spring_st_at_night_300STUDENT LIFE

Williamstown is an attractive New England village located in the Berkshires of northwestern Massachusetts. The area appeals to those fond of the outdoors, and it is rich in historic and literary associations. Williams College and the Clark are the two principal corporate entities of the town.

Throughout the year the College, the Clark, and MASS MoCA (in nearby North Adams) offer active film, theater, music, dance, and athletic programs, to which all graduate students are welcome. These supplement the area’s rich array of other cultural activities, particularly in the summer, when Tanglewood, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Saratoga Festival of the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and the Williamstown Theater Festival are in season.

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Museums of all sizes and focuses are within an easy drive: MASS MoCA in North Adams is a few minutes away; the Berkshire Museum is in Pittsfield; the Bennington Museum and the Southern Vermont Arts Center are just to the north; the Tang Teaching Museum is in Saratoga, New York; and various historic properties and artist homes enrich Stockbridge and Lenox. The Hudson and Pioneer valleys, to the west and east respectively, frame the region with their distinguished museums and historical sites. 

New York and Boston are each about 3 hours away by car. Students often travel to them (as well as to other nearby cities with distinguished museums, including Worcester, Hartford, and New Haven) for course-related field trips.

Entering students have the option of living at Fort Hoosac, a large college-maintained house two doors from the Clark. Fort Hoosac includes a dozen furnished, network-wired, single rooms on the upper floors, with shared baths, as well as a living room, dining room, and kitchen facilities on the ground floor. Fort Hoosac is the site of a number of social events during the year and is also a convenient place for after-hours study and discussion. Second-year students generally live off campus in rented houses or apartments, many of which are passed from generation to generation.