On Thursday Jan. 15, at 7 p.m., guest speaker Robert McKenna of Noank, Conn., will give a presentation at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library on the making of the 2013 Emmy Award winning documentary, The Real McCoy, about the pioneer Rum Runner who fueled the Roaring 20s. The enterprising and adventurous Bill McCoy was one of the most celebrated characters of the Prohibition era.
Learn the facts about the early days of rum running and the origin of the phrase, “It’s the real McCoy” through the film maker’s eyes and commentary. Question and answer time will follow the presentation.
All are welcome and admission is free.
Robert McKenna is an author and the expert on rum running during Prohibition. He has researched, updated, edited, and republished six books about liquor smuggling in the 1920s, and was a researcher, subject matter expert, and Executive Producer of the five-time Emmy Award winning documentary film “The Real McCoy” (2012), and a contributor to Connecticut Public Television’s Emmy Award winning documentary “Connecticut Goes Dry” (2012).
He is also a lecturer on the “The Rum War at Sea,” and the author of the popular 2009 Wooden Boat Magazine article “The McCoy Brothers” about boatbuilding and rum running. As a former Coast Guard officer he interdicted smugglers, and practiced the legal precedents that were established during the Prohibition-era.
The Library is located at 2 Library Lane, off Lyme Street in Old Lyme. Winter hours are Monday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration required by calling 860-434-1684 or visit www.oldlyme.lioninc.org to register online under the Events calendar.
If the Library’s parking lot is full, additional spaces are available on Lyme Street. There is also a parking lot behind the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall across the street from the Library