Presented by Willard House and Clock Museum in collaboration with the Grafton Public Library
A program by Sturbridge photographer Bob Arnold

Almost a century ago, in 1927, Carey and Maud Melville, Bob’s grandparents, made an epic, eight-month-long, 18,000-mile road trip with their three children. 

Packing everyone into a Ford Model T Touring Car named Hubbub with attached trailer, the Melvilles left their home in Worcester in January, with the objective of traveling the entire periphery of the United States and, as Mrs. Melville noted in one of her many journals, “…finding out-of-the-way places and experiencing the natural wonders the country had to offer.” The issues these travelers encountered stand in sharp contrast to what we find when we set out on a road trip today. Many roads were unpaved and unnamed, often little more than trails that were muddy in the rain and dusty the rest of the time. The business of providing travel and roadside amenities from gas to food was in its infancy, often with options few and far between.

Carey Melville had taken a year-long sabbatical from his teaching position at Clark University, which provided the time for the road trip. He was an accomplished amateur photographer and more than a hundred of his photographs from the trip will be featured in the program, illustrating both the joys and the trials of cross country travel in 1927.

Bob Arnold is a freelance photographer, amateur historian and avid collector of all things Sturbridge. In addition to serving clients throughout New England, Bob has been documenting life in Sturbridge since he and his family moved there in 1970. His work over the past 50 plus years has yielded a unique perspective on the commercial, cultural, and environmental changes in his community and his ongoing program of digital preservation of documents and photographic images assures that future generations will have access to the visual record of the past.

Bob lives with his wife, Susan, their dog, Jesse and thousands of images.