Meetings were held to identify as clearly as possible Great Barrington’s significance to its population and also to its area. The prospect of grant monies that could lead to significant transformation of the downtown was exciting for many. Along came a rep for the Massachusetts Department of Economic Development, asking me what could be done to help the area. There was no parking, and there was no money for parking. The vacancy rate on Main Street in Great Barrington at that time was about 25%. When I started at the bank I got involved with the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. Looking back to the early 1990s, he said, “Serendipity can be a strange thing.

His position with First Agricultural Bank put him squarely in the circle of those who could make a difference in the southern Berkshires. After college, he worked in Boston, eventually moving to Pittsfield with his wife. Hank Ervin grew up in North Carolina and spent summers as a teen working at a camp in the Berkshires, which is where he developed his love of the area. It was clear the town was at a crossroads.” I joined the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. As I renovated the building,” he said, “I became more interested in the town and what was going on there. I decided to purchase the Barrington House in the center of town, which was in disrepair. I always thought Great Barrington was a hub for the southern Berkshires. “I played golf for a year,” he said of this rare down time, “and I got into real estate. When he sold his business in Long Island, he moved to his second home full-time. Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, and a professed “junkie of New York City” as an adult, he had a second home in nearby South Egremont. But a turn-around is always possible where there’s a vision and a community to support it.įlash back to the late 1980s.

Truly, though, today’s success seemed as likely for this town as the achievement would be for the middle school ne’er-do-well whose teachers gave up on them. Even for tourists, this multitude of positive impressions generates a palpable sense of prosperity and cohesion. Today, the storefronts are occupied with eclectic and traditional businesses restaurants and coffee shops abound the sidewalks are spacious and well taken care of pedestrian crosswalks are clearly marked and respected and – what it’s really all about – there are people everywhere. Thirty years ago, today’s scene was a dream and a plan. To be at the intersection of Railroad and Main Streets in Great Barrington, MA, today is, for people who know the history of the town, like being at the graduation of one’s child from a Master’s Degree program.

Berkshire edge editorials