Our first stop was to check into the hotel. I had searched online for a bit earlier in the day to find a hotel in the area, and after a quick glance on www.tripadvisor.com , it was clear that The Porches Inn was the place to stay. One of the first things I like to do when searching travel sites is to look at the guests pictures section. Anyone with a digital camera and a little photoshop knowledge can make a hotels website look nice, but the guests photos will always paint you a clear picture of what you're getting into. After only seeing about 4 guest pictures of The Porches Inn, I knew that this place was legit and I booked the room right then and there. Just as I was led to believe from both Trip Advisor and www.porches.com , the place was great.
The Porches Inn is unlike any other inn I had ever seen before. It is a series of old mill workers cottages, revitalized and turned into a "retro-edgy" or "shabby-chic" hotel. Each house is color coded, and has a large front porch with antique rocking chairs for the guests to kick back, relax, and enjoy the view of downtown North Adams.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the suite was that the room definitely had that old rustic cottage feel. The living room area was adorned with several antiques including a dresser, desk, chair, and lounge. However a modern sofa, lamps, and touch screen telephone balanced the room out nicely. My favorite part of this room (by far) were the 2 antique paintings on either side of the doorway leading to the bedroom. The paintings were a pair of what I can only assume is a jester and ballerina. The painting on the left had the jester playing some sort of guitar while the ballerina seemed to be dancing in front of a cemetery gate. The painting on the right had them dancing by a lake. I could not find an artists signature on either one, however I was able to make out " '57 " on the bottom right corner of one of them. To be honest, they reminded me of an old bat-man comic or something of the like. Either way they were pretty cool old paintings.
The bedroom kept the shabby-chic theme going with old hardwood floors, painted wood paneling on the walls, and sliding pocket doors separating the two rooms. The king bed was very comfortable (even though we broke tradition, because we forgot to jump on the bed as soon as we walked in the door), and the modern headboard, side tables, lamps, and t.v./mini bar cabinet helped mix the old with the new. The artwork in this room consisted of 2 portraits (a young man, and a young lady), and some antique hand painted plates hanging over the doorway.
Don't let the rustic living room and bedroom fool you into thinking the bathroom is going to be tired and outdated. It was 100% modern from its glass door stand up shower (with rain shower head), to the jacuzzi tub, large marble counter top, new chrome fixtures, and slate tile floor. 2 bathrobes hung waiting for us by the door as if to say, come in and relax in this bathroom oasis. Overall I'd say that this place had everything we needed and much more. It was the perfect combination of old and new, and had plenty of character.
Our next stop was dinner. We found Public eat + drink about a block away from the hotel. It was a nice, upscale eatery with both a bar and regular seating. They served classic American fare with a modern twist. The menu has a little of everything from burgers to pasta to sea food, and an entire page dedicated to all of the beer they serve (including 11 micro brews on tap). We started our meal with the arancini mozzarella, a bit of a let down for me. An appetizer that lists 2 kinds of cheese in the ingredients, should have had some cheese flavor. Meaghan had the BBQ burger with fries, and I had the grilled chicken pita. I can't speak for Meaghan, but my entree was delicious. She seemed to enjoy hers as well. We finished our meal by splitting the triple chocolate cake. As the night went on, live entertainment was provided by a young man playing an acoustic guitar in the corner of the restaurant. The service was good, and our waitress was very friendly. I would go back there if ever I find myself in the area again.
After a good meal, and a few drinks we decided to call it a night. So back to the hotel we went, to rest up for an exciting day ahead.
Meaghan and I decided to sleep in (which is not that unusual for us) so we did not get to sample the free breakfast offered by the hotel. We did however find a little coffee shop that serves breakfast all day. BrewHaHa, located across the street from our next destination (the museum). It was a small store front coffee shop with stuff everywhere to catch your eye. They have a large breakfast (all day) and lunch menu, as well as a 2 page coffee menu. They also have a table set up in front of the counter with several fresh baked goods to choose from. I recommend the oatmeal raisin cookie. The walls were lined with photos and paintings all created by local artists which can be purchased right then and there if you are so inclined. I ordered an egg sandwich on a bagel and plain old black coffee. Any coffee shop worth opening it's doors should have a great (not ok, not pretty good...great) cup of plain old coffee. On a scale of 1 to 10 , I'd give this one a 7 1/2 . Meaghan had an egg sandwich on a croissant which so big, it made my bagel look like I had ordered from the kids menu, and an iced coffee. World music (not really my cup of tea) played while we sat in the back corner eating and drinking our coffees. The place was everything a good coffee shop should be (unlike the big chain coffee shops).
The rest of the day was dedicated to the reason we came out to North Adams, which was to visit the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) We arrived at the museum at about 12:30pm (Sunday) and could have easily stayed all day long. The price of admission was $15 per person. The museum is currently running several exhibits right now including:
Oh, Canada: The largest survey of contemporary Canadian art ever produced outside of Canada. The exhibit features over 110 works by more the 60 artists.
Xu Bing , Phoenix: Chinese artist Xu Bing spent 2 years creating "Phoenix", two monumental birds fabricated entirely from materials harvested from construction sites in urban China.
Sol LeWitt, a Wall Drawing Retrospective: Comprised of 105 of LeWitt's large-scale drawings, spanning the artists career from 1969 to 2007. These works occupy nearly an acre of specially built interior walls. The exhibit opened on November 16, 2008 and will remain on view for twenty-five years.
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The museum also featured many other pieces and exhibits. Interestingly enough one of my favorite aspects of the museum was not the art itself, but the hallways between the mill buildings that house the museum. Long, narrow, and me being 6' tall, low head clearance. And yet I had a strange feeling while walking down along the pathway, like I was stepping back in time, or walking into an old mine.
Not knowing much about contemporary art myself I found many of the pieces to be strange, but I suppose that is the point. I can however appreciate all forms of art no matter how strange, and I did enjoy our visit to the Mass MoCA quite a bit.
After wondering around (and I'll admit, making a lot of jokes about the things I didn't understand) we left the museum and started out trek back home. Overall I'd say that we had a fun adventure not that far from home.
On a scale of 5 stars, here are my rankings for our North Adams,MA trip:
The Porches Inn - 4 stars
www.porches.com
Public eat+drink - 3.5 stars
www.publiceatanddrink.com
BrewHaHa - 3.5 stars
www.cafebrewhaha.com
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art - 3 stars
www.massmoca.org
Jay Follow @TravelsofSC
