Dartmouth students spend hours each day studying culture. But those bored with books should venture beyond the confines of campus, to some of the dozens of museums and attractions in this area.
New England offers a variety of options for those looking to expand their cultural horizons. From museums to operas, there are plenty of venues out there for the artistically inclined.
The Clark Museum
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. is one of New England's finest art museums, featuring artwork by Degas, Winslow Homer, Renoir, and Sergeant.
Some of the museum's most famous pieces are Degas' self-portrait and his painting "The Ballerina;" Homer's "Sarco Bay;" and Renoir's "A girl with a fan." Artwork from the late 19th century dominates the collection, which also features silver, drawings and prints.
The founder of the museum, Robert Sterling Clark, was heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and began collecting art in Paris after graduating from Yale University in 1899.
By 1919 he had amassed an impressive collection of art and moved to New York with his wife, taking the valuable artwork with him.
Concern for the safety of his art brought him to rural Williamstown, where his father and grandfather were trustees of Williams College.
Opened to the public in 1955, the museum is comprised of three sections. The original section is a white marble building constructed in 1955 which houses the museum's permanent collections -- including the famous Renoir Hall and various works of impressionist art and American painting.
There are also two more recent red granite sections, containing an auditorium, five galleries for temporary exhibits, a major art history research library and the prestigious Williams College graduate art history program.
At the museum one can expect to find an impressive collection of French, Italian Renaissance, Dutch, and European artwork spanning from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
The Clark is located on 225 South Street in Williamstown, Mass. and is part of the Williams College campus, located about two hours south of Hanover.
Admission is free and the museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens Home
The most prominent American sculptor of the 19th century lived in Cornish, just down the road from the College, and today his house and works are on permanent display for all to see.
Born in France to a French father and an Irish mother, Saint-Gaudens came to the United States in the 1840s and came of age in ante-bellum New York. Watching the Civil War go by his window proved to be a formative experience, and the war themes would influence Saint-Gaudens work for the rest of his life.
Saint-Gaudens is most famous for his monuments to U.S. war heroes. He also sculpted industrialists and other well known figures of the day.
He designed the monument to General William Sherman located outside of New York City's Central Park, as well as the monument to President Lincoln outside of Chicago's Lincoln Park.
While he resided primarily in New York City, his summer home and studio was just 20 minutes from the College.
The grounds and home where he once lived on are now a national park. A lover of the idyllic beauty of the New Hampshire countryside, Saint-Gaudens is buried on the estate as well.
The most striking feature of the estate is the collection of statues located throughout the grounds. Saint-Gaudens' remarkable talent for rendering the humanity of great men in stone without making them seem super-human shines through remarkably well.
In addition, a sculptor in residence works at the home. Examining Saint-Gaudens' studio, visitors find sketches and clay models of his intended masterpiece, a national monument to firefighters.
The Saint-Gaudens Home is located in Cornish, across the Connecticut River from Windsor. Tickets cost $2 per person.
Shaker Village at Chosen Vale
One religious group you probably never studied in Religion 1 is the Shakers, whose unusual lifestyle is on display in the Upper Valley.
The Shaker Village at Chosen Vale is not much of a museum. Basically, it is two rooms with a collection of Shaker craftsmanship and artisan work. However the entire compound makes an excursion there worthwhile. Located on the grounds of a former Shaker village, the museum provides an interesting window into the day-to-day lives of this curious Protestant sect.
The Shakers, whose official name is the "United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming," derive their name from their tradition of trembling gleefully during prayer, in the hopes of shaking off sin, according to a slide show I saw at the museum.
The Shakers live in self-sufficient villages, which include a mixture of crop fields and craft shops. Trained artisans often perform demonstrations of their crafts, such as weaving or cabinet-making.
Worth seeing in the village is the Great Stone Dwelling, once a dormitory-style residence, now an inn and one of the largest Shaker buildings ever built. In addition, the village features a beautiful neo-classical church built by a Catholic order that purchased the land after the Shaker establishment folded.
Also interesting is the Shaker cemetery which lacks tombstones. Instead it features only grave markers, because the members of the village did not want to be remembered as individuals, but as Shakers.
To get to Chosen Vale, one should take I-89 south to Route 4 and follow the signs. Tickets to the museum cost $2, but you can walk around the compound for free.
American Precision Museum
The American Precision Museum is a testament to industrial America. Its exhibits chronicle the craftsmanship, majesty and intricate wonder of precision machinery.
The placards claiming "Machine tools: the foundation of man's development" might seem a bit much, but it is truly amazing to consider the extent to which the development and perfection of machine tools, interchangeable parts and mass production ushered in the American century.
Most of the collection consists of machine tools from as far back as 150 years ago. There are lathes, drill presses, saws and planers. While probably not "traditional" museum pieces, these elegant stainless steel hulks represent a large part of America's rise and are interesting for that reason alone.
The building housing the museum might be worthy of a trip in itself. It is the former premises of the Robbins, Kendall and Lawrence Armory, which made firearms for the military from the 1840s until the 1920s, and is an official national landmark.
If that does not sell you, there is also a gift shop with an assortment of models of the exhibits. I had never held a model 1845 Enfield musket before, but the replicas for sale in the gift shop were amazing. I would have bought one, except they were priced at a hefty $1,200. The clerk in the gift shop was helpful though -- had I bought a membership, she told me, I could have had the bayonet for free.
To reach the American Precision Museum, take I-91 south to Route 5 and look for the museum on the right. Tickets cost $5 and the museum is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The Hood Museum of Art
Dartmouth's own art museum, located right next to the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts, is extremely underutilized by Dartmouth students. It has an extensive permanent collection containing numerous noteworthy pieces and students are truly missing out if they do not stop in at least once during their Dartmouth careers.
The permanent collection of the museum includes more than 60,000 works from a broad range of historical epochs and geographical locations. From a series of Assyrian reliefs and ancient Greek vases from before 400 B.C., to a Picasso painting and a Remington sculpture, the collection is quite extensive.
Changed every few months, special exhibitions are displayed on the second floor. Currently on display is an exhibition of artists who all live in the New Hampshire and Vermont area. Called "Regional Selections" the exhibition highlights the work of artists Louise Glass, John Hughes, Mia Scheffey and Dean Snyder.
Glass's exhibit consists of a several paintings of geometric shapes, tubes and spheres. Shaffey's work deals with non-representational renderings of paint seemingly strewn on the canvas, while Snyder's sculptures are massive creations.
The Hood is almost as old as the College, with its earliest acquisitions going back to 1769, when the governor of New Hampshire donated a commemorative bowl to the College on the occasion of its first commencement.
And if that is not enough, admission to the museum is free, and it is open year-round.
Lebanon Opera House
If you don't mind shelving the tennis shoes and sporting a tie for an evening, the Lebanon Opera House is just for you.
The house is hosting two performances this summer -- "Tosca," a tragic love story by Giacomo Puccini staged in the summer of 1800 in Rome, and "The Mikado," a classic (nearly sold out) performance from Japan.
I recently saw the opening night presentation of "Tosca."
Once the lights are down and the bellowing fat lady begins to sing, the Lebanon Opera House -- located inside Lebanon Town Hall -- can offer a taste of the big city-staged opera in the little Upper Valley.
But when the lights go up, it is difficult not to notice the cheap-looking chandeliers, worn carpets and the sometimes torn leather seats -- which may leave the back of your shirt with a nice, red, oily leather stain.
The buzz of the ceiling fan adds to the illusion of cool, swirling air, though my sweat-soaked body failed to notice any real effects.
However, the performance itself -- run by Opera North, a non-profit arts organization that has been staging operas in the Upper Valley for 15 years -- was top notch. From its well-trained orchestra to a slew of talented performing artists, "Tosca" impressed upon me a newfound respect for the age-old opera style.
"Tosca" runs Aug. 17, 20, 22, and 24, while "The Mikado" will play on Aug. 16, 18, 21 and 23. All shows start at 8:00 p.m.
