Tanglewood off season

As the range and distance of my morning runs has expanded I often find my self running across town past the old white church and the "haunted" B&B and the old cemetery and and along what many would call a country road passing a stable, some extraordinary views of wetlands and past a few farms that have become upscale B&Bs. As I make the turn to head back into town, and then out the other side for home, I come to Tanglewood. This is about an 8 mile run with some serious hills so its become a favorite for early Sunday morning just after sunrise. As I usually don't like to carry the camera when I run distances because of the weight, I came back a little later.


The season is over and the BSO has returned to Boston and the tourists and students are have left this part of town. The vast fields that serve as parking lots are just fields along the brightly colored hills. In the winter we locals gather here for sledding.



The gates are open for walking and sightseers and some local high school cross country teams use the vast lawns for sprinting practice. The shop was open with a 40% off sale for the few people that would venture down to these parts.
The road past Tanglewood goes from Lenox through the backroads of Stockbridge past Kripalu and West Stockbridge and eventually down to Great Barrington, so while there is a good amount of traffic its usually people going somewhere else or like me looking to wander around.

The shed is all closed up to protect it from the snow and driving winds but you can still walk inside and climb up on the stage and wander the aisles.
This will stay closed up until spring when it becomes the site of many of the high school graduations. Having use of such a big place means never having to worry about tickets to these events or the fickleness of the weather.


When I was wandering the lawns there was this lone person with his lawn chair and newspaper enjoying the sun. Hard to believe the 15,000 that crowded this same space a few months back to see James Taylor and thousands would be here several times a week.


Occasionally there will be an event off-season but it will be in the lovely Ozawa Hall concert hall, which is a good walk from the shed and accessible from another point.


The views from the old mansion are extraordinary overlooking Stockbridge Bowl(Lake Mackinac)





or the hills to the west.

As you look at this now it is difficult to comprehend the activity that takes place during the season. The tour buses, the students, the cars and the tourists, the world renown artists who have summer homes a few minutes from here and some that live here year round but are just part of the community and no one special. They are parents who pick their kids up from school or volunteer like us on school projects.


The tourists are here this weekend but it is mainly the leaves they have come to see. Soon the leaves will have fallen and the snow covering the great lawns and an it will sleep 'til spring.