New Baptist Pastor breaks long tradition

Notes from the Old Noank Jail                 by Lacy and Ed Johnson

                          Noank has a New Minister

On Sunday, November 26, Noank Baptist Church (Noank, CT) will formally install its 27th settled pastor.  From its beginnings as an offshoot of the now defunct Fort Hill Baptist Church, through the splitting of the church into two congregations during the Civil War,. to the founding of several organizations that serve the community’s needs through the present, Noank Baptist has always been a little bit different. Just like Noank.

Noank’s newest pastor has broken 180 years of tradition- he was raised in the deep south and received his masters of divinity degree from a Southern Baptist seminary. As a church that prides itself on being welcoming and affirming and centered on social justice, how could they justify such a move- especially now?  Well, Junior’s own words might provide the best answer:

“I never felt that the theology I was steeped in lined up with my experience of humanity. At some point, I started allowing myself space to question which led me to mentors who introduced me to people from places in life and love that had been ‘untouchable’ based on my Southern Baptist roots. It sparked a glow in my soul I knew was real. I loved my new LGBTQ+ and BIPOC friends- how could I not stand up for their rights? How could I not be there for them in their times of need? The answer was….I couldn’t.”

He continues… “After a few years of heavy conversations at home, I began looking for a church that aligned with my deeper calling. I searched online using terms like ‘social justice’ and ‘inclusive’ and ‘affirming.’ I found Noank, and, after reviewing their profile and falling in love, I applied. I didn’t apply anywhere else, but I was hardly expecting anything to come of it.”

But the Church search task force found him to be quite a great fit- why should they judge Junior based on his roots? After lots of discussions and a few visits, everyone agreed that this was the answer to their respective prayers.

As Stan Mitchell, the founder of Nashville’s progressive Gracepointe Church, pointed out,”With the first name of  ‘Junior’ AND a Southern accent, he will surely trigger every bit of Southern bias there. I trust his good mind and heart will be another lesson for folk on just how untrustworthy our biases are.” Amen to that one.

Reverend Junior White and his wife of 17 years, Monica, grew up in Alabama- he earned his bachelor’s from Southeastern Bible College and masters of divinity from Southeastern Bible Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He has taken chaplaincy classes at four institutions in recent years. At the time of his hiring, Junior was the full-time minister at Ballard’s Bridge Baptist Church in Tyner, NC, and a part-time chaplain for the Eastern Carolina University Hospital System.

So far, Rev White has hosted several new events to engage more of the local community- “Pastor in the Park” featured free Kona Ice cones, sports, games, and music in September, and the “Monster Parade” at the end of October featured costumed local children marching around the village and then watching a Halloween movie on a Latham Lane lawn.

So, please join Noank Baptist Church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving for this momentous occasion at 10am. If you can’t make it, feel free to attend the potluck lunch downstairs anyway. All are truly welcome- even those with Southern accents and names like “Junior.”

Alvei takes the Pacific

Notes from the Old Noank Jail: Alvei takes the Pacific

December 13, 2022 10:52 am

By By Lacy and Ed Johnson

In our previous articles, we’ve taken you from Spring 2019 through October 2021. And now we’re going to share the most fascinating part of this epic sojourn – Alvei’s journey from New Zealand to her new home port of Mystic where she is currently docked at Schooner Wharf.

“There is no connection, no privacy, no fresh water for personal use, and only one way possible – forward. You cannot hide. You cannot quit. You cannot go back… Patience became the best teacher, letting go the best tool, and compassion the best companion.”

– Joan Escola, deckhand, of Catalonia, Spain

(https://youtu.be/rr0oB-BbWXQ)

How big is the Pacific ocean? The planet Mars or five earth moons would fit into it. The Pacific is one third of the entire planet and almost half of the water surface area. It’s almost impossible for us to comprehend its vastness. On Oct. 28, 2021, Alvei set off from Auckland, New Zealand for Mystic.

“Every crew member had to be vaccinated before we left port. If even one was un-vaccinated, we wouldn’t have been allowed to enter any harbor. No politics involved… just maritime law during a pandemic,” Captain Geoff Jones of Noank stated.

As they headed northeast, the familiar experience of land and wildlife passed away. No more birds or fish. What was it like? According to first mate Jake Happe of South Africa, “It was Groundhog Day, like that movie. Every day the same thing. I was gutted.”

They saw several outsized lunar eclipses, a few friendly albatross, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, astronomy classes worth of Southern sky … not much else.

The Pacific Ocean is the most deserted place on earth. Alvei came within 1,000 miles of Point Nemo, which is where the closest humans are on the International Space Station – not earth. It’s said that even the person who discovered Point Nemo has never been there.

During this passage, the crew overcame two steering systems failing and then re-built a third on their own. For the record, that system is still working through the present and will carry Alvei across the Atlantic next spring.

Do any ships follow this course? According to Jones, “No… no one takes this course anymore. Ships need a lot of fuel, and no one wants the same view for a month. Yachts can do it in a few weeks. The only ones who took this course were whaling ships, like the Morgan, that were rushing to port with their loads and needed the favorable winds from this area of the Pacific.”

In fact, even planes don’t cross the breadth of the Pacific for many good reasons. If you have an emergency, it would take people weeks to reach you if they could find you. Weather changes fast and dramatically.

And this was true for Alvei. What we must respect is that this ship took off into the unknown without any way for others to save them. They were completely self-reliant and interdependent.

“The cook … he really kept us going,” said Happe.

However, when you are traveling across one third of the planet, you don’t know how long the food and water will need to last.

“It was really hard early on. The crew wanted more food and water. They wanted more diversity in meals. And I had to ration. It taught me a lot about conservation. I used salt water for everything I could,” added the cook, Ael Woitiez, 24, of Lautrec, France.

“It was a challenge to come up with new dishes all the time. So I liked having days that were the same meals week after week so I didn’t have to think about them. But I enjoyed thinking up new things, too,” he said.

Everyone’s favorite dish? Fish lasagna.

How did the crew of Alvei celebrate Christmas on the high seas? They created a “Christmas tree” of buoys and nets on the stern.

Woitiez was up at 4 a.m. to make a traditional French Christmas treat for the crew called “Rose Des Sables.” He melted chocolate on the stove and dripped it over corn flakes. He smiled describing his excitement in preparing Jackfruit lasagna for their feast while it cooled, “because I knew it would make everyone happy.”

Captain Jones had provisioned as if no port would be open until they hit South America; however, he had hoped to stop at several islands along the way. Pitcairn was closed due to COVID. As they passed Easter Island on Day 62 with COVID policies prohibiting access, a crew member’s wound infection they feared needed more medical attention cleared at long last, thankfully.

Onward they crawled towards the Galapagos Islands.

They had stored 10 months of food, five and a half metric tons of fresh water, and five thousand liters of fuel. Two hundred eggs were covered in Vaseline in large containers they flipped every few days to maintain freshness without refrigeration.

“The eggs lasted until we finished them – 82 days. The last fresh veggie we ate was an onion on Day 85. We had a block of cheese that lasted to the 104th day when we got to San Cristobal,” said Woitiez. “We enjoyed that before we hit shore.”

So how did the crew endure such mind-numbing repetition? Well, they enjoyed listening to their downloaded music until Spotify turned off their accounts a month into the voyage. There was no Wifi or satellite connection – no means of making monthly payments.

They recited epic ballads on the stern – the ship’s carpenter, Lenny McGirr, did fake news reports on Tuesdays. They played tournaments of an ancient hand game called morra. They talked about future plans.

For reference, the famous “Rounding Cape Horn” film of Captain Johnson’s death-defying passage was 92 days.

On Day 104, Alvei hit San Cristobal, Galapagos. Because they’d crossed an ocean, they needed to stay out of port until they could scrape off the barnacles and filth of three and a half months at sea.

Three days later the crew made it ashore. Jones stayed with the ship until the next day and added, “Of course, after almost three years unscathed, we all got COVID on the Galapagos. Since we were vaccinated and pretty healthy, we got through it.”

From there, some crew headed home, and a few weeks later a new deckhand arrived from Noank, Elizabeth “Zeke” Newbury, who had crewed for Jones decades ago. She had recently retired from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital as an award-winning wound care nurse and hopped on for the final legs of the trip.

On March 12, Alvei headed 367 miles northwest to Panama, arriving on April 1. The crew enjoyed time exploring tropical paradise while, due to the backup of cargo ships worldwide at that time, Alvei waited for her turn to enter the canal.

Of note, to save them from needing to hire a “mule” to escort her through the locks, the crew stowed the jib boom to reduce overall length. On April 24, Alvei arrived in the Atlantic Ocean.

From there, Alvei headed 300 miles north-northwest to Guanaja, Honduras where the crew enjoyed the wilds of Roatan. They continued north-northwest around Cuba and arrived in Bimini, Bahamas, on May 26.

At this point, Zeke’s husband, Steve Mansfield of Noank, joined the valiant crew. Considering that his day job is director of Ledge Light Health District, one might assume that the high seas were a welcome change of pace.

On May 31, Alvei headed northeast of Florida, arriving in St. Mary’s, Georgia, on June 5 and then Charleston on the 10th. On June 17, Alvei finally rounded Montauk Point and made it into Noank by mid-afternoon….loudly and proudly chugging up the mouth of the Mystic River using the two-cylinder auxiliary diesel engine. You could hear it a few blocks away.

Of note, Alvei still had water and food from New Zealand when she arrived at the Mystic Oyster Dock. Conservation at its finest!

Alvei is currently getting in shape for her transatlantic voyage to Northern Europe in 2023. If anyone is interested in joining the crew, please reach out to Jones on the website: http://www.alvei.org. You can read and see more about the journey in the “SV Alvei” Facebook group.

Ed and Lacy Johnson live in Noank.

The Alvei – part 3 – avoiding the Covid

Notes from the Old Noank Jail                            by Lacy and Ed Johnson

                            Part 3 – ALVEI  takes  to  sea

We left you as 38-meter Sailing Vessel (SV) Alvei, whose name means “one who goes everywhere” in Norse, departed Suva, Fiji for her first cruise under Captain Geoffrey Jones of Noank. A crew of 12 took her for a week long, non-stop sail west through the southern Pacific Ocean to Vanuatu,  Alvei’s nation of registry under her previous owner, the late Captain Evan Logan. On this maiden voyage, crew was comprised of four Fijians, four Australians, three Americans, and one Dutch deckhand who painted murals below decks.

At Port Vila, they continued repairing the ship. As Jones reported, “We made her sea worthy in Fiji, but there was still a lot to do. So we got to work in Vanuatu. I also had to update the registration and complete regulatory processes and paperwork as the new captain.”

Because cyclone season was approaching in the tropics, Jones opted to take Alvei southeast to New Zealand for early summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, the crew changed again before departure: one Fijian and one Australian deckhand were replaced by two Canadians, and an American boatswain swapped out with a new one, Shelby Mauchline, a Yale graduate originally from Michigan, who will be returning as mate in February 2023.

Alvei set out on Dec. 4, 2019 and arrived in Russell, New Zealand on Christmas Day. They stepped ashore on Boxing Day due to customs procedures. Of note, if you would like to get a firsthand look at the 21-day passage by sail, Canadian deckhand Sahara Hare’s viral vlog on YouTube (https://youtu.be/-hJQjocpAbw) would be a good choice. A few days later Jones anchored her in the Bay of Islands almost exactly where Mystic’s own whaling ship,  Charles W. Morgan, did in 1850.

As mentioned previously, Jones and Thompson had thought they would be gone to Fiji for two weeks back in May. Accordingly, Jones left Alvei in the care of Thompson and flew home to handle affairs the second week of 2020. In the following weeks covid spread across the globe. Jones attended an important local memorial service March 7 and then booked the next flight to Auckland.

“Logan was empty. I’d never seen anything like it. There were just a few of us on the plane. I’ll never forget that I left Thursday the 12th and landed the morning of the 14th- somehow skipped Friday the 13th. New Zealand closed the borders at 11:59pm on the 14th. I was pretty lucky,” he said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern  declared Level 4 COVID-19 Health Alert on March 25th. “I was concerned about running out of supplies. No one knew how long anything would take or what would happen,” Jones recalled. So how did this international vessel with an international crew manage?

The newly hired ship’s cook had been a fine dining chef locally. When restrictions closed every restaurant, wholesale vendors had no buyers and lots of supplies. The chef reached out and Alvei was able to load up with ten months of restaurant quality provisions while helping sellers out of a bind.

By the end of April, restrictions had eased to Level 3 and cyclone season had passed in the tropics. Hoping to find warmer, calmer waters to weather the Kiwi winter, Jones reached out to a few islands. He called Vanuatu: “Port is closed. If you attempt to enter the harbor, gun boats will escort you out.” When he called American Samoa, it was gun boats, again. Australia was having an outbreak and closed.

Thus, Alvei spent the next few months almost entirely at anchor off the northeast coast of North Island, New Zealand. “It is much milder than New England- lows in the 30s and 40s. It was cold enough that we installed two wood stoves,” he said of the winters. However, they had something we do not around here- “They have these weather systems that are like our Nor’easters that come through at least weekly. Most of the harbors are exposed to the weather from one direction or another, so we had to move around an area that’s about the size of the coast from Maine to New York all winter to stay protected.”

Due to marine laws in New Zealand, ships are not allowed to stay at one port for more than two weeks. So Alvei spent the next year sailing around the island. She became a floating safe harbor for covid refugees- as countries opened and closed borders and ports, crew changed. Most were international backpackers with no maritime experience. Crew members from China, Turkey, South Africa, Finland, Argentina, and more were added to the painted flags in the galley which represent every country of origin of crew members since Jones took charge. There are 21 flags total now. So how did he keep this potential Babel boat at bay?

“Everyone had to speak English to join. Every vessel has one language it uses officially- obviously communication is pretty important. We all spoke English when we were around each other. I was insistent because it’s good for morale- everyone feels more heard and respected. Sometimes people needed help with translation because they didn’t have the vocabulary, so another speaker could assist- English isn’t easy. That was crucial for our success,” Jones explained.

As ports opened around the equator and covid vaccines made their way to New Zealand around August 2021, Jones and crew started preparing for the voyage to Mystic. The advertisements for deckhands in New Zealand newspapers mentioned “40 day sail” but that was like Gilligan’s “three hour tour.”

Our next installment will cover the incredible trans-pacific sail north- a course no sail powered ship has taken in over a century. 

Alvei – part 2 – voyage begins

Schooner Alvei – the Voyage begins

Alvei at the entrance to Fisher’s Island Sound

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Notes from the Old Noank Jail: Alvei’s journey begins

New London DAY       

September 1, 2022

September 01, 2022 10:48 am

By By Lacy and Ed Johnson

This is part two covering the almost three-year voyage of our new resident topsail schooner, Sea Vessel (SV) Alvei.

What type of person hears a century-old steel schooner might be salvageable off Fiji and books a flight?

Captain Geoff Jones grew up a pebble’s throw from Fishers Island Sound on Main Street and spent more time on water than land. He and classmates, Gary Maynard and David Thomas, who have also become captains, used to sail their solo sloops out to stay on Sandy Point when they were about 10.

Jones attended local schools and began working his way up as a crew member on Shenandoah out of Martha’s Vineyard and then the Steamship Sabino before college. He graduated fourth in his class at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1985, winning the Chelsea Clock award for highest score on the USCG exam.

Since then he’s been an officer or captain on a fleet worth of vessels – tall ships, ferries, tankers, roll on roll off cargo ships, and everything between – Mystic Clipper and Whaler, Cape Henlopen, H.M.S. Rose, tall ship Mystic, and Sea Cloud, to name a few.

Recently, he’s captained tall ships everywhere from the Bahamas to the Cook Islands while managing Schooner Wharf Complex in downtown Mystic for over 20 years. Jones has multiple endorsements as a captain – master of ocean, steam, motor, and sailing vessels of up to 500 tons, master of Great Lakes and inland waters up to 1600 tons.

He’s also a licensed private pilot with twin engine and seaplane ratings. If anyone would be up to the task of assessing, restoring, and sailing a ship halfway around the world, it’s probably Jones.

But not according to him.

“I hadn’t attempted anything like this before. None of this was possible without Jeff Thompson – he was indispensable. I wouldn’t have even tried.”

Thompson first met Jones when Maynard, his shipmate on Pilot, introduced them in Maine, sometime in September 1989. Jones took Maynard and Thompson as crew for his newly acquired 84-foot knockabout schooner, Sylvina W Beal, and they sailed her down to Mystic. Jones ran her as a weekend to weeklong charter boat until 1997. She was even in a Scorsese film.

So the old friends flew across the world to Fiji the second week of May 2019. Jones had told Thompson he’d only need him for two weeks or so. They both laugh about it now. Their first mission was determining whether the ship was salvageable.

Upon seeing Alvei anchored off Suva, Jones was first struck by the shape of her hull – the elegant angles of her bow and slope of her stern. He saw her potential immediately but didn’t get his hopes up.

“The first thing I loved was her rigging. The next thing I noticed was water hitting my ankles in the galley,” noted Thompson. “I got the bilge going and she was dry in no time.”

Below decks they found thousands of books that were meant to be distributed to local islands before the previous captain had fallen ill. About 50 milk crates worth had to be loaded into dinghies and discarded on shore due to water and mold damage. They donated 800 or so to local Fijian organizations and hung onto about five hundred for the ship’s library.

After agreeing she was worthy of the effort, Jones had to call the brother of the deceased captain, Evan Logan, his next of kin, and ask to be named captain of Alvei. Why? In maritime law, only the captain can haul and repair a vessel. And so he was named and the long, hard work of emptying and repairing her began.

They spent the first few months emptying her stores – dinghy load by dinghy load, chipping away at rust, and addressing years of neglect. Jones, Thompson, and Pierce Hirsh, a former Alvei crew member from Australia, stayed aboard for the refit. The work crews of Fijians returned home every night.

What was replaced? According to Thompson, “Every single piece of running rigging and Dacron line, shackles, blocks, bails, bushings, and pins. We brought all yards and topmasts down and replaced 14 of 16 sails. We put enough steel into her to build a 40-foot cruising yacht.”

Once she was empty and clean and re-rigged, they spent a full month hauled out for the most nerve-wracking task – welding the hull shut in every place a rivet had been. Steel ships built before World War II were almost all riveted – after the war, welding became the preferred method.

Accordingly, Thompson had to push through the external holes into the interior which melted the paint and started little fires inside the hull. So while he welded, Fijian crew waited with spray bottles and buckets of water and a fire extinguisher inside to keep fires from spreading.

“By the time we were done with Alvei, we’d employed most of Suva in one way or another. We paid more than local businesses, so everyone was happy,” Jones remembered with a smile.

The three core seamen and a local crew set out on the first phase of the voyage home in November 2019 – a weeklong passage to Alvei’s home port in Vanuatu.

“It felt great to be underway,” Jones recalled.

As we’ll cover in our next article, Thompson didn’t return to America until November 2021. Two long weeks, indeed.

Lacy and Ed Johnson live in Noank.

From Fiji to Noank on the S V “Alvei”

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We wish to thank Jeff Thompson and Stephen Jones for their contributions to this article.

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Notes from the Old Noank Jail                   by Ed and Lacy Johnson

Fiji to Noank:  SV Alvei and crew arrive home safe and sound

This is part one covering the almost three-year voyage of our new resident topsail schooner, Sea Vessel (SV) Alvei.

Before she tied up at Mystic Oysters’ dock in Noank on Friday afternoon, 6/17/22,  Alvei led a long and varied life. She was originally built as a herring drifter to comb the waters off Scotland in 1920. A few decades later, she, like many trawlers, was commandeered for service as a minesweeper in World War II. She was fortunate to survive combat and return to her owners in 1952. In a few years, she was rigged as a small coastal freighter. A 1954 two-cylinder Witchman prototype two-cycle diesel engine, which still serves her well, gave her power. 

In 1986, she was converted to a three-masted topsail auxiliary schooner in Porto, Portugal and then spent the next forty years sailing the South Pacific as an educational vessel. After the passing of her owner and much neglect, Alvei was due to be scuttled and turned into a dive reef off Fiji in 2019. When a local captain, Dan Moreland, heard about it, he contacted Noank Captain Geoffrey Jones to see if he could somehow save this ship.

Jones flew to Fiji, organized a local crew, brought others from this area, and, after considerable effort, made her seaworthy once again by early 2020. And thus began a years long, at times harrowing, sojourn home.

The trip took them across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal with a shipped jib-boom, and up the Atlantic coast in a matter of nine months. Crew members changed as travel restrictions were lifted from various countries. Two veteran Noank sailors were able to hop on to help Alvei for the final legs of the journey. 

In classic Noank fashion, word of Alvei’s arrival spread fast enough that a crowd of us had gathered at the dock in time to welcome the crew home. Jubilant reunions, excited introductions, and hot showers filled the next few hours and then a delicious feast of fresh fish finished the day. On Saturday afternoon, Alvei headed up the river and docked at her new home, Schooner Wharf in Mystic. 

We look forward to sharing more about this historic vessel and her turbulent trek in future articles. Welcome home, Alvei! 

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A Noank Artist to be remembered

Changes at Noank Fire District

Notes from the Old Noank Jail by Lacy and Ed Johnson

On Saturday, February 19, 2022, a ceremony was held at the Noank Fire District meeting hall to witness the official retirement of Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Marshal David Steel and the promotion of Captain Michael Gale to be the new Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Marshal. This was witnessed by a large group of firefighters, family members and local political representatives.

Dave Steel has been a member of the Noank Fire Company for 50 years, starting first as a fire cadet, then firefighter, then later as a firefighter/EMT. He became Assistant Chief in charge of initiating the Noank EMS program, later becoming Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Marshal for over 20 years following the retirement of Richard Latham. Dave was also an Assistant Chief at the Submarine Base Fire Department until retiring from there. His father, the late Donald Steel, had served the Noank Fire Company as Fire Police Captain and Treasurer for many years.

Mike Gale also has had a strong family association with the Noank Fire Company which includes his late father, Lieutenant Fred Gale. Mike headed up an earlier Noank Muster Team and then served as Noank’s Captain and Training Officer before ascending to the position of Chief.  Additionally, he has served as a full-time firefighter/EMS responder, and lately as Fire Inspector, with the Poquonnock Bridge Fire Department.

Charles and Dawn Chaffee relocated recently from their family home in Noank to nearby Groton.  Charlie will be staying on to continue serving as Noank’s Deputy Fire Chief and as Head Fire Marshal for both Noank and Groton Long Point.

The ceremony included pinning of both Dave and Mike by the Treasurer, Cindy Steel; a swearing in for Mike as Chief by the District Clerk, Nancy Gilmore; and the presentation to Mike of the Fire Chief’s badge by his son, Logan Brown.  Additionally, State Senator Heather Somers presented both men with State of Connecticut pins and then read a Connecticut citation honoring Dave’s  20 plus years of service as Chief, all to much applause by the audience.

Other recent District changes occurred in January.  Dave, upon his retirement as Fire Chief, is now a member of the Noank Fire District Executive Committee, filling the vacancy left by Frank Socha, who died in September 2021 following a long illness.  Dave joins Katherine Rathbun and Chairperson Michael Noel on the committee.

We at the Jail wish to express our deepest thanks to all those who are continuing to serve Noank in their new and existing leadership positions in both the Fire Department and the District office.

Noank Bridge Replacement

Notes from Noank Jail

Notes from the Old Noank Jail                     by Ed and Lacy Johnson                     

A Brief History of  Noank’s Mosher Avenue Bridge

In the early 1900’s, electric trolley cars were the common form of public transportation. Back when Noank was a major shipbuilding center, a trolley system was initiated by Mr. Morton Plant in 1904 and  expanded as the G & S railway, running through Groton, Noank, Mystic and Stonington, to Westerly. Back then, according to local historian Stephen Jones, the only two access roads into Noank Village were via Elm Street to Main Street and Spicer Avenue to the bottom of Ward Avenue. Both of those track-level access points became restricted and are now fully closed off by the high-voltage railroad system…no more sneaking shortcuts over the tracks ! 

The trolley track route entered the village from what are now Marsh Road and Sylvan Street, across Main Street onto what became Ward Avenue and, pivoting left, on an open girder bridge over what is now the AMTRAK RR line. The trolleys then basically followed the shore northeast to Mystic, prior to the Noank-Mystic vehicle road being built. Sadly, in 1928, because motor vehicles grew in popularity, the G & S trolley went out of business. The Girder Bridge ownership was deferred to the Town of Groton, receiving little or no use, and was ultimately turned over to the State of CT.

Then, in 1936, the trolley bridge became a newly designed steel “pony through plate” girder structure for motor vehicles, creating Mosher Avenue as the primary connecting access road between Elm Street and the Village, following the old trolley tracks. The structure covered a 100 foot span and 30 foot deck width, utilizing a steel girder floor-beam system with concrete cast-in-place. Utility connections (water, power, phone & cable) were eventually carried along this structure as well to service the village.

In 1993, a needed reconstruction was effected, where alternating traffic was used, but the bridge still remained open for traffic. The inspection also indicated the structure would soon need full replacement and a February 2018  review then confirmed the 82 year old bridge was in poor condition and needed to go. In those 82 years, we had progressed from steam, to diesel-electric, to overhead electric, to high speed electric engines and trains.

Then, early in 2021, there was a major change; to remove the existing structure by sections and replace it with 4 separate pre-cast beams. The revised cost by contractor Manafort was reported as circa $7.4 million, and some local taxpayers groaned at this increase. Part of the original plan did remain unchanged. It involved building a smaller, separate overhead utility pipe bridge over the RR tracks, moving the utilities from the existing bridge into that pipe during construction, then moving the utilities back onto the new bridge upon completion.

One additional unchanged but major “fly-in-the ointment” is that this project could not interfere with existing AMTRAK train schedules. The only time span open to major work over the tracks and high-voltage lines was between 12 midnight to 6 AM. So now  the bridge remains closed to all traffic until December, assuming all goes well. With the new span in place, there will be alternating one-way traffic  to finish off details and move the utilities back onto the new span. Alternating traffic lights will be used and then the intersection is supposed to become a 3-way traffic stop for improved safety to reduce  speeding issues.

The bridge closure required a change in traffic flow, with Marsh Road as now the only village access,  affecting Terrace Avenue, Marsh Road, Sylvan Street, High Street and Main Street. A one-way counter- clockwise traffic flow has frustrated some drivers. Mercifully, summer tourist season is winding down, along with some entitled attitudes, and it will be nice when Mosher Avenue is opened up again, so that Santa Claus isn’t affected too much.

The bridge construction has drawn viewer interest, especially with the arrival of a large twin-boom crane, along with four 100 foot beams parked at Esker Point. The crane will help remove existing bridge sections and load them onto trailers near Mosher Ave. With sections removed, new ones will be placed on the RR span. One crane boom, slightly shorter, will have heavy weights suspended to act as a counter-balance. This is connected at the top to the taller boom to lift the heavy spans.  Both booms are centered as a figure “V” on one rotating platform to allow lateral movement in constant weight balance. Resembling a giant erector set, it will be an interesting “aerial ballet” to watch….if folks have nothing else to do at 3 AM….and can’t sleep anyway because of all the noise.

One nice gesture was made in the process of clearing trees to create work space just west of the bridge. Two black locust trees were removed and donated to the Mystic Seaport to be used in the restoration of the fishing schooner, L.A. Dunton.

In closing, we in the Noank Jail extend our sympathies to those folks and animal life living near the bridge, as they listen to the late night banging, clanging and train warning horns. Somebody once said that “doing something good is never very easy.” This might be one of those times…perhaps the State can offer free gift cards to our local Pearl Street liquor store for those residents…

Noank’s Mosher Bridge

Notes from the Old Noank Jail                     by Ed and Lacy Johnson                     A Brief History of  Noank’s Mosher Avenue BridgeIn the early 1900’s, electric trolley cars were the common form of public transportation. Back when Noank was a major shipbuilding center, a trolley system was initiated by Mr. Morton Plant in 1904 and  expanded as the G & S railway, running through Groton, Noank, Mystic and Stonington, to Westerly. Back then, according to local historian Stephen Jones, the only two access roads into Noank Village were via Elm Street to Main Street and Spicer Avenue to the bottom of Ward Avenue. Both of those track-level access points became restricted and are now fully closed off by the high-voltage railroad system…no more sneaking shortcuts over the tracks ! 
The trolley track route entered the village from what are now Marsh Road and Sylvan Street, across Main Street onto what became Ward Avenue and, pivoting left, on an open girder bridge over what is now the AMTRAK RR line. The trolleys then basically followed the shore northeast to Mystic, prior to the Noank-Mystic vehicle road being built. Sadly, in 1928, because motor vehicles grew in popularity, the G & S trolley went out of business. The Girder Bridge ownership was deferred to the Town of Groton, receiving little or no use, and was ultimately turned over to the State of CT.
Then, in 1936, the trolley bridge became a newly designed steel “pony through plate” girder structure for motor vehicles, creating Mosher Avenue as the primary connecting access road between Elm Street and the Village, following the old trolley tracks. The structure covered a 100 foot span and 30 foot deck width, utilizing a steel girder floor-beam system with concrete cast-in-place. Utility connections (water, power, phone & cable) were eventually carried along this structure as well to service the village.In 1993, a needed reconstruction was effected, where alternating traffic was used, but the bridge still remained open for traffic. The inspection also indicated the structure would soon need full replacement and a February 2018  review then confirmed the 82 year old bridge was in poor condition and needed to go. In those 82 years, we had progressed from steam, to diesel-electric, to overhead electric, to high speed electric engines and trains.
Then, early in 2021, there was a major change; to remove the existing structure by sections and replace it with 4 separate pre-cast beams. The revised cost by contractor Manafort was reported as circa $7.4 million, and some local taxpayers groaned at this increase. Part of the original plan did remain unchanged. It involved building a smaller, separate overhead utility pipe bridge over the RR tracks, moving the utilities from the existing bridge into that pipe during construction, then moving the utilities back onto the new bridge upon completion.One additional unchanged but major “fly-in-the ointment” is that this project could not interfere with existing AMTRAK train schedules. The only time span open to major work over the tracks and high-voltage lines was between 12 midnight to 6 AM. So now  the bridge remains closed to all traffic until December, assuming all goes well. With the new span in place, there will be alternating one-way traffic  to finish off details and move the utilities back onto the new span. Alternating traffic lights will be used and then the intersection is supposed to become a 3-way traffic stop for improved safety to reduce  speeding issues.The bridge closure required a change in traffic flow, with Marsh Road as now the only village access,  affecting Terrace Avenue, Marsh Road, Sylvan Street, High Street and Main Street. A one-way counter- clockwise traffic flow has frustrated some drivers. Mercifully, summer tourist season is winding down, along with some entitled attitudes, and it will be nice when Mosher Avenue is opened up again, so that Santa Claus isn’t affected too much.The bridge construction has drawn viewer interest, especially with the arrival of a large twin-boom crane, along with four 100 foot beams parked at Esker Point. The crane will help remove existing bridge sections and load them onto trailers near Mosher Ave. With sections removed, new ones will be placed on the RR span. One crane boom, slightly shorter, will have heavy weights suspended to act as a counter-balance. This is connected at the top to the taller boom to lift the heavy spans.  Both booms are centered as a figure “V” on one rotating platform to allow lateral movement in constant weight balance. Resembling a giant erector set, it will be an interesting “aerial ballet” to watch….if folks have nothing else to do at 3 AM….and can’t sleep anyway because of all the noise.One nice gesture was made in the process of clearing trees to create work space just west of the bridge. Two black locust trees were removed and donated to the Mystic Seaport to be used in the restoration of the fishing schooner, L.A. Dunton.In closing, we in the Noank Jail extend our sympathies to those folks and animal life living near the bridge, as they listen to the late night banging, clanging and train warning horns. Somebody once said that “doing something good is never very easy.” This might be one of those times…perhaps the State can offer free gift cards to our local Pearl Street liquor store for those residents…

We loose a quiet leader

Notes from the Old Noank Jail       by Ed & Lacy Johnson

We Loose a Quiet Leader

“I believe the best way for Groton and the state to correct property tax disparity is a system based on purchase price of the property. In this matter, those who feel compelled to spend large sums of money to live near the water would pay more (property tax) than those who have lived here a long time and made many non-monetary contributions to the community.”

These were Frank Socha’s words as he advocated for changes in the tax codes to support senior citizens who’d poured their hearts into Noank and were now hard-pressed to afford the taxes to stay there in 2006.

Frank was named fire district chairman in the late 1970s, and his community kept him as its faithful leader until he passed, Sept. 10, 2021.

Although Frank, as chairman, was technically also the Noank Fire Commissioner, he rarely asserted that power when it came to emergencies. As a fully qualified firefighter, EMT and fire truck operator, he allowed his own officer staff to lead on the fire-grounds. Frank filled in wherever they needed him, and took orders as if he was just part of the crew. He was never too big or important for any task when it came to neighbors in need. He was always there to listen when neighbors needed to talk — somehow he always had time for people.

Frank tried on a few career hats professionally before finding his true calling — 911 dispatch. He first worked in the Waterford center and then moved to Groton’s emergency call service center across the street from Fitch High School.

His calm demeanor was the perfect match for people dialing during distressed times. In fact, an audio recording of Frank coaching a Navy husband to assist in his wife’s childbirth before the ambulance arrived has been used as an example for local EMT classes. He wouldn’t have told you though — he never bragged.

Having Frank at dispatch made it easy for people to call, stay calm and have faith that help was coming. While listening to our scanner at home, we’ve heard Frank’s patient voice call out different fire companies to respond to everything from routine medical alarms to messy explosions on I-95. Fear never crept into his tone or sped up his cadence. He finally retired in August 2020.

In fact, when one of us met with Frank a few weeks ago, he was still keeping up with village affairs and had strong opinions about the contentious subject of short-term rentals. He was against them for the same reasons he was in favor of the tax abatement policy for senior citizens — Noank depends on its residents, and not on visitors, for the quality of local life.

From 2006: “Looking forward, I see a place like Noank still remaining an attractive target for people of means. Over time, this can change the village and surrounding area. We still need people who live here (full-time) to make wise decisions about our future and hopefully the future for some of our children.”

How right he was — Noank might need at least five exceptional people to replace just Frank. He believed in the simple life of service to the community — he fought for others to be rewarded for their “many non-monetary contributions to the community” when he could have looked the other way.

Frank, if we assessed your past property taxes based on your service to Noank, you wouldn’t owe a dime for generations. Thank you for everything you’ve done for all of us. We miss you already.

Ed Johnson and his daughter Lacy live in Noank.