Author Jerry Roberts and pilot/photographer Tom Walsh collaborated on a new book, The Connecticut River from the Air, a collection of extraordinary aerial images and an adventure chronicled by historian Roberts. The book “provides an intimate perspective, exploring New England’s greatest river from Long Island Sound, where its waters mingle with the salty brine of the Atlantic Ocean, to its source 410 miles to the north, just yards from the Canadian border. Amazing and wonderful sights appear along the River that can only be seen and appreciated from small, low-flying aircraft. Beauty and wonder can be found in historic canals and bridges as well as twists and bends in the River, ship wrecks, rock formations, and even sand patterns on the river bottom.”

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While Middlesex County in Connecticut is one of the most historic in the nation, some of its past is not well known. Researchers found dinosaur tracks in Middlefield that date back 200 million years. The author of Dr. Dolittle, Hugh Lofting, lived in Killingworth; Babar the Elephant’s author, Laurent de Brunhoff, lived in Middletown; and a young Dr. Seuss spent summers in Clinton. Anna Louise James, the first African American female pharmacist in the state, owned the James Pharmacy in Old Saybrook. A Portland lake has water levels that fluctuate for no apparent reason. An Essex blacksmith shop was America’s oldest continuously-run family business.

Local authors Robert and Kathleen Hubbard reveal these and many other unforgettable stories in their recently published book, Hidden History of Middlesex County. Their research took them to all 15 towns of Middlesex County and included conversations with more than 100 people knowledgeable of the historic people, places, and events that are discussed in the book.

Robert Hubbard is a retired professor at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven Connecticut. Kathleen Hubbard is a retired teacher from the Middletown public school system. Both were born in Middletown, and each has lived in Middlesex County towns for 30 years. They are the authors of Images of America: Middletown and Legendary Locals of Middletown. In addition, Robert is the author of the recent biography, Major General Israel Putnam, Hero of the American Revolution.

(Cover photo of the book is “Cowboy Valley” courtesy of the Killingworth Historical Society)

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In a new book The Long Journeys Home by Nick Bellantoni tells the tale of two men who, in death, found their way back home.

Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia (ca.1792–1818) and Itankusun Wanbli (1879–1900) lived almost a century apart and came from different indigenous nations—Hawaiian and Lakota. Yet the tragic circumstances that led them to leave their homelands and to come to Connecticut, where they both died and were buried, have striking similarities.

In 1992 and 2008, descendant women had dreams which told them that their ancestors wished to “come home.” Both families started the repatriation process. Then Connecticut State Archaeologist, Nick Bellantoni oversaw the archaeological disinterment and forensic identifications in returning these men to their families and communities. The Long Journeys Home chronicles these intergenerational stories, both examples of the wide-reaching and long-lasting impacts of colonialism.

Nicholas F. Bellantoni is an associate adjunct professor in the anthropology department at the University of Connecticut and Emeritus Connecticut State Archaeologist at the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. This book is part of the Driftless Connecticut Series published by Wesleyan University Press. Author appearances scheduled for 2019 include Jan. 17, East Hartford Public Library.

For a summertime story about a Stonington Land Trust walk led by Dr. Bellantoni, visit this link. Or go to https://www.moodogpress.com/2018/07/walk-through-time-with-dr-nick-bellantoni-of-shell-middens-rivers-new-book/.