Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-09-13
BEAUTIFUL BERKSH|RES'
Perhaps There is a More
Beautiful Country But a
Washington Star Cor
respondent Doubts 1t.

Wendell Homes. and the ercatercat
grandfather of Justice Holmes of the
United States Supreme Court. says al
Pittsficld dispatch in the Washington
Star. He started frontier hamlet
In l7ia. named Pontoosuck. which
was inco porated with its present
name in honor OF the primo minister
of England in April. i76l 1t was thc|
iifth town to be incorporated in Bcrk.
shire county. and the names of them
are all English. After the revolution
the nomenclature shows patriotic
,ingc and the names of Hancock.
Adams. Lee, Otis. Dalton ana Wash.
mgton and other leaders of the rcvo.
luton were written upon the map.
Like the MidIands OF England.
But the largest so,i,cc of revenue.
the most valuable assets is the at
mosphcrc and the scenery. There may
be fairer lands than berkshire coun.
". hut human eyes have seldom seen
them. The landscape reminds YOU of
the midlands of England. only the,
mountains are highos, the forests are
more extensive, the residences are
more magnificent, and many of them
are built OF wood which Is too scarce
in the old country to use for human
habitations. This time of year the
mountains are covered with glorious
foliage as with blanket, aud tho
green was never so intense rs II isl
today. The season was late There
was great deal of rain The earth
was soaked with moisture and thcI
leaves were long in unfolding, hui
they We're all the more lust bus and
rich in color when they came. ThcI
mountains are clad with maple birch
oak, chestnut. hcmlock ana poplar
trees. and am told that the foliage
is even more glorious in autumn than
now, but That would seem impossible
II Is difficult to conceive OF any i'm
piovcmcnt.
Very little OF the land Is cultivate cd
Most of the Berkshire hills ana val
leys are given up to forests. pastures
and meadows. and the farmers raise|
hay To keep their dairy cattle over
the winter rather than wheat and 9th
or staples. Everything, however. Isl
smbordinatcd to the summer visitors
The chief end of man in these parts
Is to make it rs pleasant as possible
Tor them ana collect n large price for
the trouble.
Although the country is old and
thickly settled game is quite numcr.
Gus. Tho woods are full of deer. The
game law has ;aen suspended for the
pu pose of accommodating animals forI
the summer visitors TO shoot, and as
consequence they have multiplied
so rapidly as to become nuisance
They eat mp the young corn. min off
tho tops of vegetables. trample down
the flower gardcns. and in some plac.
cs watchmen are kept to drive them
away. Most of the forests are priv
ate property. although the state owns
Graylock ana several othen of the
mountains. which is source of grati.l
fication because it insures their pre-
sorvation and the maintenance of
good roads
Many Costly Homes.
Pittsficld is SURROUNDED by summer
resorts of the highest class. Fo.
twenty-five miles in every direction
arc ranges of hills and mountains ris
ing 1000 feet or moN. and between
them are lovely valleys watered by
lakes, ponds and trout brooks Tho
drainage basin is the valley of the
ilousatonic river which winds IN and
out among the hills ana is fed by the
lakes and the innumcrablc brooks
Each of the little side valleys as IA
south as the Connecticut line is occu.
pied by rich people who have bough'
large tracts of land and have erected
villas that cost from $4,000 to 81, 900
600 or more. There are said TO he
ut least 100 private .csidcnces In the
township of Lcnox and an even larr
or number in Stockbridgc which cost
more than 100000, and the most i'm
posing and expensive is nj Great Bar
rington. about twenty-five miles south
of Pittsficld.
II is called kellogg Ter ace" and
was erected hy the late Mark Hon
kins. who. with Coils p. Huntington
and Leland Stanford composed The
triumviratc that built the Central ana
southern Pacific railways. He died
hcfoe his palace was finished. and
shortly after. AT Mrs Hopkins re
quest, New York firm Of decorators
sent its chief designer. Edward F.
Sehrles. TO make plans for its decora
ton. He did his work well married
he widow ana has since made Kcl.
logg Terrace his home. Mti. Scarles
Joined her first husband IN paradise
several years ago, leaving No. 9 an
enormous fortune which he has OK
ncndcd in bcautifying his home ana
filling it's sumptuous apartments with
pictures. statuary and other treasures
OF art Mark Hopkins had an archi-
tectual monstrosity filled with a Large
collection of pictures and statnary on
Mob Hill in San Francisco which he
bcncathed to his fcllow-citizcns as an
AT school anu gave it n handsome
endowment. 1t was good deal shak-
EN- up BY the earthquake. but fort,i-
nately was not destroyed
E Iaborate Memorials.
Great harrington is also famous for
having the finest parsonage In the
world. II is known as "Thc Hopkins
MCn1f, ta1 -,