Berkshire Stories: History - Nature - People - Conservation

Morgan Bulkeley first saw the Berkshires on a golden fall day in 1928. A day's outing from school had brought him up Bear Mountain where he ate a sandwich while his eyes feasted on the natural beauty spread around him. He was fourteen and had fallen in love with a place. Seven years later, after college, leaving behind the hurly-burly of commercial life, he went to live Thoreau-like in a small cabin on the shores of Plantain Pond on Mount Washington. Four years later, he met a young lady of the mountain. They courted and married, and for more than thirty years lived and farmed in intimacy with plants and animals. Bulkeley, in 1960, began to write the "Our Berkshires" column for the Berkshire Eagle newspaper in western Massachusetts. In these short, beautifully written pieces we find, through details lovingly recounted, that love is not empty, but seeks to know, preserve, and care for what it loves. We find the history of Berkshire County from geological times to colonial times and eccentric characters and moving stories of plants and animals. We learn what it is to truly inhabit a place and make it your own. This is an incomparable guide to a unique landscape. All those who have ever been touched by the Berkshires should read this book -- as well as anyone who seeks to be at home where they are.