Based at the Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort in Lenox, my three-day Berkshires adventure this summer was a rewarding reminder of the region’s group market riches.
The Cranwell’s Gilded-Age allure came alive as I walked the property with Deanna Mangiardi, director of sales and marketing.
With 60-mile views from its event-capable Rose Terrace and group spaces including the fine-dining Wyndhurst restaurant, the Music Room and a newly renovated ballroom, the hilltop 13-room Tudor-style mansion commands the 380-acre property. Originally Wyndhurst, this 1894 gem hails from the “Berkshire Cottages” era when Lenox was known as the “Inland Newport.”
The Cranwell offers 85 rooms and 29 suites, plus 16,000 square feet of versatile space, in a walkable collection of buildings. My comfortable junior suite, overlooking the first tee of the historic 18-hole championship golf course, was in the 18-room Queen Anne-style Beecher’s (1882), the oldest building on campus.
Both the 12-room Olmsted Manor, named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the Cranwell’s original landscape architect, and the 18-room Carriage House connect to the 35,000-square-foot spa by enclosed, heated walkways. With an outdoor pool, tennis courts, the casual Sloane’s Tavern and more, The Cranwell is a commanding regional choice for corporate meetings, social occasions and other gatherings.
About 20 miles north up scenic Route 7 in Hancock, the four-season Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort (www.jiminypeak.com) features more than 15,000 square feet of versatile space distributed around the Village Center at the base of the mountain.
The main conference venue, J.J.’s Lodge, includes the 4,800-square-foot Greylock Room, accommodating up to 450 guests, and the 50-person Thunderbolt Room for breakouts. In the winter, the building converts to the ski lodge. Next door, the Crane Lodge’s East Room and West Room each have huge stone fireplaces and space for up to 200 people. Both buildings have large windows looking out on the mountain, plus outdoor patios with fire pits.
“We want groups to get outside and fully utilize the resort,” said Jessica Shandor, director of conference sales, who also showed me the 100-suite Country Inn, which includes John Harvard’s at Jiminy Peak, plus a ballroom and more meeting space. Fifty condo units are also available, along with the event-capable Christiansen’s Tavern.
The largest ski and snowboard resort in southern New England, 2,380-foot Jiminy Peak offers 45 trails, night skiing included. Along with hiking and mountain biking, summer amenities include the Mountain Adventure Park, featuring thrilling rides such as the mountain coaster and the alpine slide, both more than 3,000 feet long, and the Soaring Eagle zipline. The first North American mountain resort to install a wind turbine (groups can arrange a tour) and featuring a 12-acre solar array, Jiminy is among the greenest resorts in the nation.
Continuing north to North Adams, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, or MASS MoCA, offers a singular venue for tours and events. Opened in 1999, the 16-acre complex of interconnected 19th century factory buildings houses the nation’s largest collection of contemporary visual and performing art.
Offering 40 weekends of live events each year, MASS MoCA is undergoing its third and final expansion phase. Targeting completion by Memorial Day 2017, the $55 million investment will add 120,000 square feet of renovated gallery, work and event space to the museum’s existing 400,000 square feet of multifunctional space.
The highlight of my visit was the 1947 Boiler House, which once heated the factory campus. As a fan of post-industrial ruins, I clambered around three stories of stairwells, catwalks, steam pipes, boilers and other fittings. The rooftop offers panoramic views of the museum complex and its rooftop solar arrays, North Adams and the surrounding mountain-ringed Hoosac Valley. Plus, there is catwalk access to The Shining, a “flying” Airstream trailer with solar panels and parachutes repurposed as exhibition space several stories in the air.
