Cottages (and More) of the Berkshires Map

This project began as a map of Gilded-Age "cottages" in the southern Berkshires, and has grown since then to include farmers markets, hikes, and whatever else I like:

http://bit.ly/bkcottages

The map is below, but I think it's easier to click the link above and use the map in its own dedicated window. Click on a location for a description and (maybe) an address and picture.

If you're not interested in any of the categories, select the Legend (the location varies depending on your device - click around), then click on the checkmarks in the legend to turn off those you don't care to see.

Why make a map? For the "cottages," because there's a beauty and history to architecture from the Gilded Age. For everything else, because it reminds me of places to visit, and visit again. This map is just a hobby. It's not meant to be comprehensive; for example, not every location in the National Register of Historic Places has been put on the map, just those that struck my fancy.

Other sites to visit include TripAdvisor, The Berkshires, and AllTrails (and their community map), among many others.

If you have any additions, corrections, or photos, please write me - I like hearing about things off the beaten path. Of course, respect people's privacy - take only legal photos from public spaces, no trespassing. Happy hunting!

Cottage Resources

The Buildings of New England website has listings about architecture in Stockbridge and Lenox, along with many other towns in New England - highly recommended. The local websites Lenox History and Visit Stockbridge give helpful information about these two town's buildings and sights. The Facebook group Gilded Age Mansions of The Berkshires is another good source of information and images. Wikipedia has a list of Berkshire Cottages, many needing entries written for them.

A few books about Gilded Age architecture and life in the Berkshires:

Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930 - Stockbridge library has a copy for view in the library's archives
The Berkshire Cottages: A Vanishing Era - Stockbridge library has copies for checkout and for view in the library's archives
Edith Wharton's Lenox - Stockbridge library has a copy for view in the library's archives
The Berkshires: Coach Inns to Cottages - Lenox and Stockbridge libraries have copies for view and one for checkout through their system
At Home: Historic Houses of Central and Western Massachusetts - not available in local libraries; I haven't seen this one yet, looks more general

Cottages In Person

The Mount, Naumkeag, and Chesterwood are the most well-known museum cottages in the area, each focused on its occupants. The Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum does the same, with a wider view of the era. If you have a deeper interest, you can access the Stockbridge Museum and Archives by appointment for more information about buildings in Stockbridge.

Cottages Not Listed

Some cottages have disappeared over the years. Most of these are unlisted, as there's nothing to see. Ashintully and Aspinwall have visible ruins (you'll have to hike to see them), so they are shown on the map. Shadow Brook, northwest of Stockbridge Bowl, burnt down and was rebuilt with a not-as-charming structure. It is listed because the new building is the same size as the old, so giving a sense of the scale of the original 100-room mansion.

Others are not listed because they exist but cannot easily be viewed from a public spot. Here's an alphabetical list of places not listed, to save you reporting them (and save me remembering that they are not accessible): Windy Side (Lenox Club). I have also left off places further afield, such as the architecture of North Adams, lovely as it is.

Key takeaway: name your house to increase its value.

All the Non-Cottage Listings

I found I was adding buildings that weren't cottages but still worth a look. Then I started to track down all the farmer's markets in the area. Then little free libraries. Then easy to moderate hikes... Anyway, the map's now quite involved. In this section I wanted to mention a few related resouces. For example, some good books on hiking in the area are:

50 Hikes in the Berkshire Hills - includes color photos, elevation change profiles, and of course maps.
AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Berkshires - also has fifty hikes, some different than the guide above. Not in color, otherwise similar - I'm glad to own both. This

There are others, but I think these two cover most of the popular walks and give a lot of interesting background about each one. My map includes all walks I know and like, plus ones I want to do. For trail maps, get these books or look at the links included in the description on my map. AllTrails (and their community map) is another place to look for even more possibilities.

Other fun maps:

The Atlas Obscura map shows some little-known tourist locations around the world (and you can report any you know). There is also a user-made New England map. Oddly, these two maps overlap, but each has some sites the other does not.
The Cider Donuts map for all of New England. Brilliant.

I've left off theaters and other performance spaces, art galleries, antique/funky stores, skiing, canoeing/kayaking (also here), wineries/breweries, pick-your-own orchards, bakeries, restaurants, and so on. You can find these and more through TripAdvisor, Yelp or other searchers.

Making Your Own Maps

I'm a beginner at this process, so have just a few things to say. It's free to make a custom Google map. Here is how to do it. To start, go here and click the "Create a new map" button at the top. To add a pin, look in the upper left, to the right of the Legend (the map description, which you also want to fill in). Click the pin icon and click the map - you've added a location. You can click on the pin on the map and add a name, description, and pictures, as well as change its color and icon. You can also click on it and move the pin's location or delete it. Experiment!

If you want to take an existing user-made map and edit it, simply go to the map (using the Chrome browser) and in the upper left corner in the legend you'll see an icon with three vertical dot, to the right of the name of the map. Click that and you'll see "Copy map" as a choice. Click that and a new tab will open and your copy will eventually appear. You could try it on my map, if you like.

One annoying feature is that if you hit "delete" or "backspace" when editing, you will inadvertently delete the pin. You can undo such deletions by hitting Control-Z on Windows (Command-Z on the Mac).

By default, you have one "subgroup" at the top that includes all your pin locations. The "Add layer" button in the "Legend" area at the left lets you make a new subgroup, just as I have a subgroup for book boxes and one for micro-pantries. Also note the "Base map" area at the bottom of the Legend. You can choose a different style by clicking on the little arrow to the left of these words and choosing one. Me, I prefer the Terrain look, in the upper right of the grid of possibilities - a little busy, perhaps, but cool.

Once your map is ready, you can share it with the public: on the map itself, in the legend on the left, there's a Share link near the top. If you Preview the map, you'll see a long link you can share, something crazy like https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1ldz1Y5R_7F_8nMdE5zOT4NK2Fz-pMgNP&ll=42.3981057020408%2C-71.13707414999999&z=13. I recommend making a short, sane, link using bit.ly or other free service. In bit.ly you click "Create" then paste your link into the "paste long URL" box. It will provide you a random short link. But you can do better! In the "customize back half" box you can change the random string after the "bit.ly/" part to whatever you like. Many names will already be taken, many will not - figure out something short and sweet (and all lowercase is also nice). If you want to make your own QR code for anything, it's free and easy.

If you have any tips on how to better make maps, please let me know and I'll add the information here. A much more serious guide for professional developers is also available - I haven't dared to touch that.

Eric Haines, coordinator of the http://bit.ly/bkcottages map and this page, http://bit.ly/cottproj
http://erichaines.com

My thanks go out to the many people posting on the Facebook group "Gilded Age Mansions of The Berkshires." Special thanks to Laura Jean, Jennifer, Laurie, Tjasa, Anne, and Bob for your help. Also, thanks to Soaring Raven for their Atlas Obscura map of New England.

last updated 5/22/2023