Honoring the Stonington Village of Yore

William Connell may not live in Stonington Borough anymore, but his heart will always reside there.

It's why the former longtime resident travels back from his western Massachusetts home each July to paint the Village Fair billboard atop the COMO Thrift Store. And it's why he has now written a small book of essays/narrative poems recalling the cusp of a time of great change in the village, circa 1960.

Called simply Stonington 1960, the soft cover book of five narrative poems recalls the time in the village's history when the improvements to Interstate 95 turned the long drive from Stonington to New York City into a two-hour jaunt.

"Houses in the Village were being sold to out-of-towners for weekend and summer residences," he writes. "Families of fishermen and mill workers were moving out of Stonington Village to Pawcatuck and Westerly ... The following poetic essays are about the people of that time who lived ordinary village lives. Their way of life was being transformed and was slipping away."

The poems talk about the villages' churches, the Portuguese traditions, the fishermen at the Town Dock, the old Stonington Market and its owner, "Wiggy" and Frankie Keane, the Stonington Department Store, Mr. Bessette the pharmacist and old neighbors and friends.

The last page invites readers to share their memories of the village and email them to will@stoningtonpublishers.com
 
Connell will be at the Village Fair Saturday Aug. 3 from 11 am to 4 pm in Wadawanuck Square and you can buy the book and the fair poster from him.

Or you can order a copy from him at www.stoningtonpublishers.com