Let a hundred flowers blossom - 2019

Other MDMs in 2019

Edited 6/26/19 - Dates for Rosenbach MDM added.
 
For those who may be hesitant to venture to New Bedford in January, here are a few alternatives to note.

April 26-28: The fourth annual Moby-Dick Marathon Reading at the Provincetown public library. This reading is spread over three days, so you can enjoy a bit of springtime in P'town. (Apologies for the late notice.)

June 7-9: Canio's Books in Sag Harbor returns with a multi-day MDM. A raft of events leads up to the marathon, including a talk by Mary K. Bercaw-Edwards on May 4.

July 31-August 1: The 34th(!) annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the Mystic Seaport Museum. This reading takes place aboard the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. Attendance is limited; call to reserve space if staying overnight. August 1 is Melville's 200th birthday—expect a special MDM at Mystic.

August 1-4 ?: The third annual Moby-Dick reading at Arrowhead Farm. This reading is spread over several days, and includes a hike up Monument Mountain. Details haven't been posted yet.

October ?: At the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, promises a "uniquely San Franciscan" MDM. Last done here in 2018. Details not yet posted; see sfmobydickmarathon.org. Commemorates Melville's brief visit to San Fran in 1860.

November 9-10: The Rosenbach Museum repeats its annual (since 2017) MDM at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. Watch the Rosenbach calendar for details. [Hat-tip to Prof.]

The November New York City MDM was bi-annual for a while, but appears to be in hibernation.

Missed the MDM at the Newberry Library, Jan. 19-20. This does not appear to be an annual event.

Missed the M-D Marathon Read of Virginia, March 21-22. Their Facebook page has links to an archived video stream. This does not appear to be an annual event.

The Nantucket Historical Association had an MDM in 2014. This past February they offered a two-hour Multi-lingual Moby-Dick Reading Event. A full MDM might return some year.

Road Trip - Arrowhead MDM

Arrowhead farmhouse

To celebrate Melville's birthday, the Berkshire County Historical Society organized five days of events at/near Arrowhead farm. The centerpiece of their "Melville Week" was a (second annual) Moby-Dick marathon reading.

Like MDMs in New York and Provincetown, the BHS spread its reading across several days. Such an arrangement attracts local folks, who can sleep in their own beds and return fresh, but discourages out-of-towners from attending more than a couple of days. We made it to the fourth, final day.

Will there be an Arrowhead MDM for Melville's 200th birthday next year? We can hope. One might dream of a reading that takes place inside the actual home, and runs through the night to finish on August 1. (Are there any reports of hauntings at Arrowhead?)

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The 2018 reading was held in the barn that houses Arrowhead's ticket office and museum shop.

Peter Bergman, Director of Communications for the BHS, recruited readers as we entered. He explained: read from the "podium copy" until the bell rings, then make a pencil mark where you stopped.

Each person read for ten minutes, after which Peter said something like, "Sarah, thank you so much," and called the next reader. Things proceeded calmly.

Like the Mystic MDM, no microphone was necessary. The group grew to no more than fifteen.

One reader stood out. She was maybe ten years old(?) and had very little problem with the knotty text. All the best to her, and her family!

A better photo, copied from the BHS Facebook page.

At the "Finis," Peter announced that over the four days of the marathon there were 85 different readers, plus 23 folks who simply listened.

Then he took his harpoon and posed for photos.

Mount Greylock on the horizon
(apologies for poor camera)

Thanks to the volunteers and staff of the Berkshire County Historical Society for a well run, "neighborly" MDM.

Let a hundred flowers blossom

Other MDMs in 2018

Edited 7/24/18 to include the San Francisco and Sag Harbor events.

For those who may be hesitant to venture to New Bedford in January, here are a few alternatives to note.

July 31-August 1: The 33rd(!) annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the Mystic Seaport Museum
This reading takes place aboard the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. Attendance is limited; call to reserve space if staying overnight.

August 2-5: The second annual Moby-Dick reading at Arrowhead Farm
This reading runs from 10am-5pm for three days, followed on day 4 by a hike up Monument Mountain before returning to Arrowhead to read the concluding chapters.

October 13-14: At the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, promises a "uniquely San Franciscan" MDM. Last done here in 2015. Details at sfmobydickmarathon.org. Commemorates Melville's brief visit to San Fran in 1860.

Canio's Bookshop in Sag Harbor organized an annual MDM for many years, starting in 1983. The event went dormant for a decade or so, then resurfaced in 2015 and 2017. Will it return in 2019 for Melville's 200th birth year?

The November New York City MDM was bi-annual for a while, but appears to be in hibernation.

The Provincetown Public Library had its 3rd annual MDM in April, but I didn't get the memo. Maybe next year.

Today in History

On this date in 1850 Herman bought, from "Dr. John Brewster, Sr., the farm adjoining the Broadhall estate in the rear." This was the Pittsfield farm that Melville later named Arrowhead.

Parker's biography describes the transaction in vol. 1, p. 778. Herman persuaded his father-in-law to give him "three thousand dollars against Lizzie's [his wife] inheritance" so that he could buy 160 acres and a house for $6500.

Returning to our trusty tool, we find that $6500 in 1850 had the "purchasing power" of $187,000 in 2010. Make of that what you will. Today, Broadhall, once the farm of Herman's uncle (Thomas Melvill, Jr.)  is a tony country club.

Events to Note @ Arrowhead

If you can make it to Arrowhead this summer, here are two events to catch (part of the Call Me Melville celebrations).

On July 29, at 11 A.M., Dr. Wyn Kelley (noted Melvillian and M.I.T. professor) will read and discuss The Piazza Tales, on the "piazza" of the title. (Bring bug spray.) Dr. Kelley is sure to deepen your appreciation of these stories.

On August 25, Bill Petit (of The Moby Dick Collection) will be at Arrowhead to discuss and paint(!). At 10 A.M. he'll be painting scenes around the property. At 2 P.M. he will be in the barn to talk about his impressive collection, 200 volumes and growing.

Addendum, 7/18/12: If you have a couple of days to spare, make your stop at Arrowhead part of a Melville tour. This 1986 article in the NY Times highlights some nearby points of interest.

Summer of Melville in the Berkshires!

A slate of Melville-themed events is coming to Pittsfield, MA this summer. From the Call Me Melville site:

This summer (from Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day weekend 2012) we’re celebrating Melville’s life and writings, and bringing them vividly to life for a new generation of readers as well as for all those whose first acquaintance with this vibrant writer left something to be desired.

Keep an eye out for an exhibit and talk by Bill Pettit (of The Moby Dick Collection), to be presented at Arrowhead.

If you're not fortunate enough to live in Pittsfield (declared "Best place for single retirees" by US News & World Report!), you can participate in Moby Dick Daily. Billed as "a chapter-a-day online community read-along," this is some kind of networked group-read of M-D for the Facebook-&-Twitter generation. (Yes, I'm considering the recommendation of USN&WP.)

Road Trip - When Herman met Hawthorne

161 years ago today, Herman Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne. The influence that this meeting had on Moby-Dick is a subject for another time. For now, let's say that it wasn't for nothing that M-D was inscribed to Hawthorne.

If you can't make it to the "Hawthorne & Melville Annual Hike" up Monument Mountain this Sunday (Aug. 7), you can browse a commemorative road-trip here. I drove out to western Massachusetts two days ago for a quick snapshot safari, but found that every answer led to more questions.

View from Melville's "piazza"

First stop, Arrowhead. I got in on the lightly attended (three visitors, total) penultimate tour of the day. Our guide was well-practiced and very knowledgeable. (We were told that Hershel Parker bought Herman & Lizzie's bed at auction and donated it to Arrowhead. A national treasure is Mr. Parker. Most of the details here are taken from his biography of Melville.) The place is in great shape inside, thanks to the off-season work of skilled volunteers.

Pontoosuc Lake, Pittsfield

Thursday, August 1, 1850 was Melville's 31st birthday.  Two days later, a group from the Melvill farm (purchased by Herman in September, 1850 and named "Arrowhead"), including visitors Evert Duyckinck and Cornelius Matthews, took a fishing trip to Pontoosuc Lake, on the other side of Pittsfield. Duyckinck and Matthews had been invited out to the farm by Herman. The following day, August 4, was Herman and Elizabeth's third wedding anniversary.

Stockbridge station

Monday, August 5, 1850, Melville, Duyckinck, and Matthews took the train to Stockbridge, where Dudley Field (Jr.) had arranged for the two out-of-towners to meet "all the celebrities of Stockbridge" (Parker). There they met Field and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Holmes's grandfather owned 24,000 acres in the Berkshires—a valuable holding as the coming of the railroad in 1850 led to the development of the area as a playground for the rich. Arrowhead is on Holmes Road; Oliver had a summer home down the road, on the river.

The four went to the Field "cottage" in Stockbridge, then set out for Sacrifice Mount as a "rehearsal, for the grand climb." I could find no location for Sacrifice Mount or the Field home. Parker mentions that the cottage is (was?) "on the village green ... [a] square, red-brick house later known as the Old Parsonage." Note that the well-to-do referred to their Berkshire homes as "cottages" in the same way that the Vanderbilts and the Astors referred to their palaces in Newport.

Returning to the Field cottage, the four were joined by James T. Fields (publisher of The Scarlet Letter) and his wife, Henry Sedgwick ("of the famous Stockbridge family" [Parker]), and Mister Nathaniel Hawthorne. (So, Melville and Hawthorne actually first met at Field's house in Stockbridge!)

From Monument Mountain

"Miss Jenny Field" (Dudley's sister?) came along as all ten rode out to Monument Mountain "in three conveyances." There is no record of the actual route they hiked. We know they abandoned the wagons partway up the mountain. They got caught in a rainstorm, drank some champagne, listened to Matthews recite poetry, and watched Herman climb out on a rock, pretending it was a bowsprit.

The mountain is now owned by The Trustees of Reservations. (Download a trail map here.) I hiked up the west side. The trail followed an old dirt road until it became steep, so I imagine this was their route. On a humid August day, this was a good workout — not a hike I'd enjoy in long woolen trousers, no matter how much champagne was on offer. Some photos from the trail are in this album.

In the Ice Glen

The group then returned to the Field cottage for a big, well-lubricated turkey dinner. Joel Tyler Headley dropped in and induced the men to hike the "Icy-Glen" (mentioned in Moby-Dick, Chapter 102). This is a short hike, just a few blocks from the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge center. See the album for all the photos and information. Bring bug dope and shoes with good traction. On a humid day the mossy rocks are slippery. I did get a few drafts of cool air, but there was no ice to be seen. The route is unobtrusively engineered to aid the visitor through the boulder field, with stone steps and bridges. An alternate fork on the trail toward the Glen makes a sweat-inducing, mosquito-infested climb to an observation tower ("Laura's Tower") with limited views.

The party returned again to the Field house, and at 10 P.M. the three from Pittsfield took the train home. The brakeman consented to pause the train near the Holmes Road crossing, saving them a two-mile walk back from the Pittsfield station. Duyckinck and Matthews stayed at the Melvill farm that night.

So ended the Big Day. It led to the birth of Moby-Dick as we know (and love) it. And it was all orchestrated by David Dudley Field. More about him in a subsequent post.

Road Trip - SUNY by way of Arrowhead

Expanded my carbon footprint today, driving out to the State University of New York, Albany to see Bill Pettit's exhibit of some of the highlights from his Moby-Dick Collection. (All Over Albany has a nice interview with Mr. Pettit.)

Drove the back roads to Arrowhead, knowing it's closed until Memorial Day weekend, but hoping to get a few snaps. Passed groves of sugar maples, tethered together with what looks like surgical tubing, collecting sap into plastic holding tanks; cubes, about 5-feet on each side. (Forget about galvanized pails and horse-drawn sleds!) A couple of sugar houses were in operation, steam pouring out of their vent windows. Lots of work and sweat to yield that pint of syrup. For God's sake, be economical with your pancakes and waffles!

Passed Miss Hall's School, "one of the foremost college-preparatory schools for girls in the country," established 1898. I hope the girls study Moby-Dick—they're just a short walk from Arrowhead.

Stealth-photo of kitchen

There was a crew of about eight men (volunteers, and definitely not unskilled) working on the rear addition to the original house. At some point (in the 1940's, guessing from the wallpaper), there were four apartments and three bathrooms in this wing. The volunteers were in the process of removing the bathrooms (to save on property taxes, I was told). I was led up the back stairway, through an old kitchen, to see Melville's library, freshly painted, and the newly opened "Hawthorne room" (not yet furnished). Whatever its age, the wing felt solid underfoot, like it was built with pride. Thanks for the tour, guys!

On to the big city (Albany), and the State University of New York. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall of an architecture class at this school? That's a carillon next to the skating rink / landing pad / Unisphere plinth. The library is behind the carillon.

Steel yourself and enter the cage labeled "Library."

The Moby-Dick exhibit is just inside the entrance, arranged in two cases.

One display of eight English-language editions, from 1930 to 1989, each opened to an image of Ahab.

One display of foreign-language editions, together with some "artifacts" from the career of the estimable Professor Hugh Maclean—his "study copy" with his penciled notes in the margins, and...

...his "First-Day Cover" of the "Herman Melville" 6-cent envelope, postmarked "New Bedford, March 7, 1970."

Mr. Pettit reflects on the "meaning" of the exhibit on his blog. In whatever form our beloved texts come to us, they are the result of the dedication and skill of untold numbers of our forebears, who worked to pass an author's creation ahead to one more generation of readers.