In October, the Berkshire Hills are no longer alive with the sounds of music and other arts festivals, but they are still filled with interesting places to visit and colorful foliage for the leaf peepers (see leafpeepers.com for fall foliage hotlines and other information).

What’s a vibrant destination that offers rich history, architectural marvels, art exhibits, culinary bounty, and fashionable shops, under one roof? To put you on the right track, it’s a New York City landmark that’s only a 40-minute train ride away.

With 27 years of experience as Rye’s Fire Inspector, it’s safe to say Lt. Jim Dianni can tell you a thing or two about fire safety. He also knows how to work a room full of elementary school students.

“What extraordinary imagination!” “I don’t get it!” “Her colors are wonderful!” These were some of the immediate reactions visitors voiced to “Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels”, which recently opened at the Neuberger Museum in Purchase.

For years, it seemed the only person with the ability to make an all-live-action family movie was Steven Spielberg. He either directed or produced “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”, “The Goonies”, “Back to the Future”, and “Men in Black”, while nearly everyone else was limiting themselves to kids-only or adults-only fare.

There was art in the air the weekend of October 8 for the second annual Boardwalk Arts & Music Festival at Playland. The Indian summer weather brought out the crowds and local artists were able to showcase and sell many of their creations.

Last Sunday, the Rye Historical Society took us back in time, showing us our rich past on a tour of the Greenwood Union and African Cemeteries. The former dates back to the late 1830s, the latter was created in 1860.

When you walk or drive around town, you often come upon streets that make you wonder, why is it named that? Not so much streets like Central Avenue, especially the last four years that the bridge has been out. What I wonder about in that case is how long we will have to wait before Rye’s induction into the “Guinness Book of Records” as the city that waited the longest to fix a broken bridge.

The coming of the railroad in 1870 had a dramatic effect on Harrison, which until that time was a sleepy farming community. The red stone station was built and given to the railroad for a ticket office by a big landowner.

Fiona Dogan, of Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty Rye office, has been named a 2011 Westchester Five Star Real Estate Agent. Fewer than 4% of the licensed agents in the county made this exclusive list.