Barrington, RI

Greg:

Great web site. The photos are neat and I really enjoyed your comments.

My parents moved to Mathewson Rd. the summer after Carol. They looked at a few houses around town but my brother and I loved the one on the river. I was 6 and he was 4. . .

It was only after we moved in that Fred Thomas next door, had us over to see the photos of the cabin cruiser through one of our picture windows and a skiff in the other and the front yard littered with debris. Then he pointed out the water stains on our wallpaper 3 feet up the dining room wall. As long as we lived there the walls showed damp spots whenever the humidity was high.

The pics of rowing down the road really hit me. Brother Pete, and I did the same thing during Donna.The flooding wasn't as severe but we were able to get the skiff floating in front of our house. Water lapped against our garage door and we had to hose the salt spray off the shrubs and front of the house .

I remember my mother found a dead water rat in the tide line. As kids we loved hurricanes. Rolling up the rugs and moving stuff upstairs. Hauling out the beetles. No electricity. And as you say the Sterno and candles at dinner. The wreckage all along the road and out to Wajda's dock.

There was a low spot between Blount Circle and Dave Atwater's house that used to collect all kinds of treasures. We spent hours after Diane and Donna poking thru the junk. Pete and I remember Jon Rohde. Pete was a good friend of his brother, Rick. We remember Bubsy Gladding's "Egg and I" and I think Pret Gladding bought Juno later on.

We too learned to sail in beetles and I remember hair raising downwind rides with Bob Gladding, overcanvased, throat halyard frayed through, rudder out of the water, boat's rounding up, centerboard stuck half down, garboards are leaking and I'm trying to pump with the huge, rusty "portagee" pump. Yahoo!

Pete and I reminisce about those days all the time. We too revered the old neighborhood salts. Their comments and personas shaped our lives. A few that come to mind besides those already mentioned - Duncan Colley(sp?) Joe Wajda(was a quahoger lived on Ferry Lane and owned the old coal dock where the Fram used to tie up.) John Mason (they lived in the Thomas's barn summers, he was an inventor and built a small catamaran, sailed it to the Caribbean and returned along with the Batams, a family from England in their big steel double ender.)

Some of the boats I remember- Blue Pigeon-anchored of Mattisons house. The "Eggbert" -I think owned by Stanley Ginalski(sp?) Colleen - Mike Mainella's 110 Happy Hobo- Lister/Flannagan's double ender What was Pete Waterman's boats name? She was an old timer when I was a kid. (Editor's note: "Pompano" - a beautiful old power cruiser that frequently towed long rows of beetle cats to regattas elsewhere in the bay.) One of the Concordia's I remember in front of your house was Davis's, Swizzle. She had a light green hull. I think Russel Davis still owns her. I remember the Sharpshooter and her dinghy. In the 70's I worked at Goetz Custom Sailboats with a young guy who bought Sharpshooter and was going to fix her up.

Matchless -Thomas' big cat boat. Pete and I get back to Mathewson Road once in a while and the river is packed with boats. I wonder if there have been following generations of kids growing up along the river learning to sail and spending lazy summer days fishing for choggies.And if there are parents from the same cut of cloth who could set an example or teach the lessons to be learned messing around with boats. It was great looking at your site and adding to my appreciation of those days .

Thanks Mark Vinbury