Historical 18th-Century Inn with Candlelit Restaurant

With its whitewashed clapboard façade and front porches overlooking sweeping meadows, The Old Inn on the Green has an idyllic setting fit for a historical novel. The inn has some history to spare, too: its main building was once a stagecoach relay, and it’s been located in this quiet stretch of Massachusetts's Berkshire Hills since 1760. Honey-colored wooden floorboards, antiques, and period pieces nod to its earlier days. Since then, it’s been upgraded to feature an intimate restaurant, which earned a Best in the Berkshires rating from Zagat and was called "one of the finest dining destinations in the area" by Travel + Leisure.

Candles and brick-lined fireplaces are the only sources of light inside the inn’s dining room, where chef and inn co-owner Peter Platt bases his seasonal American fare on ingredients sourced from area farmers. In a four-course dinner for two, you can sample dishes such as slow-braised Angus short ribs and seared Maine diver scallops. During the summer, feel free to dine on a garden terrace, which is shaded by a white canopy. In the morning, the cooks craft omelets made from local barnyard eggs and Vermont cob-smoked ham served alongside buttermilk pancakes sweetened by local maple syrup.

Eleven bedrooms are available between the main building and the separate Thayer House, and all of them have been faithfully restored. The Thayer House contains a little library and two large shared living rooms, and the décor varies from room to room. Most have fireplaces; some have claw-foot tubs; and some have cardboard cutouts of Thomas Jefferson; but all feature authentic antiques arranged to evoke the 1800s.

New Marlborough, Massachusetts: Cultural History in the Midst of the Berkshire Hills

New Marlborough is a peaceful, rural town in the lower Berkshire Hills about 10 miles from Great Barrington and 120 miles from Boston. It’s surrounded on all sides by state forests—including Beartown and Sandisfield—which feature hiking trails and lakes full of fish.

This area has served as a place of peaceful solitude for some famous artists and writers. It’s worth it to check out Herman Melville's Arrowhead, the home where he penned Moby Dick. Melville's study, piazza, and original fireplace are on display, as is the barn where he and The Scarlet Letter author Nathaniel Hawthorne met to discuss their writings and a shared love for Doritos. In nearby Stockbridge, the Norman Rockwell Museum displays a massive collection of paintings and drawings from the famous Saturday Evening Post artist, including the well-known Christmas Homecoming and Girl Reading the Post.

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