Mass MoCA's Sol LeWitt exhibit has been named the No. 1 art exhibit in America for 2008 by Time Magazine, which hailed it as "a great new American art-world destination."

The exhibit is located in the Berkshires, a short drive from Hampton Terrace, a top-rated inn located in Lenox.

The honor comes on the heels of a rave review for the exhibit from The New York Times last week, among other raves since its Nov. 16 opening in the Boston Globe, The Hartford Courant and various art and design Web logs — all of which bode well for Mass MoCA and the city, local officials say.

The LeWitt retrospective, which will be on display until 2033, outshone several worthy opponents for Time's top honor, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gustav Courbet exhibition earlier this year, along with two showings of the Terra Cotta Warriors from Japan.

"The wall drawings of Sol LeWitt are art's equivalent of gifts that come with 'some assembly required,'" wrote Richard Lacayo, Time Magazine critic. "The plan is for the drawings to remain in place for a minimum of 25 years. So, this isn't just an exhibition. It's a great new American art-world destination."

Among the museums included on the magazine's "Top Ten Museum Exhibits" were Boston's Museum of Fine Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contem-porary Art and The Paul Getty Museum.

"It's deeply gratifying and a real honor to be chosen as the top exhibition of the year, ahead of shows presented by major institutions like the Met, MoMA and the Getty," Katherine Myers, the museum's marketing and public relations, said.

"So many people put long hours into the installation, and everyone associated with it is delighted and honored," Myers said. "Despite the economic news, our visitation numbers have been high, and we're cautiously optimistic that this amazing installation will continue to drive visitors to North Adams for years to come."

Lisa Corrin, director of the Williams College Museum of Art, who helped coordinate the exhibit, said the honor demonstrates the impact local museums have on the art world at large.

"This honor demonstrates yet again that the museums in our community are operating at a level of international importance," Corrin said. "While we in the Berkshires have great affection for Mass MoCA as a home-grown institution, it is a cultural treasure that has an impact on art lovers worldwide."

Mayor John Barrett III said the attention being paid to the newly opened exhibit has been outstanding.

"When we first announced this project over a year ago, we knew it would be big, but not like this," he said. "This (the Time recognition) is one of the most prestigious honors any cultural institution can receive. It's a feather in the museum's cap and a feather in the city's cap as well."

Barrett said the announcement couldn't have come at a better time for the museum or North Adams.

"It's great for the museum, but even better for the city," he said. "In these hard economic times, it's going to bring more and more people to the city."

Myers said the museum's attendance has been "strong" since the opening of the LeWitt gallery.

"We had our best Thanksgiving weekend ever — more that twice as many visitors as some of the previous 10 years," she said. "It was also our best November ever, by far."

The LeWitt retrospective is an ongoing collaboration between the museum, Yale University Art Gallery and Williams College Museum of Art. Students from Yale, Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts worked as interns during the six-month installation process of LeWitt's conceptual drawings, which exist as sets of directions. The completed Mass MoCA installation is the largest in the world of LeWitt's work.

"The partnership between Mass MoCA, WCMA and Yale provides a new model for how museums with very different missions can come together to do together, as a group, what they could not do alone," Corrin said. "At a time of economic downtown, we will need to work together in order to achieve great things without lowering our standards of excellence."

LeWitt, who died in April 2007 after a prolonged battle with cancer, first began planning the exhibition after a nearly six-hour visit to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 2003. His vision quickly became a 27,000-square-foot, three-floor installation featuring 105 of his wall drawings in Building 7 at the MoCA complex.

"The setting is close to perfect," wrote New York Times art critic Holland Cotter in a Dec. 4 review of the exhibition. "The space, with its generous windows, is large and flexible enough to accommodate more than a hundred of the ink-painting murals LeWitt designed between 1969 and 2007.

Guests of Hampton Terrace typically consider their dining experiences in the Berkshires to be a key ingredient of their stay.   So we spend a lot of energy making sure our guests' choices are informed.

Our confirmations include a seriously edited-down list of the better local restaurants…a list based on our personal experiences, but also based on the fact that our guests have had literally over 15,000 dinners in the area….and we hear about them at breakfast.  We also keep copies of those menus in a binder in our front hall.

No doubt, the top of the list includes Blantyre, Wheatleigh, The Inn on the Green, and several other highly-rated Zagat choices.   Blantyre is located just one mile from us….and this week, their chef now belongs to a rarefied group of culinary craftsmen.

Christopher Brooks, Blantyre's top chef for the past eight years, has received a Grand Chef Trophy. The award was presented last month by the International Congress of Relais & Chateaux at its annual gathering in Vienna.

The Relais & Chateaux association is comprised of 480 of the world's finest hotels and gourmet restaurants.

The designation of Grand Chef is awarded annually to the "contemporary elite" of fine dining. This year, the honor went to Brooks and three other chefs from around the world.

For restaurateurs, the honor is tantamount to earning an Oscar for best director or a Pulitzer for commentary. Even for Blantyre — an establishment accustomed to racking up culinary accolades — the honor has special meaning.

"I was pleasantly surprised," Brooks said in an interview with The Eagle on Friday.

Brooks credited his "dedicated team at Blantyre" and singled out Arnaud Cotar, his No. 2 man — or chef de cuisine — for special praise.

Brooks, who has worked in tony kitchens around the world, remains passionate about cooking. "It's a love," he said. "It's a way of life."

Born in North London, he spent much of his youth on England's South Coast, where began his career at Chewton Glen, an exclusive hotel in Hampshire, England.

That's where he served an apprenticeship, from 1984 to 1988, with chef Pierre Chevillard, whom he still credits with teaching him the fundamentals of cooking.

"He was the person who trained me, (and) I still look up to him today," Brooks said.

In addition to the Grand Chef Trophy, Brooks has received kudos from the Zagat restaurant guides and Condé Nast Traveler.

Meanwhile, Blantyre is the No. 1 ranked dining establishment in the Berkshires, according to Zagat's 2008/2009 Restaurant Guide. Forbes.com included the Lenox landmark on its "50 Best in the World" list, while Travel & Leisure listed it among "The World's Best Hotels."

Brooks' recipes are included in a new book, "The World of Blantyre & The Cookery of Christopher Brooks. He and the book's author, Claire Hopley, will sign copies at The Bookstore in Lenox on Dec. 21, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Blantyre is an extraordinary experience.   At Hampton Terrace we encourage our guests to "Turn Back the Clock to the Gilded Age" and that is true….but Blantyre represents a walk into a true Baronial castle, and the room rates there reflect that experience.  Off-season rates run from $600 to $1,300/night mid-week.   I won't say an experience at Hampton Terrace, the #1 rated Lenox inn on Trip Advisor, will compare…but then again, we are charging roughly 15% of that.    So we encourage those of you who would like a Blantyre experience, to let us find a great room for you here, and then we'll send you five minutes down the road for a "destination" meal.

This started almost 30 years ago when Susan and I were married…..an over-the-top Christmas season.   As a little girl, Susan spent two years in Germany where her father was stationed with the Army.   Even last week, she came home with a magazine showing pictures of Christmas scenes in Munich….the same scenes she remembered from her childhood.   So ingrained in her background is this, it has been her goal each year to make our four children consider the season to be as magical as she remembers.

Each year, her collection of holiday decorations grows.   It has been my tradition to give her a water globe every year, and of course there are annual additions to the Christmas tree, but more importantly, she has always found creative ways to adorn the staircase banisters, windows, tables, mantles…It is like a kudzu that has taken hold of the house and finds new negative spaces each year.    A Nativity scene on the sideboard, a snow village on the closed lid of the Steinway, fairy lights, live garland, bows and even our 1940s carousel horse is dressed for the holidays…

The hallmark of this activity though is her taste.   There are no inflatable lawn Santas, no plastic statues and nothing "commercial," just classic holiday decorations that augment and complement.

Which brings us to Hampton Terrace.   Of course, as this collection grew over the first 20 years of our marriage, we could not have imagined that we would end up buying one of the authentic Gilded Age mansion inns in 1999, and that dressing it up for the holidays would go beyond our original goal of creating a magical holiday season for ourselves.   Now we do it for our guests as well, and we know that we do not disappoint.   As a stop on the Lenox Holiday Tour each year, the positive feedback we have always gotten from those who tour more than a dozen Lenox inns has been gratifying.

We welcome those of you who want to spend the holiday season with us.   The decorations are always up the weekend after Thanksgiving (see the next blog to see what she has done for the month of November) and stay up through middle January, although we do take the tree down after New Year's weekend, lest we burn down our house.   Please note, however, that we do close from December 19th until the 29th for family time.   We'll be open the weekend after Christmas and for this entire period we will be using our off-season rates (except for New Year's Eve only).

Hampton Terrace is rated #1 in Lenox by Trip Advisor and has been recommended by BedandBreakfast.com, The Michelin Green Guide and others.    For a more comprehensive list, please visit our home page and our guest comments section.

Sun, Dec 7th '08, The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts

7:30PM A: $40 B: $25

With Special Guests Susan McKeown and Boo Reiners

The Klezmatics have forever transcended genres, blending klezmer with aching shtetl melodies, raucous Latin stomps, wild jazz riffs and provocative Arabic, African, American and Balkan rhythms. The Klezmatics present a contagious celebration of Hanukkah—a marriage of the group’s soulful and ebullient Jewish roots to Woody Guthrie’s poignantly mesmerizing and newly discovered lyrics. This program highlights the band’s two most recent CD releases: the multicultural folk sounds of Wonder Wheel and the ecstatically danceable, hoedown-worthy Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah. Special guests include acclaimed Celtic singer Susan McKeown and multi-instrumentalist Boo Reiners.

Combine this special show with a visit to the Berkshires….just 2 hours from Boston and less than 3 hours from New York City.   Hampton Terrace is considered the top-rated Lenox inn by Trip Advisor rankings and one the leading Berkshire bed and breakfasts.   Our off-season rates apply until mid-June 2009, and a weekend stay includes a $30 Gift Certificate to Nejaimes, the gourmet wine and food shop in Lenox.

Quite different this year…..New Year's Eve falling mid-week.   Typically we fold New Year"s Eve into the weekend and create a weekend package.

But for the 2009 New Year, we acknowledge that most of you will only get one night off….so we are allowing (for the first time ever) a single night stay on New Year's Eve.

We have always very much enjoyed the type of guests we attract for New Year's.   Most do not want a party, or any commotion.   They could stay in their home town for that.   And over the years, the Berkshires seem to have recognized this and have created a certain atmosphere that accommodates.

Most of the restaurants will create special limited menus and will have an early seating and a late seating.   There will probably be snow on the ground and fairy lights everywhere…so it will be magical walking back to the inn from the more than a dozen restaurant choices within walking distance.   At midnight, we always offer champagne toasts (complimentary) in our private bar….and usually a few couples join us to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  But we put hats, noise makers, and horns in each of our guest rooms and suspect that the rest of our guests are already celebrating their New Year privately.

The next day, in lieu of normal breakfast, we always offer a complimentary New Year's Day brunch from 10 am until noon and allow late check-out.

New Year's at Hampton Terrace always sells out….and we do not charge a premium for the additional amenities.   Just use the in-season weekend rate quoted on our website.    Most of our rooms have fireplaces and Jacuzzis (14 rooms in total) and to get a rate quote, call 800-203-0656.   IMPORTANTLY, even though we are accepting single nights this year….it does not mean that you cannot stay longer.   For the additional nights, we can use our off-season, mid-week rate, making a multiple night stay quite a value.

Hampton Terrace is the #1 rated Lenox inn according to Trip Advisor reviews, was chosen by BedandBreakfast.com as one of their Editor's Picks for viewing fall foliage, is one of only four Berkshire inns recommended by the Michelin Green Guide, and has been welcoming guests since 1937.   For a great Berkshire bed and breakfast experience, give us a call.

It's too late to turn back now.   For at least 6 years, we have offered a $30 Gift Certificate to our local wine/gourmet food shop to every couple who stays at Hampton Terrace for 2 weekend nights (or more) from November 1 to June 20, plus September.  For starters, Nejaimes is a GREAT shop, full of the best choices in wine, beer and spirits and a trained staff that can help our guests find exactly what they want.   But more than that, Nejaimes is also 50% gourmet food….a by-product of the fact that it is a key place for people who are shopping for their lawn picnics at Tanglewood.   Huge selection of cheeses, breads, home-made sides and other things that compliment your bottle of wine.

What I mean, "it's too late to turn back now" is that this is such a popular amenity, that people come back year after year to Hampton Terrace because they feel the gift certificate is such an integral part of their stay.   We have a family heirloom bar that is open only to our guests and is stocked with glasses, openers, plates, knives, etc., and we have four public room fireplaces where our guests can settle in and enjoy their bounty.

The owners of Nejaimes told us that another local inn asked if they could start offering the gift certificates as well.   The inn said that one of their inquirers had chosen Hampton Terrace over them because of the promotion.   But that was several years ago, we know we are still the only ones doing it.

So the Romantic Weekend Package is here to stay and we welcome anyone who is looking for a Lenox bed and breakfast to give us a call and lock in your weekend.   Most of our rooms feature fireplaces and Jacuzzis and we are very proud to be currently rated #1 in the Trip Advisor rankings from over 30 Lenox inns.  

Hampton Terrace is a proud member of the Berkshire Visitors Bureau,and  the Lenox Chamber of Commerce and was recently chosen by the editors of BedandBreakfast.com as one of the top places to stay for foliage.  

As of the November 1st weekend, our rates drop 30% from the current level and include the $30 gift certificate mentioned and full breakfast buffet.