First Massachusetts Oddity Trip

On September 25th, I went on a Massachusetts Oddity Trip with my friend Libby. She has a book of all these curious and weird places throughout MA. She has been doing one in Ohio and I loved the idea. This was my first! It was awesome! I get to see things that I would never have heard about. There's so much out there!

Our first stop was to Lee, MA (The Berkshires), where they so happened to be celebrating Founder's Day. There was a parade, food, people selling their crafts. It was a hoot!

 

I was telling Libby that this reminded me of The Vampire Diaries, but with no Vampires.

 

Curiosity #1: The First Congregational Church in Lee. It's claim to fame is that it is the tallest building in the county made of timber frame construction. Think Jenga, but hollow.... and just in the steeple.


A full shot of the church.  Oh, and by the way, that 4-sided clock you see below the steeple needs to be hand-wound every 7 days.





Each Oddity trip needs to be properly documented with a photo in front of said Oddity.



Hmm, what could be upstairs??


 

This was me on the way back down from sneaking upstairs.




This was from the Choir section, just gives you a perspective of the size.


 

This is my Phantom of the Opera impersonation.




These pews still have the original horsehair in them.

 

This is what's left of the timber used in the steeple.

      


This church first started out as a meeting house.  Above is it's evolvement from meeting place to church.



Don't be fooled, those are not real colums, it's 2 dimensional paintings.  Amazing!

2 dimensional.  Also, there was a major renovation project where local High School students were given erasers and had to erase every inch of these paintings.  They still have the eraser nubs.

Oddity #2: Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA. The summer residence of sculpter Daniel Chester French, most noted for the statue of Lincoln seated inside the Lincoln Memorial.  I'm not sure why this is considered an oddity, but it's in the book, so hey what the heck?!



Daniel Chester French's Mansion, the locals like to refer to it as the "Residence"


 

 

Documenting the oddity.

My turn.

There were a series of modern sculptures throughout the grounds, which of course we had fun with. Following are some highlights. This one is called "Susan".

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose...

"Calling in the bees"

Freaky head guy.  Known as "Stroller"

Libby asks, "Does this statue make me look fat?!"  No, not at all...

"Geo Eye"

"Erzulie for Haiti"

This fountain was part of his Italian piazza in the back of the house.  He entertained guests out there because he couldn't fit them in his "Residence"

"4 pm"  made out of concrete

 

"Bathing Beauty"

Me making "A Little Night Music"



"Blue Muse"  I can't imagine this sculpture inspiring anyone.  But that's just me.



Randomly placed traveler's wish pile.

"Gabriel"  The artist chose a dead tree in Chesterwood's forest and removed a section in the uppermost portion of the trunk, subsequently slicing this section into boards.  These rough-sawn boards were then reinserted in a radial pattern, resulting in the tree assuming the character of a winged personage.

"Trespassers" The artist took the common "No Trespassing" sign to literally fabricate the skin of the human form.  Our skin is the boundary of our body, separating and protecting us from the outside world.  These figures are stating their own autonomy, but they are also acting as a silent army, protecting a boundary of their own making.  Are they warning trespassers, or are they themselves trespassers in the natural world.  Wow, that's pretty deep.

This cherub was not part of the exhibit, it just happened to be there.

"Shitheads", umm, I mean "Shirtheads"

There are no words....