Prior to a few decades ago, there were not many reasons one would visit or stay a weekend in North Adams, Massachusetts. The former industrial city, like many others in the region, saw a sharp decline in population, services, and quality of life when many of the local factories closed in the second half of the 20th century. The major draw of tourists today is Mass MoCA, a museum in a converted factory building complex that is now one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing arts in the United States! The new museum has created a huge demand for restaurants, housing, and hotels of all types in the formerly decaying river city. This is a story of perseverance and rebirth! In the early 2000s, Jack Wadsworth, an alumnus of nearby Williams College, wished to revitalize a block of vacant 19th-century workers houses across from the growing attraction of MASS MoCA. He worked with Burr and McCallum Architects of Williamstown to convert the decaying workers cottages into a boutique hotel. The span of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival cottages were joined via a long porch lined with rocking chairs, and the space between the buildings is bridged with skylights, giving the complex its appropriate name, Porches Inn.