BUT DO NOT OVERLOOK GREAT BARRINGTON.
IT HAS SOME ATTRACTIONS OF ITS OWN.
WE ROAD TRIP OUR WAY WEST TO A TOWN NESTLED IN THE VALLEY OF THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.
JUST UNDER TWO POINT FIVE HOURS FROM BOSTON IS GREAT BARRINGTON.
POPULATION 7500.
SOMEWHAT IN THE SHADOW OF NEIGHBORING LENOX, GREAT BARRINGTON SHINES IF YOU GIVE IT A CHANCE.
THE EDWARD HOPPER-ESQUE DOWNTOWN IS LIN WITH HISTORIC BUILDINGS.
HE OPENED ROBBINS CANDY ON MAIN STRE IN 2008.
>> IT IS WALKABLE, IT IS FRIENDLY.
THERE IS EVERYTHING FROM A HARDWARE STORE TO AN OLD-FASHIONED CANDY STORE.
>> WOMEN’S CLOTHING ATTRACT THE FASHION FORWARD.
LOCALS AND VISITORS ALIKE OFTEN PREPARE DINNER WITH A -- PAIR DINNER WITH A SHOW AT THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER.
>> IT REFERS TO THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.
>> BUILT IN 1905, THIS HALL IS NO TYPICAL SMALL TOWN THEATER.
HEADLINERS INCLU ALYSSA ETHERIDGE AND WHOOPI GOLDBERG, AMONG MANY OTHERS.
THE LINEUP IS ONE REASON WHY THE THEATER IS A COMMUNITY FIXTURE.
WE ARE ALSO SHOWING HD BROADCASTS, LIVE PERFORMANCES OF ROCK STARS.
DANCE COMPANIES >> CLOSE TO DOWNTOWN, A CENTER THAT PAYS HOMAGE TO A CIVIL RIGHTS LEGEND.
WDB DO BOYS.
>> - WEB DO BOYS DUBOIS.
>> FOR A YOUNG BLACK MEN TO EVEN CONSIDER COLLEGE WAS EXTRAORDINARY.
BUT THE CHURCHES IN THE AREA PUT TOGETHER FUNDS TO SEND HIM TO FISK UNIVERSITY.
>> MEET THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RANDY WEINSTEIN.
HE HAS AMASSED A LITERAL LIBRARY OF CIVIL RIGHTS TREASURES.
INCLUDED, SIGN BOOKS.
A SCHOLAR WHO COFOUNDED THE DOUBLE AND SEE -- NAACP.
HE WROTE THE DEFINITIVE WORK IN SOCIOLOGY FOR THE TIME.
IN AMERICAN HISTORY POST-CIVIL WAR.
>> HE WAS AN ENVIRONMENTALIST WHO REMAINED INSPIRED BY THE BERKSHIRES’S BEAUTY THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE.
>> GREAT BARRINGTON WAS HOME TO HIM, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
THIS WAS THE ONE PLACE HE COULD COME BACK T >> OTHER HISTORIC FIGURES ALSO FAVORED RATE BARRINGTON.
>> IN 1850, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND MEVILLE MET IN A MOUNTAIN.
THEY DISCUSSED TO SOME OF THEIR IDEAS.
THEY LATER BECAME LIFELONG FRIENDS AND MOBY DIC WAS EVEN DEDICATED TO NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
MONUMENT MOUNTAIN HAS BEEN A IMPORTANT LANDMARK FOR CENTURIES.
FIRST AS AN IMPORTANT, SACRED NATI AMERICAN HUNTI GROUND.
LATER, A SOURCE OF RECREATION AND ENJOYMENT.
>> HIKERS CAN EXPLORE T MILLVILL PATH.
BE PREPARED FOR A 720 FOO ELEVATION CHANGE.
IT IS ALSO A CONSERVATION AREA.
>> THE HIKE CAN GET A LITTLE STEEP, DEPENDING ON HOW FAR YOU GO.
MAKE SURE YOU READ UP BEFORE GOING.
CHOOSING WHICH PATH TO TAKE.
W.E. DUBOIS’S FIRST WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE BURIED BEHIND T CENTER.
HE HIMSELF IS BURIED