2nd Street Seeks Submissions for Literary Project

11:19AM / Saturday, May 18, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — 2nd Street seeks submissions for Using Our Outside Voices, a literary project created in partnership with Berkshire Community College (BCC) that is designed to promote creativity, acceptance and inclusion for presently or formerly incarcerated men and women in Berkshire County. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2024.

Authors whose work is selected will receive a cash award of $200, and winning submissions will be published in a journal. The initial run of 400 printed copies of the free journal will be distributed locally, and digital copies will be available online. In addition, public readings will be held at various venues in the Berkshires.

Any presently or formerly incarcerated resident of Berkshire County is invited to submit original poetry, short fiction, personal essays or other literary works. Those who need editorial help can bring their work to 2nd Street, located at 264 Second Street, Pittsfield.

For more details on how to submit a literary work, visit www.2nd-street.org and click Special Projects, or call (413) 443-7220, ext. 1275.

Financial and in-kind support of Using Our Outside Voices is provided by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Arts Build Community initiative with funding from the Barr Foundation; by Berkshire United Way; by Berkshire Community College; and by Pittsfield Cultural Council, a local agency supported by Mass Cultural Council.

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Hancock Shaker Village Celebrations Round Stone Barn's 200th

Staff reportsiBerkshires
02:05PM / Friday, July 31, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For two centuries, Hancock Shaker Village has been home to the only circular barn ever built by the Shakers, and on Sunday, the museum will be celebrating the landmark's bicentennial.

The museum is known for its work preserving and educating the public on the history of the Shakers through interactive exhibits, such as the beloved Baby Animals festival in April and May.

On Sunday from 10 to 5, museum admission is free with a range of activities including tours of the iconic Round Stone Barn, lectures on the shakers and the museum's other brick dwellings, a wind turbine demonstration, shaker music and dancing demonstrations, live performances, and so much more. More information on the event here.

According to the museum's website, the Round Stone Barn, built in 1826, is widely recognized as an architectural icon and agricultural wonder.

The Shakers operated a working dairy farm at Hancock until the 1950s and the barn was originally a stable for its 52 milk cows, the site said.

It has ground-level access on all three levels so, wagons could enter on the upper level to deposit hay into the central haymow on the main floor below, then the empty wagons would be driven around the circular barn floor and exit the same door it came in, eliminating the potentially dangerous activity of backing wagons out of a barn, the website said.

The cows stabled on the main floor faced inward toward the haymow for ease of feeding and manure was shoveled through trapdoors to the cellar, where it was stored until needed as fertilizer in the gardens, it said.

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