In Stony Creek, it was not unusual for a boy to own a boat before he owned a car, and by age 16, even the boy from Pine Orchard had acquired a dilapidated Whaler of 13 feet. He lived where the rising ocean had flooded the rocky coastline and an idyllic archipelago consisting of dozens of islands beckoned. Some say there are 29 islands, others say there are over 300. Some appear only at low tide, some disappear at high. During the height of the Guilded Age, the Thimbles were a favorite anchorage for High Society and the islands were crowded with Hotels and Resorts. In the early 30s, Depression dealt the endless summer of prosperity a sudden & mortal blow - culminating with the hurricane of '38 which literally swept away many island dwellings. By the late 1980s, a renewed vigor and the islands were once again central to the lives of a young and very different set of high society folk.

There were few things more pleasant for him than an afternoon's cruise with his six-string and the Corson Sisters, to Outer Island, crashing through blue-green waves, sending up sheets of rainbow spray - Legends of Captain William Kidd hiding his ship behind the steep cliffs of High Island - Doubloons found on Gardiner's Island and rumors of Kidd's treasure stashed in an undiscovered submarine cave at Money Island - Heart racing games of Psilocybin Hide & Seek in derelict hotels, closed since 1929, soon to be reborn as exclusive private residences during the 90s boom - Wild parties at Taft's house on Davis Island, where Natalie Corson house-sat and where...
Late evening in early July, the red sun sets sail and the party pilgrims put to shore at Horse Island to collect the driftwood which will fuel the bonfire at Outer Island for as long as the wine jugs hold out - Calm & balmy August nights cutting through a glass-black sea, moonlit eyes & salty lips & the distant sound of JW, wistfully frailing his banjo alone in the dark on his boat, somewhere behind a curtain of fog.