GREAT

See also:

• BARRINGTON, DAINES (1727-1800)
• BARRINGTON, GEORGE (b. 1755)
• BARRINGTON, JOHN SHUTE, 1ST V1SCOUNT (1678-1734)
• BARRINGTON, SAMUEL (1729-1800)
• BARRINGTON, SHUTE (1734-1826)
• BARRINGTON, WILLIAM WILDMAN SHUTE, 2ND VISCOUNT (1717-1793)

BARRINGTON  , a township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the Housatonic river, in the Berkshire hills, about 25 M . S.W. of Pittsfield . Pop . (189o) 4612; (1900) 5854. of whom 1187 were foreign-born ; (1910 census) 5926 . Its area is about 43 sq. in . The township is traversed by a branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and the Berkshire Street railway (controlled by the N.Y., N.H . & H.) has its southern terminus here . Within the township are three villages—Great Barrington (the most important), Housatonic and Van Deusenville; the first two are about . m. apart . The village of Great Barrington, among the hills, is well known as a summer resort . The Congregational church with its magnificent organ (3954 pipes) is worthy of mention . There is a public library in the village of Great Barrington and another in the village of Housatonic . Monument Mt .

(1710 ft.), partly in

Stockbridge, commands a fine view of the Berkshires and the Housatonic Valley . The Sedgwick School (for boys) was removed from Hartford, Connecticut, to Great Barrington in 1869 . There are various manufactures, including cotton-goods (in the village of Housatonic), and electric meters, paper, knit goods and counterpanes (in the village of Great Barrington); and marble and blue stone are quarried here; but the township is primarily given over to farming . The fair of the Housatonic Agricultural Society is held here annually during September; and the district court of South Berkshire sits here . The township was incorporated in 1761, having been, since 1743, the " North Parish of Sheffield "; the township of Sheffield, earlier known as the " Lower Housatonic Plantation " was incorporated in 1733 . Great Barrington was named in honour of John Shute (1678–1734), Viscount Barrington of Ardglass (the adjective " Great " being added to distinguish it from another township of'the same name) . In 1761–1787 it was the shire-town . Great Barrington was a centre of the disaffection during Shays's rebellion, and on the 12th of September 1786 a riot here pre-vented the sitting of court . Samuel Hopkins, one of the most eminent of American theologians, was pastor here in 1743–1769; General Joseph Dwight (1703–1765), a merchant, lawyer andbrigadier-general of Massachusetts militia, who took part • in the Louisburg expedition in 1745 and later in the French and Indian War, lived here from 1758 until his death; and William Cullen Bryant lived here as a lawyer and town clerk in 1816–1825 . See C . J . Taylor, History of Great Barrington (Great Barrington, 1882) .