Did you know that there is an alternative currency in the USA?
No? Neither did I, until earlier this month when I was sent a video, watched it, and then decided to go explore the Berkshires to learn more about it.
https://www.topic.com/the-art-of-making-money/a-very-thin-line
This adventure started off when my girlfriend sent me this 9-minute video titled A Very Thin Line by Topic. It’s a video that follows two stories, one about The Liberty Dollar and the other about the BerkShares.
Meet the Americans behind two alternative currencies: the originators of the community-focused BerkShares in Massachusetts, and the Fed-baiting libertarian Bernard von NotHaus, creator of the Florida-born Liberty Dollar. Neither party was happy with the status quo — but their strategies for disrupting the economy couldn’t be more different.
So we decided to make the best of our three day weekend and head up North from NYC.
1st Stop
There are only 4 banks with a few branches each in the Berkshires that will exchange USD for BerkShares. My goal going in was to keep one of each bill to later frame and then get some spending money. In total, I ended up converting $200. I was overly excited to be experiencing this surprising simple life event.
And here is what the bills look like.
The BerkShares have a website where you can see a list of establishments that accept the BerkShares. Our second stop was to Mezze Bistro + Bar.
While exploring around the little towns we noticed that some of the establishments had these little stickers on their doors indicating they accept BerkShares.
On our last day before leaving the Berkshires, I was eager to spend the rest of my BerkShares. We decided to try Great Barrington Farmers Market and I'm so glad we did.
Overall the entire experience was pretty amazing as well as the people of Great Barrington and the surrounding cities we visited. It was a great adventure that I didn't expect to come from a 9-minute video.
Although not all the shops accept BerkShares, they are still worth the visit. For example, Connie at Griffin made me feel at home and was one of the nicest people I've met in a very long time.
We plan on coming back this summer as we learned there are a lot of amazing hikes, waterfalls, music festivals, and other events that take place up there.
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