Two historic love stories and a Goodreads Giveaway!

 

Sadie's gravestone found at Lower Road Cemetery in Brewster.

 

In 1896 Brewster - Cape Cod, love reared its ugly head. 

Young Sadie Hassard was being courted by Frederick Alexander.

Sadie grew tired of him and wanted to move on. 

It was a Sunday. Pastor Dawes began reading the opening prayer at the Brewster Unitarian church. The sound of gunshots drew the congregation outside. They found poor Sadie dead on the sidewalk from a gunshot wound behind her right ear. 

The young girl had been living with Pastor Dawes out of fear from Alexander. Sadie's father knew about Alexander's jealous and desperate heart. He hoped Sadie would be safer with the Pastor.

Excerpt from The Barnstable Patriot, May 18, 1896, 

The article continues to tell us that Alexander committed suicide and eventually was found in Snow's Pond with a bottle of strychnine in his pocket.

Love unrequited. 

 

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Crosby Mansion - 1888 - Brewster

 

Albert Crosby was born on Cape Cod in 1823. He married Margaret Henderson in 1845 and they moved to Chicago where he made his fortune producing distilled alcohol. After Albert took over the Chicago Opera House and refurbished it, a fire in 1871 destroyed everything. He lost 1.5 million and Margaret and Albert divorced. 

Soon he married Matilda Sourbeck. She was 23 years younger than Albert and a burlesque performer. They returned to Brewster and his family home.

It was not what Matilda expected. 

To please his new bride, he began to build an addition around his small family home in 1877 incorporating many details and lavish accents they had admired honeymooning in Europe.  The Crosby Mansion, also known as "Tawasentha" was completed in 1888.  Albert loved Matilda and wanted her to be happy.

Matilda standing in the art gallery.

He even built a special extension on the house for an art gallery. Tawasentha was available for Matilda's social schedule. She loved to entertain.

The front lawn of the mansion, Matilda dressed in white sits in the foreground.

Legend says that when Albert needed to get away from all the lunches and parties, he retired to his rocking chair in the old homestead.

Albert found a second chance at love and spared no expense to keep young Matilda.

 

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 I've always been fascinated doing research for the basis of my historical novels in my Old Cape Series.

Finding the two love stories above and being able to visit the sites connected with the people inspires me to keep looking and writing.

 

Just finished a new...

BOOK TRAILER

FOR

THE OLD CAPE HOLLYWOOD SECRET 

#3 in The Old Cape Series

When researching and plotting, The Old Cape Hollywood Secret

I traveled to Hollywood, ate at restaurants, stayed in old hotels that were open in 1947, and experienced some of the feelings that my characters felt. It was a wonderful adventure.

Today I'm going to offer through Goodreads, a giveaway of The Old Cape Hollywood Secret.  100 copies of the ebook!!

All you have to do to win an ebook is enter your name on the Goodreads website.  

Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations. Their mission is to help people find and share books they love. It's free to join Goodreads.

Here's a link to enter

Good Luck! The Giveaway begins February 19, 2022 and ends on March 3, 2022.

Love

 Nature gives us signs of love in many ways.

Winter

Spring

Summer

 

 

 

Autumn

 

LOVE: an intense feeling of deep affection.

Love  makes the world go round. People love other people, animals, plants, ideas, or places. People experience love found, love lost, and the saddest - love unrequited. 

My blog today is about love. It's about my husband and me.

 

I want to yell it to the highest mountain. My husband and I are still in love with each other.

 

 

So what's our secret to stay married and in love for 53+ years?

Could it be that we respect each other? Talk to each other? And listen? Maybe, it's because we're also best friends, or that we care for each other? We've never gone to bed angry...no matter what.

 

Lately we've been discovering new things from our past together. How could that be?  The other day Tim commented about an event from our past as a married couple and I said, "I didn't know that."

I'm not talking about secrets, just tiny facts that passed our notice because life makes you busy.

 

 As I was preparing this Valentine blog, I came across something I wrote twenty years ago.

It recalls the first glimpse of my future husband.

 

I saw him that night in 1962. The music moved my friend and I, along with hundreds of teenagers in loops around the gym’s edges. All of us looking across the sea of faces wanting to be noticed, sometimes casually brushing against each other in hopes of catching the eye of someone new.

 

I passed him several times. Finally, I stopped. My friend stopped. He stood there with his friend and I stood there with my friend. Our two friends began to dance and without a word we followed their lead.

 

Barely able to hear the other’s words as we swayed back and forth, we were forced to lean close each time the other spoke. My cheek lightly brushed against his smooth, strong jaw; his scent was Old Spice. It was exciting. The music was slow and melodic as we said our names to each other. My heart raced. I wanted to stay close to him. And then it was over.

 

The music returned to loud and fast. We said goodbye. I continued my path around the gym searching and looking and aching to see his face again. 

 

Over the years, we've laughed, loved, cried, and rejoiced. We've held hands throughout it all. 

 

We have been blessed with five wonderful children and four beautiful grandchildren. 

So...Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. My wish for all my readers, friends, and family is that you experience love, a long love, a romantic love. And if it was a fleeting love, stay grateful you were able to love someone in your life, even if it was short-lived.

Winter - Cape Cod 1700s

Here's a re-post from February 2013. It reminded me of the recent storm and electrical outage that we experienced throughout the Northeast. I smiled to myself as I read, thinking we got through that storm in 2013 and we did it again in 2022. The only difference was that in the 2022 storm we lost power on a Friday afternoon instead of a Saturday and... now I have four novels instead of one. Change  comes to challenge us at every turn. Knowing our past helps us move forward with courage and hope.

2022

 ❖❖❖

 

Cape Codders of the 1700s would have thought you destitute, poor or perhaps a lunatic if you built your house on or near the beach. If you wanted to survive on this spit of North America you would need to build your house inland, not on the coast. Those hearty folks were practical people.

2013

As we hunkered down for the winter storm that blew across Cape Cod this past weekend, I couldn't stop thinking of 1700 Cape Cod.

Inside our house, we listened to the constant roaring of the wind. Every once in a while, it would gust to over 75mph. We only received 14 inches of snow but other places on the Cape accumulated totals up to 32 inches. As the temperatures plummeted into the teens and the power went out Saturday morning, I felt my bones chill anticipating the cold night ahead of us.

Looking out our dark and snow covered house, I thought of how the early Cape Codders fared in winter storms that blasted the coastline.
We had insulated our 1890 home to modern day standards and had use of a woodstove, gas stove and a cooking gas stove. Because of that we were able to enjoy hot drinks through most of the blustery day and ate a one-pan skillet of beans, hotdogs and biscuits at dusk.

Then, just as our ancestors did before us, we slept close to the fireplace and tried to amuse ourselves as best as we could in the dimly lit rooms. Tim kept bringing in firewood and we played cards for over 6 hours through the day and evening, finally going to bed early before 9pm.
As I lay in the dark, trying to sleep, I thanked the Lord that the old house had very few drafts, not like houses of centuries ago, when leaves, old rags, straw and grasses had to be stuffed into openings that were exposed to the frigid outside air.  Of course, there were no worries about pipes freezing, there was no indoor plumbing. Snow melted by the hearth was all that was needed.

 In my novel The Old Cape House, the main character Maria Hallett is banished in 1716 by the elders of the church for fornication and witchery. She tries to survive by herself in a shack on the bluffs of Eastham. It's winter, she's alone and has few supplies.
I close my eyes again, I can't get poor Maria out of my head.
My nose is cold. My feet are like ice.
Would I have survived in 1720? I think I could have but...

The next morning, the blizzard stopped and the sun came out against a brilliant blue sky. It cast long, luxurious shadows across the glistening white snow. My heart sang as a new day broke the storm.

Legends label poor Maria a witch, but legends sometimes are only myths and never proven, which is why optimism rules in my soul and I try to write new endings to old tales.