Evacuation Day Supporter

Our friend Joyce Harsch of Williamstown sent us this photo of Walt Klinger, who spent three hours at Field Park in Williamstown on Wednesday, March 17, to remind people it was Evacuation Day.

We don't celebrate the day out here — it's a Boston holiday that shuts down government in Suffolk County, one that a lot of other Bays Staters would like to see disappear. But Klinger, of Pownal, Vt., thought it was great way to remind people of history.

Of course, the Berkshires did play a small role in the real evacuation day 234 years ago. Henry Knox dragged his cannon into South County, most likely along what's now Route 23 through Great Barrington, on his way from Fort Ticonderago to Boston. The arrival of the cannons forced the British to evacuate the city.

So even though Klinger would have been more appropriate waving in Great Barrington, he made a pretty picture by the 1753 House.