These Mysterious Hills 'Macabre Pittsfield' October Walking Tours

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Journalist Joe Durwin offer four walking tours looking into the city's darker past.

Reserve your tickets by emailing info@berkshirehomehistory.com. Visit TheseMysteriousHills.com for more info

City of the Dead: Pittsfield Cemetery

Oct 10, 17 & 30  at 6pm - $10

"City of the Dead" will explore fascinating and tragic stories from some of the more obscure lives of those buried here. It will also lay bare the darker history of the place itself: the vandalism, assaults, exhumations, reinterments, and tragic deaths that have taken place within the cemetery itself.

Ghosts of the Gilded Age: Downtown Pittsfield

Oct 16 & 24 at 6pm

Explore ghoulish legends of the historic Park Square district and a glimpse into Pittsfield in the Gilded Age. An easy stroll around several iconic houses, venues, and other important buildings of downtown.

Dark Origins- 1800s: Downtown Pittsfield

Oct 24 at 8pm - $10
A walk back in time through the dirt and cobble-stones of early Pittsfield, past its burial grounds and nefarious saloons, its brothels, opium dens, and grisly crime scenes. 

Roaring 20s: Downtown Pittsfield

Oct 25 at 6pm - $10

From forgotten LGBT history to bootlegging, jewel heists, serial murder,  and the rise of the KKK, this walk chronicles the decade that set the tone for a whole century.

These Mysterious Hills began in 2004 as a regular column in the Advocate Weekly newspaper, and has become an archive of obscure Berkshire county history, with walking tours and other special events offered regularly since 2015.

 

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

Holiday Inn Remains Closed from Broken Elevator

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It has been almost three weeks since broken elevators temporarily closed the Holiday Inn & Suites, and the hotel is still working to meet code compliance. 

The hotel at 1 West Street has been closed since Sept. 25, after its last working elevator of three broke down. The 101 Restaurant & Bar, located within the Holiday Inn, also has temporarily shut its doors while repairs are ongoing. 

The day of the shutdown had emergency personnel carrying people who use mobility devices down stairs. 

“We were called there a couple of Fridays ago. There was no working elevator. There were EMTs and the fire department there, and they were getting over half a dozen people down the stairs that were in wheelchairs and walkers,” Building Commissioner Rian Dowd told iBerkshires on Wednesday. 

“So with the no working elevators, we shut the building down.”

The central downtown, 12-story hotel has nearly 180 guest rooms. Massachusetts requires public multi-level buildings and facilities to have elevator access. 

Dowd said the Holiday Inn is still working with the elevator company and state inspectors to be certified and reopen. They were told to provide the City of Pittsfield with a timeline, work orders, and contracts from repairs so that everyone can be on the same page and the hotel can open as quickly as possible, she said. 

“We have not heard anything from them yet this week,” she reported. 

iBerkshires’ attempts to reach a representative from the Holiday Inn were unsuccessful. 

There were no passengers in the elevator when it stopped working; how it broke was not disclosed. 

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