Editing Pittsfield, Massachusetts (section)

===Culture===

[[File:BSC Theatre small.jpg|thumb|upright|Downtown home of Barrington Stage Company]]
Pittsfield is the geographic and commercial hub of [[the Berkshires]]—a historic area that includes [[Tanglewood]], the summer home of the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]], and author [[Edith Wharton]]'s estate [[The Mount (Lenox, Massachusetts)|The Mount]]. Many buildings in Pittsfield are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts|National Register of Historic Places]].

Downtown Pittsfield is home to the gilded-age [[Colonial Theater (Pittsfield, Massachusetts)|Colonial Theatre]], the [[Berkshire Museum]], the Beacon Cinema (multi-plex), the [[Barrington Stage Company]], [[Berkshire Athenaeum]], [[Wahconah Park]] and [[Hebert Arboretum]]. In recent years, the city has undergone a transformation with significant investment in the historic downtown, including a variety of new restaurants (French, Asian, Latin American, etc.), condominium and other residential developments and cultural attractions.
[[File:Colonial Theater 1918 postmark-2.JPG|thumb|left|Colonial Theatre {{circa|1918}}]]
The Colonial Theatre, dating from 1903, was named by [[Hillary Clinton]] as a National Historic Treasure in 1998. The community invested more than $22 million to refurbish the 100-year-old Colonial Theatre, one of the only theaters of its kind from the [[Vaudeville]] age. The venue has been described as "one of the finest acoustical theaters in the world."

Barrington Stage Company, the Tony Award-winning producer of ''[[The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]]'' invested millions into its newly renovated stage in downtown Pittsfield, along with the development of other stages within the downtown for smaller performances. Barrington Stage's head of its Musical Theatre Lab, [[William Finn]], told the ''Boston Globe'' that he was determined to make Pittsfield the "epicenter of the musical theater universe."

Many of the Berkshires' oldest homes, dating to the mid-18th century, can be found in Pittsfield, as well as many historic neighborhoods dating from the late 19th century and early 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ma/Berkshire/state.html |title=National Register of Historic Places - Berkshire County, MA|access-date=May 18, 2009}}</ref>

Several small multi-generational farms can still be found in Pittsfield, though suburban sprawl and land development have recently claimed some of this land.

Additional cultural attractions include:

* [[Arrowhead (Herman Melville House)|Arrowhead]], home of author [[Herman Melville]] (1850–1863). It was here that Melville wrote ''[[Moby Dick]]''.
* Silvio O. Conte National Archives and Records Administration.