Clair Willard Perry (1887–1961), called Clay Perry, was an American writer and outdoorsman. He coined the term " spelunker".

Biography

Born in 1887 in

Waupaca, Wisconsin Waupaca is a city in and the county seat of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, Waupaca County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 6,282 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city is located mostly within the Waupaca (town), ...

, Perry moved to western Massachusetts as a young man. A novelist, short story writer, and journalist, in the 1930s he worked for the

Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...

. He is best known as an amateur

caver Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

and as a writer on the caves of New England and the northeastern United States. He is credited with coining the term "spelunker" in the 1940s. He was also the author of a light verse on

Israel Bissell Israel Bissell (1752 – October 24, 1823) was a patriot post rider in Massachusetts who brought news to American colonists of the British attack on Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. He reportedly rode for four days and six hours ...

, whose ride in April 1775 to warn the colonies of the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...

was overshadowed in historical lore by that of

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to ale ...

. He died in 1961 in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

Works

*''Underground New England''. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Daye Press, 1939. *''New England's Buried Treasure''. New York: Stephen Daye Press, 1946. *''Underground Empire: Wonders and Tales of New York Caves''. New York: Stephen Daye Press, 1948. *''Caves in the Vicinity of Pittsfield, Massachusetts''

External links

Israel Bissell in Verse and Song (Hinsdale-Mass Forum)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Clay American cavers 1887 births 1961 deaths People from Waupaca, Wisconsin Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Wisconsin