From rumrunners to atomic submarines: ‘Back in The Day’ debuts online at theday.com

History runs deep in southeastern Connecticut, where a bounty of colorful characters and momentous events have been chronicled by The Day for over a century. Even today, our writers and photographers like to take a step back in time to remind us what was going on in our own backyard decades ago.

To highlight some of the region’s most intriguing, overlooked or even forgotten history, The Day is debuting a new online feature called “Back in The Day.” Readers can dial it up at theday.com/backintheday.

The site includes historic front pages, like the Jan. 21, 1954, edition with the blaring two-deck headline:

“World’s First Atom Submarine Launched at Groton

Heralding New Eras in Naval War, Peaceful Power” You can check out Day Staff Writer John Ruddy’s tale of Prohibition bootleggers in our area, or Lee Howard’s account of how the famed “Negro Motorist Green-Book” may have had its genesis in New London. Other stories chronicle an obscure cemetery at Connecticut College that harks back to a strange colonial religious community, and a recent surprise visit to New London by the presidential yacht Sequoia.

The page includes the new “Recorded History” podcast, which in a recent episode told the story behind the building of the Mayflower II. A photo feature called “Then and Now” documents the significant changes the region has undergone over the years.

The site will be updated frequently, so keep checking in. We hope you enjoy it.