MountanOne Named a Top Insurance Employer

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MountainOne Insurance, a full-service insurance agency with offices in North Adams, Pittsfield, and Williamstown, has been named a "Top Insurance Employer” by Insurance Business America (IBA).

IBA’s annual Top Insurance Employer program ranks leading U.S. insurance organizations based on a series of employee satisfaction metrics, including benefits, compensation, culture, employee development, and diversity.  It is the third time that MountainOne Insurance has been recognized, having achieved this distinction in 2019 and 2021.

"We are incredibly proud to be recognized once again by Insurance Business America as a Top Insurance Employer,” said Jonathan Denmark, MountainOne Insurance’s President and Chief Operating Officer. "In a challenging employment environment, we strive to offer flexibility and first class benefits to our employees." 

IBA’s Top Insurance Employer program has a two-phase qualification process, including an employer and an anonymous employee satisfaction survey. Company results are distributed across three categories based on employee size and overall satisfaction scores.

"I am especially proud of our employees over the past year as the Insurance Agency expanded and we welcomed many new team members," Denmark said.  "With a strong culture, we have been able to reach new heights in delivering Personal, Commercial and Employee Benefit insurance solutions throughout our region."

MountainOne Insurance was one of the twenty-six organizations recognized in the 26-100 employees category for 2022. To learn more, visit here.

Freight Yard Pub Serving the Community for Decades

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:26PM / Saturday, December 06, 2025

One of the eatery's menu mainstays is the popular French onion soup. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Freight Yard Pub has been serving the community for decades with a welcoming atmosphere and homemade food.

 

Siblings Sean and Colleen Taylor are the owners Freight Yard Pub. They took it over with their brother Kevin and Colleen's first husband in 1992. The two came from Connecticut and Boston to establish a restaurant and said they immediately felt welcomed in their new home.

 

"The reception that the community gave us in the beginning was so warm and so welcoming that we knew we found home," Colleen Taylors said. "We've made this area our homes since then, as a matter of fact, all of our friends and relationships came out of Freight Yard Pub."

 

The pub is located in Western Gateway Heritage State Park, and its decor is appropriately train-themed, as the building it's in used to be part of the freight yard, but it also has an Irish pub feel. It is the only original tenant still operating in the largely vacant park. The Taylors purchased the business after it had several years of instability and closures; they have run it successfully for more than three decades.

 

Colleen and Sean have been working together since they were teenagers. They have operated a few restaurants, including the former Taylor's on Holden Street, and currently operate takeout restaurant Craft Food Barn, Trail House Kitchen & Bar and Berkshire Catering Co. 

 

"Sean and I've been working together. Gosh, I think since we were 16, and we have a wonderful business relationship, where I know what I cover, he knows what he covers," she said. "We chat every single day, literally every day we have a morning phone call to say, OK, checking in."

 

The two enjoy being a part of the community and making sure to lend a hand to those who made them feel so welcome in the first place.