Hidden History of Mystic & Stonington

Product Description

Mystic and Stonington are quintessential seacoast villages with colorful and diverse histories that extend well beyond the wharves and former sea captains’ homes. Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants and women also wove the unique story of this New England coastline. Now known for bucolic landscapes and tourist attractions, Mystic was once a workaday village that hosted thousands during annual Peace Meetings and provided groundbreaking education to deaf children. Stonington village teemed with railroad and steamship workers and passengers and was home to a women’s college. Gail Braccidiferro MacDonald peels back the layers of these southeastern Connecticut coastal communities, revealing a rich history that is sometimes surprising and always intriguing.

Review

“Hidden History of Mystic & Stonington, local author Gail B. MacDonald’s second book published by The History Press, takes readers on a rambling ride through the byways of local lore rather than dwelling on major events and milestones.”

“MacDonald’s 126-page book with more than 40 black-and-white photographs offers a Nickelodeon glimpse at local history often ignored, such as rumrunning during Prohibition; religious bigotry against the growing Irish Catholic population, many of whom were employed in local mills; and the widespread acceptance of slavery among the area’s wealthiest landowners into the early 1800s.”
The Day ”

About the Author

Gail Braccidiferro MacDonald is a veteran Connecticut journalist and a member of the journalism faculty at the University of Connecticut-Storrs. She is the author of Morton F. Plant and the Connecticut Shoreline: Philanthropy in the Gilded Age and is an award-winning journalist and former reporter for The Day of New London, Connecticut. Her work has been published in newspapers and magazines throughout the country. As a longtime former resident of the Pawcatuck section of Stonington, she has a deep appreciation for and love of the unique history of the Mystic and Stonington communities. She lives in New London with her husband.