d,Sp-^ 00*0490 cop • \ SOME ASPECTS OF THE GROOTH OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, AS A RESORT AND CULTURAL CENTER, lgOO-1952 / by Katherine Isabel Black', ^Sity o* Submitted In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts, Ottawa University. 1952 UMI Number: DC53559 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform DC53559 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS er Page PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1 THE BERKSHIRES ATTAIN PROMINENCE IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE AND INVENTION 66 SOCIETY ENTERS THE BERKSHIRES lk& BERKSHIRE COUNTY EMERGES AS A RESORT AND CULTURAL CENTER 209 APPENDIX 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY 293 \/£R/^ONT Trffif* J3£f?J(5///K/r i Ca/v/Vt£T/CuT CHAPTER I PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Berkshire County, Massachusetts, has long been one of America's favorite resort areas. Its appeal was evident at the opening of the nineteenth century, and since has grown steadily throughout the western world. This work is a study of the County's development as a resort area during one hundred and fifty years. Where Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote some of his most famous books, now thousands assemble among the pines at Tanglewood to listen to music under the stars. Basic to this continuing appeal is the eternal beauty of the Berkshire countryside. Yet there are other areas quite as scenic, and one must look further to discover the reasons for its special popularity among vacationers. Its location has always been a large advantage. Accessible to the large populations of the Eastern cities, it has remained far enough away to be immuned to the encroachments of the urban areas which have suffocated resorts nearer the centers of trade. Furtherj the happy chance that led literary figures to visit it at the country's beginning provided it with a cultur­ al tradition whose charm has persisted. In the wake of the men of letters came persons of wealth and social position not unimpressed by the artlstio reputation the Berkshires had ac- -1- -2- quired. Magnificent estates began to add social distinction to the county's other appeals. After the turn of the twenti­ eth oentury, improved roads and easier transportation brought the region within the reach of a larger group of vacationers. Thus a series of waves - each built upon the continu­ ing strength of its predecessors - have swept across Berkshire County* Artiste, millionaires, and week-enders, have respond­ ed to its charms, providing a rich diversity to its culture, but all reflecting its resort function. Berkshire County in Massachusetts, is located in the extreme western end of the state, adjoining New York State to the west, and extends from Connecticut on the south to Vermont on the north. The county is fifty miles in length (north and south), twenty-five miles in width, and contains thirty towns 1 and two cities. It is a region of hills and valleys, lakes and streams. The inexhaustible variety of its vistas is re­ nowned throughout the country. Into this rugged land the first settlers came in early 2 1700. At that time the Massachusetts frontier moved westward into the Connecticut River Valley and there found fertile land, 3 which was rapidly developed. Here the western expansion was halted for a short time in spite of the desire of the colony to establish as far west as possible its New York boundary, 1. H. Child, Gazetteer of Berkshire County. I, 2. 2. Ibid. 3. J. G-. Holland, History of Western Massachusetts, p. 47. -3- What halted the frontier at Westfield, Northampton and Deer- field was the steep, forbidding wall of the Berkshire Barrier, 1 clothed in dense forest, and the fear of Indians. But the land urge was too strong to be held permanently in oheck, and th8 Massachusetts General Court in 1722 granted petitions of Joseph Parsons and one hundred and fifteen others for two 2 townships in the Berkshire Valley. In 1725 two additional 3 townships were established, Sheffield and Great Barrington. 4 In 1739 the town of Stookbridge was incorporated. In quick succession thirty towns of western Massachusetts were incor­ porated and in the year 1761 the County of Berkshire came into 5 existence. Meanwhile, all the towns which were poor by pres­ ent standards of living were dependent on their own labor for life's necessities. During most of the eighteenth century it had been a true frontier, inhabited by subsistence farmers and trappers, constantly imperiled by the French to the north and their Indian allies. As a part of the colony of Massachu­ setts, much of its life was dominated by the Established Con­ gregational Church. In every town the minister was a leading, if not the leading citizen, and all were taxed for his support 1. Ibid., p. 52. 2. General Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1722, chap. 14, p. 206. (Hereafter cited as Mass. Acts and Laws.) 3. Mass. Acts and Laws. 1725* chap. 22, p. 107. 4. Ibid., chap. 22, p. 107. 5. Mass. Acts and Laws, 176l, chap. 117, p. 213. -4- 1 unless they could demonstrate membership in some other faith. Theological questions furnished the chief topic for any intel­ lectual discussion. Among the inhabitants who ranked highest, next to the ministers, were the resident proprietors who had achieved the largest land holdings and made them profitable. Lastly, there seem always to have been lawyers, perhaps because the original land surveys were so sketchy that litigation was constant. These three classes were, for the most part, the 2 eduoated men of the community. It was the sons of these classes who went to college, and it was they who founded the famous family lines of Berkshire County - the Edwards line, which included President Dwight of Yale, and Aaron Burr; the Field line, with its four famous sons of the Stockbridge min­ ister; the Sedgwickj the Hopkins line. At the dawn of the nineteenth century when this study begins, Berkshire County ceased to be a wilderness country. The hill towns of the Berkshires expanded and throve. The building of turnpikes had begun in the last decade of the pre­ vious century, and of course these improved means of transpor- 3 tation helped greatly. By 1620 there were several stage lines 4 going across the region and on to Albany or to Hudson. Inns 1. Thomas Allen, An Historical Sketch of the County of Berk­ shire and the Town of Plttsfleld, p. 20. 2. Ibid. 3. Clark W. Bryan, The New Book of Berkshire, p. 42. 4. Child, Berkshire County Gazetteer, I, gl. -5- sprang up along the turnpiles which made possible the quicker 1 movement of agricultural products. Small-scale industries arose. There was plenty of water power and wood still stand­ ing on the mountain sides to make charcoal for the ironworks, and plenty of top-grade iron ore in the towns of Richmond and 2 Lenox. Machinery had Just been Invented for spinning and weaving, and it was natural that this machinery should be set up where sheep were plentiful and spinning already a domestic art. There was also an outside market for all products the region oould supply. What happened was that Yankee ingenuity went to work at once to capitalize on the situation, but un­ fortunately without any consideration of the conservation of natural resources on which any permanent prosperity must de­ pend. The woolen industry called for large sheep farms, the cheese industry for cattle, the woodworking industries for a steady supply of timber, the iron industry for charcoal. The Berkshire region could not compete with these on a large scale. There was a good topsoil under the virgin timber on the Barrier, but it was a thin layer and soon exhausted after the timber was out. The tannery industry required hemlock bark, and it did not take long to remove the hemlocks. The clear white pine out of which the pioneers had fashioned their homes yielded to the ax. And, while this process was going on, the railroads 1. Ibid. 2, Holland, History of Western Massachusetts, p. 109. -6- came, the West was opened, and there was the competition of richer soil, vaster resources, and a rapid breakdown of the old economy of local self-sufficiency. It was diffioult for the people of that generation to predict the future of Berk­ shire County. The future was thought by many to be industri­ al, but even after the advent of the railroads the early trains had difficulty climbing the hills, and the cost of freight prohibited any industrial profits. Nevertheless, as we go through the hill country and mark the signs of ancient industries, their expansion in this earlier era seems almost incredible. Early industries gradually declined, with the railroads by-passing numerous hill towns, and Berkshire County became primarily an agricultural section with the exception of the industries today in its two cities, Pittsfield and North 1 Adams.