Knight’s Spider Web Farm

Arachnophobes: skip this one. But for those who admire Charlotte’s prowess, this unusual collection in Williamstown might just catch your interest. This, the first “web site,” was started by accident. In 1977, Will Knight was cleaning his garage when he accidentally spray-painted a spider’s web. He marveled—as he had since he was a child—at its singular beauty. When Will lost his job with the highway department, he thought back to that web.

His wife, Terry, recalled that her Girl Scout handbook had mentioned that you can collect spiderwebs with hair spray. Will, a woodworker, devised an ingenious method for encouraging spiders to weave, by setting up a sequence of frames in the barn. What he collected became his livelihood and Will came to be known as the Spider Web Guy (he rejected the name SpiderMan, avoiding potential copyright claims, but more importantly giving all credit for the art to the tiny weavers).

Will’s routine for thirty years was to collect finished webs by spraying them with paint, which helped them adhere to a plaque of wood. Spiders were shooed away and remained unharmed. These tiny creatures created intricate masterpieces, each of which—like snowflakes or fingerprints differs from any other web in the world. Will examined them critically; those he kept received a few coats of lacquer and were sold.

Will shared his knowledge about the spiders of Vermont at educational talks or to anybody who would listen, until his passing in 2017. Still living on the farm, Terry and their son Will Jr. continue the work and, as a family, have sold over twenty thousand webs. Will Sr.—like Peter Parker—was happiest to remain a local hero. Though he would always defer the notoriety and fanfare to his tiny spin doctors and their beautiful silk artistry, he got his day when he was named one of the “People of the Year” by his local paper.

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