Welcome to South County, heart of the Berkshires!

We're located in the southwestern corner of Massachusetts, a scant three hours by car from New York City or Boston. The area offers visitors a remarkable variety of experiences.

Summer is famous for many cultural and recreational events and activities.   Autumn, known as "the Leaf Season", has foliage displays famous the world around.  In the winter, we have skiing, both downhill and cross-country, and every holiday scene ever pictured with snow on a greeting card. In spring, the foliage and lawns are bright green and our gardens explode with color. Whatever the season, you'll be here at the right time.

Shop "Antiques Alley" through Sheffield and South Egremont! Botonize at Bartholomew's Cobble and the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. Hike the Appalachian Trail, Monument Mountain, the Ice Glen, Bash Bish Falls, or enjoy our numerous State Forests. Our quiet back roads are described in detail in several cycling guides. Butternut is famous for its family ski school programs and Catamount's vertical drop is one of the most challenging. Great Cross Country trails are in abundance. Canoe on the Housatonic, swim or fish the Green River.  Visit the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Hancock Shaker Village. For the art and craft enthusiasts, we have auction galleries with sales year 'round and dozens of craft and pottery shops. Hidden "treasures" include the Clark Art Institute and Museum, the Crane Museum of Papermaking, Chesterwood, and the Berkshire Museum.

Every one of our towns has its own particular flavor, its own wonderful collection of traditions, architectural period pieces, 17th and 18th century history, its own Indian and pre-Revolutionary sites, "local characters" and rural identity.

For instance, Great Barrington, the market center for the region, was the location of the American colonists' first armed protest against the British Parliament, in 1774, the year before the battles of the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the American Revolution.

For this year's schedule at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, click on the logo below:

Whether it's a Country Inn, a Bed & Breakfast, a "Guest House" or a Motel, our Southern Berkshires offer you first rate, attentively-operated lodgings, giving you value and variety. Whether you want the bustle of nearby village activity, the gentle whisper of pines, the murmur of a brook, or rural isolation amid a panorama of hills, the proprietors of these Southern Berkshire Lodgings will unfailingly provide you with friendly advice and "inside" information.

Remember that this area is known as "The Dining Capital of the Berkshires!"  We can proudly claim the greatest selection of excellent and diverse restaurants to be discovered anywhere in our beautiful Berkshires. Many will happily pack picnic lunches for you.

So, plan to stay with us and explore all the Berkshires has to offer!