The Backstory of Olde Mistick Village...Now in Book Form!

It Takes a Village and a "Visjonær" Or Two

by Rona Mann photos by Jeffery Lilly

If you're "of a certain age," you should remember the outstanding ABC news commentator, Paul Harvey.

Among his kudos, awards, and accomplishments he perhaps was best known for a syndicated radio feature he pioneered called, "The Rest of the Story." Harvey's commentary was heard over 1200 radio stations, Armed Forces Radio, and reached 24 million people a week on ABC. There was not a broadcast award Harvey didn't win in his career and deservedly so.

Martin Olson, Joyce's father, came to America from Norway. He didn't know English at the time, but he knew how to build...and he know how to build upon what he built. He probably did not know the English word at the time, but he was a visionary of sorts, or in his native Norwegian tongue, a "visjonær." He started by building one house in East Haven. After that one house, he built a street of houses. When he saw that was successful, he built an entire housing development.

If Paul Harvey were alive today his focus would be smack on Joyce Olson Resnikoff and the almost-magical story that's behind the creation of The Olde Mistick Village, this story now in a brand new book by William T. S. Butler not surprisingly titled, The Real New England Village. This book needed to be written, it was begging to be written for decades, for the backstory behind this year-round gem located smack in the middle of Mystic is unique, uplifting, and just plain wonderful. It is a story of family, of legacy, of doing business the old-fashioned way, and trusting and believing in the people with whom you do conduct business.

Martin Olson, Joyce's father, came to America from Norway. He didn't know English at the time, but he knew how to build...and he know how to build upon what he built. He probably did not know the English word at the time, but he was a visionary of sorts, or in his native Norwegian tongue, a "visjonær." He started by building one house in East Haven. After that one house, he built a street of houses. When he saw that was successful, he built an entire housing development.

Joyce Olson Resnikoff with twin brother Jerry Resinikoff

Aerial image of site where Olde Mystik Village now stands

The village in development.

Martin Olson went on to be a prime developer of FINAST Grocery Stores, then in 1952, he built the first shopping center in the Groton Shopping Plaza which is still owned by the family. The idea of malls intrigued him, and Olson set his sights upon building an enclosed mall in Mystic in 1965 on 30 acres of farmland he had purchased, but the locals convinced him there was not enough population in the area to support it. Martin's daughter, Joyce and her twin brother, Jerry started to talk with area architects to see if they could make Martin's dream come true. "We went through eight of them till we found the right one," Joyce recalls. Jerry, now deceased, did all the construction to make it look completely unlike a mall, but exactly like an 18th century New England village. In 1973 The Olde Mistick Village opened with 40 stores, an actual church, a general store, duck pond, gazebo, and a meeting house which Joyce and Jerry dedicated to their parents on September 11, 1973, the actual day the village opened, realizing Martin's dream. "He cried when we dedicated the meeting house," Joyce says with a wistful smile of sweet remembrance. "They both did, for this was a real 18th-century village. No false fronts on the buildings, no painted facades It was, and still is, a real village."

That was 48 years ago, and today the Olde Mistick Village still operates as a "real New England village."Filled with a wide variety of shops, Joyce is quick to point out that they are all independently owned by local people. "No chain stores with headquarters in Chicago," she adds. "There is no absentee ownership here. All the owners are right here serving not only our thousands of wonderful tourists year-round but also local people who have come here to shop for years because everyone knows each other. When a new business comes into the Village, I sit down and speak with them first, making sure we're a fit because we're a family here, not just people who sign a contract. Georgetti Gifts - Collectibles -Jewelry, for example, has been here for 46 years, and it's a family business."

Especially important to Resnikoff are the dogs. "We encourage people to bring their leashed dogs here. It's a beautiful village for them to enjoy. Many of the shopkeepers have placed bowls of water outside their doors to quench the thirst of the four-legged creatures who clearly enjoy the venue as much as their owners. Resnikoff, along with sons, Shaun and Christopher, work hard to keep the Village a place people of all ages enjoy visiting. "They love to shop here," says Joyce, "but they don't have to. If they just want to take a beautiful walk, or sit on one of the many benches, they are more than welcome to do so." The Village is all one -level and fully accessible, appealing to all. Many a marriage proposal has taken place at the gazebo, many a wedding or renewal of vows have been performed inside the Meeting House, many a visitor loves to return again and again because they are "remembered" by the owners who inhabit the individual shops.

William T.S. Butler, who already had one chronology about Stonington history under his belt, proposed the idea to Joyce of penning a book on the history and uniqueness of the Village. A true daughter of that visionary father, she had a better idea and immediately got involved since local books on Mystic have never mentioned either of them or what their ingenuity and foresight created. They are actually co-writers of The Real New England Village, and Butler adds, "Joyce is a quick study. She looks for opportunity, and she does it."

It's a family affair for Joyce in every respect. Her son, Christopher with his company, Regan Enterprises Design & Build, added a brand new waterwheel last fall and keeps the Village looking exactly as it should. Son, Shaun Regan owns several businesses within the Village ranging from a well-appointed store for dogs and cats and those with two legs who love them to Bestemors, a Scandinavian gift and treat shop named after the Norwegian word for grandmother. So the Olson influence lives on in this place where something is always happening, and it's never the same experience any time you visit.

The book is history, but it's also a love story born of respect and family, tradition and legacy. It's Martin Olson's legacy. It's Joyce Olson Resnikoff's legacy. And it is that of her sons, of the people who own the shops in the Village, and the legacy of the visitors, both local and worldwide, who just can't stop coming. And isn't it wonderful that William Butler, with that cute little visionary forever peeking over his shoulder, has now put the experience in book form for all to enjoy.

Buy the book. Read the book. Shop the Village. Then you can truly say, as did Paul Harvey, "and now you know the rest of the story."

The Real New England Village, published by Buttermilk Channel Press, is available at Savoy Booksellers in Westerly, Bank Square Books in downtown Mystic, R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, and at a number of shops within The Olde Mistick Village.