How to get to the Berkshires
Here are inks for local and regional public transportation depots and stops, plus where to get Peter Pan bus and Amtrak train schedules and tickets: how to get to the Berkshires.
The Berkshires town of Williamstown is the location of Williams College, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Williamstown is the fourth-largest town in Berkshire County; 2000 census data lists population of 8,424 and median household income of $51,875. The town, which borders Vermont and New York, was incorporated in 1765 as Williamstown after Ephraim Williams, who was killed in the French and Indian War. He bequeathed a significant sum to the town on the condition that it were named after him and started a free school. In 1791, the school opened, becoming Williams College in 1793.
Hotels in Williamstown, MA
- 1896 House Brookside & Pondside – 910 Cold Spring Road
- 1896 House Country Inn – Rt 7
- House On Main Street – 1120 Main Street
- Orchards Hotel – 222 Adams Road
- Williamstown Motel – 295 Main Street
- Howard Johnson Williamstown -213 Main Street
- The Villager Motel – 953 Simonds Road
In the late 1930s and 1940s, E. Parmelee Prentice and his wife Alta, the daughter of John D. Rockefeller, created Mount Hope Farm. With a mansion designed by James Gamble Rogers, it was one of the outstanding experimental farms in the country. Today, it belongs to Williams College.
Williamstown, MA at-a-glance:
- Town Hall: 31 North St.
- Phone: (413) 458-3500
- Population: 8,424
- Settled/Inc’d: 1749
- Named for: Ephraim Williams
- Elevation: 603′
- Town website: williamstown.net/