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The Sons of Neptune

Prior to 1765, a secret society composed of a diverse, radical group of sailors in the American colonies formed. They called themselves the Sons of Neptune.

During peacetime, the Royal Navy sent press gangs through dockside neighborhoods searching for able-bodied men to join their crew. It was imperative to the British Empire to have as strong a naval force as possible to maintain their dominance around the world. That being said, merchant sailors earned higher pay than the navy, and few went willingly into impressment.

Impressment, to the Sons of Neptune, was a prime example of British tyranny. Their response to it launched America’s rebellion.

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The Burning of Fairfield, Connecticut 1779

In A Widow’s Guide to Scandal (coming July 2020 from Soul Mate Publishing), the town where the heroine lives is threatened with destruction by the British. I based the fictional attack in my book on the very real attack on Fairfield, Connecticut by the British in 1779. I first learned about this event of the American Revolution when I lived in Fairfield and attended a Town Green Walking Tour presented by the Fairfield History Museum.

Think You Know Bagels?

When I was little, we lived in a suburban community northwest of Baltimore. We were Jewish, some of my neighbors were Jewish, most of my activities took place at the local Jewish Community Center. I didn’t know I was different from most of the population until I went to elementary school.

A Quick Guide to Becoming a Female Artist in the 18th Century

Note: I intend for the word “female” to cover those who identified and were accepted as female. I do not mean to police the term in any way.

Lately, I’ve been curious about the lives of female artists in the 18^th century, painters in particular. They are a hard lot to track down.

In 1971, feminist art historian, Linda Nochlin, wrote, “Why have there been no great women artists?”

The Manhattan Bridge and The East River, Not a River

When my daughter was in fourth grade, I drove a gaggle of girls to the American Girl Store in Rockefeller Center for her birthday. On the way home, I took a wrong turn and ended up in Brooklyn.

It happens. More than I’d like to admit.

Public Houses, Inns, Taverns

Churches and taverns had a complicated relationship in Colonial America. As early as 1656, it was a finable offense in Puritan Massachusetts for a town not to have an ordinary.

As you can see by their definitions, the words for a drinking-eating-lodging establishment are mostly interchangeable. (Ordinary became the regional word for a tavern throughout New England.) However, only places called “inns” were reliably somewhere to stay while switching horses or waiting for one’s horse to rest for the next length of travel.