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32-415: The Ashley House stands in a rural area of central southern Sheffield, on the south side of Cooper Hill Road, west of the village of Ashley Falls. The house stands on 35 acres (14 ha) historically associated with it but is not on its original site, having been moved 3/10 of a mile in 1930 to improve its siting relative to the road and related outbuildings. The property is adjacent to Bartholomew's Cobble ,

64-704: A comparatively narrow range along New York's eastern border. Also referred to as the Berkshire Highlands, Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation. Geologically, the mountains are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains . The Berkshires were named among the 12 Last Great Places by The Nature Conservancy . The term "The Berkshires" has overlapping but non-identical political, cultural, and geographic definitions. Politically, Berkshire County, Massachusetts ,

96-808: A house near the Cobbles—the Colonel John Ashley House —now a historic site also managed by The Trustees of Reservations. The name comes from a series of Bartholomews that owned the property after Colonel Ashley. In 1838 Wyllis Bartholomew purchased the Colonel John Ashley house and five and one quarter acres from the Ashley family; it is said he used it for farm laborer housing. He owned it until his death in 1846 when Wyllis' son Hiram inherited it. In 1852, Hiram sold it to his son George, who farmed it for many years. It didn't become known as Bartholomew's Cobble until George owned it." The property

128-400: A nature preserve also owned by The Trustees of Reservations. The house is a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story wood-frame structure with a side-gable roof and central chimney. A 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story cross-gabled ell extends to the rear, with a chimney. The exterior is finished with wooden clapboards. The main facade is five bays wide, with an elaborate central doorway surround. Pilasters rise to

160-527: A wide entablature capped by a broken pediment. The house is typical of early 18th-century rural American architecture, with furnishings and items dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. It is open for tours on weekends from Memorial Day through Columbus Day. The house was built in 1735 by John Ashley (1710-?), who moved to the area from Westfield . The house timbers were sawn using the first sawmill known to have been built in Berkshire County. Ashley

192-773: Is a landmark destination of 750 acres, 20 historic Shaker buildings, and over 22,000 Shaker artifacts. On the National Historic Register, it is one of the most comprehensively interpreted Shaker sites in the world. The Berkshires lie within the New England/Acadian forests ecoregion . Similarly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Massachusetts (Griffith et al. 1994) has defined six ecoregions within this area: Taconic Mountains, Western New England Marble Valleys, Lower Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Highlands, Vermont Piedmont, and Berkshire Transition. Each region

224-483: Is an important migratory bird habitat. More than 250 species of birds have been documented on the property, including the bank swallow , bobolink, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk , great blue heron, great egret , wood duck , and pileated woodpecker . Bartholemew's Cobble, located on Weatogue Road in Ashley Falls, is open during daylight hours. In order to protect the delicate ecology of the area, no pets are allowed on

256-484: Is distinct from the others, providing a unique habitat assemblage. Much of the Hoosic and Housatonic River valleys have underlying bedrock limestone and marble which contribute to calcareous wetlands unique in Massachusetts. The alkaline pH waters support a diversity of plants and animals intolerant of more acidic waters, some of which are state-listed rare or endangered. Combined with the rich mesic forests ranging from

288-590: The Housatonic River . The Berkshire hills runs through: The largest municipalities associated with the Berkshires cultural region include Pittsfield , North Adams , Great Barrington , Williamstown , Stockbridge , Lee , and Lenox, Massachusetts . During the American Revolution a Continental Army force under Henry Knox brought captured cannons from Fort Ticonderoga by ox-drawn sleds south along

320-507: The great blue lobelia . Hay fields are managed to preserve habitat for ground nesting bobolinks . Along the Housatonic and Konkapot River floodplain are located a number of oxbow lakes , wetlands, open pastures, and riverine forests. Species include the great blue heron , bobcat, northern pike , New England cottontail , bald eagle , eastern cottonwood , American sycamore , black willow , and stinging nettle . Bartholomew's Cobble

352-470: The northern hardwood to the taiga or sub-alpine, the Berkshires have a valuable, biologically diverse ecosystem. The classic study of the vegetation of the Berkshire Highlands was Egler's 1940 monograph, covering the flora of an area stretching roughly from Pittsfield, Massachusetts , in the west to Hatfield, Massachusetts , in the east, and from Goshen, Connecticut , in the south to the Vermont border in

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384-663: The walking fern , maidenhair spleenwort , mountain spleenwort , maidenhair fern , bulblet fern , marginal woodfern , polypody , ostrich fern , and evergreen woodfern . Flowering plant species include red columbine , herb Robert , northern prickly ash , bloodroot , spring beauty , bergamot , mayapple , and round-lobed hepatica . West of the Cobbles, the landscape changes to open managed hay fields dotted with eastern red cedar and then to upland forests of red oak , eastern hemlock , yellow birch , shagbark hickory , sugar maple , and black birch . Rare upland species include

416-504: The Berkshire plateau. The Berkshires and related Green Mountains formed over half a billion years ago when Africa collided with North America , pushing up the Appalachian Mountains and forming the bedrock of the Berkshires. Erosion over hundreds of millions of years wore these mountains down to the hills that we see today. The average regional elevation of the Berkshires ranges from about 700 to 1,200 feet (210 to 370 m). One of

448-849: The Berkshires include Tanglewood Music Center and Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox , the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra ; the Bang on a Can Summer Festival for contemporary music in North Adams ; Shakespeare & Company in Lenox; summer stock theatre festivals such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown , Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield ,

480-663: The United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers . Highlands of northwest Connecticut may be seen as part of the Berkshires and sometimes called the Northwest Hills or Litchfield Hills. The segment of the Taconic Mountains in Massachusetts is often considered a part of the Berkshires, although they are geologically separate and are

512-545: The border they fall on. In physical geography, the Berkshires extend from the Housatonic River and Hoosic River valleys in western Massachusetts, to the Connecticut River valley in north-central Massachusetts, and to the foot of the lower Westfield River valley in south-central Massachusetts. In Connecticut, where they are referred to as the Litchfield Hills, they extend east from the upper Housatonic River valley in

544-625: The high points is Spruce Mountain, at 2,710 feet (830 m). The highest point in the Berkshires physiographic region is Mt. Greylock at 3488 feet. The Housatonic River, Hoosic River, Westfield River , and Deerfield River watersheds drain the Berkshire region in Massachusetts; in Connecticut the main river drainages are the Farmington River , the Naugatuck River , the Shepaug River , and

576-465: The north. Today, efforts are being made by many organizations to preserve and manage this region for biological diversity and sustainable human development. The Berkshires have numerous shops, motels, hotels, museums, and trails, including part of the Appalachian Trail , large tracts of wilderness and parks Berkshire Botanical Garden and Hebert Arboretum The area includes Bash Bish Falls ,

608-777: The northwest part of the state. Geologically, the Berkshires are bordered on the west by the Taconic Mountains , the south by the Hudson Highlands , and to the east, they are bordered by the Metacomet Ridge . They are on the average 1,000 ft (300 m) lower and less prominent than the Green Mountains of Vermont, and form a broad, dissected plateau punctuated by hills and peaks and cut by river valleys. The Berkshires topography gradually diminishes in profile and elevation from west to east and from north to south, except where rivers have cut deep gorges and sharp bluff faces into

640-567: The preserve. Rangers and staff lead guided canoe trips on the Housatonic River in season. Cobble is derived from the German word kobel or koble , usually applied to small, rocky, rounded and exposed hill. The property was originally occupied by the Mahican tribe and subsequently settled by Colonel John Ashley , a New England colonial revolutionary for whom Ashely Falls is named. Ashley built

672-556: The property is located at the boundary of two distinct state bioregions: the marble valley lowlands of The Berkshires geology and the Taconic uplands . Third, the Cobbles, twin rocky knolls abutting the Housatonic River, are composed of quartzite , an acidic rock, and marble , an alkaline ( calcareous ) rock. This produces high variation in soil chemistry, which in turn supports species of ferns and other plants that do not normally grow in close proximity to one another. Fern species include

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704-667: The property is named (the Cobbles), as well as floodplain along the Konkapot and Housatonic Rivers , working hayfields and pastures, meadows, and 1,000-foot (300 m) Hurlburt's Hill, an open hilltop with a panoramic view of The Berkshires , the Taconic Mountains , and the Housatonic River Valley. The property has been owned and managed by the non-profit conservation organization The Trustees of Reservations since 1946. Hiking trails and an interpretive center and museum are located on

736-844: The property. More than 5 miles (8.0 km) of moderately difficult hiking trails are located on the preserve, including The Ledges Trail a self-guided interpretive walk that runs over and around the Cobbles. The visitor's center and museum include displays of natural and human history, photography, art, and taxidermic displays of local animals, birds, and bird eggs. The Trustees of Reservations offers guided natural history tours led by naturalists with proceeds supporting conservation work at Bartholomew's Cobble including wildlife research, invasive species control, protecting endangered species , and restoring native habitats. The Berkshires The Berkshires ( locally / ˈ b ɜːr k ʃ ɪər z , - ʃ ər z / ) are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in

768-579: The royal governor (in office 1760–1769), named the area "Berkshire" to honor his home county in England . In the present, the name of the modern American region is pronounced differently ( BERK -sheer, -⁠shər ) to the modern English County ( BARK-sheer, -⁠shər ). Geologically and physically, the Berkshires are the southern continuation of the Green Mountains of Vermont , distinct from them only by their lower average elevation and by virtue of what side of

800-701: The tallest waterfall in Massachusetts. The Berkshire region is noted as a center for the visual and performing arts, many institutions which are associated with Williams College . The art museums include the Norman Rockwell Museum , the Clark Art Institute , the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), Berkshire Museum , Hancock Shaker Village, and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). Performing-arts institutions in

832-530: The term "Berkshires" includes all of the highland region in western Massachusetts west of the Connecticut River and lower Westfield River . The cultural region also includes the Taconic Mountains bordering New York, which are geologically distinct from the Berkshires orogeny. Southwest Vermont and the Taconic region of New York are occasionally grouped with the Berkshires cultural region. Sir Francis Bernard ,

864-554: The village of Ashley Falls abutting Canaan, Connecticut . The preserve contains more than 800 plant species, including North America 's greatest diversity of ferns and the greatest overall biodiversity in Berkshire County, Massachusetts ; it also contains Massachusetts' highest populations of ground nesting bobolinks . It was declared a National Natural Landmark in October 1971. The preserve includes two rocky knolls for which

896-459: The war effort. In 1781, Elizabeth "Mum Bett" Freeman , a woman enslaved by the Ashley household, won her freedom under the new state constitution through a celebrated 1781 state court battle that marked the end of slavery in the state. Bartholomew%27s Cobble Bartholomew's Cobble is a 329-acre (1.33 km ) National Natural Landmark , open space preserve, agricultural preserve, and bio-reserve located in southwest Massachusetts in

928-612: The west bank of the Hudson River from the fort to Albany , where he then crossed the Hudson. Knox and his men continued east through the Berkshires and finally arrived in Boston . This feat, known as the " Noble train of artillery ", was accomplished in the dead of winter, 1775–1776. The Berkshires is also home to Hancock Shaker Village , which is the oldest continuously working farm in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. Hancock Shaker Village

960-613: Was a leading citizen of the area, heading the local militia during the French and Indian War . In 1773, the Sheffield Declaration , a petition against British tyranny and manifesto for individual rights, was drafted in the upstairs study of the house. By the American Revolutionary War , Ashley was too old to participate militarily, but he was instrumental in developing the iron industry in nearby Salisbury, Connecticut for

992-563: Was farmland and pasture before it came into the hands of The Trustees of the Reservations in 1946. Additional acreage was acquired through more than ten purchases and donations from 1963 to 2000. Several factors contribute to the biodiversity of Bartholomew's Cobble. First, the region is spacially and climatically located such that it contains a number of species that reach the northern or southern limit of their range in North America. Second,

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1024-486: Was formed as a governmental unit in 1761. It includes the western extremity of the state, with its western boundary bordering New York and its eastern boundary roughly paralleling the watershed divide separating the Connecticut River watershed from the Housatonic River and Hoosic River watersheds. However, like most other counties in Massachusetts, the active governmental role of Berkshire County has been abolished, so has no legal or governmental function. Culturally,

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