Hidden Hollow, circa 1937
October finds me in northwestern Connecticut. After more than a year's research and writing about my father, the photo-journalist, crime reporter and O'Neill biographer, Croswell Bowen, and his house, Hidden Hollow, there are questions that can only be answered in the record vaults of the small towns that surround the house: Patterson and Pawling, New York; and Sherman and New Fairfield, Connecticut. Maybe there are people who remember him. I've made a reservation to stay at the Rocky River Motel in New Milford. The Rocky River used to flow into the Housatonic; now it lies beneath Candlewood Lake. From innumerable childhood rides to New Milford for supplies, I remembered the location not far from the Connecticut Light and Power pumping station. The Patel family have done a great job rescuing this motel and making it a wonderful alternative to Bad-Day Inns on the interstates.
Using the Internet, I've scouted the various places and people I need to visit, and written annunciatory letters. Yet, I'm anxious. Will I have time to visit all these libraries, historical societies, town clerks? How will old friends of mine and my father's receive me? How will visiting an old place, loved and lost, effect me? Will I find the answers I'm seeking?
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