Jim Powers is the curator of the Dawnland Quinnipiac Museum, located on the grounds of the Dudley Farm Museum in Guilford.

Here is a synopsis of his new book, historical fiction:

“Having lost both his parents and sister to smallpox during the first year of its arrival in his homeland, Ponaim as a 12-year-old orphan was taken in by the shaman of the Quinnipiac. So begins the story of how Ponaim would follow in the footsteps of the great Commossuck as they both struggle to restore the spiritual and physical balance to their world brought by the arrival of English colonists to the shores of Southern New England. Over the next fifty years, as his people face the overwhelming changes brought by the English, Ponaim would never lose hope that somehow with the aid of the spirit world, he might find a way for the Quinnipiac to survive. The result is a window opened to witness the cultural and spiritual calamity that destroyed a way of life that had existed for thousands of years. Would Ponaim in the end be successful?”

The Bethany Historical Society is hosting a presentation by Jim Powers of Guilford, about his new book, Shadows Over Dawnland, historical fiction about the coming of Europeans to New Haven and their effect on the Quinnipiac on Friday, March 11, 7 p.m., Lakeview Lodge, 265 Beacon Rd (Route 42), Bethany, CT. Admission is free.

Simon Donato of Woodbridge, a retired farmer, will be there with part of his collection of Quinnipiac stone artifacts, collected over his lifetime in the Woodbridge flats, which was an active Quinnipiac settlement site in the 17th century. Simon is a fount of knowledge about the Quinnipiac, and will be happy to tell you about them. He plans to build a replica roundhouse in Woodbridge this year. Link to a story about Donato from an interview earlier 2022.