Tag Archives: Stonington Connecticut
Stonington fishermen fight for their livelihoods: The fleet’s past, present and tenuous future
While they have weathered storms, the loss of 41 fleet members at sea, declining catches and restrictions on how much fish they can land, the aging group of mostly men who make up the Town Dock Fleet now face a set of new challenges that threatens their future and that of the state’s last surviving commercial fleet. These include the difficulty of luring young people into a grueling but potentially lucrative occupation and the leasing of vast areas of their fishing grounds to offshore wind energy companies that plan to erect hundreds of massive turbines. >click to read< 09:17
Postscripts: Wolcott Palmer’s contraption made him the king of wooden lobster pots
Wolcott Palmer worked with wood, handsomely, and, based on his legacy of homes in Stonington and at least one in Weekapaug, monumentally, but what qualifies as ingenious was his production of wooden lobster pots, estimated, a few years before his death, at some 80,000 or more. Most were made in the last couple of decades of his life, and from machinery he rigged up over the years into what became a 12-station, drill-and-grind-and-saw-and-squeak, Rube Goldberg-like contraption in his roomy workshop set back and by a brook off Collins Road in Stonington. >click to read< 08:07
Connecticut – The 66th Annual Blessing Of The Fleet Is Coming To Stonington Borough Sunday
The 66th annual Blessing of the Fleet will take place beginning at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 28, at St. Mary Church in Stonington Borough to honor and remember those who have died at sea on our local commercial fishing fleet, as well as to honor and bless the vessels–along with their captains, owners, crews and families–that will go out to sea in the year ahead. >click to read< 15:15
Connecticut’s last commercial seaport — Stonington — shines in Mystic shadow
It’s a hodgepodge of a parade for sure, but one that holds the same significance year after year in this Connecticut fishing village. Upon completing their lap around the square, the pirates, pipers and hot rods, along with the spectators, move en masse the short distance to the Town Dock for the annual Blessing of the Fleet.,,, The blessing and its reason for being, too, have evolved. What once was a way of life for this little village has literally sailed out to sea. “We don’t have enough fish coming through the door,” said Mike Gambardella, whose family owns one of the last packing facilities and wholesale fish houses in Connecticut. >click to read<12:34
