The Emily Dickinson
Museum will sponsor the annual
Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk and Open House on Saturday, May 15, at 1 p.m. The Walk marks the anniversary of the
poet's death (on May 15, 1886) with readings of her poetry at six historic
sites in Amherst. After the Poetry Walk, the Museum will host an Open House
from 3 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
The Poetry Walk has honored the work and life of Emily Dickinson since the
late 1960s. A University of Massachusetts doctoral candidate, Linda Helgeson,
elected to put a notice in the Amherst Record that she would lead a walk from
the Dickinson Homestead to the West Cemetery on the Saturday closest to the
poet's death on May 15. As it did in the 1960s, the Walk starts at the
Homestead and ends at Emily Dickinson's gravesite, but has grown to include
other sites through the center of town that are significant to the poet's life.
This year's Poetry Walk will feature Dickinson poems that refer to flowers,
gardens, landscape, and other aspects of nature. Anyone who would like to read
one of the poems should arrive at the Homestead at 12:45 p.m. to receive an
assignment; poems will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The
schedule is below. Programs and maps of the Walk's one-mile route will be
available at the Museum. Participants are welcome to join the Walk at any point
along the route. Those who wish to participate only in the cemetery reading
should meet at the Dickinson grave in West Cemetery on Triangle Street at 2:30
p.m.
Walk Schedule
1 p.m. Dickinson Homestead garden,
280 Main Street
1:20 p.m. Amherst Train Station, Railroad Street
1:40 p.m. Front steps of the Evergreens, 214 Main Street
2 p.m. Front lawn of the Amherst
History Museum, 67 Amity Street
2:20 p.m. Parking lot behind Zanna, 187 North Pleasant Street (next
to Mobil service station, site of Dickinson home, 1840-1855)
2:30 p.m. Dickinson's gravesite, West Cemetery, Triangle
Street
Emily Dickinson was born on
December 10, 1830. The Museum dedicated
to her legacy is located at 280 Main Street in Amherst. For more information about the Poetry Walk, contact Nan Fischlein,
program coordinator, at nfischlein@emilydickinsonmuseum.org
or 413-542-2034.
The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson
Homestead and The Evergreens, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily
Dickinson and her family. Both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst
College. The museum is overseen by a separate Board of Governors charged with
raising its operating and capital funds. The Homestead was the birthplace and
residence of the poet (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the
poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. The official
museum website is www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org.
Regular season hours are Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Extended
summer hours are June through August, Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m. until 5
p.m.
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