Monterey — A crowd spilled into the entryway of the Monterey Library; some sat cross-legged lining the walls, others folded into corners. A full house. And yet, when the speakers began telling the story of 25-year-old bookseller Henry Knox in the opening of the Knox Trail 250 Celebration Friday evening, the room became still and quiet. People leaned in to listen.
“Rob said I was responsible for this endeavor,” said Monterey Library Executive Director Mark Makuc. “About two years ago, a professor stopped by the library curious about the name of the Knox Gallery. He said he was coming through again the next week leading a bus tour of the Knox Trail. I called Rob Hoogs, Tom Ragusa, and Bernie Drew and set up a talk for the tour group. Our local historians gave them a talk they could not believe. That is when I said to Rob, ‘We should do a show.’”
The weekend celebration in Monterey was a collaboration of three sponsors: the Monterey Library, the Monterey Historical Society, and the Bidwell House Museum.
Bidwell House Museum Executive Director Heather Kowalski encouraged the group to “really think about the connections between the town and Knox’s original procession, what it was like for them to travel through here in these wintery conditions with their heavy load of artillery. The Bidwells were here living in the museum as Knox passed through. I wonder what they thought of what was happening.”
The Bidwells must have known Knox’s route, but “one of the biggest questions we all have today is: which way did he go,” said Monterey Historical Society President Rob Hoogs, who spearheaded this weekend’s activities. “And every now and then, someone will say that they found a cannonball at a certain spot so Knox must have traveled that route.”
But Hoogs had a surprise: “There were no cannonballs on the expedition.”
Had it not been for Henry Knox’s efforts 250 years ago, the outcome of the Revolutionary War might have been very different—or American independence might have been delayed indefinitely. “When the artillery arrived in Boston at the end of the Knox Trail journey, the British Army left Boston and went to New York,” said Hoogs. “Then the war moved to the Atlantic coastline, and those living in other areas began to understand the need to fight together.”
The festivities offered something for everyone. Hoogs presented an illustrated talk, “Henry Knox and the Noble Train of Cannons through Monterey and the Greenwoods” (the woods between Blandford and Monterey). Jonathan Barkan presented his “Knox Trail Media Show,” featuring a newly remastered version of the slide show, complete with music and voiceover, he created as a documentarian during the 1976 Bicentennial Reenactment.
The Knox Trail 250 gallery show at the Monterey Library remains up for viewing this month.
