Hometown. In my mind, it is the place you experience those moments and encounters that are formative. Moments like the first day of school or rites of passage such as getting your driver’s license or going on a first date. My hometown was Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Settled in 1717 by Scotch-Irish Presbyterian farmers, the […]

Ah … “Hometown” … such a powerful topic! Now I say that knowing that some people have very little connection to the town they grew up in. Yes, they have moved on and may not have had that great an experience growing up anyway. Not the case for me! I loved Stonington! But here’s the […]

The daily whistle blew at noon, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Noon – lunchtime. 5 – drop everything and head home for suppah. 9 – time to call it a day. Grocery stores were on almost every corner in my neighborhood. There was Jimmy’s, Charles’, Oscar’s, Mike’s and so it went. My church was a […]

I grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. Back in the ’50s and ’60s of my childhood, it was a mix of affluent and working-class families. Our neighborhood was comprised of young families and retirees, a small grocery store, a bar and grill with the best pizza, a gas station and a few other small businesses. Half […]

The only words I can remember my maternal grandfather uttering were spoken on a visit to Higgins Beach in Scarborough on a hot summer’s day in the early 1960s. By then he was in his 80s, and he dressed like the Aroostook potato farmer he had been all his life: long underwear, wool pants and […]

Hometown: The town or city of one’s birth, rearing, or main residence; the place where you grew up or have lived for a long time; where you are currently living. So, where do I call my hometown? I see Maine as my home state, having lived here for the past 33 years. When I go […]

My “hometown” is the midcoast fishing village of Round Pond. I grew up there. It is a big part of my deepest self because of what it has given me. And that is much. Growing up in Round Pond taught me how to work, both how to work hard and also how to love the […]

Life was slow in my hometown of Glen Ridge, a sliver of a North Jersey suburban community. Just 3 miles long and three blocks wide, it was tucked between brawny Bloomfield to the south and moneyed Montclair, its neighbor to the north. I grew up there in the 1950s, a time when dads worked, moms […]

I was born and raised in a town in western Pennsylvania where the factory meets the farm. My father sold paint and glass to both retail and industrial customers. My mother was a registered nurse who worked part-time overnight shifts, both at the hospital and for private older clients. I grew up as an outside […]