Historic Places

W.E.B. Du Bois River Park

Great Barrington “has turned its back upon the river,” W.E.B. Du Bois warned in a talk about the Housatonic River in 1930. Were he to visit today, he would appreciate the community effort to transform a blighted section of riverbank into a public riverside greenway. The W.E.B. Du Bois River Garden Park was dedicated in his name on September 28, 2002, with son David Graham Du Bois attending. The permanent outdoor exhibit––W.E.B. Du Bois: Champion of Rivers Here at Home and Around the World––opened on September 8, 2012.

William Stanley Overlook

The William Stanley Overlook—with its special native garden, observation platform and interpretive signage—provides the perfect venue to learn about Great Barrington’s early industrial history and important contributions to electricity made by inventor William Stanley, who in 1886 successfully transmitted high-voltage alternating current electricity. Stanley’s experiments were conducted along the Housatonic River at the historic Horace Day rubberwear factory, directly across from River Walk. The Overlook was dedicated on June 3, 2006, with remarks by grandson George C. Stanley and several great grandsons and great great grandsons attending.