Latest news with #Pequot
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New hotel opening in renovated CT historic building. It boasts ‘panoramic views' of popular waterway
The Whaler's Inn family has added a new Connecticut hotel. It's in downtown Mystic, and it's a new, upscale hotel of 10 luxury suites 'that pay tribute to downtown Mystic and the great Mystic area,' and an event space on the first floor, hotel President Amanda Airling said. The newly renovated 100-year-old building, The Stanton House, is a sixth building in the Whaler's Inn collection and offers panoramic views of the Mystic River and the iconic Bascule Bridge, Airling said. 'It's been an incredible journey to rehabilitate and revive this property,' said Airling.' The building stood for 100 years and we want for it to stand for 100 more.' She describes the property as 'upscale,' and near the 'great restaurants' of Mystic and shops. The building has four floors, an event space for about 40 on the first floor, two luxury penthouse suites on the fourth floor, luxury guest rooms on the second and third floors with two bedroom suites, gas fireplaces and kitchen areas. The Whaler's Inn has 45 guest rooms across five buildings and they're all different. The Stanton House 'pays homage' to Mystic's maritime heritage with interior design and artwork, Airling said. Mystic, was originally a 'village' located in Pequot Plantation, or New London, 'at the head of the Mystic River. The name Mystic, as we now spell it, derives from the Pequot term missi-tuk, which means 'a large river whose waters are driven into waves by tides or wind',' according to the Old Mystic History Center. The new hotel is named after Fannie Stanton, wife of 18th century Mystic merchant and ship builder Joseph Cottrell. According to the Mystic River Historical Society, from 1820 to 1988, the land that is now Mystic River Park 'was home to the Cottrell Lumber Company, which was the first lumber yard in Connecticut and the second in New England.' 'The lumber company stacked its lumber where the main park area is today. Joseph Cottrell started the business in 1820, building first his homestead and next to it a warehouse, which still stand today opposite the main lumber company building. Four generations of the family ran the business,' according to the society. The Bascule Bridge is a very popular stop for tourists who stroll around Mystic, as it has great views, as well as a mechanical system not often seen. It connects the 'Groton side of Mystic with the Stonington side of Mystic (and) is the famous drawbridge, built in 1922,' according to This is Mystic. The Stanton House is located at 11 Cottrell St., also named after him. The Stanton House joins other new businesses in Mystic, such as the town's first luxury hotel,— Delamar Mystic, which has water views from every room — and opened for it's first peak season, which is expected to be quite bustling judging from early reviews. The Delamar Mystic also has a nautical theme. The Stanton House luxury suites and event space are 'perfectly suited' for bridal parties, family reunions, friends' getaways, romantic escapes, Airling said. Other places to see in the area, are Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, shops in Stonington, the submarine museum and Coast Guard Academy in New London. Connecticut's casinos aren't far either.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Resolution calls for Connecticut to condemn a genocide within its borders
Aa stone relief on the Capitol depicting the attack John Mason led on a fortified Pequot village in 1637. (Photo by mark Pazniokas/ Connecticut commemorates the Holocaust every May with a solemn ceremony at the state Capitol building, a Victorian landmark that features an overlooked stone relief depicting a 1637 attack on a Pequot village that preceded what historians now view as a genocide. There remains some debate over whether the attack led by John Mason, a Connecticut Colony founder honored with a statue in a niche on the Capitol, can be celebrated as Pequot War victory or a criminal massacre of women and children. Most accounts lean to the latter. But there is no question that the document drafted by the victorious colonists to formally end the war, the Treaty of Hartford of 1638, directed that surviving Pequots be sold into slavery and stripped of their lands, history and tribal name. The text of the treaty speaks for itself. And that meets the definition of genocide, David Simon, the director of the Yale Genocide Studies Program, said in written testimony submitted for a hearing Friday by the General Assembly's Government Administration and Elections Committee. The testimony was submitted in support of a resolution proposed by Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, that would condemn the Treaty of Hartford. 'This resolution is so meaningful for our tribe in so many ways, and we believe that this is long overdue — the condemnation of the genocidal provision of the 1638 Treaty of Hartford, an agreement that sought to erase the very existence of our people,' said LaToya Cluff, vice chair of the Mashantucket Pequots. Osten, whose district includes the tribal lands of the Pequots and the Mohegans who warred with them as allies of the colonists, said she abandoned a similar effort last year, fearing it would be subsumed in the present-day debate over whether the Israel war on Gaza was an act of genocide. The time seemed right to try again, she said. 'It is, in my opinion, of utmost importance that we, as a state and a governmental institution, recognize and condemn the actions induced by the language of this treaty, which was repeated over and over again across the United States as we populated this country, and our treatment of indigenous people, which I think cannot be minimized,' Osten told the committee. Simon testified that his predecessor at the Yale program, the historian Ben Kiernan, included the Pequot War as an episode of genocide in his book, 'Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur.' It would be another 310 years before the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide would convene in 1948 to define genocide as a crime. 'It's central definition matches closely to what the Treaty of Hartford commanded,' Simon wrote. Addressing such a past is always relevant, he wrote. 'I believe that we have a responsibility to acknowledge the complicated past in our own history and that we can only be faithfully educating the next generation to confront the challenges they may face if we do so in the awareness that we are not covering up historical wrongs,' Simon wrote. Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, told Cluff, the tribal vice chair, he disagreed with such sentiments. 'The problem with these types of issues is that there are multiple sides of these stories, and I'm not taking a side by any stretch of the imagination,' Sampson said. 'I don't know enough about Pequot history or what happened in 1638.' Osten's resolution asks the General Assembly to 'make a very powerful statement about something that I don't think that the majority of our membership has any real knowledge,' Sampson said. The text of the treaty is online and a quick read. Cluff invited Sampson to visit her tribe's museum and research center if he wanted to learn more. Sampson said the treaty was struck by English colonists, more than a century before the colonies became a nation. 'I'm curious why you feel it's necessary for an entirely different country, the United States of America, to address this issue. Have you brought this concern across the pond, you know, to England?' Sampson said. 'And I'm just curious why it's important for Connecticut to address it.' Cluff replied that it is part of Connecticut's history. An effort four years ago to remove Mason's statue failed. Cluff said the tribe still would like to see it removed and placed on display at the Old State House in a historical exhibit providing context. 'I think we should learn from history, and I think that's important,' said Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott. 'Removing them actually takes them out of history.' Cluff disagreed, saying erasing Mason from history is the last thing the tribe wants. It just doesn't want him celebrated in a niche high in the Capitol overlooking Bushnell Park. This article first appeared on CT Mirror and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Organizers cancel Sailfest
New London — The annual Sailfest event that brought hundreds of thousands of visitors downtown for the last 45 years has been cancelled due to city budget issues, festival organizer Barbara Neff said Wednesday. But Mayor Michael Passero contends Neff made the decision before other options were fully explored. Early Tuesday night, Passero said the popular fireworks display would continue as he had spoken with Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler, who assured him the tribe would continue to fund the show. Neff, executive director of the Downtown New London Association, said she was told Tuesday by city officials no money would be available to cover the estimated $200,000 needed to pay for police, firefighter and public works overtime during the festival. Neff said she was stunned by the news as contracts for vendors and entertainment — including the popular fireworks display — had already been agreed to in many cases. 'Now I need to get on the phone and tell these people and companies it's not happening,' Neff said. 'We don't have the money to cover the lost funding.' But Passero said Wednesday the city didn't cancel Sailfest, Neff did after learning the city was not in a position this year to help subsidize the event. He said the city, facing a possible $2.5 million shortfall in state funding, is combing through every department budget to 'scratch out places to save.' 'If we're in a position where we have to cut positions, how can we justify using money for a street festival?' Passero said, who noted he was not at the meeting between Neff, city Chief Administrative Officer Steve Fields and Finance Director David McBride, during which festival costs were discussed. 'But we did not cancel the festival; this is a decision made by (Neff).' A formal statement issued by Passero's administration Wednesday afternoon states the Tuesday meeting between Neff and city staff focused on how increased public safety needs would be funded. 'Instead of engaging in weighing options, the organizer decided to cancel the festival admitting it was time,' the statement read. Security concerns Passero said he's also been worried for years about security at the event. In 2006, an elderly driver struck a crowd of attendees, injuring about two dozen people. He said the tragedy in New Orleans on New Year's Day, when 14 people were killed when a driver plowed through a celebrating crowd, has made him even more nervous. 'I think we'd have to put tens of thousands more into security before I'd feel good,' he said. In 2023, the summertime festival, which ran for decades Friday through Sunday, was shortened to exclude Friday due to police and other manpower issues. Neff said the festival serves as a much-needed source of revenue for downtown shops and restaurants after a winter shopping slump. 'They can make as much in two days as they did in January, February and March,' she said. 'And it's not just the businesses in the immediate area. There're places like the Hygenic Art and beverage distributors like F & F who will be affected.' Sal D'Angelo, owner of the Blue Duck & Bar on Bank Street, called Sailfest his 'biggest days of the year.' 'Last year on that Saturday we had 1,020 people come in, compared to 300 the next week,' he said. 'I spend a lot of time with my chef working out how to handle the volume and making sure we're offering the best service.' D'Angelo said it's not just his staff affected by the cancellation. 'There's DJs and bands booked ahead of time,' he said. 'We're going to try and come up with something ourselves that weekend that brings people in.' In her statement announcing the cancellation, Neff said the city will host three other fireworks displays this year sponsored by Foxwoods Resort Casino.
