Essay On Erving, MA (With Ten Views)

1.

The billowing factory. What is it? All of the townfolk work there; the town services are provided by commuting members of ring-communities.

2.

It is wholly linear. You can see the entire thing from Route 2, given that you have the time and the leisure to swing your head around a bit.

3.

Parallel to a small river; and when I say parallel, I mean curved parallel--where the town zigs with the river's zig, and thus-forth. A pebbled fringe with some grass provides the constant blank buffer between the two.

4.

On the north side of the town, the ground-level undulates, leaping fantastically at 45 degrees or more. You wonder about those who might have to back their cars down such driveways in the winter, and how they ramp them back up again.

5.

Signage in many places not unlike that of the wealthy historical districts in large cities. Who among the citizens of Erving may have drafted zoning regulations stipulating such things? What is the heritage of Erving, anyways?

6.

The "Erving" logo may be spied on the factory, but seems more generally applicable to the town as a whole. (I imagine the same is true of Hershey, PA.) Strange as it seems, it is perfectly possible that the designer thereof is not even an Erving native, perhaps not even based in Massachusetts.

7.

Erving is a reward for strained travelers who have found themselves bored on the way west. For those heading east, it is a continuation of the glories of French King, and a final hail-farewell before embarking on the naught mysteriously found between Eastern and Central Massachusetts.

8.

A Koffee Kup cruller, noble and somehow silvery, may still be had in Erving.

9.

You may see a few slight examples of bridging that may brush against your very soul. You will never see anyone use any of these bridges, or remember (even having just seen one) precisely where they go. If pressed, you would say they prosaically went across the river and into the woods on the other side. Why there? For the hunt?

10.

There are no pedestrians, anyway, or any sidewalks for them to use. If you live in Erving, you might spend most of your day in the factory and then hopscotch from one little parking lot to another for your errands. Once a week you might try something in that retro-fitted diner that stands somewhat apart on a half-moon of land; you have your choice of churches and I suppose will generally keep to the one you like. Though you respect French King and wish it well, you won't dine or take your family there for an outing because it is rather loud and has rather the air of gaudy disrespectability (perhaps that's just the name).