Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Great Barrington, Massachusetts | |
 |
|
 |
|
| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Berkshire |
| Settled | 1726 |
| Incorporated | 1761 |
| Government | |
| - Type | Open town meeting |
| Area | |
| - Total | 45.7 sq mi (118.4 km²) |
| - Land | 45.2 sq mi (117.0 km²) |
| - Water | 0.5 sq mi (1.3 km²) |
| Elevation | 721 ft (220 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Total | 7,527 |
| - Density | 166.6/sq mi (64.3/km²) |
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) |
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 01230 |
| Area code(s) | 413 |
| FIPS code | 25-26815 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0619420
|
| Airport | Walter J. Koladza Airport(Great Barrington Airport) - GBR (Municipal) |
Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,527 at the 2000 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, Great Barrington includes the villages on Van Deusenville and Housatonic.
Contents |
The Mahican Indians called the area Mahaiwe, meaning "the place downstream." It lay on the New England Path, which connected Fort Orange near Albany, New York with Springfield and then Massachusetts Bay. The village was first settled in 1726, and from 1742-1761 was the north parish of Sheffield. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great Barrington, named 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.
With the arrival of the railroad, Great Barrington developed into a Gilded Age resort community for those seeking relief from the heat and pollution of cities. Wealthy families built grand homes called Berkshire Cottages here, as others would in Lenox and Stockbridge. Estates included Searles Castle, commissioned in 1888 by the widow of Mark Hopkins together with her second husband, Edward Francis Searles, and Brookside, built for William Hall Walker. In 1895, Colonel William L. Brown, part owner of the New York Daily News, presented Great Barrington with a statue of a newsboy, now a landmark on the western edge of town.
In March of 1886, the water mill at Great Barrington was the site of an experiment that first used water to drive an alternating current generator. A transformer was used to increase the voltage and the current was transmitted over a mile away to the nearest town to power street lights. It was the first time electrical power had been transmitted a considerable distance away from its generating station.
Arlo Guthrie's 18-minute-long song "Alice's Restaurant" is based on true-life events that occurred in Great Barrington and the adjoining towns of Stockbridge and Lee. The Guthrie Center, which is at the Old Trinity Church and was the home of Ray and Alice Brock at the time of the incidents related in the song, is at 4 Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington.
Great Barrington uses its own currency, called BerkShare notes. There are about 844,000 BerkShare notes in circulation worth about $759,600 at the current exchange rate of one BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper money is available in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty.[1]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 45.7 square miles (118.4 km²), of which, 45.2 square miles (117.0 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) of it (1.12%) is water. Set in the Berkshire Mountains, Great Barrington is drained by the Housatonic River.
See also: Great Barrington (CDP), Massachusetts
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 7,527 people, 3,008 households, and 1,825 families residing in the town. The population density was 166.6 people per square mile (64.3/km²). There were 3,352 housing units at an average density of 74.2/sq mi (28.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.74% White, 2.09% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.25% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.70% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.07% of the population.
There were 3,008 households out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the town the population 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. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $45,490, and the median income for a family was $53,135. Males had a median income of $38,163 versus $29,474 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,655. About 3.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
Great Barrington has three public schools, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Monument Valley Regional Middle School, and Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School. Private schools include a Rudolf Steiner School and Great Barrington Waldorf High School. It is also the home of Bard College at Simon's Rock and the John Dewey Academy.
- John Allen, congressman
- Karen Allen, actress
- Jan Conn, poet
- Andrea Conte, first lady of Tennessee
- W.E.B. DuBois, educator, historian & poet
- Laura Secord, heroine
- Anson Jones, doctor, businessman & congressman
- Pauline Kael, film critic
- Elias W. Leavenworth, congressman
- Russell Lynes, art historian & author
- Hamish Linklater, actor
- Daniel Nash, missionary
- James S. Parker, congressman
- Guy R. Pelton, congressman
- Franklin Leonard Pope, engineer, explorer & inventor
- Shorty Rogers, musician
- John Schroeder, golfer
- Edward Francis Searles, interior & architectural designer
- Gene Shalit, film critic
- Mark H. Sibley, congressman
- Charles A. Sumner, congressman
- Town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts
- Mason Library
- Berkshire Record newspaper
- Berkshire Visitor's Bureau
- Berkshireweb
- Berkshire Business Resources
- Berkshire Community Radio Alliance - WBCR-LP 97.7 FM
- The Berkshire Eagle
- Berkshire Chamber of Commerce
- WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network
- "The Perfect American Street" by Philip Langdon, The Hartford Courant, June 27, 2007.
