Christmas 1945

It seems hard to believe that WW II ended 65 years ago. The surrender of Japan in August 1945, however, didn’t mean the immediate return to normalcy. With millions in the armed forces, the logistics to de-militarize and bring the troops home were as challenging as preparing for battle.

But around Christmas 1945, many, many families were rejoicing as husbands, sons, neighbors and certainly some daughters were discharged from active duty. It was such a marvelous Christmas present both to the soldiers who in many instances hadn't seen their families and friends since Pearl Harbor.

Discharged during that 1945 Christmas week were Cpl. Tech. James Russell Nichols, Jarvis Stewart Barton MoMM3-C, Byron Mitchell Clark MM2-C, Cpl. Tech. Frederick Houghton Galvin, P.F.C. Alfred Henry Royce and St. Sgt. Warren Lee Hedrick which brought the total to 119 – not quite half of our local men and women from East Hampton who had been in active service in the armed forces.

Returning Vet's - Christmas 1945

This was also a bittersweet time for several families whose sons paid the ultimate sacrifice in combat. East Hampton was not immune and had seen directly the loss of 6 young men and a score of others with relatives here, and all were mourned with a solemn respect for their sacrifice and for the battle waged against tyranny, dictators and atrocities against mankind.

As American’s we are blessed in so many ways. Often taking for granted our liberty and lifestyles, we remain the envy of oppressed and downtrodden throughout the world - the best hope for freedom and peace! A blessing yes, but also a curse, as American’s sons and daughters still rise to defend those freedoms so many others long for. So please, let us not forget those many on active duty in far off places like Afghanistan, Iraq, or South Korea as we gather with family and friends at this time of year.

From me and my family, I truly wish you and your families and people everywhere the best in this Holiday Season. May joy, good health, happiness and prosperity reign, and, may peace prevail.

Christmas Season in East Hampton

Nightly, television newscasters and live eye reporters show the hustle and bustle of shoppers at each of the malls or other locations around Connecticut, all speculating how well retailers will fare during the Holiday gift buying season.

It reminds me of a time before malls and all the discount retailers when holiday shopping meant going to the G. Fox & Co. department store in downtown Hartford or to main street Middletown. More likely however, many from our community did their gift buying locally at establishments such as Clark’s Corner Store, Muller’s Jewelers, Ravis’ Home Supply or Thatcher’s Drug Store.

The Christmas season was special. It didn’t start before Halloween which seems to be an annoying trend of late. It was after Thanksgiving when the air filled with excitement. Working behind the soda fountain at Thatcher’s, people always seemed much more pleasant, outgoing and engaging in that season. The drug store or what was the community gathering place, always took on a different appearance as well. Raymond “Deke” Thatcher meticulously placed his Christmas Rexall order in the late summer. He would wait with anticipation to receive box after box loaded with all kinds of odds and ends, some arriving in late October. We’d probably call most of the items stocking stuffers today.

The unending orders and boxes contained a full array of cosmetics, compacts, lipstick tubes, knickknacks of all sorts, pipes, cigars, special tobacco blends such as Amphora, and item after item that would tax the store’s shelving capacity. Special displays were positioned at the head of each isle as it captured the patrons who parked along West High Street or on the side of the building at the corner of Main Street. Back then, the store seemed gigantic. I can remember as a young boy Eaton Smith telling me as I picked up or Sunday newspapers that it was going to be the biggest drug store east of the Mississippi! Today, in retrospect, it is hardly one quarter the size of CVS or Rite Aid. But it had something all these locations now compete for – a buzz of customers eager to buy the latest the store had to offer.

And what was even better? You could sit on a counter stool, have a hot cup of coffee, hot chocolate or a milk shake and take a few minutes to unwind.

No, not a bad place to be. Merry Christmas!

Why East Hampton is a Great Place to Live.

Our Town has lately been shaken to its core over actions of the Town Manager, the Chief of Police, the Town Council and strident outbursts at numerous citizens at public meetings. None of these actions has portrayed us in a particularly positive light. The media feeds on infighting and negative actions. Quite frankly it sells, as it always has, newspapers which drives advertising. Just business as usual.



I believe it is time to change the direction of our Town with our citizens working together, getting past what are often petty differences. Leaders have done this in our past. As a first step, I've compiled a list of 50 things that make East Hampton a great community inwhich to reside. There is nothing magical about this and I'm positive others could think of many other things and reasons that make this a wonderful place to live.


But here are my thoughts................


1. A vibrant, activist community, strong and opinionated, whose energy could be channeled to make this an even better place in which to reside.
2. A modern Library and Community Center
3. Lake Pocotopaug
4. Sears Park
5. A modern grocery store – Stop & Shop
6. Home of William Barton, founder of the bell industry
7. American Distilling & Manufacturing Co. – successor of the Dickinson Witch Hazel Company – largest producer in the world - article publicizing company in Yankee Magazine
8. EH Little League – lighted fields – among the best in Connecticut
9. The Airline Trail
10. Bevin Bros. Mfg. Co. – last remaining bell maker – articles in Yankee Magazine ( 1975 & 2010 )
11. Comstock Covered Bridge – one of 3 remaining in State
12. Old Home Day Annual Celebration
13. The Chatham Historical Society
14. Friends of Lake Pocotopaug – privately raising funds to support maintain health of the lake

15. Active Rotary Club
16. Active Lions Club and Village Lions Club
17. Food Bank staffed by numerous volunteers with strong community support
18. Citizen fundraising to support the creation of a high school football team jointly with Vinal Tech of Middletown
19. The Joseph N. Goff House
20. Volunteer Ambulance Corp
21. Volunteer Fire Department – 2 companies EH & Cobalt and 3 firehouses
22. Active Masonic Lodge
23. An owner source of water for a town wide water system
24. Home of Former Governor William A. O’Neill
25. Pumpkin Town – annual Fall attraction
26. Christmas Tree Farm and Farmer of the year – Peter Bergan
27. School System
28. Village Center
29. Rich History of the Town including Legend of the Princess
30. Laurel Ridge – an active Adult 55+ community of talented, experienced, successful people who specifically moved to EH and want to contribute to its culture and activities
31. A town dump and recycling center
32. An active VFW – Veteran of Foreign Wars Post
33. 2 camp grounds promoting family values and entertainment – Nelson’s and Markham Meadows
34. A Veterans Group raising money for a World War II Memorial
35. Numerous churches with an ecumenical council of pastors and priests
36. Numerous Day Care Providers
37. Salmon River State Park, Meshamosic State Forest, Hurd State Park
38. Epic Arts Programs
39. EH Art Association
40. Active Seniors / Senior Center
41. An attractive gateway into the community East High St. – West High Street
42. A public sewer system
43. 2 Elderly Housing Complexes – Bellwood Court & O’Neill Drive
44. Participants in the Regional Health District
45. Even after the Probate Court Reorganization and Consolidation, we maintain the smallest (and thus most personal) probate district
46. Active Girl and Boy Scout Troops
47. Numerous Park and Recreation programs
48. The Belltown Antique Auto Club and its annual car show
49. Convenience to major cities for work & health care
50. Half way between New York and Boston



May this holiday season bring peace to all and new beginnings for our Community

EHHS to 1965 State Soccer Championship Game

On November 13, 1965, our High School soccer team found itself in a position opposition and pundits alike (Fred Post of the Middletown Press) never thought possible – heading to the State Class C championship game against Washington High after defeating Lyman Memorial of Lebanon in a replayed final quarter of the semi-final round. On November 10th, which East Hampton nipped Lyman 1-0, their Coach, Bob Corlett protested the game officials’ misinterpretation of the rules of soccer claiming a foul in the penalty area committed by an East Hampton player with 3 minutes left in the match should have entitled Lyman to a penalty kick. The officials had awarded Lyman a drop kick outside the penalty area. The CIAC committee agreed and ruled the game to be commenced from the point of the foul with 3 minutes to go. In the rematch, Lyman scored on the penalty kick and the teams played two overtime periods ending in a tie. The tie breaker came with a penalty “kick-off” in which East Hampton outscored Lebanon winning the game 4-2.

Under Coach Gary Avedikian, a skilled player himself, a regrouped and recast Bellringer team was headed back to a State Championship game – the last appearance being in 1959, when the team was coached by Lou Mager, who had taken a position with rival Bacon Academy of Colchester.

Prevailing strategy then was to position players according to speed. The fastest fielded the front line. Midfielders were good athletes, and backfield capable of a strong foot, but not necessarily the team’s fastest players. Often big, they provided a lot of cover for the goalie. Although conditioning, endurance and speed were expected of all, Avedikian positioned some of his fastest players such as Bernie Bachleda, Don Davis, and Dick Valli in the backfield. With their speed, these talented players could push the play well past the half field line keeping the ball predominantly in their opponents end. And if a breakaway, our fullbacks could recoup to match the fastest opposition linemen.

Talented and experienced, the team included Larry Lawrence, goalie, suburb midfielders, Tom Bazar, Pat Dickenson, Paul Stringer, Scott Johnson, Mark Condon and a quick and tenacious line of Bill Dennehy, Steve Kissinger, Bruce Tolhurst, Joe Kagerer and Fred Walton who overwhelmed the opposition.

Maybe it was karma after so many close encounters. EH lost the championship game 1-0 in a doozie of a game. Disappointed? Of course! But the camaraderie, hard work, persistence and character that propelled this team has carried all of these men through out theirs lives. I have much respect for these friends who gave such excitement to our close-knit Town one Fall 45 years ago.

Oakwood Stand - Last of a Breed

You may have noticed that a small piece of our past, the Oakwood Stand, disappeared from the landscape in May. Not to say its hadn’t seen better days, because frankly, it was falling apart as were the adjacent guest rooms and dining hall, but it was a wonderful reminder of small town America long before Ray Kroc purchased a dairy bar from the McDonald brothers.

Oakwood was owned and operated beginning in the 1930’s by my great aunt Hazel Markham Coe Gilmore. At Oakwood, you could get a sizzling burger or hotdog, hand cut French fries, a shake or an icy Coke while you relaxed at a picnic table overlooking Lake Pocotopaug. The only historical culinary experience comparable in the area still operating is Harry’s in Colchester. Oakwood also had guest cottages and rooms available for an extended stay and it was, in its heyday, one of nearly a dozen locations on Lake Pocotopaug such as Edgemere, Lakeview House, Pocotopaug Lodge, Clearwater, and the Terramaugus House providing accommodations to the city dweller seeking refuge from the summer heat.

Thinking about the demise of the vacation resorts and camps is somewhat maudlin but also a bit poetic. As the walls were crushed and crammed into dumpsters, it signaled and vividly portrayed the end of an era on Lake Pocotopaug. Although unrelated, within days, Helen Condon, Hazel’s daughter, passed away peacefully in the night. Helen and her sisters, Dorothy Peterman who had died just a few years ago, and Marion Roberts, worked summers at the stand and guest cottages as did my Dad, Don Markham during his high school years.

Where Do You Put the Rocks?

When we think of New England, much comes to mind – a driving force for the creation of our Republic and participatory democracy, leaders who created the Declaration of Independence and Constitution; renowned higher educational institutions such as Harvard or Yale; but in a more earthy sense, we are also known as the land of steady habits and, rocks! Over 10,000 years ago, glaciers spread across our northern hemisphere.

This moving, massive ice sheet scraped the landscape bare, pushing gravel, sand and stone as if a giant bulldozer, depositing this mixture as the ice retreated. Where? In our back yards! As enterprising Yankee farmers cleared fields, gray ribbons of granite began outlining property boundaries.

Robert Frost, in his poem “Mending a Wall” suggests good fences making good neighbors. East Hampton certainly has its fair share of stone walls – ones we see throughout our neighborhoods and many jutting through the landscape of woods and fields. Just walk the Airline Trail from Cranberry Pond towards Salmon River and you can experience the remnants of long abandoned farms and the ribbons of gray walls outlining former pastures.

But East Hampton farmers had another method of dealing with rocks, especially those in close proximity to Lake Pocotopaug, or as my great grandfather, Newton Markham, used to call it, “The Pond.” It seems our enterprising forbearers developed a rather novel approach to disposing of them. With oxen, they, in the dead of winter, would drag the rocks out onto the ice. With the spring melt, magically the stone would disappear, much to the chagrin of our present day recreational boaters. The remnants of those deposits appear along much of Pocotopaug’s coast line, in some areas more than others. Any of us can see “Rocky Island” on the east side of the lake off Day Point Road. Not a natural island – just an accumulation of rocks. Elsewhere they become nuisances or as when I was growing up, things to explore on a warm summer day.

Spellman Point

In July 1925, headlines in the Middletown Press pronounced “Spellman Point Jumps in Value over Sixty Fold – Remarkable Advance in East Hampton Land in 15 Years.”

In 1910 Mrs. John Spellman had purchased the land for $1,500. In the early summer of 1925, Mrs. Spellman, however, had received and offer of $100,000 from Dr. Fred Swartz, owner of Camp Wopowaug. One might remember that Camp Wopowaug closed in the early 1960. It was one of the many facilities that graced East Hampton, East Haddam, Moodus, Haddam Neck and Colchester which many called the little Catskills. Although none of these camps matched facilities like Grossinger’s Resort, they were a welcome vacation and treat for numerous New Yorkers or those escaping cities for fresh country air. The camp was located at the end of Wopowaug Road near Route 196 and is now State Forest Land abutting the Salmon River at the old Leesville Dam and Power Station.

As for the property and the offer, Mrs. Spellman planned a meeting with the nearly 100 cottage owners who leased sites on the Point. She was willing to give them first option to purchase, provided they could match Dr. Swartz’s offer, which eventually they did. Those early cottage owners and subsequent land owners came from New Haven, New Britain, Derby, Hartford, Middletown and a number of other communities from around the state. In fact several families, relatives of the original owners still own cottages or homes there.

Today, there are approximately 42 homes or cottages on Spellman Point and their gross appraised value by the Town Assessor is approximately $19.4 million. The appeal of Lake Pocotopaug and land values attached to it certainly haven’t changed.