Tag Archives: Paul St Germain

THREE BRIDGES TO PARADISE – NEW BOOK BY CAPE ANN HISTORIAN PAUL ST. GERMAIN!

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There are over 600,000 bridges in America. They continue to do their job over the years, and many have intriguing stories.

America’s oldest seaport, Gloucester, Massachusetts, has sixteen bridges but only three of them have a significant impact on the history, culture, and social wellbeing of the residents. Their unique function is to provide access off and on the island for thousands of people a day. This is a history of their reason for being, construction, maintenance, failures, and successes over the years since the Blynman Drawbridge and Canal were built in 1643 to the Gloucester Railroad Drawbridge in 1911 and the giant 800-foot steel arch span A. Piatt Andrew Bridge built in 1950 as part of the completion of Route 128.

As Gloucester celebrates its quadricentennial in 2023 this book will be part of the 400 years of unique memories that only these three bridges can provide.

Order now on our web site.

All proceeds go to the Thacher Island Association!

Price 26.00 includes shipping

 

New Book Launch Twin Lights Tonic-Cape Ann’s Timeless Soda Pop – Limited Quantities Remain Order Today

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Limited Collectors Edition

TWIN LIGHTS TONIC
Cape Ann’s Timeless Soda Pop

Dive into history of one of the most popular soft drinks around the Cape Ann area Twin Lights Tonic. This carefully researched story of one of the last family bottlers still in operation. Paul St.Germain and Devlin Sherlock bring you through the history and development of carbonated soft drinks as they trace the narrative of the 115-year-old Twin Lights Bottling Company (originally Thomas Wilson Bottling Company). Woven throughout is the story of one Rockport, MA family of Portuguese immigrants who began producing the tonic in the back of a small town grocer store in 1907.
With over 70 photographs included, this lovingly assembled book is sure to delight.
For a limited time, you will also receive a commemorative postcard and magnet with your purchase!

Click here to order !
Proceeds of sale go to Thacher Island Association
Limited Supply Remains, Order Today!!

CHECK OUT THIS NEW BOOK FROM AUTHOR PAUL ST. GERMAIN -Twin Lights Tonic: Cape Ann’s Timeless Soda Pop LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION

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Twin Lights Tonic: Cape Ann’s Timeless Soda Pop – Limited Edition Collector’s Edition $24.99

Available by pre-order!  Orders will ship in early May.

ORDER HERE

  • Paperback edition of Twin Lights Tonic: Cape Ann’s Timeless Soda Pop
  • Limited edition Twin Lights Beverages magnet
  • Limited edition Twin Lights Sparkling Water postcard

Dive into history with this carefully researched story of one of the last family bottlers still in operation. Paul St. Germain and Devlin Sherlock bring you through the history and development of carbonated soft drinks as they trace the narrative of 115-year-old Twin Lights Bottling Company (originally Thomas Wilson Bottling Company). Woven throughout is the narrative of one Rockport, MA family of Portuguese immigrants who began producing the tonic in the back of a small-town grocery store in 1907.

With over 70 photographs included, this lovingly assembled book is sure to delight. For a limited time, you will also receive a commemorative postcard and magnet with your purchase!

Proceeds will benefit the Thacher Island Association for their restoration and maintenance efforts of the island.

DON’T MISS THIS SUPER ARTICLE IN THE GLOUCESTER TIMES ABOUT “THE LAST LIGHTKEEPERS,” FEATURING LOCAL HISTORIAN PAUL ST. GERMAIN

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Lighthouse docufilm features local historians

  • By Michael Cronin Staff Writer

ROCKPORT — Paul St. Germain of Rockport and Eric Jay Dolin of Marblehead made their film debuts this month in “The Last Lightkeepers,” a documentary by Rob Apse.

Apse’s film profiles a handful of the nearly 200 remaining lighthouse keepers across New England.

“In 2000, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act was passed which created a mechanism to dispose these structures to cities and non-profits first and as a last resort they are put up to bid for private ownership,” Apse wrote in an email. “And so, ‘The Last Lightkeepers’ covers the historic past of these structures and the important events surrounding them and parallels those stories and events with all the people behind the preservation efforts that is happening today.”

St. Germain stepped down as president of the Thacher Island Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to raising funds for the restoration and on-going maintenance of the island, last summer after 22 years. Over the past decade, he oversaw a massive, $3.2 million effort to open Straitsmouth Island off Rockport to the public for the first time in 180 years. Massachusetts Audubon assisted the association in the near decade-long effort to rehabilitate the island’s historic landmarks for public use, such as the $150,000 project to repair the iconic lighthouse in 2013. Straitsmouth Island finally reopened in 2019.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

https://youtu.be/YAOaH6t_x1k

 

New Short Film: The Uncommon Common Tern

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What fun to encounter a small flock of terns teaching its young to fish. Nearly as large as the adults, the tubby terns cheekily squawk and demand food (shrimp I think in this case). Watch as the fledglings try to master fishing skills while the adults tirelessly guide the young on how to feed themselves.

With many thanks to Paul St. Germain, president of the Thacher Island Association, for information about the ongoing restoration of shorebirds on Thacher Island.common-tern-fledgling-feeding-copyright-kim-smith

There is nothing common about the uncommon Common Tern. They were named Common because hundreds of thousands formerly nested along the Atlantic Coast. As with many species of shorebirds, the rage for wearing fancy feathered hats during the 1800s nearly drove these exquisite “swallows of the sea” to extinction. After the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was ratified in 1918, terns began to recover.

A second major setback occurred when in the 1970s open landfills were closed, displacing thousands of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. The aggressive and highly adaptable gulls resettled to offshore nesting sites used by terns.

Common Terns are a Species of Special Concern in Massachusetts. Through a statewide long-term commitment of restoration, protection, and management of nesting colonies, the populations are very slowly and gradually increasing.

Former nesting sites include islands such as Cape Ann’s Thacher Island. During the mid 1950s, over 1,125 pairs of Arctic, Common, and Roseate Terns nested on Thacher Island. Today there are none.

The southern side of Thacher Island is owned by the Thacher Island Association. The northern end of Thacher Island is owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under the authority of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. These organizations are working together to restore terns and other species of birds to Thacher Island.