Junction: A Walking Tour

Junction is a narrative walking tour of White River Junction, VT, covering a century and a half of local history, from the filming of director D.W Griffith’s iconic Way Down East in 1920 to the cultural and economic dislocations of the 1970s to the unexpected challenges of 2020, the strangest year of all.

Using only a cellphone and a pair of headphones, individual audience members will be guided from one location to the next as audio scenes play out before them. From the city’s storied train station to the stunning convergence of the Connecticut and White Rivers at Lyman Point Park, Junction reframes the places we think we know.
 

1920:

In 1920, actress Dorothy Gish takes the train to White River Junction to meet her movie star sister, Lillian Gish, on the set of her next project, D.W. Griffith’s silent film Way Down East, shooting on the frozen Connecticut River. Will Dorothy ever be able to step out from behind her sister’s shadow?  

1970:

In 1970, Cecelia Okocha, a biracial teenager, takes a train from Harlem to White River Junction to stay with her godmother — but there is nobody waiting for her at the train station…and not a lot of folks in town who look like her. Can this be home?

2020:

In 2020, Ira, a local freelance writer, walks around White River Junction during the pandemic looking for his next story. From birdwatching and wild bobcats, to protests and unexpected tragedies, the stories Ira encounters are anything but average.