Frog Hollow Journal

Frog Hollow Journal is a colorful memoir - peopled with vividly drawn neighbors, family members, and a beloved dog. It is the story of one family's quest to carve out a more authentic life amid the demands of modern society. With self-deprecating humor and the telling detail of a born raconteur, James Fairfield traces a path from his childhood on the Canadian prairie to his transformative experiences on a small farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. James, like many of us, felt overwhelmed by responsibilities, credit limits, and rush hour traffic. After moving to Virginia, however, he began to yield to the countryside's slower cadences and realize that life doesn't have to be so hectic. His musings along the way, and the lessons learned through exploring the Beatitudes, trace his spiritual journey as well. Anyone, he proposes, can learn to live "Frog Hollow style," practicing integrity, neighborliness, and indomitable faith. Here is an affectionate account, roaming from the pick-up ball games and lively escapades of the author's youth on the plains of Manitoba, Canada, to the honorable inhabitants and timeless traditions of the Shenandoah Valley. His experiences, often humorously humbling and spiritually challenging, are illustrated by Norma's drawings. AUTHOR BIO James G. T. Fairfield has written in many genres, including a syndicated newspaper column; articles for naturalist publications; and books on conflict resolution, theological studies, and biography. He and his wife, Norma (a gardener, vegetarian cook, and illustrator) live in a century-old farmhouse near Frog Hollow. They have been married for sixty-three years.

Portraits of a gritty New England neighborhood and its people, with accompanying photos, reflecting waves of immigrants and tides of American history. Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late nineteenth century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. “Goes into great detail about the misfortunes, the corporate decisions and the governmental missteps that contributed to bringing Frog Hollow low. But despite a sometimes sorrowful tone, the book ends on a hopeful note.” —Hartford Courant

Portraits of a gritty New England neighborhood and its people, with accompanying photos, reflecting waves of immigrants and tides of American history. Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late nineteenth century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. “Goes into great detail about the misfortunes, the corporate decisions and the governmental missteps that contributed to bringing Frog Hollow low. But despite a sometimes sorrowful tone, the book ends on a hopeful note.” —Hartford Courant