It is a charming house. The property has beautiful gardens and the hiking trails are easy and some…read moreaccessible and some are flat. Nice wide open spaces

Sometimes Yelp is missing something ..and clearly it is a review of this amazing and I mean amazing…read morestep back into history museum. how it has no reviews actually surprised me so I will attempt to offer you a decent one first of all it is near the town of Great Barrington (listed as one of the THE best small towns in America) with greatness nothing comes cheap admission is $10 (6/19/15) but you get your own personal guide let me back track a bit follow the signs off Main Rd in Monterey to find it when you think is not there just keep going down the unpaved road and there it is in all its colonial era glory you park a bit away and walk up the hill to the majestic front imagine its 1770 and how isolated this house was we rang the bell and were warmly greeted by our tour guide Joe yes this is how it works you are taken on a tour of the home Joe knows everything about this house and I mean everything now about the house it has been restored to its 1700s glory just go visit and you will see what I mean touch history the doors are original touch history the fireplaces walk up the stairs to the bedrooms you will learn about the recent history how it was lovingly restored you will learn about the preacher and his family that once lived there i just love history and if you do you will love this place too ps there is no gift shop PTL a real experience no junk for sale just history here

What a hidden gem off the Taconic parkway! I would enever have guessed this was here unless I…read moresearched for things to do while going on a weekend roadtrip. This place is open pretty much 365 and if the welcome center is closed, you can still walk around the grounds. Wonderful, funky, weird, unsettling, thought-provoking sculptures strewn over a large parcel of land and it's free too. We went in late Dec so it was cold, muddy and a few of the cool interactive pieces were closed.. whomp whomp. Also be aware of the dog 'landmines' as it seems a lot of owners do not bother to pick up. Will be back in the spring!

Awesome sculpture walk! About 50 pieces scattered in the fields and woods on the property. Get a…read moremap at the visitor's center and start your hunt! Wear comfortable shoes- it can be muddy in shaded areas. And wear a hat on a sunny day to keep the sun and flies off of you. Afterwards, rest in the cafe with a cold drink and discuss your favorite pieces. Great day trip for sculpture lovers!

Beautiful house and gardens. Purchase tickets online before you visit. Parking is very limited…read more Grounds are grass, mulch and stairs. Not accessible. Only the lower floor of the house is accessible. Take the garden tour. It provides much information about the family, building the home and gardens and the architects/designers. Well worth the time. The property is on a hill so wear your walking shoes. A dirt 'one way' road leads past the house, to the dirt parking lot, then down the hill off the property. The lower part of the road, off property, is very rutted. (it happens to drive right past Norman Rockwell's grave site) Early spring the gardens are beautiful. The staircase from the cutting garden to the house is gorgeous. A leisurly walk down the Linden walk then curves around to a stroll in the wood. Many little gardens areas. Plan to spend at least two or three hours.

The Winter Lights show is AMAZING! So creative, great use of all the uniqueness of the property…read more Very well organized. You park in the center of the town of Stockbridge MA which looks straight out of a Christmas romance hallmark movie. Even the town information booth (where you get the shuttle buses- which are school buses) over to Naumkeag House (less than 5 minute ride) looks like the cutest information booth you've ever seen. The buses are heated so after walking around outdoors you're happy to be on the warm bus ride back to the centers of the town. The light show has many nooks and crannies and surprises around every corner. I've been to much larger holiday light shows, and despite the size of this one being a bit smaller than some, it is spectacular and unique in so many ways. The property has a Chinese garden, a beautiful greenhouse (like straight out of frosty the snowman), a beautiful fountain, very large rows of giant evergreen shrubs, and incredible trees (like an arboretum). There are two "snack shacks" where you can get desserts, hot cocoa, hot cider, and even some nice add-ins like peppermint schnapps, bourbon, rum. Walking around looking at beautiful Christmas lights with a spiked hot beverage is magical. One of the snack shacks also has a fire pit with benches all around to sit and warm up by. Perhaps my favorite part...I went with several teens & young adults who don't always appreciate me taking tons of photos...but here...there were SO MANY PHOTO OPS that they didn't mind, and even started asking me to take more photos of them! Fair warning- this property has quite a few steps, so if mobility is a challenge, probably not the best place...even wheel chair accessible would be tough...especially with the school bus shuttles to/from town. Best to call ahead and see what accommodations can be made for accessibility. I hope to come back every year for the winter lights show. A very festive and beautiful thing to do with friends and family around the holidays.

One of the best places to go in the Hartford area. It has an amazing collection of classic artwork…read moreand rotating collections of modern art. I've been many times and somehow I'm still surprised by some of the pieces on display (Van Gogh, Monet, Dali, etc.). They run various events and community days, and membership costs are very reasonable. Support the Arts!

I was miserable most of my time there. BUT. This was a great museum. I was miserable because the…read moreonly time I could go was on a Saturday, a free Saturday no less, on a day they had a festival, arts and crafts, and a Christmas tree event. So the crowds were INSANE. Like NYC level insane. That being said, I have lots of great things to say about this place, which underwent a huge renovation and modernization several years ago that was so good that the New York Times wrote an article saying it was "a masterpiece of renovation." The great hall is beautiful and though I don't care much for old school colonizer art, I was bummed it was teeming with Christmas trees and families, hindering my ability to take an artful photo to capture that masterpiece. The museum does a great job of mixing colors, styles, appreciating the classical, while also mixing in fun and modern elements. They have European art. Impressionist art. All that gold religious stuff. Modern art that's just some blocks and colors and makes you wonder, "is this really art?" They have a great surrealist section and a huge Dali painting, which is actually the marketing they used to get me here. They have some sculpture, some Greek sculpture and some contemporary art. I enjoyed the art by Black artists and art focusing on Black struggles in the Amistad Center, located on the third floor, though I wish this section was bigger. They had an Islamic art section, Chinese art, American art (most of what I saw was from the 20s through the 90s). I loved how each space was painted a rich, moody color. And the common spaces were full of patterns, stained glass, and multi-colored walls winding up the staircase. The staff were nice and helpful. I paid 20-something bucks for admission, but since I bought a ticket for a free Saturday, the staff was cool enough to contact me and ask me if I wanted a full refund. I told them to take the fee as a donation. I've seen almost all the museums in New York City, which is my favorite place in the world. But this one can hold its own. But if I ever visit again (which I doubt, cus who needs to see Hartford twice?)--I will avoid weekends and free days and definitely the Christmas tree festival!

A must see attraction in the Hudson Valley! A wonderful site with much to offer. The Church 200…read moreExhibition is excellent and the grounds and house are superb!

5/19- 5/20/26 Visits:…read more -5/19/26: We came for the special Fredrick Church 200th b-day exhibit. The paintings were wonderful to view. I'm taking one star off. The male tour guide was underwhelming to say the least. He did admit that it was his first tour. I believe for Church's 200th birthday exhibition, a paying customer would've expected the guide to give an overview on the artist and a description of his paintings. All we received was a a person walking the group into a couple rooms. I even tried to question him about one of the paintings. He basically threw the question back at me. -5/20/26: We took an electric car tour throughout the 5 mile narrow hilly estate. Price $40 and totally worth it! Ellen was our tour guide and driver. Brava to Ellen! She was extremely thorough and knowledgeable about the entire Fredric Church estate. A wonderful gift shop is available on the premises.

Steepletop was poet Edna St Vincent Millay's home before she passed away in 1950. According to the…read morenice man we spoke to here, the Millay Society opened the house and grounds up to the public in 2009-ish. What's here now is the house itself, which is only open for guided tours, the gardens, a small historical gallery with the poet's family tree, photographs, and heirlooms, and a Poetry Trail into the woods, leading to Millay and her family's burial site. Admission was a bit more than I expected, but I'm not sure why (why it surprised me, that is... not why it was more than I thought). Maybe it's just been a while since I've been to a historical site, but it was $10 to view the gallery and grounds; guided tours of the garden or the house would have been $16; and a combination of the two comes to $25. According to the website, reservations are required for the tours. Walking the Poetry Trail alone is free. As you come up East Hill Rd from Rte 22, you'll see the Millay Colony for the Arts on the left. That's not it. Keep going until you see the sign for the Millay Society at Steepletop. The gravel driveway is very tight, but I don't think they get a lot of traffic. There are signs directing you to the side of the house, where you enter and go up some stairs to the office. My friend and I did the gallery/grounds thing. The man working there was amazingly informative and loved to tell us everything he knew, but he was also happy to step back and let us browse on our own. The family tree that sprawled across an entire wall, though it was packed with information, seemed a little chintzy, created with printouts and typed with not always the best grammar -- a bit disappointing for an author's home. In addition to the family history, you can find books from Millay's own collection, a piano she grew up with, a couple of garments -- one real, one a replica -- and a few other family mementos. When we had fully saturated the gallery's displays and our host's brain, he pulled out a big cardboard map to show us the layout of the gardens. It wasn't until then that I realized the building we were in as not the actual Steepletop house. But it was not going to be hard to find. We memorized the map (why they don't have a version you can take with you, I have no idea) and ventured across East Hill Rd and up a soft incline to the house. All we could do was wander around the outside, but we were interested enough to do so. The Millay Society is in the process of restoring both the house and the gardens to their previous condition, and at the moment the gardens are in an odd in-between state where some bits are meticulous and well maintained and others are rustic and overgrown. But the swinging gates, the weather-stained sundial and other stone features, and grassy areas like the one that used to be a circular badminton court all still have a quaint and beautiful feel, even in their disrepair. The swimming pool has seen better days. And hopefully will see better ones to come. One intriguing stop in the garden area was Millay's writing cottage. It's small and musty and was the only building we encountered that didn't have its windows blocked from the inside, so we peeked in. A couple of desks are inside, one with a pile of papers and a composition book. The Poetry Trail is charming. It takes about 20 minutes to roam from the road to the burial area. Every so often, a passage of poetry by Millay appears on a post. The distance between poems is just right for letting the previous one sink in. Eventually we reached the burial site and found Millay and her husband Eugen Boissevain's graves easily enough. Millay's mother, sister, and brother-in-law are supposed to be there, too, but we didn't spot them right away (and it had started raining, so we weren't going to spend much time searching). Millay and Boissevain's flat gravestones were scattered with leaves and fit right into the unmanicured grove. I'm in this area once a year and might try a guided tour at some point. Whether you're a Millay fan or just Millay-curious, this little historic site is worth coming a little bit out of the way to check out.

I had a great experience at Steepletop with a very informed, very passionate guide (and I was lucky…read moreenough to be on a private tour). I did the combo tour of the house and grounds; when I called to reserve my spot, I was told this was the best way to visit, and I can't help but think she was right. The house itself is somewhat small but the outdoor space is substantial. Most of my traveling is for literary tourism and I aim to visit as many author homes as possible. Often, I'm disappointed because the tour makes it seem like any old house, rather than the home of an author. This tour guide was sure to highlight Edna St. Vincent Millay's life, her relationships, and her work. It was much better than what I call an "inventory tour" ("This is a chair!"). I even enjoyed the outdoor walking, though I'm not usually interested in gardens and plantings. This tour made those details seem relevant, rather than just pretty things. Oh, and the most important part: She read poetry! I mean, why visit a poet's home if you don't hear poetry? The price was a bit steep -- which I'm sure is at least partially due to the need for income despite relatively small visitation numbers -- and it really is in the middle of nowhere. It was a tad long (especially because I stayed to watch the film) and some folks might be overwhelmed by the bugs during the outdoor portion. Still, I think it was worth the trip and the fee.

Came here for my sister's art show opening. She's doing her masters in Curatorial Studies at Bard…read moreCollege and this art museum is affiliated to it. This college is quite prominent, as is the Hessel Museum of Art, and has housed some great art works. It's also given a name to many curators that are now highly regarded. Granted, it's in the 'middle of nowhere' but wow - it's remarkable. From its design, to the space within and layout.

A lovely museum in a bucolic setting. Hessel makes a great stop on a day trip from the city, easy…read moreto combine with visits to DIA Beacon or the Storm King sculpture park if you've got a car. If not--then you can't do them all in one day, but be advised that the Hessel runs complimentary shuttles from Manhattan when they have openings. Beer, wine, soft drinks and pretzels at the opening are complimentary as well. All in all, a great place. But couldn't give it five stars because I'm not into the new shows. One is Haim Steinbach, an artist who never really got my juices running. His work is about shelving, display, minimalist art, the museum retail, etc.--a kind of third-wave pop/appropriation art (if you just read that and you were like "so what?" you feel me). What makes this show interesting--perhaps more so than others of his that I've seen--is what he did with the Hessel's permanent collection. A cool thing about the Hessel is that it's endowed with a small collection of important works of contemporary art but rather than put them up in the standard museum display they let invited artists and curators incorporate them in their shows, using unconventional and experimental display methods, the likes of which you would never see in your run-of-the-mill museum. Steinbach put up this construction-site scaffolding in the big gallery and arranged works above and below it, so you could glimpse the pieces (both museum works, Steinbach's own stuff, design objects, knickknacks etc.) in horizontal and vertical layers, that made you think about the status of each thing as an object or artwork. The other exhibition was Helen Marten, a young British artist. It was a smart pairing with Steinbach, though I like her work even less. It's also about objects and display, and coming up with quirky convoluted relations between things. Everything is about weight, balance, and borders, and everything is solid and in tension. There are papery woodcuts that look flimsy but hold up to the weight of loaded key rings hanging off of them, for instance. The paintings have stuff attached to the bottom of the frames, so they don't end with the canvas. It's about surfaces and repetition, too--there are cans of olive oil positioned on the floor around the galleries, and the olives and vines from the logo are repeated on the wall--yet nowhere in the show do you find the mess of the oil itself. This is also true in her videos. Digital media can be slippery, glitchy, pixelly, liquid--but when Helen Marten gets her hands on it she makes everything robust and shiny and glossy, crafting digits into beautiful perfect objects, just as hard and solid as the commodities she appropriates in her sculptures. Yawn. Great museum though!

Amazing Asian art statue and art collection-- from all over the world. Speak to the owners, they…read moreare so knowledgeable and travel around the world for their merchandise.

We wandered off during one of our days while staying in the Berkshires to come here and take in all…read moreof AsiaBarong's immense art collection. To add, the husband and wife team prove that there's no stopping them. The massive- and I mean jaw-dropping space is the perfect background for showcasing a range of Tibetan sculptures, Balinese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Nepalese, Indian to Kama Sutra and even more items. There are $$$$$ sculptures up the wazoo- but we were substantially below that. Plus, we're not in the market for Asian statuaries or marble items weighing a ton. As an alternative, AsiaBarong has many modest pieces such as Buddhas that I was eyeing- but we have a few in the garden and indoors. Instead, we picked up a very small Xian Warrior sculpture, a black lacquered Japanese vase, hubs picked out a black onyx bracelet for himself and something for our daughter. The price was right and so was the super warm service. She even secured one of the gifts in like a (cleaned) plastic salad container for the ride home. Listen... whatever works.

Definitely interesting, I love a non traditional museum and this was it. It was a rainy day so it…read morefit the bill for an hour's distraction

Such a prize to stumble upon on a cloudy mountain day with kids (9&6). When pulling up to the house…read moreour 9yr old says "this what we are doing going to some house "... getting him out of that "some house" was another story lol. Great experience . Steve was wonderful and full of life and passion . The place was set up so nicely such detailed displays. It's definitely a great place to explore and bring your inner child and your little critters as well.

Ahhhh.. Umpachene - how do I bottle you and bring you home?…read more Delightful 18 minute ride from where we were staying in Sheffield. Suggest loading GPS or navigation app before losing signal in the mountains. Of note, and quite a surprise after a score of years closed, the bridge on Umpachene Falls Road has been rebuilt and is open. Yesterday, the falls were rushing abs bracingly cold! While I didn't fully submerge or hide behind the water curtain, I sat in the flow and was transfixed and refreshed for an hour. Remains a Berkshire treasure!

Beautiful place. Nice picnic area. Very relaxing. Great place to go to unwind and enjoy nature…read more Highly recommended!