TAKES A VILLAGE: Barron Brown directs a crew at a barn raising near Marshall. Photo by Storms Reback It’s not every day you get invited to a barn raising, so when I did, I jumped at the opportunity.

PITTSFIELD — In May 1965, John Sobon, piloting a 60-foot crane, ripped into a North Adams apartment building, bringing a century-old timber frame structure to the ground. In a period marked by postwar ...