Burton "Bert" Loomis Burton "Bert" Loomis, a well-known and wealthy tobacco grower from Southwick, Massachusetts, and his friend Napoleon Bascom, who lived with him and his wife, arrived at the Pease House in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, on Thursday, July 14, 1921.  The two men ended up going their separate ways by boat, with Bert continuing onto New York and Napoleon crossing over to Poverty Island.  Bert returned to Old Saybrook on Saturday and negotiated with a boat captain from Springfield, Massachusetts, who was summering there, to take him roundtrip to Poverty Island so he could get Napoleon and then return to the Pease House to get his automobile that he had parked in the garage so the pair could drive back to Southwick. Along the way, Bert took issue with the route the captain had chosen to avoid shallow water, and an argument ensued.  When Bert arrived, Napoleon told him he had decided to stay on the island for a few more days.  It was getting late, but b...

George Jones Sr. George Jones Sr. left his Otis home in Cold Spring to attend church in the village center around 9:00 a.m. on September 7, 1862. As he started down the road, his son George asked if he could go. When his father told him, "Next time," - a decision he would later regret - young George returned home to where his mother, Emily, and his younger sister, Sarah, were.  Emily planned on making a berry cake for supper, so with a bucket in hand, she and her two children went into the woods about a half-mile from their home to pick wild berries.     Meanwhile, Thomas Callender and his son James ran out of food and decided to go on a sheep-stealing excursion. They planned to meet in some woods, which they did. There, they partook in drinking a quart of whiskey.  The Callenders were well-known in the region. Not only did they have a bad reputation and run-ins with the law, but they were the frequent topic of town gossip due to Thomas being African-American an...

 The Log Cabin Grove at Southwick Ponds was very popular as a day resort. The original structure was expanded before it burned down. It was rebuilt with sixteen rooms, 13 of which were guest rooms. It also had a ballroom and a dining room.  Guests could look forward to clambakes, dancing, live music, a "beautiful lawn, and grove … swings, steamboats, rowboats, fishing tackle, etc." (Roundtrip bus fare from Springfield to Southwick Ponds costs .50¢.) The Log Cabin Grove 1823: John Milton Hatheway is born in Suffield, Connecticut, on March 12.  1846: The Mexican-American War starts on April 25. 1847: During the Battle of Chapultepec (September 12-13), Lieutenant Hatheway picks up a dead sergeant's musket and fires several shots, effectively killing a Mexican sharpshooter who had picked off several men and was taking aim at him from up in a tree. (Author's Note: This is one of several heroic deeds done by Hatheway.) 1848: The Mexican-American War ends with the signing of...

A. Waldron Miller 1895: A. Waldron Miller is born to Henry and Ida Miller in Suffield, Connecticut, on October 9. (Born Alvin "Allie" Waldron Miller). 1923: Henry Alvin Miller dies. (He was a charter member of Southwick Grange and had one of the finest collections of Indian relics in Connecticut.) c. 1924: A. Waldron Miller radically transforms his family's massive lakefront property into a popular tourist destination, Miller's Beach.  1926: Miller's Beach starts a new advertising campaign announcing the opening of their new water toboggan and bathing pavilion; the campaign also touts Miller's as the safest of all Congamond beaches. Florence Luke of Thompsonville, Connecticut, is struck when a rider in a toboggan behind her crashes into her while riding down the popular incline water coaster off Miller's Beach in August. (Luke obtains prominent lawyer Samuel Sisisky to represent her in her $10,000 suit against Miller's Beach, which accuses slide owner ...