Fifty years ago, Jonathan Barkan travelled the Knox Trail throughout Massachusetts, photographing the trail and its reenactors and producing a Knox Trail slide show for the 1976 Bicentennial. Now he has updated the 1975 show and will be presenting it at the Monterey Library on January 17, 2026, at 11 a.m.
In late 1973, the Massachusetts Bicentennial Commission contracted Jonathan Barkan, a young emerging professional photographer and media producer, to create a documentary slide show about Henry Knox and his Noble Train of Artillery. It was designed to tell the whole Knox Trail story, highlighting all of Massachusetts, and stimulate interest in the planned 1976 Knox Trail statewide reenactment.
The media show was completed in early 1975. It was formatted to run on two linked, side-by-side slide projectors that would alternate the images, with the narration and soundtrack coordinated. (Those over the age of 50 well remember the distinctive click-click of the old carousels as they changed slides.) Running time was 27 minutes and included 280 color slides. Narrated by professionals and including a soundtrack rich in original music and location sound effects, it featured readings of Knox’s personal diary and letters to his wife. The program sets the historical context and dramatizes Knox’s plan and journey, culminating in the British evacuating Boston on March 17, 1776, and leading to the Declaration of Independence three months later. The slide show concludes with 1975-era photos portraying each of the towns along the “modern” Knox Trail. The slide show was widely circulated and shown throughout Massachusetts as part of the Bicentennial celebrations.
Barkan spent three years working on the project, photographing all the towns along the Knox Trail in Massachusetts; filming reenactors, draft animals, sleds, and cannons at Jug End Resort in January 1975; producing the media show for release in March 1975; and finally photographing the January 1976 Knox Trail Reenactment.
Jonathan recalls fondly the welcome and enthusiasm of Mimi MacDonald at Jug End and other southern Berkshire residents. The photo above by Gerry Francis, printed in the Berkshire Courier on January 5, 1975, shows some reenactors at Jug End during Barkan’s filming.
After completing the photography, with many thousands of images as well as sound clips, Jonathan worked for months to compile the finished product. The premier showing was at Jug End Resort on March 17, 1975, again hosted by Mimi MacDonald.
Jonathan Barkan continued to photograph the Knox reenactors during January 1976 as they passed through the southern Berkshires and across Massachusetts to Boston. Here Jonathan can be seen in Great Barrington in January 1976 photographing the reenactors.
Now, for the 2026 Anniversary of the Knox Expedition, Jonathan Barkan has updated the media show and produced a modern digital slide show. It includes the original photos, newly digitized and remixed, with an updated soundtrack and narration. It has additional photographs, maps, and historical imagery and is shortened to 21 minutes.
The premiere showing of the updated “H. Knox … on the Knox Trail” media show will be held at the Monterey Library on Saturday, January 17, starting at 11 a.m. Jonathan Barkan will be on hand to introduce the slide show. Afterward, he will discuss his own fascinating Knox Trail journey 50 years ago, as well as the process of updating the original slide show for today’s audiences, and answer questions. (He may even play a clip of Mimi MacDonald singing at Jug End.) Barkan’s Knox Trail media show is one of the highlights of Monterey’s Knox250 Commemoration from January 16 through 17, 2026. If you are coming, please arrive early at the Monterey Library, 472 Main Road. Seating is limited. Additional parking is available behind Monterey Town Hall.
The Monterey Knox250 event is sponsored by the Monterey Library, Monterey Historical Society, and Bidwell House Museum, with financial support from Housatonic Heritage and the Friends of the Monterey Library. The event is free; donations gratefully accepted. More information about the various events is available at the Bidwell House Museum’s website. The Monterey event poster features three of Jonathan Barkan’s 1976 photographs.
Jonathan Barkan was introduced to the Bidwell House Museum and Monterey Historical Society in early 2025 by a mutual acquaintance. Jonathan showed us a video capture of the original 1975 Knox Trail slide show. We were thrilled with it and immediately wanted to include it in Monterey’s 2026 Knox250 program. Jonathan, being the professional that he is, insisted the slide show would have to be updated, with the slides color-corrected and the production digitally remastered with new animations and effects to make it a media production that today’s audiences would appreciate and enjoy. We are pleased to have worked with him to enable this updated media production.
The updating of the 1975 media show is supported by a grant from Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area (Housatonic Heritage). This has allowed Barkan to offer the Knox Trail media show for viewing by other groups at no charge. Barkan can be contacted here. We hope other historical societies, schools, and the general public will take the opportunity to view the documentary and learn more about this epic expedition that led to the British evacuation of Boston—and three months later, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Jonathan Barkan has continued his photography and communications career. He is the founder and executive producer/director of Communications for Learning with offices in Conway and Arlington, Mass. He lives in Conway.
