Arrowhead

The home of writer Herman Melville during what is considered his most productive period, the Berkshire Historical Society maintains Arrowhead as it was during his time. Visitors can tour the home and step into the study where he wrote Moby-Dick, while looking out its window to his inspiration for the white whale, Mount Greylock.

Buying a house near his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne’s place, Herman Melville and his family lived at a farmstead he would name Arrowhead in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1850. Balancing running a farm and supporting a large family with his writing, he wrote the classic Moby-Dick and several other novels in the upstairs study. The study has a window that looks northward to a side profile of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts, and the inspiration for the white whale. Melville even dedicated his next novel, Pierre, to the mountain.

However, even though Moby-Dick is a classic by today’s standards, it was a flop on first release. Only 3,215 copies were sold during his lifetime. Mounting economic pressures would lead Melville to sell Arrowhead in 1862 to his brother Allan and move to New York City for the rest of his life as a writer of poetry and a customs inspector. Arrowhead would remain in the family until 1920, and the Berkshire Historical Society bought the house and surrounding acres in 1978.

Now open for tours for literary enthusiasts, Arrowhead keeps Melville’s legacy alive. Another bit of his inspiration, in this case a downstairs chimney for the story “I and My Chimney,” is shown on the tour with prose inscribed on the fireplace. Visitors can learn about Melville’s life and look through the window out to Greylock as he once did.