The passage of Col. Henry Knox's "Noble Train of Artillery" through Sandisfield on January 12, 1776, is the most significant historical event to happen in this town.

As well, this 300-mile, 56-day "mission impossible" to transport 60 tons of artillery to Gen. Washington in Boston changed the course of the American Revolution, if not our nation's founding on July 4, 1776.

Five local historians have collaborated on a new book of the event. Underwritten by the Berkshire County Historical Society, the book's title is Ye Trodden Path. A History of the of the Knox Trail and Examination of the Longest Original Section of the Trail in Berkshire County, Mass.

Over the past several months the group has made well-attended presentations about the event and their book in New York state and South County towns that witnessed the caravan and welcomed the Knox teamsters 250 years ago.

Bernard Drew and Gary Leveille of Great Barrington, Rob Hoogs of Monterey, and Ron Bernard and Tom Ragusa of Sandisfield and Otis will meet for possibly their last group presentation with Q&A, in Sandisfield at 10:00 a.m., Saturday June 13 at the Arts Center. Book signing to follow.

Their 56-page book focuses on the sections of the Knox Trail that passed through the Berkshires and includes new scholarship that adds to and corrects previous accounts of the episode. Sandisfield's role is told for the first time. The longest original section of the trail is in Sandisfield and Otis.

The book includes a 5-foot color fold-out map detailing what is considered to be the definitive route taken by Knox through the original section in Sandisfield and Otis. In fact, the decades of research by retired DCR employee, Tom Ragusa, was the inception of the concept for this book. The book is a great read for anyone interested in American history and especially the role of Berkshire County towns in the winter of 1775-76. For information contact me at Ronbernard@aol.com .

This oversight will be corrected, hopefully by the end of this year, with the installation of a granite monument near the site of the legendary Henry Spring Tavern at Upper Spectacle Pond in north Sandisfield. That is where, on January 12, 1776, Spring and probably four other Sandisfield innkeepers played host to the 82 Knox teamsters, their many weary and hungry animals, and 42 sleds hauling cannons to Gen. Washington.

Sandisfield voters at the Annual Town Meeting approved $2,500 toward the Town's share of the monument's cost of $12,800. The remainder will be covered by grants from the Daughters of the American Revolution coordinated by the Commonwealth's "Revolution 250" Committee. An unveiling event will be announced as soon as known.