Herman Melville's Arrowhead

Knowledgeable tour guide will certainly broaden your understanding of Herman Melville’s fiction in the light of his biography. It is integral part of the tour (actually at least half of tour time). Furniture is from the time period. Glad I have visited the place, since it explained my teenage “Moby Dick” confusion reading the book. Meadow trail on the property is worth separate mention: quite pretty wildflowers.

A cool little piece of history for any literature enthusiasts or even those who like history! The views here are amazing! I did not go inside the house but I'm sure it would be worth it!

I was skeptical but the tour, house and grounds were very nice. 1 hour tour of the house was interesting (reasonable fee required). The grounds are beautiful, it is a great place to walk in the evening, but bring bug spray.

The house was closed as it was a Tuesday. On Wednesday, there was a dress rehearsal which we were invited to by the actors who were working on their play's production. We didn't attend, since we had previous plans. We spent time enjoying the grounds and the views. We chatted with writers who rented out the small writer's cabins on the premises. Beautiful spot! We accessed the home via Rt 7, as Holmes Rd was closed just past the bridge for repair.

Excellent tour! Guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. The house and grounds are lovingly maintained. Whether you are a fan of Melville’s work or not, don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about this interesting man.

We really enjoyed the tour of this home, and the stories told to us by our guide, John. The stories were fascinating, and the house was very atmospheric. Tours are on the hour. We are glad that we spent the time to visit.

Tours are held on the hour. If you arrive quite early, you’ll watch a video about an alleged affair between Melville and his neighbor. Our tour guide had a slightly different take on their relationship which made for an interesting academic contrast. Only one other group was present during our tour and the guide was very informative and more than happy to answer questions. Thanks!

The tour guide was a wealth of information and the grounds were beautiful. Really impressed with how well the historical society preserved this amazing peice of history!!!!

Arrowhead, the home of Herman Melville, is an absolute treasure. The historic value of this site is unparalleled, offering a glimpse into the life of the author of Moby-Dick. The staff is incredible--knowledgeable, passionate, and welcoming. The ambience exudes a deep sense of historical reverence, making it a must-visit for literature lovers and history enthusiasts alike. Highly recommend!

Open til 4, the 3 pm guided 50 minute tour was a perfect after lunch/pre dinner activity. We learned a lot about his life. It was lovely to sit on his porch and gaze at Mt. Greylock. Many of the families actual objects, paintings and furniture. Good to support the Berkshire Historical Society.

Loved the place. Thanks to our superb tour guide, Marilyn, I earned a new appreciation for Herman Melville!

The tour guide was excellent. Wish it were longer with more information on some of the paintings and furnishings. Also a suggestion to go see the real Melville desks, pictures and personal items at the Berkshire Atheneum would have encouraged more interest.

This was a nice place to tour, especially because the guide was very good and gave a comprehensive history of Melville and the house. The grounds are lovely as well. It's worth a stop if you are in the area.

I came here for a tour in the off season, which is only offered at 11am on Saturdays. Marilyn has a real dramatic talent and did an amazing job of telling the group about the Melville family! The home is well-restored. Where they aren't able to source original items from the Melville family, the Berkshire Historical Society has found beautiful period pieces to give a similar feel. It was particularly cool to see the recreation of Herman Melville's study. There are also some hiking paths in the back of the house. It was $20 for a 60 minute tour, but it's free to walk around if you don't want a tour.

A fascinating overview of Melville - his work and his life. Being in the house where he spent so much time writing was a powerful experience. Seeing the artifacts from his life and his work put his literary achievement into perspective. The staff was welcoming and knowledgeable. The tour guide made us feel right at home. Overall, an excellent way to spend an hour or two!

Excellent tour! Our guide was perfection, he presented Herman Melville's life and home with interesting facts and stories while touring Arrowhead. I highly recommend visiting.

I highly recommend a visit to Arrowhead to get a look into Herman Melville's life and inspiration for his work. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and fun, too. This is a must see along with other homes in the area of significant historic figures, like Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton, Norman Rockwell, etc.

Very, very fine tour and presentation. Every fan of Melville and/or American literature should see this house.

The homes of famous authors sometimes provide intriguing glimpses of the writer's lives. Herman Melville lived here 1850-1863, a period in which he wrote several novels and short stories, most particularly "Moby Dick." Very little of Melville's furniture and belongings remain here, but the interior of the modest farmhouse has been restored with furnishings appropriate to the period. Nonetheless, the desk where the author worked with its lovely view of Mount Greylock in the distance allows visitors to gain an idea of what was clearly an inspiration. There are guided tours that last about 45 minutes or so, and we found our guide to be informative, friendly and not at all rushed. She helped make the experience enjoyable while teaching us a bit about Melville. While he loved this house and the Berskhires, he was constantly struggling for money as his later books after the popular South Sea epics like "Omoo" and "Typee" did not sell well. Eventually he was forced to sell the farm to his brother when "Moby Dick" proved a commercial failure. Well worth a visit, especially if you enjoy American literature. And we felt some of the younger kids in our tour group may have learned a little bit, too, so don't forego a stop here even if you have youngsters under the age of 12. There's a small gift shop where you may buy books, a Melville stuffed doll (??) and a tee-shirt that reads "Call Me Ishmael."

The former home of Herman Melville is one of the many gems in the Berkshires area of Massachusetts. This home screams of Melville, from its view of Mount Greylock to the fireplace inscribed with some of his prose to the very room where he composed "Moby-Dick." Much of the home's furnishings are original but I was more interested in Melville himself and his writing. The guide rushed us through, oftentimes not even waiting for all of us to get into the next room before she started talking. In fact, I purposely stayed behind in Melville's office for a while; the rest of the group went downstairs. She didn't seem to notice but I caught up anyway. Still, it's a landmark of American literature so if you're in the area, do drop in. The barn has a rotating exhibit space which was quite interesting (and quiet when we went in).

Arrowhead is amazing! The tour guide we had was enthusiastic and very kind! You can tell he really loves his job. This is not your everyday run of the mill stuff society tour! Go and enjoy it! The grounds are kept neat and in fall the chestnuts are covering the ground and the foliage is amazing! The house has the old wide wooden plank floor it's pretty cool! There are some amazing pieces of antique furniture inside and the desk where moby dick was written has an outstanding view!

A quick but fun learning stop into the life and home of a famous writer, Herman Melville. Arrowhead is now a non-profit historic house museum operated by the Berkshire County Historical Society, which uses a portion of the house as office space. The remainder is open to the public for guided tours during the warmer months of the year. It is located at 780 Holmes Road, and is open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Arrowhead, also known as the Herman Melville House, was the home of American author Herman Melville. In this house, Melville wrote some of his major work: the novels Moby-Dick, Pierre (dedicated to nearby Mount Greylock), The Confidence-Man, and Israel Potter; The Piazza Tales (a short story collection named for Arrowhead's porch); and magazine stories such as "I and My Chimney".

I've visited a lot of author's homes in my day, but I have to say that the tour we had of Arrowhead might have been the most thorough one I've ever taken. Our tour guide was the president of the group that owns and runs the Arrowhead Museum, and he is clearly passionate about his subject. I know so much more about Melville's life and work for taking this tour, and I would encourage anyone, even if you're only mildly interested to visit this house. Arrowhead is a pretty modest place and Melville struggled to pay the bills when he lived there. At the time when we visited, and I'm not sure if this is a permanent exhibition or a rotating one, they had displays depicting the culture of the South Seas as covered by Melville in Omoo and Typee. I've never read more than Moby Dick and Bartleby the Scrivner, so it was fascinating to learn more about the culture he encountered on his travels, and how it influenced him. The tour of the house was more about Melville raising his family, running the farm, writing Moby Dick and struggling financially. Amazing that today we speak of Moby Dick almost in hushed tones, and back then, no one wanted anything to do with it. I highly recommend Arrowhead to anyone who likes literature or history and I'm glad it's preserved for future generations.

Guide was friendly and knowledgeable. Had an interesting and descriptive Tour. The price is a bit high given the short length of the tour.

What always amazed me about Melville is that he wrote an epic tome like Moby Dick by, well, writing it out on paper. In the age before computers, this is where Melville worked in his second floor den on his gentleman's farm that looked out over the mountains. The house is very carefully restored. The tour was excellent and insightful. In the bosom of New England Melville ran his farm, not very seriously, and spent more money than he had, often importing his furnishings from New York. Apparently living beyond your means is more of a tale of the ages rather than just a lead up to the Great Recession. Moby Dick? He sold fewer than 600 copies in his lifetime. Go and look around. You never learn less at these places and you can pick up a "Call me Ishmael" t-shirt in the gift shop.

It helps to be a fan of Herman Melville's to fully appreciate Arrowhead, but any literature or history buff will be very pleased. Our docent was especially well-informed, and we learned much about the Melville family and Herman Melville himself. Like many now critically acclaimed authors, his work wasn't fully appreciated until more than 30 years after he died, when the manuscript for Billy Budd was found among his papers and edited and published by a descendant and her professor friend - starting the "Melville Renaissance ". None of which I knew beforehand, by the way, but our docent was truly a wealth of information. The grounds are pretty, and the house and barn relatively unassuming, but the buildings are original, and furniture dates back to the original Melville family. Black and white photos from the 1800s show the property and family as it was then, and dinnerware and artwork from Herman Melville's time there are on display. Highly recommend this as a stop if you are in the Berkshires on holiday or simply driving among the quaint, historic small towns. And, fear not if it is a hot summer day - the building has air conditioning.