The Best Independent Hotels in the Berkshires (No Main Street Hospitality)
The Berkshires have a hotel problem that most travel writers politely refuse to name. One company — Main Street Hospitality Group — owns or operates the Red Lion Inn, the Porches Inn at MASS MoCA, the Williams Inn, Race Brook Lodge, and the Briarcliff (rebranded as The Little Lion). That's five of the most-searched names in the region, run out of one office in Stockbridge.
If you've ever felt like every Berkshires hotel blog is quietly pushing you toward the same handful of properties, that's why. The Red Lion alone shows up on roughly every "best of" list ever written about the region — because it's charming, yes, but also because it's a century-and-a-half-old heritage brand with a massive SEO footprint and a shared marketing budget with four other hotels.
Related: see our newer guide on The Best Independent Hotels on Martha's Vineyard.
This list is the opposite of that. Ten independently owned hotels in the Berkshires, every one of them run by owners who run five properties or fewer. Ranked by how often we'd actually send a friend there.
1. Tourists — North Adams
The region's single most architecturally important hotel. 48 rooms in a reimagined 1960s motor lodge — Sea Ranch-inspired cedar-and-steel buildings that step down the Hoosic River toward MASS MoCA, a fifteen-minute walk away. Co-owned by Wilco bassist John Stirratt and designed by Ben Svenson. The lobby is a barn. The trails out back connect to the Appalachian. Nothing about it feels forced, which is the hardest thing a design hotel can pull off. Full hotel page →
Who it's for: Anyone who wants to see MASS MoCA and understand why North Adams is having a moment.
2. Doctor Sax House — Lenox
A restored 1874 building that spent its middle decades as a Prohibition speakeasy — and now nine rooms run by Kelly and Bryan Binder. The ground-floor café and lounge (dulu) does real coffee in the morning and real cocktails at night. 1.5 miles from Tanglewood, which means you can walk out of a BSO concert and be at your own bar in fifteen minutes. Full hotel page →
Who it's for: Tanglewood weekends where you don't want to drive after dinner.
3. Stonover Farm — Lenox
Three en-suite rooms in the main farmhouse, a one-bedroom Schoolhouse suite, and a separate two-bedroom Rock Cottage. Owner-innkeeped on a restored working farm. It's the small-luxury Berkshires hotel no one on Instagram has over-photographed yet, partly because the owners don't seem to care. Full hotel page →
Who it's for: Two couples splitting the Schoolhouse, or any traveler who prefers being one of six guests to being one of sixty.
4. Granville House — Great Barrington
Five rooms. A Michelin Key. Run by former New York restaurant managers who brought with them the exact level of polish Great Barrington had been missing. The house was the real-life inspiration for the Bailey home in It's a Wonderful Life — which sounds gimmicky until you stay there and realize they've stayed completely on the right side of that line. Full hotel page →
Who it's for: Travelers who treat where they have dinner as the reason they booked the hotel.
5. Birchwood Inn — Lenox
An 1857 Greek Revival on Hubbard Street. Eleven rooms. Relaunched in 2022 by Seth Johnson and Russell Lange, who also run the Rookwood Inn three blocks away. Between the two properties, they've quietly rebuilt Lenox's independent inn scene from the inside. The Birchwood is the one we'd book first — Hubbard Street is prettier and quieter than Old Stockbridge Road. Full hotel page →
Who it's for: Classic Lenox, done without the Red Lion price tag.
6. Rookwood Inn — Lenox
An 1885 painted-lady Victorian on Old Stockbridge Road. Thirteen rooms. Sister to the Birchwood, same owners, same care. The difference is mostly architectural mood — Rookwood is more Victorian, Birchwood more New England Greek Revival. Full hotel page →
7. Mezze Guesthouse — Williamstown
Five rooms above Mezze Bistro + Bar — one of the region's two or three genuinely serious restaurants. The Clark Art Institute is next door. Williams College is a six-minute walk. You are, essentially, checking into the culinary engine room of the Northern Berkshires. Full hotel page →
8. Garden Gables Inn — Lenox
Eighteen rooms on five acres, including a pool, which matters more in August than anyone admits. Walking distance to Lenox Village. Freshened up without losing any of the 1780s bones. Full hotel page →
9. East Rock Inn — Great Barrington
An eighteen-room boutique motel at the base of East Rock Mountain — the kind of property that used to be a roadside inn and is now, quietly, a design hotel that downtown Great Barrington walks to in fifteen minutes. Cheaper than the Lenox options by real money. Full hotel page →
10. ButtonBall Inn — South Egremont
The southernmost of our picks, tucked into the historic village of South Egremont on the New York–Massachusetts line. Smaller, quieter, a little weirder than the Lenox inns — which is a compliment. Full hotel page →
What we left off, and why
- The Red Lion Inn (Stockbridge) — Main Street Hospitality. Off the list.
- The Porches Inn (North Adams) — Main Street Hospitality. Off.
- The Williams Inn (Williamstown) — Main Street Hospitality. Off.
- Race Brook Lodge (Sheffield) — Main Street Hospitality. Off.
- The Little Lion (formerly Briarcliff, Great Barrington) — Main Street Hospitality. Off.
- Blantyre — independently owned at Relais & Châteaux level, but operates at a scale and price point outside our editorial focus.
- Various B&Bs we like but that don't take affiliate bookings we can recommend through.
If you're wondering why we're this ruthless about the Main Street exclusion: the whole premise of Lehotelist is that a single management company running five of a region's most-booked hotels isn't an independent boutique experience, no matter how charming the Red Lion's porch is. That's a chain. A regional chain is still a chain.
How to actually pick one
- Tanglewood weekend → Doctor Sax House or Stonover Farm
- MASS MoCA weekend → Tourists, full stop
- Food-first weekend → Granville House or Mezze Guesthouse
- Under $300/night → East Rock Inn or ButtonBall Inn
- First time in the region → Birchwood Inn
The Berkshires reward travelers who know where they're going. Lenox is the old-money summer capital, North Adams is the arts-driven industrial rebirth, Great Barrington is the food town, Williamstown is the college town. Pick the town first, then the hotel — not the other way around.