Bidwell House Museum Offers High School Internships

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MONTEREY, Mass. — The Bidwell House Museum, a colonial historic house museum in Monterey, is offering high school students with an interest in history, particularly local Berkshire colonial history, the opportunity to become a Young History Scholar Intern this summer.

The Bidwell House Museum is a 1750s New England heritage site providing through its land, house and collection a personal encounter with frontier life in early America. The museum includes the fully furnished colonial homestead, several outbuildings and 192 acres of grounds with gardens, stone walls, foundations and hiking trails.

High school interns spend two weeks at the museum. In week one, the intern learns about colonial Berkshire history, the Bidwell family, the house, the property and the collection, and how docents give tours. In week two, each intern chooses a research topic and begins to give tours of the museum as a junior docent.


Recent summer interns have come from the following towns and school districts: Lanesborough, Lenox, New Marlborough,  Monterey, Sandisfield, South Lee, Tyringham, Fort Mill, SC, Albany Academy, Convent of the Sacred Heart, NY, Dana Hall School, Waldorf High School, Houghton Academy, Lenox Memorial Middle and High School,  Monument Mountain High School and Mt. Everett Regional High School.
 
Thanks in part to grants from the Great Barrington, Lenox and Monterey Cultural Councils as well as private sponsors and friends of the museum, each high school intern receives a $200 stipend for the two-week internship. The museum is also seeking a college student for an eight-week internship.

The internship application can be found on the museum’s website, www.bidwellhousemuseum.org. The deadline for applications is April 30.

 

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

MassDOT Project Will Affect Traffic Near BMC

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Prepare for traffic impacts around Berkshire Medical Center through May for a state Department of Transportation project to improve situations and intersections on North Street and First Street.

Because of this, traffic will be reduced to one lane of travel on First Street (U.S. Route 7) and North Street between Burbank Street and Abbott Street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday through at least May 6.

BMC and Medical Arts Complex parking areas remain open and detours may be in place at certain times. The city will provide additional updates on changes to traffic patterns in the area as construction progresses.

The project has been a few years in the making, with a public hearing dating back to 2021. It aims to increase safety for all modes of transportation and improve intersection operation.

It consists of intersection widening and signalization improvements at First and Tyler streets, the conversion of North Street between Tyler and Stoddard Avenue to serve one-way southbound traffic only, intersection improvements at Charles Street and North Street, intersection improvements at Springside Avenue and North Street, and the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of First Street, North Street, Stoddard Avenue, and the Berkshire Medical Center entrance.

Work also includes the construction of 5-foot bike lanes and 5-foot sidewalks with ADA-compliant curb ramps.  

Last year, the City Council approved multiple orders for the state project: five orders of takings for intersection and signal improvements at First Street and North Street. 

The total amount identified for permanent and temporary takings is $397,200, with $200,000 allocated by the council and the additional monies coming from carryover Chapter 90 funding. The state Transportation Improvement Plan is paying for the project and the city is responsible for 20 percent of the design cost and rights-of-way takings.

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