Trout Fishing in America Communal School

By Cambridge Historical Society Staff, 2012

There was once a school in Mid-Cambridge called the Trout Fishing in America Communal School. It was based on the book of the same name by Richard Brautigan.

On November 3, 1969, the Harvard Crimson reported: ‘‘A night session two weeks ago at Trout Fishing in America… resulted in a parade Saturday morning from Central Square to the Cambridge Common… Parade permit in hand. Trout Fishing members assembled at Trout Fishing headquarters on Prospect Street Saturday morning, then headed for Central Square about 11 a.m.

Exhorting bystanders to join in, the Trout Fishing members started slowly up Mass Ave, in an orderly but distinctive fashion. The size of the parade fluctuated along the route, and 30 hard core Trout Fishermen made it to the Parade’s conclusion in the northwest corner of the Common…

Two rock groups were scheduled to play during the afternoon in the Common, but they didn’t show up. All was not lost, however, as the Zoomobile from the Boston Zoological Society arrived with a complement of 15 captives, ranging from a four-horn sheep to a six-foot boa constrictor.’’