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Knight's Spider Web Farm in Williamstown, Vermont

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Mounted spider webs

Will Knight's Spider Web Farm, the only one in the world, is a rather small operation.

Two garage-sized barns are packed with wooden frames, built in grids, hanging from the ceiling. These square frames are ideal spots for spider webs, and the abundant orb-weaver spiders that live on Knight's farm make themselves at home.

As the cells fill with webs, Knight (after shooing the spiders out of harm's way) sprays each web with white spray paint to make it more visible, and then passes a wood plaque through the hole, saving the web. Add a few coats of lacquer, and Knight has perfectly mounted and preserved an intricate work of arthropod art.

According to a sign on the property, more than 16,000 webs have been collected since 1977.

Though there is not necessarily much to see on the farm, (depending on the timing of a visit, all of the webs may have been recently harvested, or the spiders hiding) the unique webs for sale are reasonably priced, and Knight himself, now 87 years old, is a delight to talk to. Just don't call him Spiderman... he prefers Spiderwebman.  

 


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