Things to Do in Pittsfield

A member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League since 2008, the Blue Sox incubates top college players while they stay fresh and limber between seasons in the NCAA. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the league consists of 10 teams across six New England states, all competing in a summer of hardball that begins in June and concludes with the playoffs in August, just before players trade in baseballs for rubber-band balls and return to school. Originally founded in 1997 as the Concord Quarry Dogs, the Blue Sox wield homefield advantage at Mackenzie Stadium, a venue that can seat more than 4,000 fans or 30 anti-T-shirt missile silos.

For more than a century, the Berkshire Museum has blended history, science, and art into a cohesive whole, drawing inspiration from both the Smithsonian and the American Museum for Natural Science. The museum is packed with wonders ranging from Wally—the fiberglass stegosaurus who guards the museum’s entry—to the John James Audubon display, an impassioned tribute to the very ornithology that prompted Audubon to pen The Birds of America. Other, more playful displays unveil additional wonders, including Alexander Calder's collection of wooden push and pull toys. And inside the vast, salty aquarium, a teeming collection of clownfish, blind cave tetra, and puffer fish swim merrily side-by-side, thankful that they've yet to be cast as members of some trite, underwater calypso band.

Since first enchanting moviegoers with a screening of The Desert Song on May 30, 1929, Madison Theater continues to treat attendees to the latest cinematic offerings. Designed by acclaimed American theater architect Thomas White Lamb, Madison Theater remained a single-screen establishment until 1994, and now projects motion pictures on seven screens, playing Hollywood features alongside films from local and independent moviemakers. As cinematic stories unfold before their eyes, visitors can scarf down handfuls of daily made, cholesterol- and trans-fat-free popcorn. Snackers seeking richer treats can request kernels slathered in canola oil or drenched in a soy-based buttery topping, which concessions employees also insert in the middle of the corn for lasting buttery taste and protection from the beaks of butter-syphoning hawks.

J.D. Legends nourishes entertainment-hungry families with a massive facility stocked with bowling, a restaurant offering Southern-style fare, a bar, and an arcade. The 24-lane bowling alley features a new-and-improved scoring system to better capture lane-skipping curveballs and light-speed strikes. During open-play hours, shoes gently cradle the feet of their temporary masters as lanes brace themselves for the hurtling of bowling balls down their slender midsections. The lanes frequently host themed parties and events, including cosmic bowling every Friday and Saturday night.

The facility’s art-deco carpeting and citrus-colored decorations invigorate bowlers with game-enhancing visions of early 20th-century French heydays and afternoons spent lazing about under yellowed skies.

Originally conceived as a summer residence for the New York Philharmonic, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center took shape in the bustling '60s, eventually evolving away from its intentions and becoming the residence for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York City Ballet. Set amid the 2,400-acre Spa State Park, which is rife with pines, hiking trails, geysers, and mineral springs, the 10-story amphitheater acts as a fitting haven for the arts. Before or after a show, guests can traverse the grounds to enjoy fresh air and a break from the city's frequent giant-lizard attacks or stop by the Jazz Bar for a drink.

In the summer of 1850, a moderately successful writer brought his young wife, Lizzie, and their baby, Malcolm, to the town where his father grew up, Berkshire. Seduced by its picturesque countryside, the writer impulsively bought a farm, which would become the family’s home for the next 13 years and the place where he penned a novel that would change the face of American literature: Moby-Dick.

Today, the Berkshire Historical Society maintains the farmhouse where Melville sharpened his quills, gazed out the library window, and drank in the view of Mount Greylock, whose statuesque peak supposedly inspired the elusive white whale that taught Ahab to use his nose as a blowhole. The house was old even then, as it was originally built in the Georgian style back in 1780, acquiring Federal-style details in the 1840s. Careful preservation allows visitors to wander through Melville’s study and gaze upon the fireplace featured in his short story I and My Chimney. They can also observe the piazza that makes an appearance in The Piazza Tales, and see the restored barn where Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne whiled away the hours with deep literary conversation and video games.

In addition to pondering the rooms where Melville lived his days, visitors peruse furniture, portraits, and clothing from the Berkshire Historical Society’s collection of artifacts and enjoy exhibits and events such as plays. Those who make appointments in advance can also immerse themselves in the manuscripts, atlases, oral-history tapes, and photographs that populate the Margaret H. Hall Library and Archives.