Great Barrington

Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. It is a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, a ski resort. 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 Massachusetts Bay. The first recorded account of Europeans in the area happened in August 1676, during King Philip's War. Major John Talcott and his troops chased a group of 200 Mahican Natives west from Westfield, eventually overtaking them at the Housatonic River in what is now Great Barrington. According to reports at the time, Talcott's troops killed twenty-five Indians and imprisoned another twenty. In the summer of 1774, 1,500 men shut down the Berkshire County Court in response to British oppression. The village was first settled by colonists in 1726 and from 1742 to 1761 was the north parish of Sheffield. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great. Barrington, named after the village of GreatBarrington in Gloucestershire, England. In November 1885 electrical engineer William Stanley, Jr. began installing a demonstration transformer based alternating current lighting system. This was the world's first practical demonstration system of an alternating current system. It was the basis of the Westinghouse system that later that year would begin installing alternating current systems.

History

Great Barrington is the primary city name, but also Egremont, Gt Barrington, N Egremont, New Marlboro, New Marlborou, New Marlborough, North Egremont, Simons Rock are acceptable city names or spellings, Alford, Berkshire Heights, Hartsville, Risingdale, Van Deusenville on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. Great Barrington is a town in western Massachusetts. It was named after the village of Great Barrington in Gloucestershire, England. The town was the site of an F4 tornado on May 29, 1995, which killed three people and caused damage in the area. The Appalachian Trail runs through the town and adjoining towns of Stockbridge, Stockbridge and Lee. The song "Alice's Restaurant," which runs for 1812 minutes, is based on true events of the mid-20th century in the town. It is now owned by Guthrie, which was the home of Alice Brock and Ray Brock at the time of these incidents, and is at 4 Van Deusenville Road in GreatBarrington. The village was first settled by colonists in 1726 and from 1742 to 1761 was the north parish of Sheffield. In 1761, it was officially incorporated as Great. Barrington was named an Appalachian Trail Community by application and acceptance by the Appalachian Conservancy on June 1, 2010. In the summer of 1774, 1,500 men shut down the Berkshire County Court in response to British oppression. The Konkapot River in southwestern Massachusetts is named after him. In 1885 electrical engineer William Stanley, Jr. began installing a demonstration transformer based alternating current lighting system. This was the world's first practical demonstration of an alternating current with transformers system. In March 1886 Stanley powered the system up to the point where it could light 23 businesses along Main Street with very little power loss over 4,000 ft (1,200 m).

Geography

Great Barrington is in the valley of the Housatonic River. The town is 20 miles (32 km) south of Pittsfield, 46 miles (74 km) west of Springfield, 135 miles (217 km)west of Boston, and 120 miles (190 km) north-northeast of New York City. U.S. Route 7 passes through the center of town, and was once part of New England Interstate Route 4 (also known as the New York-Berkshire-Burlington Way) Massachusetts Route 23 passes from west to east through town, combining with Massachusetts Route 41 and Route 7. The Appalachian Trail crosses through East Mountain State Forest in the southeast corner of town. The southwest corner of the town is the site of several country clubs and a fairgrounds. The nearest interstate highway is Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), the nearest exit 2 of Interstate 90 is 12 miles (19 km) from the town's central business district. It is located in the Berkshires, a region known for its ski resorts and state forests. It has a population of 2,816. The U.N. World Heritage Site is in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was named after the town of the same name in the 17th century. The site is home to the first European settlement in the area, in 16th century, and the first American settlement in 17th Century, in the 18th Century.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,527 people, 3,008 households, and 1,825 families residing in the town. By population, the town ranks fifth out of the 32 cities and towns in Berkshire County, and 202nd out of 351 towns in Massachusetts. The town's median household income was $95,490, and the median family Income was $103,135. 17% were of Irish descent, 12% Italian, 11% German, 10% English and 9% Polish. The population was spread out, with 22.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. There were 3,352 housing units at an average density of 74.2 per square mile (28.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.74% White, 2.09% Black or African American, 1.25% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, and1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.07% of the population. For every 100 females age 18 and over,there were 83.8 males. The median income of $68,163 was $49,474 for females, and $42,655 for males. About 2.4% of families and 5.2%, the town's per capita income, were below the poverty line.

Economy

Great Barrington is the location of the Ski Butternut resort. The Berkshire Humane Society operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilities in the town. The town has a population of 2,000. It is located in the Berkshire County region of Berkshires, which includes Berkshire, Berkshire, Berkshire, Berkshire Hills, and Berkshire Berks. It also includes Berkshire and Berkshire counties, which are in the Berkshired region of Berkshire County, which is in the western part of the Berkshire region of the state. It's located near the town's largest lake, the Berkshire River, which runs through Great Barrington, and the Berkshire Range, which flows into the Berkshire Valley. It was founded in 1872. The first town to be named after a river, the Great River, was established in 1875. In 1883, the town became the first town in Berkshire County to have a post office. It opened its doors to the public in 1883. It has been named after the Berkshire family, who founded the town in 1881. It became a town of 1,000 people in 1885. It had its first post office in 1887. It still has its own post office, which opened in 1891. It now has a number of businesses, including a restaurant, a bank, a theater, a bowling alley, a spa, and a golf course. It hosts the Berkshire Human Society, which offers animal welfare and adoption services and adoption facilities for pets. The Humane Society also operates a pet adoption facility.

Arts and culture

The town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts is home to the Bard College at Simon's Rock and the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. The town is also the site of the Searles Castle and the W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite.

Government

Great Barrington employs the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen and a town manager. The town has two libraries, with the main branch, Mason Library, at 231 Main Street in Great Barrington, and a branch library, Ramsdell Library, in the village of Housatonic. It is home to Southern Berkshire District Court, as well as Fairview Hospital, the largest hospital in the southern end of the county (based on the number of beds) The town is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by the Fourth Berkshire district, which covers southern Berkshire County, and the westernmost towns in Hampden County. On the national level, the town is part of Massachusetts's 1st congressional district, represented by Democrat Richard Neal of Springfield since 2012. It offers the use of its own local currency, called BerkShare notes, worth about $801,800 at the exchange rate of one BerkShare to 95 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper money is available in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty. Proponents say the currency gets residents to shop at local stores. Local areas may have their own currencies as long as they do not resemble the United States dollar and are in paper only. There are about 844,000 Berk share notes in circulation, worthAbout $801k at the Exchange rate of 1 Berk share to 95 US cents. Great Barington has a paid by call Fire Department, which responds to about 600 calls per year.

Great Barrington Declaration

Great Barrington plays host to the American Institute for Economic Research. AIER was founded in 1933 as a non-profit scientific and educational organization. In October 2020 the Institute held a meeting of epidemiologists, economists and journalists to discuss government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was the Great Barrington Declaration, signed at the Institute's headquarters on October 4, 2020, and released to the public the following day. It advocated an alternative, risk-based approach to the pandemic involving "focused protection" of those most at risk and seeking to avoid or minimize the societal harm of lockdowns. The Declaration was signed by the leaders of the Institute, the U.S. State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on October 5, 2020.

Education

Great Barrington is the largest town in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. The town is home to several private schools, including the Rudolf Steiner School, the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, and the John Dewey Academy. Bard College at Simon's Rock was the first-ever early college, and remains the only accredited four-year early college program in the country. The nearest state university is Westfield State University. The South County Center of the Berkshire Community College is in the town. The school district includes the towns of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, and villages of Housatonic, Glendale and Interlaken. All three school levels in the district are in Great Barringer, including Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School and W.E.B Du Bois Regional Middle School. Monument Mountain Regional High School (MMRHS) opened in 1968, consolidating the former Searles High School and Williams High School in Stockbridge. It serves the high school students of the district, and is off Route 7 in the northern part of town. It is the only high school in the area that is not located in the Berkshires. The district also has a middle school and a high school that are not in the region. It also has an elementary and middle school that is located off Route7 in the north part of the town, and offers pre-kindergarten through fourth grade classes. It offers grades five through eight in the middle school.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts = 42.2. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 50. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Great Barrington = 3.3 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,141 individuals with a median age of 42.6 age the population grows by 1.22% in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 160 residents per square mile of area (60/km²). There are average 1.99 people per household in the 1,240 households with an average household income of $44,504 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.50% of the available work force and has dropped -1.28% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 30.94%. The number of physicians in Great Barrington per 100,000 population = 316.1.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Great Barrington = 47 inches and the annual snowfall = 62.4 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 137. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 188. 81 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 10.7 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 57, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts which are owned by the occupant = 41.83%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 18.0 years with median home cost = $270,270 and home appreciation of 2.97%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $13.48 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $3,428 per student. There are 10.9 students for each teacher in the school, 660 students for each Librarian and 508 students for each Counselor. 3.66% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 19.30% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 16.46% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).