At Home by Bill Bryson
Dwelling, habitat, lodging, or home? How did home become what it is today? And furthermore why? Bill Bryson who wrote one of the most read books of the past decade A Short History of Nearly Everything has tackled these questions and more. His newest tome is At Home: A short history of Home Life which reveals the history of many items, historical events and people who contributed to what we call a house today. Bryson discovered many interesting facts about homes from architecture to electricity, from preserving food to epidemics, from crinolines to toilets and how each invention/room came to be what and where it is today.
We Americans primarily use our homes for many purposes including eating, sleeping, vacationing, socializing, working and nurturing members of our close social group including significant others, parents and children. Expanding industry and cities resulted in the need for more housing after WWII. Many homes were built in housing "tracts" which continued to expand resulting in the suburbs of today. Many of these tract home were built quickly and cheaply to maximize profits for developers. The construction and foundations of these modern homes can often be less stable than a farm house built in the nineteenth century. Many nineteenth century historic homes exist in Berkshire county including large Victorian mansions and frugal farm home with large barns.
Berkshire County has few cities that are densely populated and thus few housing tracts. Places where tract housing exists is usually where laborers working in large textile mills were housed. Many of the homes in Berkshire County are historic, many are architecturally unique, many have been designed by local and well known architects and built by local builders who live in the community. "They don't build them like they used to" is a common phrase among home buyers and builders in the Berkshires, where quality homes abound. Historic homes are often constructed more solidly than homes that are much more recently built.
More recently built homes in the Berkshires may feature many energy conservation features. The Berkshires have always been environmentally conscious. Uniquely designed homes can be found throughout the Berkshires that feature passive solar collection systems and other "green" methods of heating and cooling. Williamstown MA located in Northern Berkshire County recently achieved the status of a "green" town.
Too learn more about historic homes in the Berkshires and find "green" homes available for purchase in the Berkshires contact Harsch Associates Berkshire Real Estate today.