Amherst | Genealogy Lady

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

When I was 18, I left Worcester and moved to Amherst, Massachusetts. The home of Emily Dickinson and the location of several leading universities was to become my second home for the next four years. I entered the university as an honors history major. During the spring term, I took an Introduction to Theatre course. By the end of my freshman year, I was a theatre major. I still love history. The stuck-up, dry, boring professor who made my life miserable my first term did not take that love away from me. I just found another passion for awhile with some equally passionate and fabulous professors.

While I lived on campus, my home was the Grayson dormitory on top of Orchard Hill. I certainly did not lack for exercise walking up and down that hill every day. During the winter when the path was covered with snow and ice, it was even more challenging. My second home on campus was the Fine Arts Center. The building is occupied by the Theatre, Music and Art departments. Built in the 1970s, it is a monstrosity of concrete. In some ways, it resembles a giant piano (whether or not that was the intention of the architect is the subject of campus legends).

While visiting friends in western Massachusetts this summer, we took a side trip to Amherst and the UMASS campus. I would have liked to have spent more time wandering around but it was pouring buckets. I did however abandon the car to take a few pictures of a some of the buildings that were important to me during those four years. I have not been back to campus since the early 1990s so it was interesting to see some of the changes and to realize that some things never really change.