Wise Chalet Available to Rent!

The Wise Chalet is a beautiful, updated log cabin near all the best the berkshires has to offer– several lakes for swimming, boating, fishing and kayaking nearby. Hiking trails on the property plus many to chose from in the area. Short drive to Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow and much more. You feel secluded in this country escape, however you are minutes from all the berkshires has to offer. Enjoy bowling, shopping, and amazing restaurants right in downtown Great Barrington.

The house has 4 bedrooms plus a bonus room, two family rooms, 2 full baths, 2 gas fireplaces, a flat screen TV in the great room, wrap-around deck, huge screened in porch in an A-frame addition, an outdoor jacuzzi, pool table, BBQ and much more. In addition, we have a washer, dryer, crib, pack and play, cable lines in every room, and a wireless internet connection.

All linens are included for an extra cleaning fee so you can pack light! We also provide many games, books and brochures for area restaurants and activities. The house is extremely kid-friendly…

House is available for rent by the month, week or for the whole season:
Click Here to view VBRO (Vacation Renatal By Owner)* Cleaning fees and security deposits are not included in the above

Please contact us at 917-817-4360 if you are interested.

History of Great Barrington

The Mahican Indians called the area Mahaiwe, meaning “the place downstream.” It lay on the New England Path, which connected Fort Orange near Albany, New York with Springfield and then Massachusetts Bay. The village was first settled in 1726, and from 1742-1761 was the north parish of Sheffield. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great Barrington, named after the village of Great Barrington in Gloucestershire, England.

In the winter of 1776 Henry Knox passed through Great Barrington while transporting the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to the Siege of Boston.

With the arrival of the railroad, Great Barrington developed into a Gilded Age resort community for those seeking relief from the heat and pollution of cities. Wealthy families built grand homes called Berkshire Cottages here, as others would in Lenox and Stockbridge. Estates included Searles Castle, commissioned in 1888 by the widow of Mark Hopkins together with her second husband, Edward Francis Searles, and Brookside, built for William Hall Walker. In 1895, Colonel William L. Brown, part owner of the New York Daily News, presented Great Barrington with a statue of a newsboy, now a landmark on the western edge of town.

In March of 1886, the water mill at Great Barrington was the site of an experiment that first used water to drive an alternating current generator. A transformer was used to increase the voltage and the current was transmitted over a mile away to the nearest town to power street lights. It was the first time electrical power had been transmitted a considerable distance away from its generating station.

Arlo Guthrie’s 18-minute-long song “Alice’s Restaurant” is based on true-life events that occurred in Great Barrington and the adjoining towns of Stockbridge and Lee. The Guthrie Center, which is at the Old Trinity Church and was the home of Ray and Alice Brock at the time of the incidents related in the song, is at 4 Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington.

Great Barrington uses its own currency, called BerkShare notes. There are about 844,000 BerkShare notes in circulation worth about $759,600 at the current exchange rate of one BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper money is available in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty.