BIG News Flash

Peru, Ma. - 19 July 2005

Groundbreaking for the new Berkshire Insulator Gallery (BIG) was held this morning with an elite group of invited guests in attendance. This gallery is being constructed to house an amazing collection of Berkshire County history that was saved from the trash bin in a recent cleanup push at EPRI’s Lenox lab. This collection of insulators includes some unique examples of insulators collected from around the world and covers over 50 years of high voltage insulator history. Many of the specimens that will be on display have never been seen in the wild by several knowledgeable sources who have examined them. There are also some items that appear to have been produced just for the lab and may never have made it into commercial use.

The invited guests got a rare chance to inspect the collection in its temporary storage facility where it is being sorted and cataloged. They also saw some examples of yard art being prototyped for display in the gallery. Possible uses include bird baths (on the left) and path lights (on the right). A demonstration of deck post caps is also in process.

A wing is being planned to include a gift and craft shop. In the future the gallery may add a refreshment stand. In this case it may be renamed to the Berkshire Insulator Gallery and Soda Shop (BIGASS).

The gallery is expected to be completed within a month as long as the owner is not required to do any paying work in the meantime. The short construction schedule is designed to have the facility up and ready for visitors before the leaf peeping season starts in Peru, or the first snow falls, whichever comes first. Look for future announcements and a live webcam view of the construction site and temporary storage facility at http://www.k1ttt.net/, webcam 2 will normally show the storage facility and construction site.