Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington, Massachusetts Seal of the Town of Great Barrington Name origin: Village of Great Barrington in Gloucestershire, England County Berkshire County, Massachusetts - locale 334 Main Street (Town Hall) Berkshire County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Great Barrington highlighted.svg Location in Berkshire County and the state of Massachusetts.
Location of Massachusetts in the United States Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States.
The populace was 7,104 at the 2010 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and Housatonic.
In 2012, Smithsonian periodical ranked Great Barrington #1 in its list of "The 20 Best Small Towns in America". Great Barrington today is a vibrant small town acting as the core for "South County".
Great Barrington is home to over 70 restaurants catering to a wide spectrum.
The first recorded account of Europeans in the region happened in August of 1676, amid King Philip's War. Major John Talcott and his troops chased a group of 200 Indians west from Westfield, eventually overtaking them at the Housatonic River in what now Great Barrington.
On April 25, 1724 Captain John Ashley of Westfield, Massachusetts bought on behalf of himself and a committee of the Massachusetts General Court the territory that became the suburbs of Great Barrington, Sheffield, Egremont, Alford, Mount Washington, and Boston Corner for 460, three barrels of "sider," and thirty quarts of rum from 21 Native American sachems headed by Conkepot Poneyote.
In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great Barrington, titled after the village of Great Barrington in Gloucestershire, England. In the winter of 1776, Henry Knox passed through Great Barrington while transporting the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to the Siege of Boston.
Due to his time in the area, he established an agricultural interest in the region of Great Barrington.
With the arrival of the barns in the late 19th century, Great Barrington advanced as a Gilded Age resort improve for those seeking relief from the heat and pollution of cities.
Brown, part owner of the New York Daily News, presented Great Barrington with a statue of a newsboy, now a landmark on the edge of town. Great Barrington is the place of birth of W.
Recovering from ill health, William Stanley spent his time in Great Barrington installing the world's first practical AC transformer system.
In November 1885 electrical engineer William Stanley, Jr., a sometimes Great Barrington resident working for George Westinghouse, began installing a demonstration transformer based alternating current lighting system.
Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant," which runs for 18 minutes, is based on true-life affairs of the late-20th century in Great Barrington and the adjoining suburbs of Stockbridge and Lee.
On November 15, 1995, Richard Stanley and Joseph Wasserman opened The Triplex Cinema in the heart of Great Barrington.
With increased appeal as a destination, the town thriving new restaurants and retail shops, which opened on both Main Street and Railroad Street.
The Berkshire Eagle reported that Great Barrington had 50 places to eat in a town of 7,700 citizens .
On July 24, 2009, Great Barrington was titled an Appalachian Trail Community by application and acceptance by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. On June 1, 2010, a new fire station was opened for the Great Barrington Fire Department, positioned on Route 7. The new fire station replaced the old one, positioned on Castle Street.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 45.8 square miles (118.6 km2), of which 44.8 square miles (116.1 km2) is territory and 0.97 square miles (2.5 km2), or 2.09%, is water. Great Barrington is bordered by West Stockbridge, Stockbridge and Lee to the north, Tyringham to the northeast, Monterey to the east, New Marlborough to the southeast, Sheffield to the south, Egremont to the southwest, and Alford to the northwest.
The town is positioned 20 miles (32 km) south of Pittsfield, 46 miles (74 km) west of Springfield, 135 miles (217 km) west of Boston, and 134 miles (216 km) north-northeast of New York City.
Great Barrington is positioned inside the valley of the Housatonic River.
Route 7 passes through the center of town, and was once part of New England Interstate Route 4 (also known as the New York-Berkshire-Burlington Way).
Massachusetts Route 23 passes from west to east through town, combining with Massachusetts Route 41 and U.S.
Route 7 in the part of town and Massachusetts Route 183 in the easterly part of town, which also follows part of the path of Route 7 northward from Route 23 before splitting towards the village of Housatonic.
Great Barrington is positioned approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Exit 2 of Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), the nearest interstate highway.
Climate data for Great Barrington, Massachusetts (1981 2010 normals) See also: Great Barrington (CDP), Massachusetts By population, the town rates fifth out of the 32 metros/cities and suburbs in Berkshire County, and 202nd out of 351 metros/cities and suburbs in Massachusetts.
In the town, the populace was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older.
Great Barrington employs the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen and a town manager.
Great Barrington has its own enhance services, including police, fire and enhance works departments.
The town has two libraries, with the chief branch, Mason Library, positioned at 231 Main Street in Great Barrington, and a branch library, Ramsdell Library, positioned at 1087 Main Street in the village of Housatonic, both of which are part of the county-wide library network.
The town is home to Southern Berkshire District Court, as well as Fairview Hospital, the biggest hospital in the southern end of the county (based on the number of beds). On the state level, Great Barrington is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by the Fourth Berkshire district, which covers southern Berkshire County, as well as the westernmost suburbs in Hampden County.
In the Massachusetts Senate, the town is represented by the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin district, which includes all of Berkshire County and Hampshire and Franklin counties. The town is patrolled by the Great Barrington Police Department which is a 24/7/365 service.
On the nationwide level, Great Barrington is represented in the United States House of Representatives as part of Massachusetts's 1st congressional district.
Great Barrington has a paid by call Fire Department, The Great Barrington Fire Department (GBFD), which consists of about 40 members and 5 pumpers, 1 Tower Ladder (Ladder 1), 2 Rescue Vehicles, and 1 Brush Truck (545).
Great Barrington's Emergency Medical Services are veiled by Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Squad Inc, also known as "SBVAS", directed from the grounds of Fairview Hospital.
The service provides 24/7/365 paramedic level service to the suburbs of Great Barrington, Housatonic, Alford, Egremont, Sheffield, Ashley Falls, Monterey, and Mount Washington.
Great Barrington offers the use of its own small-town currency, called Berk - Share notes.
Great Barrington is the biggest town in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, which includes the suburbs of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, and the villages of Housatonic, Glendale and Interlaken.
All three school levels are positioned in Great Barrington.
Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School offers pre-kindergarten through fourth undertaking classes and is positioned off Route 7 in the northern part of town.
Monument Mountain Regional High School (MMRHS) opened in 1968, consolidating the former Searles High School in Great Barrington and Williams High School in Stockbridge, and serves the high school students of the district.
Several of the sports squads have heated rivalries with the Lee High School Wildcats, in Lee, Massachusetts and the Lenox Memorial High School Millionaires in Lenox, Massachusetts.
The town is home to a several private schools, including the Rudolf Steiner School, the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, and the John Dewey Academy.
Great Barrington is home to Bard College at Simon's Rock, which was the first-ever early college, and remains the only accredited four-year early college program in the country.
Great Barrington plays host to the American Institute for Economic Research.
Originally positioned at MIT, it relocated to the southern shore of Great Barrington's Long Pond in 1946.
Great Barrington is served by the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, which offers bus transit throughout Berkshire County.
Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound Lines have stops in Great Barrington for long-range bus transportation.
The town lies along the Housatonic Railroad line, which roughly follows Route 7 and the river through southern New England.
Koladza Airport is positioned in Great Barrington, and features a full service FBO for general aviation airplane .
Great Barrington is the locale of the Ski Butternut resort and the Berkshire Humane Society operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilities in the town.
Great Barrington is served by a small-town weekly newspaper, The Berkshire Record, and a weekly shopper, The Shoppers Guide.
The town also gets journal delivery from The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield.
The former second town newspaper, The Berkshire Courier, has gone out of print.
Great Barrington has a several small-town airways broadcasts: Great Barrington is in the Albany, New York, tv market, with three Springfield TV stations appearing on the cable lineup: WWLP (NBC 22), WGBY (PBS 57), and WSHM-LD (CBS 3).
First Congregational Church of Great Barrington Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum History of Great Barrington, Massachusetts History of Great Barrington, Massachusetts (1880s) a b "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Great Barrington town, Berkshire County, Massachusetts".
History of Great Barrington: (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts.
"Kate Abbott: A walk into Great Barrington's past".
The Westfield (Massachusetts) Jubilee, Clark & Story, Publishers, 1870; p 67 and Appendix p 221 'Indian Deed of Great Barrington' Great Barrington 1886 - Inspiring an trade toward AC power "Great Barrington tornado 14 years later".
"Town Welcomes New Station With Open Arms".
Town of Great Barrington.
"Massachusetts by Place and County Subdivision - GCT-T1.
"1990 Enumeration of Population, General Population Characteristics: Massachusetts" (PDF).
"1980 Enumeration of the Population, Number of Inhabitants: Massachusetts" (PDF).
Populations of Cities, Towns, &c.
Populations of Cities, Towns, &c.
"South Berkshire District Court", State of Massachusetts Senators and Representatives by City and Town Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Great Barrington.
Great Barrington travel guide from Wikivoyage Town of Great Barrington official website Smartphone Historical Walking Tour of Great Barrington Municipalities and communities of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States
Categories:
Great Barrington, Massachusetts - Towns in Berkshire County, Massachusetts - 1761 establishments in Massachusetts - Towns in Massachusetts
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