NORWICH – The artists of Made In Chenango Gallery and Gift Shop are hosting a public “Meet the Authors” event on Saturday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Made In Chenango is known for their fine arts and crafts made by local artisans, but they want to let the community know that the store also features local made honey, maple syrup, coffee, soap, candles and books on topics of local interest that have been authored by county citizens. Three of the authors-on-consignment who have agreed to meet the public at the store are Donald A. Windsor, Thomas Gray and Christine Gibson.
Windsor will talk about his recently published book “Souvenirs of Yesteryear, Exploring Chenango County, New York” which features forty four articles first published as a local history column in The Evening Sun. Windsor says that his writings “represent my early attempts to make local history interesting ... I have been wandering around this place for 42 years.“ In 1997, Don started to lead hikes through BOCES as a fundraiser for the Chenango Land Trust and the articles began as his written version of those hikes. To quote the summary on the back cover “this book, Volume I in a series, takes readers along some of his excursions where he wanders around in the forests, fields and urban settlements of Chenango County seeking out the relics of the past.”
Thomas Gray, the second author for the day, has a number of books featuring historic sites and topics of his beloved town of Guilford. He says “My interest in writing these books stems from my curiosity in the history of Guilford that has not been published.” Gray has authored three books: “The Road to Whispering Stones,” the early history (1780s to 1850s) of all the hamlets of Guilford as related to the 22 cemeteries of Guilford; “The History of the Angel Inn and The Archangel Gabriel in Guilford, NY,” the early history of the hamlet of Guilford Center as related to the Angel Inn and the trail of the Folk Art sculpture of the Archangel Gabriel,” and “A Mill & A Mansion,” the history of the hamlet of Rockwells Mills, Guilford, from 1791 to the present as related to the first settlers of the area and the growth of the woolen mill and the hamlet.
A few years ago Christine Gibson thought it would be an interesting project to write a booklet for her grandchildren about the Gibson family at Chenango Lake. It was her intention to organize the existing family material and pictures. The Gibson family were “savers” and Stan Gibson, her husband’s uncle had scrapbooks that contained an odd assortment of Chenango Lake memorabilia. As shestudied this collection of post cards, photographs, bills that related to the grandfather’s cottage that was built in 1899, Christine decided to expand her project and search for any information that was about the lake. She was astounded by the information that she found. The old newspapers on micofilm were available thru the library system and a great source of information. Friends lent her their post card collections. She asked a lot of questions. The Chenango County Historical Society were interested in her project and published her book, ”WISH YOU WERE HERE, The Hotels of Chenango Lake.” Christine is currently working on another book about the people that had cottages, summer and winter activities at the lake, children’s camps, and the school. Plans are to have it available early this summer.
Whether your interest is in history, or how to conduct research, write and published books, or you just want to get a copy of your book signed by the author, come enjoy these authors at Made In Chenango, 20 S. Broad Street in downtown Norwich on March 21 from 12:30 to 2 p.m.