Mead Art Museum

Amherst College ( AM-ərst) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975.Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution; 1,971 students were enrolled in fall 2021. Admissions is highly selective. Students choose courses from 41 major programs in an open curriculum and are not required to study a core curriculum or fulfill any distribution requirements; students may also design their own interdisciplinary major. Amherst competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Amherst has historically had close relationships and rivalries with Williams College and Wesleyan University, which form the Little Three colleges. The college is also a member of the Five College Consortium, which allows its students to attend classes at four other Pioneer Valley institutions: Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Among its alumni, faculty and affiliates are six Nobel Prize laureates, twenty Rhodes Scholars, Pulitzer Prize recipients, MacArthur Fellows, winners of the Academy, Tony, Grammy and Emmy Awards, President Calvin Coolidge, Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone, and other notable writers, academics, politicians, entertainers, businesspeople, and activists.

The Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet is a collection of fossil footmarks assembled between 1836 and 1865 by Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864), noted American geologist, state geologist of Massachusetts, United States, and President of Amherst College. He was one of the first experts in fossil tracks. A footmark impression in stone is a petrosomatoglyph. Begun when the science of ichnology (the study of tracks) was in its infancy, and the word dinosaur had not been coined yet, the collection was made chiefly from the fossils of the Connecticut River Valley (Connecticut River Valley trackways). By 1875 this collection consisted of 21,773 tracks representing 120 species. It is the world's largest collection of dinosaur tracks.Starting in 1855, the collection was located in the lower level of Appleton Cabinet on the Amherst College campus. It has subsequently been twice relocated, and can now be found in the Amherst College Museum of Natural History.

The Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College is located on the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. It showcases fossils and minerals collected locally and abroad, many by past and present students and professors. The Museum is located in the Beneski Earth Sciences Building, completed in 2006. It is a member of Museums10.

The Amherst Center for Russian Culture was created by Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts after the gift of a major collection of Russian books, manuscripts, periodicals and ephemera by Thomas P. Whitney in 1991. The Center has a particularly strong collection of works by and relating to Russian emigres. Subsequent major gifts of material have come from Dmitri Tarasenkov and George Ivask. The center has a gallery for the display of over 50 works of Russian art from the collection that was donated to the college by Thomas P. Whitney.

The foundation thus laid by Andrew Lawrence will hereafter sustain the instruments of modern society to draw from the skies a knowledge of the stars - to demonstrate to men the Glory of God, and the magnificence of His works, - and to show to their wondering minds that "the thousand brilliant worlds which circle round Him, are governed by one law, and that in wisdom 'He has made them all'"The Octagon at Amherst College was the first natural history museum and observatory on campus. Edward Hitchcock (President of Amherst College in 1845) hired Henry A. Sykes to build it. It was intended to be unusual, with its elegant dome observatory and the collection of materials ranging from meteorites to animals and fossils. The Octagon was constructed in 1847–48.

The Inn on Boltwood, formerly known as the Lord Jeffrey Inn, in Amherst, Massachusetts, dates from 1926.It is associated with Amherst College via ownership by the Amherst Inn Company, an affiliate of the college. It was renovated in 2012 and has Silver LEED Certification, in part relating to its inclusion of 50 geothermal wells, each 500 feet (150 m) deep, providing heating and cooling.It includes Colonial Revival architecture.Poet Robert Frost was a frequent guest. Archibald MacLeish was also a guest. A gala honoring Frost's 80th birthday was held at the property in 1954.It is a member of the Historic Hotels of America.

The Emily Dickinson Museum is a historic house museum consisting of two houses: the Dickinson Homestead (also known as Emily Dickinson Home or Emily Dickinson House) and the Evergreens. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and home from 1855 to 1886 of 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), whose poems were discovered in her bedroom there after her death. The house next door, called the Evergreens, was built by the poet's father, Edward Dickinson, in 1856 as a wedding present for her brother Austin. Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, the houses are preserved as a single museum and are open to the public on guided tours.The Emily Dickinson Home is a US National Historic Landmark, and properties contribute to the Dickinson Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Dickinson Historic District is a historic district in Amherst, Massachusetts. Its centerpiece is the Emily Dickinson Home, a National Historic Landmark. The district boundaries encompass Main and Lessey Streets, east of Amherst center, from their junction eastward to Gray Street and the Amherst railroad station, which marks the eastern end of the district. In addition to a number of properties on Main and Lessey Streets, the district also includes Sweetser Park and contributing properties on Tyler Place as well as Triangle, Gray and Kellogg Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was designated because of its architecture, and its connection with the locally influential Dickinson family, who (in addition to renowned poet Emily Dickinson) were a locally influential family with roots dating back to early colonial times. The Emily Dickinson House, built in 1813, is the oldest house within the district, with prominence beyond its association with the poet. Her grandfather Samuel, who built the house, was a founder of Amherst College, and a prominent local politician, as was her father Edward. Her brother William Austin Dickinson was also active in the political and economic life of Amherst, helping found its water and gas companies. Leonard Hills, who lived in two separate houses in the district, ran a distinctive business that manufactured hats out of palm leaves, and was a key figure in the founding of Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts at Amherst). The district also includes Amherst's Gothic First Congregational Church (1867), and the brick Italianate Central Vermont Railroad depot (1853), one of the oldest surviving railroad stations in the state.

Amherst is a former intercity rail station located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The station was built by the Amherst and Belchertown Railroad in 1853; it was served by the Central Vermont Railway until 1947. Amtrak service began in 1989 with the Montrealer; it was replaced by the Vermonter in 1995. The station was closed on December 28, 2014, when the Vermonter was rerouted to the faster Connecticut River Line to the west.

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce is the local chamber of commerce for portions of Hampshire and Franklin counties within the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. The chamber represents the business needs of over 600 businesses and 4,200 employees in the area.

Amity Street is a main east-west street in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the continuation of Main Street, being renamed Amity Street west of Pleasant Street, which is the main north-south street in Amherst. Emily Dickinson lived on Main Street, while Eugene Field lived on 219 Amity Street. The street is about one mile (1.6 km) south of the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and 0.3 miles (0.48 km) west of the town common. Route 9 runs about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of Amity Street. The street also features a number of grand old Victorian homes and historically significant buildings such as the Jones Library, the Strong House, the Amherst Cinema Building and the Solomon Boltwood House.

The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church on Woodside Avenue in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is a member of the National African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church denomination, which is historically African American and began in the United States. The history of the Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in Amherst, Massachusetts is an important part of the broader context of African American history. The A.M.E. Zion denomination was created in conjunction with growing African American identities. Locally, the Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is one of the few physical structures that speaks to the rich African American history and heritage in the town of Amherst and surrounding areas.