Who's that guy?

Well, when I started this project I said I was looking for a learning opportunity and so far so good. I am daily learning about my ability to schedule, produce and stay focused. This week’s lesson: don’t lose your notes.

That being said, last week I visited Monterey, the next town with a Knox marker after Great Barrington. I had driven through Monterey earlier in the winter taking pictures of markers. At that time the marker, set in a low stone wall on the left hand side of Route 23 just past the intersection with Tyringham Road, was barely visible through the snow.

On this occasion the snow had melted considerably and some one had placed flowers and a flag on it. The Monterey General Store was always a favorite stop during my time as a flooring installer. One of the joys of working in a construction trade was always getting to eat lunch in a new place every few days or so. The store in Monterey always had some of the best lunch specials in Berkshire County and when in season some fantastic local cheese.

I got a beverage and couple of cookies, the other thing I always liked about a trip to Monterey. I asked the women behind the counter what she knew of Knox and her reply was some thing akin to “not much.” But, when I asked if anyone ever mentions Knox or the trail, she said she knew a guy in Otis I should talk to. She said, “He knows all about that stuff, who was it you wanted to know about?” I smiled and took the information. I grabbed some local newsletters on the way out and went next door to the Post Office.

I think I may have startled the women behind the counter at the Post Office with my questions about Henry Knox since she gave the “thousand-yard” stare. She explained that she was just a temp and usually worked out of the Pittsfield office. At this point a women who had been sorting her mail at a table behind and to my left offered that she certainly knew of Henry Knox. The woman, who I came to know as Francine, said she it was “amazing what he was able to accomplished with such [comparably] primitive means.” Francine told me that her knowledge of Knox came from a general interest in history. After a bit of pleasant conversation I informed her of the Henry Knox presentation coming to the Sheffield Historical Society, thanked her for her time and made my exit.