A Bookhouse Grows In Beacon - Little Free Library at Polhill Park

In the true spirit that warms Beacon on the windiest of days, a new community offering has popped up at Polhill Park, the triangular park located at the intersection of Main Street, Wolcott (9D), and South Avenue. While at first glance, the structure looks like a giant birdhouse, it is actually a shared reading experience for little people by way of a little bookhouse.

Beacon's most well-known library opened in 1862, and at the time was called the Howland Circulating Library. (Offering only private membership at the start, it was later made public, at the behest of a donor.) The genesis of a Little Free Library is rooted in Lisa Marie Martinez, a professional spatial organizer for her business Space Therapy by Lisa Marie. She recirculates a lot of physical possessions for clients who have emotional attachments to the objects and, rather than sending the objects to the dump, would prefer to see them used by someone else. The catalyst for the project happened after Lisa returned from studying in Havana, Cuba, where books were scarce: "Books were sacred, they were shared, they were community property, and everyone had access to them."

When Lisa moved to Mexico, her local library had few children's books. She wished for a shared box of books like she had seen at a natural foods store during her college years at Plattsburgh State University, where people would anonymously place and take items from this box that they needed or wanted to give. The universal-mind took over, and as Lisa did her research to figure out how to bring this concept to Beacon, she discovered Little Free Library, an international project started after one man built a tiny model of a one-room school house to hold books as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He put the structure in his front yard, and the concept took off (there is much more to this story here). Little Free Library has been recognized by the Library of Congress, and is on its way to reaching its goal of 2,510 little free libraries to promote literacy in children and adults, and in libraries all over the world. If you haven't noticed one of these little libraries before, maybe you will now. Certainly others will know about this first one in Beacon, as it is officially registered with Little Free Library, putting Beacon on that map with a lot of other heroic locations.

While most books are for children, you will find some for adults. Lisa hung a Community Log, a journal for visitors to capture thoughts or expressions of love for a good read.

The bookhouse was designed and built by Keith Decent, and the materials donated by Hudson Valley Maker & Artisan Cooperative.

Every library needs an architect to design and build it, and this one was taken on by Keith Decent and the group he is affiliated with, Hudson Valley Maker & Artisan Cooperative, who donated the materials and extra sets of hands. Lisa's directions to Keith were simple: Make the structure accessible to readers of all sizes, including those who use wheelchairs, so that as many people as possible would be able to use it. Lisa spent the summer meeting with members of the City Council, Mayor Randy Casale, the City Administrator, the Building Department and other groups to get permission to install the structure on City of Beacon property. "Once the word got around that this was just a small box with books, people who were unfamiliar with the concept really encouraged this and the City approved of the installation," recalls Lisa.

Lisa's project has led to more initiatives, including requests for more Little Free Libraries around Beacon, and volunteers from the Beacon Police Department to get involved with the "Kids, Community and Cops Program," an initiative also affiliated with Little Free Library to build healthier communities through police involvement in literacy.

Hats off to everyone involved in this project, and be sure to share what special books you find - in the little journal, and in social media! Tag #littlefreelibrarybeacon and @littlefreelibrary in your literary pursuits! Make sure to tag #alittlebeaconblog, too, because we want to see what moved you!