For kerouac's fans this is a must. I hadn't been back in years, so seeing the new memorial headstone and seeing that people still follow the tradition of leaving offerings was a great joy. "The Road is Life"
faustgirl
09-03-2020
Iconic Author who defined an era in america culture!
Ken Risher
09-04-2020
As someone who loves the Beat Generation and Jack Kerouac I gotta say this gravesite had so much meaning to it. Lots of ppl placed things on his grave and just shows how much of an icon he truly was to so many people
Brandon Williams
09-04-2020
A powerful influence in my youth and I've never let go...this Dharma Bum is On the Road again. So grateful I was here and left a thank you.
jennifer morgan
02-23-2021
checking in on an important day in Kerouac history....and hope to see you all later in the year
Bill Niland
03-29-2021
Dear LOWELL CELEBRATES KEROUAC, The new and improved web site is absolutely outstanding! Thank you for keeping the flame of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness alive and well. Jack Kerouac honored all three of those cherished American values, for sure! He instilled the regeneration of those original values in THE BEATS through hus quintessentially, modern, American literature. Uncle Billy always said that “Jack was a genius,” and he was right. We, who - like Jack - were also born and bred in Lowell, Massachusetts understand his genius and have a real responsibility to honor it and preserve his memory. LCK is doing an outstanding job of honoring this tradition, and tor that, we should all be very grateful. God bless you, one and all. - George Nicholas Koumantzelis 👍🌵🌅🌲😇
George Nicholas Koumantzelis
05-27-2021
Awesome site and great list of events. See you on Oct 10th at the Worthern! ~Fee
Bill Fee
09-26-2024
Got up and dressed up then went out and got laid then died and got buried in a coffin in the grave, man, yet everything is perfect
Nino DeGennaro
09-23-2025
In 1957, I asked David, the coolest boy in high school, "How do I become a Beatnik?" The next day he gave me a book: Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD. I read it. Then, began to live it. Fast forward 66 years later: I am the president of the Arkansas Haiku Society, former national secretary of the Haiku Society of America; served in the United States Air Force, in security and intelligence; attended the Newport Folk Festival 1964-1967; bought a house in Roxbury, Massachusetts with no money down, six months before I made the first payment of $50 for the first year and then $55 a month, thanks to Joseph Don Gusenoff of Newton, MA. Living in Cambridge, I felt peer pressure from Harvard and MIT. Finally started to college at Miami Dade, in Miami, Florida thanks to wonderful people like Richard Paul Janero, Kandy Sheffield (whom I am forever indebted too for her friendship and kindness), Lou Skellings, and others. Returned to Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas boyhood hometown of President Bill Clinton, got a job with The Sentinel-Record (actually the evening edition called The New Era) had fun as a reporter, Civil Rights writer, and poet. Worked on KGUS radio. Gus Dixon the owner, made me read The Wall Street Journal every morning before I started to work. Mike Masterson was the Editor of The Sentinel-Record. He gave me the job. I loved finding my own stories, photographing and going in the darkroom, developing the film, printing the picture, writing the copy on a Royal Standard Typewriter, and handing the copy to the editor all this for $1.88 cents an hour. Congress extended the GI Bill for two more years. (When I was discharged, I had eight years to use it. I had used almost all of the time.) I quit both jobs, sold my brass bed, a gift from an African American antique dealer in Boston, and bought a one way ticket to Honolulu with the idea of entering the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I began Zen practice at Koko An Zendo with Robert Aitken in the autumn of 1974. I met Francis Haar at the zendo. He and I became friends maybe because I brought a Puli, Hungarian Sheepdog with me to Hawaii. I had raised Czar Nicholas Alexander as a pup because Robin Mason wanted a Puli and we obtained one from Elenore Anderson for free. Then, I graduated from UHM and returned to Hot Springs. My objective was to go to China and spend the rest of my life there learning about Ch'an Buddhism. Life is a miracle. I look back to 1957 and it all started with Jack Kerouac and ON THE ROAD.
Reverend Howard Lee Kilby
10-06-2025