Roadside North Adams
Tour Description
Even before the construction of the Mohawk Trail in 1914, North Adams has served as a tourist attraction for the surrounding area and beyond. This driving tour begins on the Mohawk Trail and continues on into North Adams proper. While some of the sites mentioned in this tour no longer exist, others have found new life by being revitalized and reimagined by new owners.
Locations for Tour
Whitcomb Summit
Looming over the Deerfield River Valley atop Whitcomb Summit there is a peculiar sight, a strange animal stands stalwart against the harsh winds and freezing temperature that persist at the highest point on the Mohawk Trail. On closer inspection, the…
Wigwam Western Summit
Native Americans were the first to travel along the Mohawk Trail, through the Northern Berkshires and between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. Today, a scenic drive east from North Adams past the “Hairpin Turn” leads to a unique spot known as the…
Hairpin Turn/Golden Eagle Restaurant
The Golden Eagle Restaurant, originally built in 1914, the year the road opened, is located on North Adams’ Hairpin Turn and is one of the oldest sites on the Mohawk Trail. For over a hundred years it has offered refreshments and warm meals to those…
Natural Bridge Park
Natural Bridge Park may be home to a fascinating series of landforms sculpted by the melting of glaciers thousands of year ago, but it also holds local histories of marble mining and community service projects as well as the only white marble dam in…
Coury's Drive-In
Imagine it is Independence Day weekend in 1982. You and your family go out for the night to the local drive-in. Playing that night is the new Star Trek movie, the Wrath of Khan. As you drive up to your spot you smell freshly popped popcorn soaked in…
Mount Greylock Veterans War Memorial Tower
On the streets of North Adams and Adams, you may look up to the summit of Mt. Greylock and wonder why there is a lighthouse on the top. You are not alone. Residents of the surrounding towns asked that same question in the 1930s when what is actually…
Meadowbrook Arena and Ballroom
Meadowbrook was an outdoor ballroom and boxing arena built in 1922 by William Craven and William Kelly of North Adams, and Wilfred Guerin of Adams. During their ownership of Meadowbrook, they hosted both musical performances and boxing matches.…
North Adams Fairgrounds
In the fall of 1927, heavy amounts of rainfall created massive flooding in the Hoosic River, and the rushing water completely obliterated a piece of North Adams history. This piece of history was the Fairgrounds, the site for a variety of events that…
The Cascades
The Cascades (also known as the Cascade), a roughly 85-acre park featuring hiking trails and a 45-foot waterfall, has been a popular recreation site for locals and tourists for over a century. It’s history as a city park, however, is much more recent…
Airport Tourists Home and Rooms/Redwood Inn/Tourists
Tourists, a motel on the side of Route 2 on the border of Williamstown and North Adams, is a completely reconstructed motor inn. Resurrected from the demolition of its predecessor, the Redwood Motel, it opened in August 2018. Neighboring Tourists is…