Please join us on Saturday, April 18th beginning at 10:00AM for events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Henry Knox Trail. Register for either event by clicking on the links below. We hope to see you there!
10:00-11:00AM – 1976 Quilt On Display: Students from Massachusetts towns along the Henry Knox Trail submitted embroidered squares to become part of this commemorative quilt project. This venture was organized by Palmer’s Bicentennial Committee. Quilt will remain on display until library closing at 2PM.
11:00AM-12:00PM – Dennis Picard Knox Trail Presentation: In the winter of 1775/1776, Henry Knox, a bookseller from Boston, was dispatched by George Washington (the new commander of the armies around Boston) to organize and complete a daring mission. Knox was to retrieve over fifty bronze and cast-iron artillery pieces housed in upstate New York at Fort Ticonderoga and travel over lakes, rivers, and the rocky slopes of the Berkshires to deliver these military stores to Dorchester Heights.
Dennis Picard will share some details of this wintry expedition as it passed from the Massachusetts town of North Egremont through Springfield, Palmer, and on to Boston. Though a piece of our local lore, some parts of this saga are still debated and remain controversial. Dennis has a personal connection with this event in our history, as he participated in one portion of the recreation of this trek during the bicentennial of 1976.