Release Date: September 8, 2026
Size: 6 x 9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-239-2
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57869-240-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2026915831
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or at Ingram.

SYNOPSIS

The Town I Crow About is a collection of stories that 94-year-old Raymond Hills told his daughter, Donna, as he looked back on his life growing up in East Millstone, New Jersey, a small, once industrious town with a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.

From the schoolyard to Market Street, Raymond invites readers into personal reflections spanning the Great Depression through the World War II era and beyond, introducing them to East Millstone’s early history and explaining how the town has evolved over the years. His stories begin with childhood adventures in the Boy Scouts, follow his teenage years racing a Model A roadster, recount his service in the Navy, and conclude with the courtship of the woman who would become his wife of 63 years.

While historical photographs bring each story to life, it is the people, Raymond included, who make East Millstone—the town he crows about—special.

Praise

“The Town I Crow About is an autobiography that leaves you feeling as if you’ve spent the afternoon sitting on a front porch listening to your grandpa share his life with you. Reading it feels entirely different from looking at a standard historical document because the focus stays on real, human moments…This book is a beautiful reminder of how local memories shape our understanding of the past. Very highly recommended.”

—Tanya Kays for Readers' Favorite

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“Small towns can tell big stories, and Donna Patrick’s The Town I Crow About is a poignant look at life, blending past and present, happiness and sadness. The stories that Patrick wrote with her father, Raymond Hills, examine a tiny New Jersey village. But the themes in those stories are universal.”

—Mike Kelly, USA Today columnist and author of After Ground Zero: Everyday Americans and the Unhealed Scars of 9/11

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“What is it like to grow up in a small town? Let us consider East Millstone, New Jersey, a tight-knit community with fascinating local traditions. Raymond Hills told this story to his daughter Donna. And we are grateful to her for capturing the narrative and writing it up in the first person. This memoir is all about connection to the landscape. For example, growing up here meant having a strong connection to the Delaware and Raritan Canal, which was completed back in 1834. It had a towpath built on one side that allowed draft animals to pull a barge. Here Raymond learned to row, fish, and swim on the canal. Later he took up hunting for squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, and woodcock. Every reader will enjoy this stroll down memory lane and experience an entertaining way to look at growing up in this special place.”

—Angus Kress Gillespie, professor emeritus at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

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“The Town I Crow About is a deeply captivating read that balances the informative with the personal. Time disappears as you immerse yourself in the pages, evoking the feeling of sitting at a kitchen table late at night with Raymond, listening to his memories flow like the D&R Canal.”

—Sarah Augustine, coauthor of Whitesbog

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“If you are looking for great stories about a wonderful small town, then The Town I Crow About is for you. What was it like growing up in a canal town in the middle of the 20th century? As I read Ray’s adventures, I felt as though I had become a part of the fire company, the ice cream shop, and patriotic holidays celebrated in East Millstone. I loved reliving the good old days with Ray and his family in this lovely, historic central New Jersey village.”

—Linda J. Barth, D&R Canal author and historian

reviews & in the news

Readers’ Favorite, June 20, 2026: 5-Star Review

Meet the Author

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Donna Hills Patrick is the first of Raymond and Arlene Hills’s three daughters. She lived in East Millstone until she married and moved to Vermont with her husband Jon. Donna worked for over twenty years in construction and space management. The Town I Crow About is her first book.