The Berkshire Mountains are internationally known as a tourism destination for its music, art and recreation. Jacob’s Pillow is located here in Becket, Massachusetts and is the dance center of our nation and the home of the longest running dance festival in the United States. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. President Barack Obama named Jacob’s Pillow a recipient of the 2010 National Medal of Arts, a national award of distinction. Everyone from Martha Graham and Jack Cole to The Royal Danish Ballet and Mikhail Baryshnikov have performed there.
Well, you may be asking what does this have to do with gardening? I am going to show you parts of their grounds, enough that I hope to motivate some of you to attend this exciting venue.
Our trip was motivated one Saturday last August here on SMGB by gchaucer2 who mentioned that she was going to Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I hadn’t been to Tanglewood in a few years and mentioned that I had never been to Jacob’s Pillow. Well, this motivated me and I checked out JP’s website that day and purchased tickets. So I hope you enjoy this day trip with us and it’s one of the few times without a car full of dogs.
There is no easy way to get to Jacob’s Pillow as it’s in the middle of nowhere without any Massachusetts Turnpike exits in its vicinity. To my surprise, Waze showed a back roads route that would take us only 70 minutes from our house. So off we went ……
Once off main Connecticut roads and onto the back roads of Massachusetts, there was beauty around every corner presenting something interesting and unique. I actually turned around to get a better look at this historic house in a small town we passed through. I’m on a historic district commission but this structure really throws me off. It appears transitional from Federal to Greek Revival but the double front doors? These make me believe that at one time it was a Church or school with the separate male and female entrances which were common during this period.
Hands down this is one of the most beautiful simply decorated doors on a historic house that I have seen in a long time. In the above photo, you will notice a concrete pineapple on each side of the front step. If you look closely you can see what appears like copper piping beside each one but are actually spotlights. I bet the door is spectacular lit up at night.
Our show started at 2:00 p.m. so we were hoping to find somewhere along the way to stop for lunch. We both said bingo when we saw the New Boston Inn established in 1737 with a full parking lot in Sandisfield, MA.
We had a very nice lunch (sorry Navajo, no pics) on a screened in porch with a view of the beautiful landscaped backyard. www.newbostoninn.com/...
Never having been to Jacob’s Pillow, we were running a bit late to get to our show. I wish I had photographs of the parking lot! I would have been content just sitting there for the afternoon. The whole place is a bit confusing on your first trip.
Our show, Mark Dendy’s Elvis Everywhere, was at the Doris Duke Theatre. We arrived in time to catch our breath before venturing inside. We already had 5th row center seats.
These blooms outside the theatre were reaching for the heavens. No pictures were allowed inside.
This had been the only show left for the season that both of us could attend together. Although I had never been an Elvis fan, it was fantastic! The video below is the highlights of the show. The man in the uniform wearing a gas mask was playing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Google will show you articles and video about Rumsfeld’s relationship with Elvis.
After being blown away by the show, we explored the grounds.
I had never seen sumac until I moved to New England. I have a love/hate relationship with it as it can become quite invasive. It took me over ten years to eradicate it from my yard although it still grows around the boundaries. Department of Transportations use to plant it to control soil erosion on banks. Native Americans had many uses for it from teas to dyes. I still find it an attractive plant in groves and they turn a wonderful color in the fall. I’ve used the dried red berry heads in Christmas wreaths and roping.
Many of the paths had beds of mixed perennials along them.
an old class room building with a stone building to its right hiding picnic tables behind it
a dancers dorm with tights drying on the fence
I blew this up so you could see the guy watching us from the picnic table. Sort of a nasty worried look as they must have been his tights. P overheard him speaking on his cell in Russian to someone. P speaks four/five languages fluently and a couple slightly. He said he overhead many visitors that day speaking French, Italian, Brazilian, etc. I just speak Appalachian and can understand some English.
The grounds have a mix of old and contemporary architect.
The famous outside stage was the one I really wanted to see as it overlooks a valley
Bring your own cushions, lunch and wine. I would really like to see a performance here.
This would be considered their Main Street. There is only one gift shop, but several restaurants and coffee shops.
I love the eucalyptus paired with the red ornamental grass
this appears to be a healthy trumpet vine
I really like this mix and wonder what the name is of the slow growing hanging plant
A very interesting thing I learned was that Joseph Pilates, the German physical trainer notable for having invented and promoted the Pilates method of physical fitness, taught for fifteen years at Jacob’s Pillow.
Here is Joseph in 1932 at Jacob’s Pillow leading a group of men and one woman in exercises
we started back to our car and passed the tights again where they had multiplied. Maybe Pence was bringing more Russians in?
Regretfully we said our byes to “the boys” with promises of returning
The exit dirt road running around the property told me there were many kindred spirits around
I especially liked this rock formation
there are hundreds of youtube videos from JP but I enjoy the first few minutes of this one.
The wonderful video below is how the property became known as Jacob’s Pillow and its early history. It also shows many early photographs of dancers. Every dance company even until the present that performs at Jacob’s Pillow has a photograph taken at the famous rock where the founder’s ashes are buried.
Returning to Route 20 to head home, we passed this distinguished gentleman overlooking his fields
also close by was this strange beautiful monument that I had to pull over for a closer look
What a nice discovery this was. For those that cannot read the sign below, this is just part of it (bold is mine):
A Monument to the Automobile Age
Stone cairn commemorates 1910 reconstruction
This section of Route 20 was built to bypass “Jacob’s Ladder”, the steep and difficult hill for which the Trail was named. On September 10, 1910, hundreds of spectators and auto club members came from all over the Northeast to celebrate the new road. A “rough slab” of native stone from the old Calvin Morey homestead” — the site of the cairn - had been set as a monument to the opening of the road. In an article dated September 25, 1910, the Boston Globe reported, “Around this boulder were stones which were brought from all parts of the world. A bit of stone from the Blarney Castle, amethyst from Mexico, Chester Granite, Lee marble and Longmeadow brownstone were packed about the boulder.”
from this sign, we also learned the deer statue shown above that was further up the road was in the location of a former restaurant named “The Deer” which was demolished in 1986.
Continuing on our way home, we passed through Westfield, MA, home of the Westfield United States Air Force base. We became very concerned because all of a sudden directly overhead were bands of loud fighter jets after fighter jets after fight jets. It was ear splitting. We were afraid that something bad had happened and pulled off the road and turned on the radio. Not hearing anything on news channels, we got out of the car to see what was going on
I had never seen anything quite like it
Later that night on the news, we discovered that we had witnessed the grand finale of the 2017 Westfield International Air Show with thousands in attendance. How was our timing for that? lol
We had previously called in an order of Turkish food and picked it up while passing through Springfield, MA and arrived home twenty minutes later. Pulling into our driveway, it was nice to see our own tiny dancers twirling in the wind as a fitting end to a day of discoveries.