I visited the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown MA once before, back in 2018. I did it again, this time with Marlene accompanying me, during our 9-day stay at the cabin. I like the museum but I also enjoy the ride through the Berkshires. This time I also got to explore Williamstown a bit. And we came back via Vermont – Marlene’s first time in that state. It was a fair amount of driving – over 160 miles – but I like to drive, it was a beautiful day and it is a scenic route.
One of the towns that we went through was Florida MA. So of course we had to get a picture of the “entering Florida” sign. We sent it to Marlene’s brother, telling him that we had a big fight and I immediately drove her to Florida.
Ha ha, right?
The Clark didn’t disappoint. It had a special exhibit of (and I am quoting from their website) “Caribbean-born artist Guillaume Lethière, a leading neoclassical painter who has been all-but-forgotten today.” We liked his art but we also enjoyed the rest of the museum. I am a big fan of the impressionists – Degas, Monet, Cassatt, Van Gogh – and Marlene loved their furniture and silver. We both enjoyed the sculpture (especially the Remington) and the lovely grounds.
Upon exiting the museum we were admiring the beautiful granite wall at the entrance. A gentleman overheard us and informed us that he was a geologist and not only was the granite beautiful, but it was also the oldest rock ever found in the United States. Who knew?
No trip with Marlene would be complete without some shopping so we stopped in downtown Williamstown – which consists of one block – and browsed a bit. This is a college town – the home of Williams College – and it was the first day of class. When we stopped a young man to ask about a building there he replied “I am a freshman; I don’t know anything.”
Williams has a terrific shop selling second hand books, CDs and audiobooks. We bought 10 CDs and one audiobook. We will leave some of the CDs in the cabin as a gift to Ray and Kim but will take the rest of the CDs and the audiobook with us on the trip south.
Williamstown has many lovely buildings on the Williams campus. There are two beautiful churches as well as very striking dormitories and classrooms. It seems like the quintessential New England college town.
I chose to return to the cabin via VT. This added a few minutes to the travel time, but gave us different things to view and gave Marlene her first entry into VT. It also allowed us to stop at the Wendy’s in Brattleboro as we were both craving a Frosty.