A Berkshires Summer Sampler

A popular summer retreat for Bostonians and New Yorkers for well over 150 years, the scenic and historic Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts are alive with music, art, and theater. Arts journalist Richard Selden leads a five-day tour that offers a splendid sampling of cultural attractions in the region, from writers’ historic homes to outstanding museums to music and theater performances.

Destinations with literary connections include Herman Melville's evocative Pittsfield farmhouse, Arrowhead, and Edith Wharton's elegant Lenox estate, the Mount. Visit the Clark Art Institute in picture-perfect Williamstown; MASS MoCA, a collection of contemporary galleries in a 16-acre former industrial complex; and the first-rate art museums at Williams College and Yale University. Be part of the audience at two intimate chamber music venues, Music Mountain (home of America's oldest continuing summer chamber music festival) in western Connecticut and Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont, as well as for a performance of Blues for an Alabama Sky at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Know Before You Go

• Cost includes bus transportation, lodging, all activities, admissions, and fees, three performances, gratuities, and meals (four breakfasts, four lunches, and three dinners).
• Overnight accommodations are at the Hampton Inn, Lenox, Massachusetts (one night), the Fairfield Inn and Suites, Williamstown, Massachusetts (two nights), and the Hampton Inn, Brattleboro, Vermont (one night).
• The tour includes both indoor and outdoor walking and standing, as well as extended bus rides.
• Tour departs by bus from the Mayflower Hotel, Connecticut Avenue and DeSales Street, NW, with a pickup stop at the Doubletree by Hilton Laurel, 15101 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, Maryland, at about 7 a.m.
• Single-room supplement $450 (factored into the Single Room Member and Single Room Non-Member pricing).
• Singles registering at the double-room rate are paired (on a nonsmoking basis) if possible, but must pay the single-room supplement otherwise.
• Detailed information is emailed to registrants about four weeks prior to departure.
• Participants are advised to purchase travel insurance for overnight and multi-day tours from a provider of your choice. Travel insurance provides additional coverage against unforeseen incidents that require last-minute cancellations.

General Information

• Registration for this tour will end by 2 p.m. ET on Friday, July 28, 2023.
• The tour departs by motorcoach from downtown Washington, DC with a designated secondary pick-up outside the city. Content delivered by the study leader on the way to the destination, after the secondary pick-up, is an integral part of the study tour experience. Meeting the group once the tour is en route is discouraged.
• Smithsonian is a mask-friendly environment. Masks are strongly recommended to be worn on buses at all times and may also be required at various indoor sites.
• For additional tour information:
• Study Tour Policies
• Refund/Cancellation Policy