Local author Erik Hesselberg will discuss his new book Night Boat to New York: Steamboats on the Connecticut, 1824-1931, a meticulously researched account of steamboat days on the Connecticut River, and their circuit from Hartford to New York City. Unlike the steamboats of Western waters, these vessels “were long, sleek craft, with sharp prows cutting a neat wake” as they traveled down the river at night to make port in New York by daybreak. 

 Erik has been writing about the Connecticut River for more than 20 years as an environmental reporter for the Middletown Press and then as executive editor of Shore Line Newspapers in Guilford. He was a regular contributor to the Hartford Courant and continues to write about the Connecticut River at his blog, voicesontheriver.com.