Talking history

The Floral Park Historical Society will present “The Wrecks of the Bristol and the Mexico,” on Monday evening, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Floral Park Centennial Hall, Carnation Avenue and Tulip Avenue in Floral Park. The program will be presented by author and historian Art Mattson, of Lynbrook, and is free and open to the public.

The Mariners’ Burying Ground, in Lynbrook’s Rockville Cemetery, is one of the most historic places in the United States. A tall, marble obelisk marks the mass grave of 139 victims of two shipwrecks, the Bristol and the Mexico, off Long Island’s South Shore 175 years ago. Lynbrook Village Historian and author Art Mattson will tell how the wrecks happened, and discuss the huge impact the terrible tragedies had locally and nationally. He will “make history come alive” with prints, oil paintings, maps, and other objects. He will also be available for a book signing session after the program.   

Mattson is a retired investment banker with a second career as a historian, author, and lecturer. His published books are “The History of Lynbrook” (2005 and 2010) and “Water and Ice: The Tragic Wrecks of the Bristol and the Mexico on the South Shore of Long Island” (2009).  He is a frequent lecturer on Long Island history, motorcycling in Europe, opera, and art. His articles have been published in magazines, books, and newspapers in the U.S. and Europe.

Art and his wife Nori, have traveled extensively in the U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales researching the book he will discuss, “Water and Ice: The Tragic Wrecks of the Bristol and the Mexico on the South Shore of Long Island.” Water and Ice received the 2010 Joseph F. Meany Award for Excellence in New York State Maritime History.

For more information about the Floral Park Historical society, call Ann Corbett at (516) 775-6849 or visit www.floralparkhistorical.org.