Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick and Billy Budd and many other classic tales.  Of course, Moby Dick is the masterpiece he is most noted for.  “Call me Ishmael.”

Today my dear wife, Carrie, and I visited a former home of Melville’s in Pittsfield, Mass.  The place is called Arrowhead.  Why Arrowhead?  When he was plowing up some of the 160 acres that went along with the property he found many Native American artifacts.  Most notably, he found arrowheads.  A house was named in 1850 and thus holds that name still today thanks in large part to the name Moby Dick.

I studied a great deal of American Literature in classes taught by my dear friend Dr. Millard Dunn.  Today I thought of Millard as I was in a place where two of the biggies of the Anti-Transcendentalist camp hung out and chewed the fat and talked writing.  I was one goose-bump and later as we ate a late lunch, I told Carrie I could hear Dr. Dunn talking about Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne as clear as a bell in my mind.

In this barn, built around 1780, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) discussed the issues of the day.  I was amazed.

The place  is now headquarters to the gift shop and central meeting spot that begins the tour of Arrowhead.  Did I say I was in awe of the place?

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house.

My dear Carrie and I tried to get a picture of ourselves with a place called Mt. Greylock in the background.  More about Mt. Greylock in a minute.

This was Herman Melville’s home from 1850 until 1863 when his family returned to New York City.  In this house he wrote Moby Dick and many other stories.

Melville was inspired by Mt. Greylock.  This picture of Mt. Greylock, taken from the front porch of his house is similar to the view that Melville had from his study where he did his work.  Looking at this mountain, he saw a whale in his mind.  Then, he wrote about that whale.

Of course Moby Dick has been told in cinematic form on multiple occasions.  One of the most popular renditions of this story to make the silver screen is the 1956 version starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab.

This whaling boat below is one of the models used in filming some of the action shots going after Moby DIck.  If you are familiar with this, you recognize from left to right:  Captain Ahab, Stub, Queequeg, Tashtego, and first mate Starbuck.  This was a marvelous piece.

This was a great stop….even for a fan of the Transcendentalist over the Anti-Transcendentalists.  I prefer the essays and poems of Emerson and Thoreau over the allegories and traditional works of antagonists and protagonists…though I give a strong nod to the multiple layers of conflict, be they internal or external, that Herman Melville brilliantly exposes in Moby Dick.  Decisions ultimately must be made.

Visiting Arrowhead was an internal conflict resolved.  And has given me yet another chance to…speak the rights.

Danny Johnson