Letter: Vote on May 11

To the Editor:

I am excited to endorse Albert Cummings for Select Board. I have known Albert for decades. I've watched him grow his business from building small additions and renovations to award winning residential and commercial masterpieces. Similarly, I have seen his music career evolve from playing the banjo on Community Auditions, to singing and playing guitar around a campfire, to sharing a stage with some of the greatest blues artists who ever walked the earth. Albert's success in these areas come from a strong work ethic, great people skills, a willingness to always learn new ideas while not casting aside those ideas that are time tested and proven, and the attitude that a job worth doing is worth doing right. These are skills and attributes that will serve our town well.

Albert approaches people, ideas, issues, and opportunities with an open mind. He possesses an uncanny ability to engage with people, put them at ease, and allow them to be heard and has the experience of making tough decisions.

I encourage everyone to vote on May 11.

Jay Merselis
Williamstown, Mass.

Mohican People Honored with Display in South Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:23AM / Sunday, June 21, 2026

The idea for the installation was inspired by a sculpture installation at Field Farm.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A granite installation in Bloedel Park next to the town's new traffic rotary honors the area's first residents and caps an effort that began five years ago.

 

The large granite wall across from the Store at Five Corners is adorned with emblems inspired by the symbols that decorate baskets of the Mohican people. It provides a testament to the presence of the ancestors of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, who, thousands of years ago, lived in the land now known as Berkshire County.

 

The black and red images of a leaf and bear claw are accompanied by an interpretive panel telling part of the story of the native people who fought with the Americans in their Revolutionary War and later were forcibly removed from the area in the late 18th century. 

 

Today, the Mohican people persist with nearly 1,600 enrolled members on or near a reservation in Wisconsin.

 

But the Stockbridge-Munsee Community has never lost its connection to its ancestral home, and, in the last decade, more of the area's contemporary residents have worked to recognize that link.

 

Bette Craig thought the then-planned roundabout would offer an opportunity to highlight that historic link.

 

"It all started in 2021 when MassDOT was having a Zoom meeting to tell the local community about it and get feedback and so forth," Craig said on Thursday. "At the time, I was the president of the South Williamstown Community Association. I was saying things about [the proposed project], and one of the community people listening was Polly Macpherson, who I knew from the League of Women Voters.