Pittsfield, MA Summary

A relatively high city at 1,026 feet above sea level, Pittsfield, in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, sits at the headwaters of the Housatonic River.

Settled in 1761, it was named for the British statesman William Pitt.

Pittsfield grew from an agricultural community to an industrial center that attracted immigrant workers from many countries early in the twentieth century and now numbers about 46,300 people. It has long been a center of plastics research and manufacturing, particularly for General Electric.

Between 1850 and 1863, writer Herman Melville and his family occupied the nearby home called Arrowhead, where he completed his classic novel Moby-Dick. The home is open for tours daily from Memorial Day through October 31. Also nearby is the Hancock Shaker Village, for 170 years (until 1960) a 1,200-acre religious community of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. Tours of the village are available.

In nearby Dalton, the Crane Museum of Papermaking, owned by Crane & Co., the sole supplier of the paper used to make American currency, depicts the history of American papermaking.

Pittsfield is also credited with holding the first country fair, on its village green in 1810.

Camping, hiking, and many other outdoor recreational opportunities can be found at Pittsfield State Forest, and at Onota and Pontoosuc Lakes, between Pittsfield and the New York state line.

South of Pittsfield, in the town of Lenox, is Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Pittsfield is just east of New York, and north of I-90 via US-20/7.