, right on Old Main Street in Deerfield Village, listed as a National Historic Landmark.