Donna Hills Patrick’s The Town I Crow About brings together family memoir and local history through the recollections of her father, Raymond Hills, a lifelong resident of East Millstone, New Jersey. Written in his first-person voice, the book follows the people, places, and routines that shaped his attachment to this small canal town. Raymond explains their collaboration plainly: “She does the writing and I provide the memories.” That arrangement gives the narrative its distinctive character, combining a father’s pleasure in remembering with a daughter’s attention to historical context. Organized around subjects including school, commerce, faith, Scouting, and family traditions, the book builds a portrait of belonging through the accumulated experiences of an ordinary life.

The narrative’s strongest quality is Raymond’s conversational presence. He’s curious, mechanically inventive, proud of his hometown, and willing to laugh at himself. Patrick preserves that personality through direct speech, playful observations, and details that make everyday activities easy to picture. “I was cool before cool was cool!” he declares while recalling the accessories he bought for his bicycle. His humor gives the affectionate tone energy, especially in passages about childhood ambitions, sibling dynamics, and the practical ingenuity encouraged by his father. Descriptions of potatoes baking on a classroom stove, clothes sewn from feed bags, and equipment assembled from spare parts also show how resourcefulness shaped family life. These objects carry emotional weight because they’re connected to effort, pleasure, and the people who made things possible.

Patrick gives those personal memories a substantial historical setting. The Delaware and Raritan Canal, the railroad, local factories, churches, and businesses emerge as forces that influenced how residents worked, traveled, worshipped, and spent their leisure time. Photographs, maps, and captions add useful visual context, connecting remembered experiences with the village’s changing appearance. The extended accounts of property ownership and institutional development give portions of the book a measured, documentary pace. Readers interested in community history will find value in that level of detail, particularly as familiar buildings acquire successive purposes across generations. The book’s affection also accommodates difficult material, including economic insecurity, hazardous industrial labor, racial prejudice, and unequal expectations for women and men. Those acknowledgments give the celebratory perspective greater depth and show how individual happiness could exist alongside wider social pressures.

The book’s emotional strength comes from its attention to relationships and the ways knowledge passes between generations. Parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, and fellow Scouts contribute to Raymond’s understanding of responsibility, adventure, and service. His sister, Joan, is an especially important presence, bringing companionship and a perspective that helps readers recognize the different experiences children can have within the same household. Across its loosely chronological chapters, the memoir returns to the work involved in sustaining a community: teaching a skill, maintaining a gathering place, volunteering time, or keeping a tradition alive. Patrick’s care for her father’s voice makes that work feel personal and tangible. The Town I Crow About will appeal to readers of family memoirs and regional history, offering an engaging account of how a particular landscape and its people can shape a life.

Pages: 194 | ISBN : 1578692393