When you're in the Berkshires, we recommend a stop in Williamstown to see the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, which includes paintings by such masters as Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Monet. If you are in Williamstown in the summer, don't miss the Williamstown Theater Festival, where top actors perform productions of the world's finest plays (but order tickets well ahead of time).
Visitors to the Chapin Library of Rare Books (open weekdays), on the Williams College campus, can see original copies of the four founding documents of the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Every year on the Fourth of July, actors appearing at the theater festival and town residents gather to read aloud from the Declaration, the Constitution and the British replies. And while you're on campus, visit the Williams College Museum of Art, whose collections cover a broad range of world art.
