Once tribal lands of the Mohawks and Mohicans, and later populated with missionary settlements, the Berkshires became a fashionable retreat for the captains of industry in the Gilded Age. The Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Westinghouses built grand seasonal estates, and the region became a spring and summer escape for city-weary socialites.

Artists and writers were attracted by the area's bucolic character and inspiring landscapes, prompting the likes of Norman Rockwell, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville to put down local roots.

Even today, the small cities, villages and hamlets strewn among the Berkshires' scenic, low-slung Taconic and Hoosac mountain ranges in western Massachusetts continue to draw the social elite and those with an appreciation for art, as well as back-to-nature escapists seeking peace and semi-seclusion.

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