image description — Mount Greylock, the state's highest peak, is site of a wizarding school in famed J.K. Rowling's wizard series.

Rowling Picks Mount Greylock as Site of Fictional Wizarding School

Staff Reports02:33PM / Tuesday, June 28, 2016Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — The state's highest peak was revealed on Tuesday to be the location of a school of wizardry.

J.K. Rowling, author of the immensely popular "Harry Potter" series, released a short story on Tuesday on the history of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at Pottermore.com.

"It stands at the highest peak of Mount Greylock, where it is concealed from non-magic gaze by a variety of powerful enchantments, which sometimes manifest in a wreath of misty cloud," she writes of the hidden granite castle.

The North American version of Hogwarts was founded by Isolt Sayre, an Irish woman of wizarding heritage, who fled to the New World on the Mayflower disguised as Muggle boy to escape her wicked aunt.

She fled the Pilgrims, who had little truck with witchcraft, and later saved two boys whose wizard parents had died. Her journey crossed with that of James Steward, a "no magic," who also had left the Pilgrims behind. The two married, and raised the boys and their own children, creating a school for witchcraft in Massachusetts.

"Isolt and James both lived to be over 100. They had seen the cottage of Ilvermorny become a granite castle, and they died in the knowledge that their school was now so famous that magical families all over North America were clamouring to educate their children there," Rowling writes.

Four wooden carvings at the school represent the houses, via the magical creatures Isolt encountered in the New World: the Horned Serpent, the panther Wampus, the Thunderbird and the Pukwudgie. (No Wizard Gruulach, however, who made his appearance as the protector of Mount Greylock at this past weekend's Berkshire Mountains Faerie Festival.)

This chapter is latest in Rowling's "History of Magic in North America" that's being released piece by piece this week. No word if Mount Greylock will make it into the current trilogy of films based in the United States, which begins with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" this fall.

The story doesn't give the secret entrance to Ilvermorny — perhaps via the Berkshire Scenic Railway?

Tags: books, fantasy, fun stuff, wizard, witchcraft,

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Adams OKs Parking Fix for Stalled Jordan St. Culvert Repairs

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:45PM / Saturday, December 20, 2025

ADAMS, Mass. — Jordan Street residents displaced by a years-old culvert collapse have a place to park this winter, but town officials remain in the dark regarding when the culvert will actually be fixed.

The Select Board on Wednesday approved a traffic commission recommendation to allow permitted on-street parking for specific residents during the winter parking ban.

Interim Town Administrator Holli Jayko explained that the collapse, which occurred behind a Jordan Street apartment building several years ago, effectively eliminated off-street parking for several households.

"This collapse eliminated parking for some residents which creates challenges during the winter parking-ban period," Jayko said.

While most residents on the narrow, one-way street have access to private parking, a select few were left with no legal options during the winter months. Those affected can now apply for a town permit, provided they can prove their parking loss is a direct result of the collapse.

Selectman Joseph Nowak noted the culvert has been "down for years" and questioned if there were any immediate plans for repair.

Community Development Director Donna Cesan said the town has been working with the Massachusetts and Federal Emergency Management agencies through the Hazard Mitigation Program, but the project is currently stalled at the federal level. Cesan noted that MEMA will not enter into a formal agreement until funding is fully secured.

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