Marshall Drew: Titanic Survivor, Westerly Resident
While Westerly has seen its fair share of fascinating individuals over its 350-year history, perhaps no one has had a more interesting story to tell [...]
The Washington Trust Company: Two Centuries of Service in Westerly – Part 2
Read Part 1 first! Several other men would hold the role of president of Washington Bank before Charles Perry Sr.’s nomination in 1881. Jeremiah Thurston [...]
“License to Do No Wrong”: Newspapers in Westerly, 1825-1919
For the last 127 years, the Westerly Sun has served as the primary source for local news, and for much of this time, Westerly was [...]
The Washington Trust Company: Two Centuries of Service in Westerly Part 1
Two hundred and twenty years. That is the length of time that the Washington Trust Company has been serving the people of southern New England. [...]
Westerly’s Worst Blizzard
The weather in New England has always been fickle, even the weatherman often gets it wrong, sometimes really wrong. I remember a winter when the [...]
Westerly Meat Packing Unpacks the History of Soupy
Everyone in Westerly has their favorite things, whether it’s a secret spot at the beach, a certain menu item at a downtown restaurant, or a [...]
A Bridge is a Sound Idea: The History of the Orient Point Bridge That Never Was – Part 1
Anyone who has driven down the east coast of the United States will tell you, if there was a way to avoid traffic in New [...]
Eddie Sawyer: Westerly’s Captain of the Whiz Kids – Part 1
The Philadelphia Phillies are among the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball, dating back to 1883.[1] The first six decades of the franchise’s history were [...]
Don Panciera: Westerly’s Own NFL Star, Part 1
While Westerly has quite a long history of success on the football field, there is only one man born there who is known to have [...]
A Fatal Flaw: A History of Fort Mansfield on Napatree Point
If you walk out to the end of Napatree Point and take one of the trails that head into the interior you might come across [...]
All of Westerly Seems to be Awakened to the Situation: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1920, Part I
More than 100 years ago, the town of Westerly, and all of America, faced a pandemic the likes of which had rarely been seen in [...]
The First Thanksgiving
This holiday season I was wondering how the first Thanksgiving might have been celebrated by the first settlers in Westerly. Legend has it that the [...]