Lanesborough is one of four Berkshire County towns celebrating their 250th anniversary this year. In a nod to its past, the town bordering Pittsfield to the north has set up a self-guided driving history tour with landmarks throughout its 30 square miles. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Jim Levulis took the tour – with the person who wrote the guide.Prudence Barton is full of stories and she’s more than happy to tell them. A former librarian teacher at Lanesborough Elementary School, Barton put together a detailed tour book with 20 stops throughout town.
The first stop has history that extends beyond town borders. The year was 1788 and the nation’s leaders were deciding whether to ratify the United States Constitution. Barton explains Massachusetts representatives were going back and forth while New York and Virginia were ready to follow the Bay State’s move.
“A farmer from Lanesborough named Jonathan Smith got up finally and said you know we’ve been living under chaos,” Barton said. “This document may not be perfect but it’s a lot better than chaos and we need to vote for it. He said ‘I’m a man of the plow.’”
Once word arrived from Boston, a bonfire was lit on top of the hill, given the name “bald” for its lack of trees, signaling that Massachusetts had signed. Smith is buried at Center Cemetery along with Josh Billings.
“He’s our most famous son,” Barton said. “In his time, he was 19th century humorist who did a lot of proverb and adages that became very popular. He wrote in a very rustic style. The words were spelled as if they were being spoken by somebody from the country.”
Born Henry Wheeler Shaw in Lanesborough in 1818 to a line of U.S. congressmen, it’s believed Billings was second only to Mark Twain as a writer and lecturer during his time. His sayings include “Most people are like an egg, too full of themselves to hold any more” and “The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.” There’s also a theory the phrase “joshing me” is connected to Billings. The town has even printed cutouts of Billings’ face so visitors can take a picture or selfie with the humorist.
Another stop is Balance Rock, which is exactly what it sounds like – a larger rock resting on a smaller one.
“It became a tourist attraction and at one point some gypsies came along and decided to charge admission to see the balance rock,” Barton explained. “The farmer on whose land balance rock was decided that was terrible. He went down in a huff and tried to push the big rock off the small rock. He wasn’t able to do that, but in the process he did make the large rock stationary on top of the smaller rock. So the balance rock is still balanced but it doesn’t teeter-totter any longer.”
The tour also takes you to an area known as Berkshire Village, which popped up around Berkshire Glass Works. Opening in 1847 the company attracted artisans from Europe to use the fine sand found in area creeks for items like stained glass windows. Its 150 employees were paid in scrip instead of cash to use at the company store. The company shut down in 1903 because of increasing costs and competition.
Structures like The Stone Church, Stone School and the club at Donnybrook Golf Course have linkages to either the Bradley family or Abial Platt, among the town’s wealthiest residents. But there’s some intrigue around the Bradleys, according to Barton. British troops stayed at the Bradley’s home following their defeat at Saratoga in 1777 carrying payroll for Hessian troops. Told the back of the oven would be a good place to hide it, the British stowed it there.
“Well, turns out the oven opened on the outside of the chimney and in the morning all the money that was supposed to pay the Hessians was gone,” Barton said. “A few years later the Bradleys were building things around town, they endowed a school, they helped build the Stone Episcopal Church and everybody thought it was because of the money that should have gone to the Hessians.”
The tour officially runs from May 3rd to May 17th but maps and information will be available at the town library throughout the year.
