Author Kristen Demeo signs a copy of her book "Susan" at a talk about her new book, "Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese."

ADAMS, Mass. — This cheese does not stand alone.

 

Local author Kristen Demeo's new book, "Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese," tells young readers the story of the town of Cheshire's 1801 gift of a 1,235-pound block of cheddar to the nation's third president.

 

Saturday marks the 212th anniversary of the day that farms from throughout the town donated the milk from 935 cows to help make the cheese, which was delivered to Thomas Jefferson over the next five months for presentation on Jan. 1, 1802.

 

Recently, Demeo talked about the new book to an audience of about two dozen at the Adams Free Library and explained that "Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese" is her latest attempt to give the story life for local youngsters.

 

"It's important to make history come alive," Demeo said.

 

Like her other books, "The Legend of Mount Greylock" and "Susan," the Cheshire Cheese book employs both historical fiction narrative and expository prose. The former employs Demeo's imagination to come alive, the latter gives concrete information that both educates and, perhaps, inspires a reader to dig deeper into the ideas presented.

 

In the case of "Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese," one of those themes is the political climate at the dawn of the republic.

"Jefferson was more for the yeoman farmers, so you can see why Cheshire identified with him," Demeo said.

 

Her book makes the point that agrarian Cheshire was the only Berkshire County town to support Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party against the more business class-oriented Federalist Party.

 

The town came together shortly after Jefferson's election to honor him and honor its namesake, Cheshire, England, which was and is famous for its cheese.

 

The monument to the Cheshire Cheese press is on Church Street across from the Cheshire Post Office.

In addition to the history lessons, "Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese" uses the story to teach mathematics, but offering readers word problems inspired by the story, including: "If the Cheshire Cheese had a diameter of 4 feet, what would the circumference be?"

 

Demeo's first work of historical fiction, "The Legend of Mount Greylock," told the story of a young Native-American coming of age during an expedition up the mountain.

 

She was inspired to write that story because she — like so many others in North County — regularly gazes upon the commonwealth's tallest peak.

 

"I'd walk every day and look at the mountain," she said. "I did some research and found that there's a lot of information, but it wasn't short and concise.

 

"I wanted to educate about the plants, so they came alive and talked (to the protagonist) in the book. ... The whole story taks the reader up Cheshire Harbor Trail."

 

Her next book, "Susan" was inspired by a visit to the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace in Adams, where she was captivated by another view — that of a "reverse-aging" portrait of Anthony created by Williamstown artist Diana Walczak.

 

"I thought that something had to be written about Susan B. Anthony as a girl," Demeo said. "Young girls need to know what she gave the United States."

 

"Jefferson's Cheshire Cheese" is the latest tale that needs to be told.

 

"From there, I said, 'What else is not really well known in the area?' Demeo said. "That led me to the Cheshire Cheese."

 

Demeo said it is harder as an author to write non-fiction, but as a former kindergarten teacher, she understands how an engaging story can grab and hold a child's attention.

 

"I have other stories in my mind of what I'm going to do next," she said.