Any West Mass Pipers?

[buck17]

I'm In the Berkshires, just getting back in to smoking a pipe after years away when I smoked Captain Black in college. Really enjoying my smokes and discovering tobaccos/pipes but would love to share the contemplations!

 

[cigrmaster]

Buck, welcome to the site. You live in one beautiful place. I actually graduated from Wilbraham and Monson Acedemy in 76. I spent some time in the Berkshires during those days and even saw America at the Music Inn in Lenox. I moved to Florida in 2003 from East Greenwich R.I. If I were still up north I am sure we could have gotten together sometime.
I don't know if anyone here lives in your neck of the woods, but if they do, I am sure they will reach out. We are a friendly lot.

 

[jerry]

Greetings! Living in the Berkshires since 1989 (from NJ originally). First Pittsfield, now Sheffield. Welcome to the site!

 

[pitchfork]

Not there anymore, but I've lived in Stockbridge and Pittsfield at different times.

 

[buck17]

Hey thanks for the welcome. Yeah, Im in Pittsfield but I've lived in Stockbridge and Great Barrington. It is a beautiful area all around. My Mom actually lived and worked at Music Inn and saw many of the greats just out her back door, some pretty amazing stories. That family is still around and raising money for a documentary about the venue. In the early 60's it had a pretty amazing jazz era too. Monk, Duke, and others...

Jerry! Let's have a smoke sometime. Thanks for saying hi.

 

[buck17]

Jerry, I'm a musician, just wondering if you played?

 

[mso489]

A West Massachusetts aside: My dad's mom, with whom I was close, grew up in Holyoke, and moved when she married to the Chicago North Shore suburb of Highland Park. She was a matriarch as well as a major cook within the family, and I spent some weeks with here when I was in grade school during the summer, and loved her cooking. When touring New England years later, my late wife and I stopped at a pleasant restaurant (in an old frame house) in Western Massachusetts for lunch, years after Grandma had died, and I was bowled over by the regional cooking, so much like my Grandma's, the menu and so many little touches. I'd never thought of hers as regional cooking, but live and learn.

 

[buck17]

Yeah, there is a real rich homestyle cuisine here. And as it has been here in the Berkshires for over a hundred years a tourist destination for NY,NJ,etc there are some restaurants that really bring it. Ever passing through and need recommendations let me know. There are also a lot of tours for retired folks, don't know your age, that bring you for a week throughout the county to world renowned dance, theatre, music, and art venues. One on my wife's summer gigs is guiding these folks who come from all over the country to see the area. Yeah, it's a good corner of the Earth here in the shire...