Everything Stonington I’ve been exploring and writing about Connecticut since 2006. After a decade, I began compiling CTMQ guides for each town in the state. I plan on “completing” Stonington CTMQ-style... as well as the other 168 towns, cities, and boroughs in Connecticut. After all, that is the ultimate goal of … [Read more...]
Stonington’s Town Trails Intro
Stonington's Town Trails Huge credit to Stonington's Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center to building out a network of trails from it's main museum through the woods and over to its Coogan Farm property a few blocks away. All in the congested and touristy Mystic section of the town. Granted, there are other … [Read more...]
Stonington Land Trust Intro
Stonington Land Trust Stonington Let's face it, people don't often go to Stonington for the sole purpose of hiking. As arguably Connecticut's hottest town for tourists, most visitors would rather fight the throngs for downtown parking and walk around its immaculate sidewalks near the shoreline. And that's … [Read more...]
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Pretty Women Mystic Pizza, 1988 There are a lot of movies on my Connecticut Movies list, but you'll be hard-pressed to find one that more Connecticut than 1988's coming of age flick, Mystic Pizza. It was almost entirely filmed in Stonington and Groton and anyone with a passing familiarity with the area will … [Read more...]
Book Review: Mystic Seaport
Salty Mystic Seaport, 1974 By The Mystic Seaport, Inc. I was perusing the shelves at the Windsor Library the other day and happened upon this book. It’s a picture book. There is one page of text. I could copy those three paragraphs and delight you with them, but you can probably guess what they say. So … [Read more...]
NHL: James Merrill House
CT National Historic Landmark James Merrill House 107 Water Street, Stonington (Museum) Since the Merrill house is a museum, and since I have had the pleasure of visiting it, this NHL page will be somewhat truncated. After all, you certainly should want to read about Merrill’s whole story and MY story of my, um, … [Read more...]
330. James Merrill House
Hello? Helloooooo? Stonington (Google Maps location) June 14, 2016 Stonington is one of Connecticut’s most beautiful towns. I love it myself. And Stonington Borough within Stonington? It’s a real, live, New England seafaring movie set town. Museums, restaurants, jetties, history, curio shops, tree-lined … [Read more...]
Dodge Paddock/Beal Preserve
Couldn’t Dodge Sandy Dodge Paddock/Beal Preserve , Stonington May 16, 2015 This post pretty much represents everything I love about these particular tiny little land trust properties – and every reason why I continue exploring them and writing about them. This little place is only 3.68 acres. The “hike” on the … [Read more...]
Cheese Boro Whey (RIP)
I Guess It's The Cheese Boro Way Cheese Boro Whey, Stonington May 16, 2015 Reports say Cheese Boro Whey closed in 2018. Man, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done a new CT Cheese Trail post. (If curious, the CT Cheese Trail is not a real thing. I made it up, but I maintain a pretty good list of CT cheese … [Read more...]
Enders Island
This Is It: The Enders Enders Island, Mystic May 16, 2015 Every once in a while I'm tasked with writing a page that I find difficult to write for reasons that may surprise you. In this case, it's because Enders Island is a confusing, strange, stunningly beautiful, relatively unknown, mixed bag of a place - with a … [Read more...]