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Margaret Schotte has been on a book tour (virtual, of course) for some months, and I have seen listings for two other online presentations by her regarding her new book just in the past two months. You can visit her website and get some basic info here: https://margaretschotte.com/.

I have to comment on the banner art on her website, which I have attached below, since it is such a familiar view to me, which I have enjoyed a thousand times...

In the photo below, we are looking due south from the grounds of the museum near the oystering exhibit. You can see a similar view in "Google Street View" here, though it's a dreary, cloudy day in that view. At the center in the distance is the Mystic River drawbridge (technically a "bascule bridge" though always called the drawbridge locally) which is along US Route 1 where it passes through central Mystic (locals call this "downtown Mystic"). In the foreground, we see the mast and some rigging of a sailboat. It's instantly recognizable. That is "Annie" or, as often named, "Sandbagger Annie". This was an extreme racing sailboat launched in 1880 which was the first significant vessel acquired by the museum back in the 1930s, even before the Charles W. Morgan had arrived, at a time when it when the museum barely existed and was known as the Marine Historical Asssociation. It's an interesting vessel. Here's Mystic Seaport's webpage about Annie. Annie has been completely restored and rebuilt, and the "original fabric" in the vessel is less than 1%. It is maintained in perfect condition for nostalgic, sentimental reasons.

Frank Reed

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