While rattlesnakes are still occasionally seen in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts – including in 2012 when a family found a 4-foot rattlesnake curled up on their patio – today these venomous snakes are exceptionally rare. But that hasn’t always been the case.
A recent article on iBerkshires.com takes a look at the history of the rattlesnake in the Berkshires, where these snakes used to exist in relative abundance.
Rattlers were reportedly plentiful in several regional towns and viewed with an exceptional amount of fear. Towns made it a priority to rid the area of the rattlesnakes, despite the fact that few incidents of rattlesnake bites were ever recorded. The article reports there were only two known fatalities due to snakebites, one in 1761 and one in 1860.
Read about rattlesnakes in the Berkshires.