LCK! WalkingTours of Kerouac's Lowell - Saturdays, June 8th & 15th
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! master interpreters of great American writer Jack Kerouac’s youth in Lowell and his Lowell novels will lead tours on June 8 and 15, the next two Saturdays, that portray him from cradle to grave, including his many family homes, churches, schools, library, the French-Canadian neighborhoods where he grew up, and the landmarks of the city that he loved. Through visiting the significant Kerouac sites, attendees will learn of the lifelong influence of Lowell on shaping his remarkable body of work as seen in his novels, poems, journals, and letters.
“Kerouac Sites of Lowell: Cradle to Grave”
Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m.
Tour starts at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St.
Tour Leader, Steve Edington.
Tour features stops and readings at the Kerouac Commemorative, the Birth Home on Lupine Road, the “Visions of Gerard” neighborhood around the St. Louis Church, the “Maggie Cassidy” tenement, the Grotto, the St. Jean Baptiste Church (funeral site), and the Kerouac gravesite at the Edson Cemetery. Total time is two and a half hours.
“Merrimac and Moody Street Regulars,”
Saturday, June 15th, 10a.m.
Tour starts at Lowell City Hall, 375 Merrimack St.
Tour Leader, Roger Brunelle
Tour will include significant sites with readings along Moody and Merrimack Streets, including some remnants of the former Little Canada neighborhood, such as French social clubs, St. Jean Baptiste church, and St. Joseph elementary school, plus the Pollard Memorial Library, where Kerouac discovered the world of literature and often played hooky from his high school schedule.
More Kerouac tours are being planned through October. Details on the future tours will be announced later. Tours cost $10 per person in a donated fee that supports LCK!’s Kerouac events of every March and October. Reservations and information about the tours can be gotten by calling LCK president Mike Wurm at c.978-501-1021 or emailing him at wurmtrakker@gmail.com.
LCK, an all volunteer organization, is dedicated to honoring, celebrating, and interpreting the life and spirit of Jack Kerouac, who wrote so eloquently about his hometown of Lowell while gaining great global fame as a major novelist and poet of 20th century America. Visit www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org or their facebook page for more information about our organization and Kerouac events and happenings.