As a young boy, a now 80-year-old James Gildea was instilled with a sense of curiosity and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge by his father, Francis Gildea.
It was this curious nature that inspired him to write.
“It’s the kind of thing a writer has to acquire,” Gildea said of his curiosity.
Starting in 1981, Gildea was in the midst of conducting research for a book about climate change and volcanoes. He had already poured over hundreds of books on the subject — conducting that research at numerous libraries across Massachusetts — when a move from Lunenburg to Bernardston changed the scope of his plans.
“When I moved to Bernardston, it just felt like home,” he said. “You feel like you belong.”
Quickly coming to love the way of life in a small town, Gildea decided to write about the town’s “rich historical legacy.”
However, that didn’t mean his research about climate change and volcanoes would fall by the wayside.
“I already knew that some of this stuff did affect American history, and I thought I could incorporate it,” he said.
The result was Gildea’s more than 200-page book, “The Journey Home,” which he began self-publishing this fall.
“The Journey Home” is Gildea’s second book, having written a history of the Franklin County Fair called, “As American as Apple Pie,” published in 2008.
In all, Gildea estimates he partially read 2,000 books in order to write “The Journey Home.” It was a five-year writing process, laying pen to paper in 2011.
“It’s been my constant companion for the past five years,” he said. “I almost feel bad I don’t have it to write anymore. It was a labor of love, for sure.”
Gildea recalls waking up at 2 a.m. with an idea and being compelled to research or to write another section, using any resource he could to “put some flesh and bones on this story.”
The book is divided into eight chapters that includes history dating back to the late 1600s. Gildea spends much of the book explaining how weather incited migration from Europe to American colonies, and the beginnings of Bernardston.
The book follows the town’s own journey from 1734, when it was formed as a township, called Falls Fight Township, to incorporation as Bernardston in 1761 to present day, with some of Gildea’s own observations thrown in.
“Unlike most cities in the Northeast, you never feel like a cog in a wheel,” Gildea writes in his book. “An individual can still make a real contribution. If you’ve ever expressed a desire to live in a place that ‘feels like home,’ this is it.”
“The spirit that connects people in small towns like Bernardston has been the subject of many books and magazine articles, but it remains an intangible commodity,” Gildea continues. “In small towns, you feel like you belong; people call each other by their first names, and schools and churches are usually the most prominent buildings. These are the places where people share a true community spirit. That’s what ‘sense of place’ means.”
The title, then, Gildea said, came quite naturally, inspired by a painting of 18th century farmer Samuel Connable’s “Connable Fort.” The painting adorns the book’s front cover.
“The title tells you a lot,” he said. “For the people who made Bernardston their home, it was a journey.”
As of the beginning of December, Gildea said he had already sold about 60 copies of the book for $20 each. He also has plans — and a title — for a third work about asteroids, continuing to satisfy his sense of curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
Those who are interested in purchasing a copy of “The Journey Home” can contact Gildea by phone at 413-648-9752.