Rhode Island’s Viking Trail
About 500 years before Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering America Norsemen, whom we know today as Vikings, landed in North America. Some historians think [...]
Stillmanville: Westerly’s Lost Village
The following is the final installment in Westerly Life’s “Behind the Murals” series, which discusses the history behind all of the recently created murals throughout [...]
Worth the Wait: The Rebuild of St. Michael Church
The welcoming clang of the church bells could be heard throughout the neighborhoods of Pawcatuck and Westerly as a curious and elated crowd gathered at [...]
Surviving the Hurricane of 1938 – Part 1
On September 21, 1938, the most destructive storm in the history of New England struck without warning: the hurricane of 1938. This is a story [...]
She Hath Done What She Could: Anna Thornton Williams and Her Historic Vote
“FORMER SLAVE FIRST TO VOTE” read the headline in the Westerly Sun on November 2, 1920. The individual the headline referred to was Mrs. Anna Thornton Williams, [...]
The Metis Disaster: Part 3 – The Aftermath
Read the Metis Disaster part 1 and part 2 first. As news of the wreck spread that weekend, a large crowd of onlookers lined East [...]
The Metis Disaster: Part 2 – The Rescue
Read Part I: The Collision First >> By 7:45 a.m. that morning, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered on East Beach and began to [...]
The Westerly Business College: Practical Business Training Without Leaving Home
On January 21, 1898, an announcement was published in the Westerly Sun saying that Professors C.W. Wales and H.L. Gifford of Easton, Pennsylvania would open [...]
The Pawcatuck River and the Colonial Border Conflict
The following is part eight in Westerly Life’s “Behind the Murals” series discussing the history behind all of the recently created murals throughout downtown Westerly. [...]
The Metis Disaster: Part 1 – The Collision
It was Friday, August 30, 1872, and the end of another idyllic summer in Watch Hill. The Ocean House and the other large hotels were [...]
Searching for Clues in the Battle of Stonington
The only sounds are the cries of gulls and breaking waves. Kevin McBride, Ph.D. archeologist and University of Connecticut Associate Professor, is standing at the [...]
Rhode Island’s Worst Maritime Disaster
I’m sitting at the stern of the charter boat Thunderfish owned by undersea explorer Captain Bill Palmer, looking at the shore of Watch Hill less [...]