Easy Drive From CT to the Berkshires Takes You to This Whimsical Museum

Did you grow up reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar?  Or, if you're a parent, you've read it to your kids at some point.

If nothing else, you recognize the pictures from his children's books, which are filled with bold, bright, colorful illustrations and childlike innocence.

Welcome to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, nestled in the Berkshires, open all year long.

It's an interactive museum with international standing because it champions picture books. Curators with the museum collect, preserve, and exhibit original illustrations from books, which means going back to childhood or learning about books you may have missed as a kid.

It's actually more than just a museum; it's a campus where you can screen films, take art classes in the studio, enjoy comedy shows, get your bidding on at various auctions, and participate in various celebrations the museum decides to create with its events department.

Exhibitions where you, as an adult, can play are half the fun, too.

You can even get married here.

Clearly, kids love it with children's yoga, dance events, and story time.

While some weather may keep you inside more than out, it's fantastic fun all year long.

According to the Carle Museum website, Eric (who passed away in 2022) and his late wife, Barbara, founded it to celebrate and encourage you to read and create art, no matter how old you are.

Fostering that passion for children’s literature that impacted adults through so many stories with pictures is sure to take you down memory lane. The illustrations alone are artistic visions that can inspire you as an adult with books you never knew.

Eric Carle was born in 1929 and is still one of the best-known illustrators, creating more than 70 books filled with engaging stories and illustrations that appeal to kids and adults.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, was founded in 2002.

Click here to plan your visit.