The first stop on the scavenger hunt was the Jack Kerouac Commemorative. It's a public art display dedicated to Jack Kerouac, who is a famous author from Lowell, MA. It is located on Bridge Street and called Kerouac Park. It has multiple large granite structures with excerpts from some of his greatest works engraved in them. Its a marvelous site and even better if you're a Kerouac enthusiast. The excerpts are inspirational. One was talking about how he was living with his mom again, but it was lovely day and people were out and about living their lives happily. These excerpts gave Kerouac Park an uplifting feeling. Also, the granite gave the park a prettier and richer look. Combined the excerpts and granite gave an air of richness and knowledge. I would recommend that if you have time to go visit this, because it is surprisingly a nice park for downtown Lowell.
The next stop on the Scavenger hunt was to find, describe, and explain the importance of Jack Kerouac's typewriter and backpack. After a quick google search, I was able to locate these two items at Lowell's National Historic Park Museum. I was not able to go and actually see them due to the government shutdown. However, after some research, I was able to find some information about these items. Kerouac had a portable typewriter. He used an early 1930s Underwood Portable typewriter(Pictured Below). Its a black, antique, but sleek typewriter that was probably the norm for his day. He wrote his most famous book On The Road with that typewriter. His book is so famous, because it was written so freely and without pausing, because he wrote it on a 120 foot scroll(Pictured Below). He did this so that he was able to keep writing without having to stop to refill his paper. Not only did his book, but his method of writing his book is what made him such a key player in the beat generation.
Not only were his typewriter and scroll famous, but so was his backpack. He used his U.S. army surplus bag and hitch hiked across the country. He had his backpack and notepad and lived his life on the road with what he had on his back. In doing so, he wrote On The Road. His experiences lead to many other of his accomplished books. His Hitchhiking also made him a model for the beat generation. Some say that his hitchhiking has inspired today's backpacking adventures. Therefore his backpack symbolizes the start of the backpacking movement and experience of the beat generation's adventures.
The last stop on the scavenger hunt was Jack Kerouac's grave. He is buried in Edson Cemetery in Lowell, MA. His grave stone is a simple granite slate in the ground. One line of the stone say "He Honored Life". From my research, what I've heard about Kerouac, and his books, this phrase is very true to him. As part of the scavenger hunt, we had to write a poem.
Sitting here ever so calm,
I let out a drawn out sigh.
Staring at my hand's palm,
Overhead I hear birds fly.
The bright colors of the leaves,
On an over-looking tree,
Rustle with birds in the breeze.
An inspiration to me.
The day coming to an end,
I get ready to head out,
But say goodbye to a friend,
Whom I just learned about.
The scavenger hunt was a fun little adventure. It taught me about Jack Kerouac, who I had originally know only as an author of some book. My research and visiting his commemoratives made me realize that he wasn't only an author, but an inspiration to a lot of the people of the beat generation. I would recommend these 3 places to anyone, even if they don't like Jack Kerouac or don't know who he is. Its a great way to learn more history about Lowell.
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