Wick Griswold has just published a book titled "Griswold Point: History From the Mouth of the Connecticut River," but as much as it is about place, the book is about the many famous, infamous, and fascinating people in the Griswold family, who, starting in 1640, made great contributions to all aspects of the community.

These included Matthew Griswold I, who turned Griswold Point - then a wilderness - into a productive farm and fishing territory, and Florence Griswold, who transformed her house into an artist colony for the American impressionist movement.

Wick Griswold is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Hartford where he teaches a course titled "The Sociology of the Connecticut River Watershed." He works with regional and national organizations on environmental educational issues and in 2012 published his first book, "A History of the Connecticut River."

Griswold has lived in various towns in central Connecticut, spending summers since childhood at Griswold Point in Old Lyme. This past April he moved to the Point fulltime.

The following is an interview with the author about his new book.

Q. What is it like for you personally to carry on this prestigious family name and to have so much rich history in your own ancestry that you can trace back to the 17th century?

A. It's certainly a gift and a blessing to have that continuity. It's an impetus to do research, to learn more, a way of understanding the history - but the social history is what I'm most interested in as a sociologist.

Q. Looking at the title, people might think this is a book of historical facts and figures, but there are colorful and romantic stories interwoven throughout it. Why was it important for you to write as much or more about the people as the place?

A. Certainly, history is people. From my point of view the interaction of humans and their environment is the most important nexus we have. It's all about identity and who we are is always a function of where we are. Basically, the relationship between any organism and its territory is critical.

Q. Why was it helpful, as you say in the book, to put the history of Griswold Point into a socio-cultural context using the acronym FREEMMP (that stands for Family, Religion, Economics, Education, Medicine, Military and Politics)?

A. Those are the major social institutions that fulfill every society's basic social needs. Every one of those plays a vital role in a society sustaining itself. From the 17th century to the 21st, Griswold family members were actively involved in all those institutions. I tried to use FREEMMP as a framework, a touchstone to provide context and a coherent narrative. Otherwise my poetic self would have gone off into who knows where.

Q. How did the Griswold family play an important role in early Colonial history?

A. They were among the earliest governors of the state, the earliest Supreme Court justices. They played a role in the American Revolution, were early members of Congress, fought in The Civil War. They were instrumental in sending American ships all over the world.

Q. Who were some of the most interesting "characters" in the family?

A. Matthew III, the wayward son, was the most colorful. His (story) would have made a great movie if only he had a love interest. He had the wildest adventure. He ran away to sea, was impressed into the British Navy, escaped and signed on to a privateer, was involved in several battles, was captured by the Spanish, marched 600 miles into the jungles of South America, and just before certain death in the silver mines, the governor reprieved him. He was shipped back to Spain and on the voyage contracted malaria and small pox, which almost killed him but he recovered miraculously. He eventually made his way from Spain to Portugal to Newfoundland to Nantucket to Rhode Island and back to Old Lyme where he reconciled with family and promptly died.

Q. How about the women in the family?

A. Lady Fenwick. If I had a time machine, I'd be all over her. She's still seen as a magical person. She was the archetype of the American pioneer woman - she cultivated crops for food and medicine, was an expert markswoman, an expert equestrian, she could handle small boats, sing madrigals, had excellent relationships with indigenous people, and was drop-dead gorgeous.

Q. What were some of your favorite stories or little known facts that you dug up in your research and didn't already know?

A. I didn't know about Captain Kidd's treasure being hidden in the well on Gardiner's Island. I didn't know James Griswold would try to summon the ghost of Abraham Brunson to find out where lost family papers were … and I didn't know the Griswold Manufacturing Company made pianos.

Q. You name a lot of people in the book's acknowledgments. Who was especially helpful in doing your research?

A. The whole family was just wonderful (providing) family archives, anecdotes, documents, secrets even I wouldn't tell! I was able to get the perspectives of five generations - in their teens to their 90s.

Q. Do you think your book will appeal to people outside the local area?

A. The story certainly goes beyond our neck of the woods. It goes to China and to Congress and across the country in every frying pan the Griswolds made (produced by Griswold Manufacturing Co.). I'm trying to get across the sense that it was people that were and are America and that we're still a work in progress and that work has been going on for a long time. The family is sort of a microcosm of the American pageant with every social institution well represented by family members.

Q. What do you see as the future of Griswold Point?

A. In a very real way it depends on what happens with global climate change. The topography has changed dramatically in the last several years with hurricanes Sandy and Irene. The bird population has changed, the habitat available for nesting plovers and terns has decreased. We can all do our little green stuff, protect bird-nesting areas, but it goes beyond that. The problem affects everyone on the planet. We need to stop our rampant consumerism and become aware that our little planet doesn't have infinite resources.

BOOK TOUR

Wick Griswold will discuss and sign copies of his book, "Griswold Point: History From the Mouth of the Connecticut River" (History Press), this month on the following dates. The dates have been corrected from an earlier version that listed the event at Bank Square Books as taking place on Sept. 18:

Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.: Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme; (860) 434-1684

Saturday, Oct. 18, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Bank Square Books, 53 West Main St., Mystic; (860)-536-3795

Sunday, Sept. 21, 3 p.m.: The Black Hall Grille, 100 Shore Rd., Old Lyme; (860) 434-1414