Prospect
Lake Park Campground, North Egremont
Wednesday,
6 September 2018
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| today's route |
North Adams was clearly once a mill
town, and several of the old mill buildings are being converted to
lofts for artists, according to the signs. Seems like a good use for
them, what with all the windows and the high ceilings.
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| marble bridge |
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| marble dam |
I saw a turnoff from the highway to what they call
the Natural Bridge, meaning it’s a bridge carved by nature. But
what makes it special is that it’s marble and was formed by
glaciers and wind. There’s also a marble dam nearby, and I’m
including photos of both I found online. I decided not to go see
them because there’s a $10 parking fee at the entrance to the trail
which I don’t want to pay just for this, especially because I’d
then have the guilt-inducing decision to make of whether to take the
dogs on the .1-.2 mile trail and risk dealing with other dogs or not
take them and deprive them of a walk in the woods. Too early in the
morning to deal with moral decisions like that.
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| I like the sign |
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| Williams College |
A few miles farther down the road is
Williamstown, home of Williams College. Old quaint town, and the college consistent ranks among the top in
the country, and has for years. I vaguely remember visiting here
quite a few decades ago; doubt if much has changed.
From there the road turns south
parallel to the border with New York; the Taconic Mountains run along
the west side of the road and Mount Greylock, MA’s highest point,
is on the east.
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| Mt. Greylock |
A little farther down the road
(everything’s still close together – I drove only about 70 miles
all day today) I passed through Lanesborough, which is old enough to
have a church – St. Luke’s – which celebrated its 250th
anniversary last year.
For a ways as I was coming into
Pittsfield the road ran alongside a large lake that I think was
Pontoosuc Lake. Very pretty with lots of moored boats and lakeside
houses ranging from small to quite large. The dogs
and I found a short walk along the lake to stretch our legs.
Pittsfield is known to some as the
place where Herman Melville lived while he wrote Moby Dick.
Norman Rockwell Museum
On down the road is the Norman
Rockwell Museum. I thought about giving it a miss, since I’d seen
the very charming and downhome museum in Arlington, VT, where
Rockwell lived for many years, especially because the admission fee
here was $18 for seniors. But I’m definitely a Rockwell fan so
decided to go for it. We ended up spending several hours there, so
we could eat lunch and the dogs could walk several times on the
extensive grounds around the museum. A tour was included in the
admission fee, and the guide gave us quite a bit of interesting
information.
On the lower floor, they’ve got one
room devoted to all the Saturday Evening Post covers, which he
provided until 1963. The interesting thing about his decision to
leave the Post is that they refused to use any covers that might be
considered controversial. The 60s were full of controversy, and
Rockwell was particularly interested in the civil rights movement. So he moved on to Look and Life magazines. I’m showing photos of 3
of the Post covers I really like, but I couldn’t get very good
photos, with the gallery lighting and the angle I had to use.
One of my favorite Rockwell paintings, called oddly "The Problem We All Live With," wasn't here (I took this picture off the internet), and the guide told me she’s part of a traveling exhibit, along with
the originals of The Four Freedoms. Her obvious bravery always makes me cry. 
While they don’t have the originals
of The Four Freedoms,” they do display the war bonds posters they
were designed for. I took a picture of one, along with Rockwell’s
explanation – hope you can read it.
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| after |
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| before |
I also thought this was interesting:
the before and after paintings of this famous Post cover, called “The
Runaway.” It’s odd because most of the differences are subtle,
but they add up to a huge difference in feeling, and I have a hard
time putting my finger on exactly why that is.
This was
Rockwell’s 1st Post cover; what’s interesting about
this one to me is that he used the same boy as the model for all 3 of
the boys shown on the cover.
This well-known Rockwell work, called "The Marriage License, is easy to like, but the guide gave us
some really poignant information: the man who poses as the clerk had
recently lost his wife when this picture was made. The look on his
face shows a lot.
This photo is
of the original painting which, oddly, close up didn’t look like
anything particularly special. But then I happened to turn back and
look from across the room and it suddenly came alive – Rockwell’s
use of light was amazing. The picture has also been praised because
of his composition, putting the window frame in the foreground.
Alice’s Restaurant/The Guthrie
Center
This is the
church (actually right next to the railroad track) is the
very one where Arlo Guthrie was one of several people enjoying
Thanksgiving dinner with friends, after which the events ensued that
are immortalized in the song.
The restaurant that Alice owned is in
Stockbridge, and is now Theresa’s Stockbridge Cafe.
The church is in Van Deusenville, down
a country road from Great Barrington, and is where Alice and her
husband lived. Arlo later bought it and established the Guthrie
Center, which specializes in what you might call good works. A man
there spent some time showing me around and explaining what they did,
and the list is extensive: free meals and food assistance; tutoring
for all ages; legal assistance; regular concerts, which occasionally
include Arlo; church services – he said it’s a Bring Your Own God
church; and many more which I should have written down and have
forgotten. Here’s the website. https://guthriecenter.org/ These are interior shots.
Great Barrington, incidentally, was the birthplace of W.E.B. DuBois. For more information about this remarkable man, look at: black-history/w-e-b-du-bois.
On our way to our campground, I stopped at a park to walk the dogs a bit. While we were out I noticed a fenced area that looked like it was for riding horses. Sure enough, when we were on our way back to the RV, a horse and rider rode up from down the road and went into the fenced area. Dexter especially became increasingly excited and I had to drag him away from the area, and then Gracie joined in a bit, enough to tip the weight advantage so over I went and they dragged me a bit while I was hauling on the leashes as hard as I could in between yelling at them to STOP! I don't know what finally stopped them - although the horse stopped trotting around and the rider called over to be sure I was okay, and the non-movement of the horse may have been enough to let me stand up and grab the dog collars and haul them out of sight behind the RV and get them in. What a hassle. Idiots.
I'm really truly glad we haven't met a moose, since Dexter seems to go bonkers over large mammals.
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