Greenwich: the final project…

…is a historical, science-fiction time-travel mystery set against the backdrop of fast moving events leading up to the Greenwich Tea Burning of December 22, 1774. It is a tale of two small, South Jersey towns, Greenwich (Cumberland County), and Haddonfield (Camden County), both then and now; a story told against the backdrop of real places and historical events of eighteenth-century colonial New Jersey on the eve of the American Revolution.

Centered around the historic Greenwich Tea Burning of December 22, 1774, the narrative follows two parallel story lines over the same six-month period leading up to the events of December 22nd: one set in colonial New Jersey, 1774; the other in modern day Jersey, 1999.

The story opens in 1999 as our hero, John Samuel Weston, owner of a small biotech engineering firm in Haddonfield, NJ, wakes up in the psych ward of a local hospital recovering from an apparent psychotic break following a Labor Day weekend trip to Greenwich, Cumberland County, NJ. His friend and business partner, Bob Fenwick, experienced a similar “breakdown” on a July 4th fishing trip to Greenwich, which is what prompted John to go to Greenwich to investigate. In time, John comes to suspect that his recurring dreams and visions of 18th century time travel were real, and uncovers a common link between family lines, a certain variety of greenhead fly found only in this area, and a peculiar form of mental illness affecting this back-bay region since 1774—the so-called “curse of Greenwich.”

Beyond historical science fiction, Greenwich a story of love and passion, a tale of family lines past and present, genetic engineering gone awry and the supernatural, as John embarks on a mission of time travel to “lift the curse” that has rendered present day Greenwich a virtual ghost town.

While the main characters of the story are imagined, certain persons of history are referenced and make cameo appearances from time to time. I have tried to make these interactions as seamless and faithful to the character of the persons represented as possible, but in no way imply that such encounters actually occurred. Where appropriate, footnotes are inserted to clarify the historical context of these interactions. Beyond this, any resemblance of fictional characters to persons living or dead is purely coincidence.