Pittsfield

If you’re ANYWHERE near Pittsfield, be sure to grab a bite at Teo’s Hot Dogs. Yes, they’re that good! Teo’s are to Pittsfield what cheese steaks are to Philadelphia.

Pittsfield is nice to visit if you want to go to museums or visit horse farms but living here can be quite boring.

The Berkshires in general though is very beautiful in the fall and winter.

If you read about Pittsfield online, it sounds like a city on the verge of reviving itself, but if you actually go there, the downtown area looks pretty depressed. The place is not without character, but there’s a dreariness you can’t escape.

We did find a nice residential area nearby, with lots of families playing outside in yards pitted with dandelions. But without a stronger town center, we didn’t think Pittsfield was the kind of place we’d want to move to.

There was a pretty eclectic museum, though — The Berkshire Museum. It has dinosaurs and insects and fish and reptiles and … early American paintings … and vintage children’s toys. Like I said, eclectic. Maddie liked it, mostly.

Interesting town – when it started to fail economically (due to GE Plastics downsizing), the town decided to cash into the Berkshire’s Art Community. More artists and bands and museums and nifty coffee shops and family owned unique shops than you can shake a stick at. Crime tends to be fairly high in certain areas, as it is a drug conduit between Boston and New York, but otherwise, not a bad place.