DOWNRIVER - A Memoir of Choate Island

Call it history, call it nostalgia, this is the fascinating story of a small New England island's haunting past and absorbing beauty, by those who called it home for two centuries and a half, who knew it best, and loved it most.

Here is a refreshing new approach to the story of Massachusetts' distinguished Choate family and the picturesque island in Essex River which was their 300-acre domain and ancestral home for almost 250 years.

Here, through family journals, record books, diaries, reminiscences and photographs is a fascinating glimpse of the island's haunting past and rare natural beauty. Here is more than a gathering of historical facts and figures; here is a sensitive, intimate, sometimes humorous, insight into a period and place set apart.

The reader will be caught up in the hypnotic spell of the island's charm, and feel an irresistible tug at the heart through the poetry of Agnes Choate Wonson. Last of the Choates to live on the island, Agnes remembered with joy, tenderness and a special enthusiasm, the magic of the summer playground of her youth, the home of seven generations of her forebears. Her vivid recollections constitute an important part of Choate Island's heritage.

This book is a tribute to Agnes (1882-1981), a personal look at the time and way of rural life on the island she dearly loved.