Local author’s book gives insight into area’s odditiesDate: 7/19/2021 WESTERN MASS. – Have you ever driven by a town green or walked by a statue around Western Mass. and wondered why it’s there or what’s it’s story? Wonder no more because “Who Knew? Roadside Revelations in Western Massachusetts” is a historic travel guide of all the interesting oddities within the Pioneer Valley.
“I’ve had this weird obsession with unusual things for a long time,” said the book’s author, Rob Weir. “I started driving around and there’s a lot of stuff that you drive by, in, in Western Mass. that you look at and you just go, ‘Huh?’ I thought I could start writing about some of that.”
Weir, who has a Ph.D. in history, recently retired from a 40-year career of teaching. He taught at both the high school and college level, serving as a professor at Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Now, Weir uses his free time to explore. “I mean, I’m retired now, so I can do it,” he said with a grin.
His curiosity began with the history of a monument across from Smith College.
“When I first moved to Northampton, people told me that the tall monument on the top of West Street was where two Irish men were hanged in the early 19th century,” he started to explain. “And that’s not true. I mean, they were hanged, but not there,” he finished with a laugh. Because his inspiration started with something local, he wanted the rest of his book to stay local as well.
“I wanted it to be a Western Mass. focus rather than Eastern focus because there’s so much stuff right now about Boston. I have some dear friends who teach in the Boston area, but they treat Western Mass. like they’re going into the howling wilderness or something,” revealed Weir.
So, with his heart set on Western Massachusetts, Weir got in his car and embarked on his adventure.
“I started doing the research right around 2017, when I had retired from teaching,” Weir said. Though he’d written books in the past, this one required a different approach. “The other history books that I’ve written, required me to look through archives and write about that kind of thing,” Weir began. “This one just required me to get in my car and look, and then say, ‘Okay, what is that?’ Then start calling people in towns who might know something and start doing some library research from there.”
Since most of the research was done a few years ago, why did it take this long to release? Weir admitted that a couple things contributed to its delay. “It was supposed to be out about a year and a half ago, but of course we know why it didn’t come out a year and a half ago,” he said, hinting at the COVID-19 pandemic that put the world on hold. Then he continued, “But also I was having so much fun researching it that I didn’t get around to writing it.”
He wanted “Who Knew?” to feel different than his other history books. With a chuckle he explained “I didn’t want this crusty, overly serious book. I wanted it to be something that people could pick up and they could read it through, or they could throw it back to their car when they encountered one of these things.”
Weir expressed how much he learned about the place he’d called home for over 30 years. “You know, when you drive down Route 9 in Hadley there’s this massive green and it was a part of the whole move to re-invent New England in the 19th century to attract tourists. They took decrepit wharves and Seaport towns, filled them in, and prettified the areas. Then people from the outside came in thinking, ‘Oh wow, that’s New England’” he discovered.
Another Hadley location that caught his eye was the Skinner Museum located at Mt. Holyoke College. The author began by explaining, “Museums today, specialize in things, don’t they?” He continued, “I mean, you’d go in the room and there are your French impressionists and then your English impressionists or American impressionists and they’re probably in separate rooms. The Skinner, on the other hand, is like a big old attic filled with everything you could imagine and every time you go you see something you didn’t see the last time.”
He explained that Skinner’s antique shop approach was innovative in its time. “It was the way that Americans educated themselves, frankly, because if you think about it, very few people traveled very far from home. Some of the original museums would have giant paintings of things people couldn’t see any other way, like Niagara Falls, for example, or heaven forbid you go travel to see Yosemite.”
“Who Knew?” includes more than just museums and greens. With 32 six- to seven-page chapters, he wrote about things that fascinated him, hoping that they’d fascinate others. The book is divided into six sections that include dinosaur tracks and remnants, giant things you see that are hard to overlook, people who were famous long ago, things we might consider to be Follies, sports, along with museums.
What should you decide to see? That all depends on your interests, but Weir tried to give a few recommendations. “If you’re a sports fan, you definitely want to go see Wahconah Park in Pittsfield. If you’re a museum person, you should go to Springfield and see the giant painting of the American Republic. If you’re an outdoors person, you should try and see different angles of Mount Greylock because there’s a rumor it was a great inspiration for ‘Moby Dick’ since Melville lived in Pittsfield at the time,” he highlighted.
Weir’s book is rooted in history, but it’s meant to serve as more of a travel guide. “Now that we’re coming out of lockdown, people are going to be doing day trips and going out and so forth. So hopefully, they’ll be intrigued by the various things,” he exclaimed.
Realizing there might be local curiosities he might have missed, Weir conveyed interest in a sequel saying, “I’d like to get back out into Western Mass. and travel around to see some more things that may make me go ‘what?’ and see if I can figure that out. There’s actually this giant concrete beaver outside of Lee that I’d like to know more about.”
Until then, the author already has another book waiting in the wings. “I do have a book that I’m sending to the publisher this week, actually, about the Marx brothers. I’m a big Marx brothers’ fan, and I’m trying to show people how they can find a history in the Marx brothers’ film and that humor is time-bound,” he gushed with excitement.
In his closing words about “Who Knew?” Weir said, “The British have a word that they use called ‘fossicking,’ which means you’re just looking around kind of like beachcombing, but it’s a bit more than that and that’s what I want to do. I’ve been described as a ‘serial fascination-ist’ and I want to fossick around and find whatever.”
“Who Knew? Roadside Revelations in Western Massachusetts” can be purchased from the Leveller Press store online at https://www.levellerspress.com/product/who-knew-roadside-revelations-in-western-massachusetts/.
|
