NORTH ADAMS — There was a man, Dave Lilly, who lived on the North Adams road,

And he spent all his time fishing, while his neighbors reaped and sowed.

He was the luckiest fisherman in the Berkshire hills, I think.

And when he didn't go fishing he'd sit in the tavern and drink.

The second stanza of Joyce Kilmer's famous 1914 poem "Dave Lilly" introduces a hard-drinking fisherman who lived "on the North Adams road." More than a century later, that fictional-seeming character has become the focus of a real-life Berkshire mystery.

Local historian Paul W. Marino believes Kilmer based the poem on one or more real people and places in Northern Berkshire — and he's trying to prove it.

Joyce Kilmer was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees," which was published in the collection "Trees and Other Poems" in 1914. In that collection, poem "Dave Lilly" introduces a hard-drinking fisherman who lived "on the North Adams road."

Born in New Jersey in 1886, American writer and poet Kilmer died in France in 1918 while serving in World War I. Little is known about his Berkshire summers beyond references in his and his mother Annie's writing.

But after some visits to The Eagle archives and a trip to the register of deeds, Marino is a step closer to uncovering who may have inspired Dave Lilly — and commemorating Kilmer’s time here with plaques near the sites he once wandered.

“We like to celebrate the history of North Adams when we can,” he said.

A longtime Historical Commission member, Marino has lectured on local history for decades and often includes Kilmer because of the poet's Berkshire references.

Kilmer's father was a chemist, and his mother, Annie, was a writer who is believed to have brought him to the Berkshires during the summers.

Kilmer mentions a brook “on the side of Greylock,” walking up the road “from Williamstown,” and the man, Dave Lilly, “who lived on North Adams road.”

Pattison Road, which borders the Mount Williams Reservoir in North Adams, becomes Luce Road to the west and Notch Road to the east. Local historian Paul W. Marino believes this stretch is referenced in Joyce Kilmer's poem Dave Lilly.

Marino believes Kilmer was referring not to Mount Greylock, but to the village of Greylock, whose western edge borders Williamstown. Walking up the road "from Williamstown" likely refers to Luce and Pattison roads that run past the Mount Williams Reservoir, the only road at the time that connected Williamstown to North Adams in that area.

Pattison Road, which borders the Mount Williams Reservoir in North Adams, becomes Luce Road as it continues west toward Williamstown. Local historian Paul W. Marino believes this stretch is referenced in Joyce Kilmer's poem "Dave Lilly," and is in the area where the titular fisherman may have lived.

In "Leaves From My Life," Annie wrote of bringing her son to the Berkshires and going on long walks. Based on those writings, Marino believes those visits began in childhood and continued into adulthood when Kilmer moved to New York.

Marino also traced Annie's summer home to what he believes is 53 Church St. in Cheshire after consulting the Northern Berkshire Register of Deeds.

The house at 53 Church St. in Cheshire is where local historian Paul W. Marino believes Joyce Kilmer's mother, Annie, brought her son during summers in the late 19th century, later inspiring one his most famous poems.

And a series of 1917 articles published in the North Adams Transcript documented the city's purchase of the Lillie Farm to protect the new Mount Williams Reservoir Watershed. Another from 1917 said Notch farmer James C. Lillie was on the farm for 67 years, though missing pages prevented Marino from learning more.

Then, last month during a trip to The Eagle’s archives, Marino thought he hit the mother lode: a 1938 letter to the editor from someone trying to save trees near the Cascade Brook.

“I wonder if you know that Joyce Kilmer used to spend his summers when he was a growing lad on the old hillside farm on the notch,” the letter to the editor read. “The Kilmers and Lillies were relatives, the latter family being one of old, highly respected pioneer families in North Adams. Their farm took in part of the Notch brook, or Cascade brook."

But Marino said until he knows the letter writer's source, or can confirm with living Kilmer descendants, what the letter says is hearsay.

A 1961 article also cited Annie's memoir, "Memories of My Son Sergeant Joyce Kilmer," as saying Dave Lilly was based on a real local fisherman named Dave Eddy.

There were no mentions of an Eddy or Lilly in "Leaves From My Life" so Marino ordered a copy of "Memories of My Son Sergeant Joyce Kilmer," hoping there may be more details.

“Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?” Marino grinned as he presented his findings to fellow commission members Monday and revealed the book from his messenger bag.

Paul W. Marino, second from left, spoke to fellow members of the North Adams Historical Commission on Monday. In trying to identify the local man who may have inspired the Joyce Kilmer poem, "Dave Lilly," Marino presented his findings in hopes of the city making commemorative plaques in honor of Kilmer and the poem.

“We used to spend our summers in the Berkshires, and Dave Lilly, the fisherman, was a real character we met there,” Annie’s book read.

There were no more details or mentions of what his real name was or any Eddy.

A poem references the Berkshire hills and Mount Greylock that Joyce Kilmer wrote for his mother, Annie Kilburn Kilmer. It was published in Annie's memoir, "Memories of My Son, Sergeant Joyce Kilmer."

If Dave Eddy was real, Marino wondered whether he might still be traceable through local cemeteries. Up in the same area of the Notch, off the Bellows Pipe Trail, is the Wilbur Cemetery, where the Wilbur family buried their dead. Marino has never seen a Lilly on a gravestone there, “but maybe there’s an Eddy," he said.

The ending of Kilmer’s poem reads:

I guess I'll go to the tavern and get a bottle of rye

And leave it down by the hollow oak, where Lilly's ghost went by.

I meant to go up on the hillside and try to find his grave

And put some flowers on it — but this will be better for Dave.

No trespassing signs mark the edges of the Mount Williams Reservoir Watershed, land that was once home to early Notch Forest farming families, including the Lilly family that a local historian believes to have inspired Joyce Kilmer's "Dave Lilly."

But making the trek up the mountain to Wilbur Cemetery to see whether an Eddy is buried there isn't easy. Years of neglect have left many graves completely overgrown, prompting the commission to launch a separate but related effort to clear the cemetery, reset fallen gravestones and document them with photographs.

Maybe a grave up in the Notch could prove fruitful, but until then, the search for the full story behind Dave Lilly continues.

"Frankly, I don't think the 'real Dave Lilly' is going to be found," Marino said. "I think it far more likely that Mr. Kilmer took a memory of a Berkshire character, blended it with memories of walking up to the Notch from Williamstown and crafted a masterpiece."

And despite the unanswered questions, Marino wants the Commission to install locally made plaques near the Pattison and Notch roads intersection and on Luce Road. He said he hopes to get Kilmer's relatives here for the unveiling.

"This would mean good publicity for both communities, as well as lasting memorials to a great American poet who paid quiet visits to our area and remembered it to his readers," Marino said.

He hopes to have a commemoration ceremony organized by next spring.

“One of the problems with the Commission is that we’re called in when they wanna tear something down and say whether it's of historical significance or not,” he said. “Once in a while, it's good to, rather than getting rid of something, we're putting something in place.”