Carmelites have sold Williamstown property

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The Oblong Road estate that once belonged to novelist Sinclair Lewis and is renowned for its spectacular views has been sold by the Carmelite Fathers, a Roman Catholic order, to its next door neighbor for $2.1 million. According to transactions recorded April 17 in the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds in Adams, the Carmelite Fathers sold the property at 239 Oblong Road to Linda H. White of 237 Oblong Road for $2.1 million. Subsequently, that transaction was followed by three others. The middle, 50-acre lot containing the 10-bedroom house and buildings, was sold to the KRSE Nominee Trust for $900,000. Another parcel, of forest and uplands, was sold to the Macomber Mountain Nominee Trust for $10. And White transferred, for no consideration, 101 acres to herself and her husband, Dr. Eric White. Linda White, contacted by telephone, said “Our aim has always been to maintain the integrity of the property, and we think we’ve accomplished that.” Neither attorney Adam Filson, trustee of the KRSE Nominee Trust, nor attorney F. Sidney Smithers, trustee of the Macomber trust, would disclose the identities of the principals of the trust. Filson said the house will be a private residence, not multi-family. There are no plans to demolish the buildings, which include a 22,000-square-foot concrete block addition that houses a chapel, dining hall and 30 dormitory rooms. The Carmelite Fathers most recently operated the property as a retreat center. But when it went on the market last year, a Carmelite spokesman in Middletown, N.Y., said the order planned to concentrate on its missions in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The 1916 house, then called Thorvale, was home to Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis for five years, until 1951. The Carmelite Fathers bought it the following year for $60,000. White is director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Greylock Theater Project in North Adams. Eric White is an orthopedic surgeon at North Adams Regional Hospital.
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North Adams Teen ID'd as Motorcyclist in Fatal Crash

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The motorcyclist killed in Wednesday night's collision near Walmart was an 18-year-old city man. 
 
Jayquan A. Williams has been identified by the District Attorney's Office as the fatality. 
 
Williams was southbound on Curran Highway when he collided with a northbound SUV turning across lanes toward the store's southern entrance at about 7:45 p.m. 
 
He graduated this past spring from Hoosac Valley High School.
 
A GoFundMe has been started to aid the family with funeral costs. (iBerkshires does not endorse or confirm fundraisers).
 
The collision remains under investigation. The SUV's driver has not been identified. 
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