Interlude, Part 3, Sunday, June 8, 2025
- Mark Carl Rom
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 12
Days sober: 717
The day starts early, if that’s when one gets up. I did, so it did too. After filling Goldfinger’s belly, and not mine, I drove back to North Adams before wending my way east along the most rural roads in the state. Between 6 and 9 I passed nary a semi, and only the rarest of cars. It wouldn’t have mattered if I were hungry, as there was not a single diner, drive-in, or dive until the cock crowed 10. The road was foggy and I was glad I was not.
Monroe (pop. 118, the second smallest town on mainland Massachusetts in 2020), Rowe (pop. 424), Heath (pop. 723), Leyden (pop. 734), Warwick (pop. 780): they all had libraries. The larger towns, such as Bernardston (pop. 2102), Northfield (pop. 2866), and Orange (pop. 7569), had them also, of course, although they still didn’t seem to have cafes open on a Sunday morning. Finally, Athol (pop. 11,945) did, and right across the street from its Carnegie library, whose original front is camouflaged by trees and whose large modern rear isn’t.
Kellie’s was just the kind of cafe I was looking for, the kind that was open and serving breakfast. It was the kind of establishment filled with signs with cute sayings (“You don’t have to be crazy to work here. We’ll train you.” “Love is brewing”) The sign that really caught my eyes was the one that read “Blueberry Cheesecake Stuffed Pancake.” Afterward, it was I who was stuffed. Thanks to Heidi for her brisk and efficient refills of coffee.
Because of the state’s terrain, few roads in the northern part of the state run east-west, so sometimes I would veer north then south to continue visiting the northernmost libraries:, with the towns gradually growing larger as I came closer to Boston: Royalston (pop. 1250), Winchendon (10,364), Ashby (3193), Townsend (9127), Pepperell (11,604), Tyngsboro (12,380), and then finally Lowell (115,554). With the exception of Lowell, the libraries did not necessarily become more grand, or seemingly even larger. Two of them were in complexes with both adult and youth centers.
Keith was the reason that my favorite stop was at the Beals Memorial Library in Winchendon, whose website unfortunately hides the picture of its handsome library behind cluttery text boxes. It was given by Samuel Beals in honor of his wife, Harriet, and his family. As I was taking pictures of Beals, he walked up, said what a beautiful library it was, and asked me why I was taking pictures. I told him and he said “Wanna go inside?”
Keith had been the library’s handyman for twenty some years. It was a part time gig – 15 hours a week – and it gave him benefits (retirement, vacation, sick leave) except for health insurance. I meant to ask him where, or if, he got insurance and I never got around to it because he started talking about the library. He had his keys with him so we went. It’s a two story library and we took the stairs, even though he was proud of the elevator that had been installed since he began working there. (His granddaughter has been begging him to let her ride it.)
He walked me through every room of the library describing the historic elements (lights, radiators, woodwork) and the newer additions, including the $20,000 circulation desk (why?), shelving, and computer projector. At one stop, I found a portrait of Mrs. Wheeler Poland, the first librarian, who had a “no talking” look about her. A poster sat on an easel in a nook. It read:
It's been said that "Nobody uses the library anymore", but in the past year the Beals had 21,864 patron visits, with 2,682 people attending our programs. We circulated 23,268 items, and 8,889 e-books and/or audiobooks were checked out through the online app Libby. And one third of all Winchendon residents hold a Beals Library card.
I asked where the library’s director worked, and Keith took me to it and said “That’s his office.” Oh, your director is a man? He replied that yeah, he preferred having a male director…because if Keith couldn’t come in during a snowstorm (he spends some time in Florida), a man was better able to handle the heavy snowblower. Library directors do all sorts of things.
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