Grating The Nutmeg

In any gift shop in New England, you’ll probably find lighthouses pictured on tea towels and tee shirts and in snow globes. Lighthouses are fondly thought of as community landmarks and icons.   Connecticut has fourteen active lighthouses, two of which are maintained as private aids to navigation; six are standing but inactive. Some are located on dry land but a significant number are located in the waters of the Long Island Sound. Some are now private homes, but many can be enjoyed by the public including several that are periodically opened to the public by some of the state’s history museums. As early as the 1880’s, the federal government encouraged lighthouse keepers to open the lighthouses to visitors and tourists.   The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 provides an opportunity for the preservation of federally-owned historic light stations. The NHLPA program is a partnership among the United States Coast Guard; National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior; the General Services Admini

  It’s the summer of Barbie. Barbiecore, an homage to the stylish doll, is everywhere in fashion and home furnishings. It’s time to think pink!   So this episode is on Connecticut’s own Victorian Barbie Dream House - Roseland Cottage in Woodstock. How many shades of pink has Roseland Cottage been? We’ll find out! Executive Producer Mary Donohue talks to Laurie Masciandaro, site manager of Roseland Cottage museum owned by Historic New England.   Laurie holds a Masters Degree in American History from the University of Connecticut and is a frequent speaker on Connecticut’s historic gardens. Read more in this Connecticut Explored article written by Laurie at https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-a-presidential-july-4th/   To find out more about upcoming events at Roseland Cottage go to roselandcottage.org     -------------------------------------------------   Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the pod

Connecticut Senator George P. McLean’s crowning achievement was overseeing passage of one of the country’s first and most important wildlife conservation laws, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The MBTA, which is still in effect today, has saved billions of birds from senseless killing and likely prevented the extinction of entire bird species.   In this episode, Executive Producer Mary Donohue interviews Will McLean Greeley. He grew up with a deep interest in American history, politics, and birds.  After retiring from a 35-year career in government and corporate market research, he began a four-year research and writing journey to learn more about George P. McLean and his legacy.  A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington, Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate, published by the Rochester Institute of Technology Press in 2023, is his first book. The new book puts McLean’s victory for birds in the context of his distinguished forty-five-year career marked by many acts of reform during a time of w

  This episode was recorded on July 5th, 2023 just two days after the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg-the turning point of the American Civil War. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict. It’s been said that there are over 5,000 books written about the three-day battle-what more can be uncovered? GTN Executive producer Mary Donohue interviews Bridgeport historian Carolyn Ivanoff, author of We Fought at Gettysburg, Firsthand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, published in 2023 by Gettysburg Publishing. We Fought at Gettysburg follows the 17th Regiment through the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July of 1863. The book contains first-hand accounts of men who lived through the trauma of combat and survived to write about it. They describe what they saw, thought and felt on the battlefield.   For more information or go contact author Carolyn Ivanoff, please go to: Educator, Auth

In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum of History and Culture chats with some members of Connecticut’s  Cape Verdean community to learn about the culture’s deep roots in the state.  Roberta Vincent has been a passionate advocate for the Cape Verdean community in her home town of Norwich, Connecticut for decades. Educator Koren Paul grew up in Stratford and is President of the Cape Verdean Women’s Club of Bridgeport. Both women describe the origins of the community in New England and to talk about their personal experiences maintaining their cultural heritage. The conversation also includes Lynne Williamson, the mutual friend who introduced Belenger to Roberta and Koren. Williamson is the former director of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage and Arts Program, the state’s official folk and traditional arts initiative. CCHAP merged with the Connecticut Museum in 2015.    Learn more here:  Cape Verdeans in Norwich  Africans in Search of the American Dream: Cape

What’s being done to save the state’s industrial history? In today’s episode, Producer Mary Donohue talks to Renee Tribert, Preservation Services Coordinator for adaptive reuse and redevelopment for industrial buildings at Preservation Connecticut. Podcast audio engineer Patrick O’Sullivan and Donohue share some of their favorite places to go around the state where you can see old mills and factories that are being used for fun new uses and we hear from Ilona Somogyi, co-founder of Ball & Socket Arts in Cheshire, Connecticut about an old mill with a Cinderella story that will open this summer.   Connecticut was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.  Small brooks and rivers were dammed to create waterpower that turned machinery and the state’s textile, precision manufacturing and metal casting industries were born. Thousands of products were produced and the state attracted investors, inventors and immigrants to work in the factories. But as industry moved out in the last hal

It’s almost summertime and kids everywhere are already dreaming about their summer vacation. In 1964, Jimmy O’Sullivan of Cheshire, Connecticut had his heart set on a family outing from Connecticut to the see the World’s Fair in New York City’s Flushing Meadows Park with its futuristic, space-themed exhibits and “Peace Through Understanding” overarching theme. A short drive down Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway and over to Flushing Meadow Park put the O’Sullivan family squarely into the heart of the fair. O’Sullivan still has a photograph of himself at 9 years old in front of the fairs’ Unisphere, a 12-story-high stainless steel globe. The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair attracted approximately 50 million visitors including many from Connecticut during its two April-to-October seasons.   The guest for this episode is Dr. Jason Scappaticci, historian and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Capital Community College in Hartford. Not only does Dr. Scappaticci have a keen interest in all things World’s Fair but he i

In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society  takes you back to the greatest rock concert that never happened.    In 1970, a planned 3-day rock concert at Powder Ridge in Middlefield was cancelled after an injunction by the town. But tens of thousands of young people showed up anyway and proceeded to have one hell of a party. Belanger speaks with filmmaker Gorman Bechard, who's working on a documentary about Powder Ridge. Gorman peels back the many layers of this story, including a shady promoter, the town's grudge against a property owner, and the one famous musician who braved the police to show up and perform -- with an amp hooked up to a Mister Softee truck.     Click here to watch a trailer for the film and support its completion!   Thanks to Gorman Bechard and What Were We Thinking Films. If you haven't seen their 2019 film about New Haven pizza -- sorry, that's 'apizza' -- check out "Pizza A Love Story."   Want to know more about Connecticut’s rock and

“Lifestyle site Thrillist set out to find the most beautiful building in each state and Philip Johnson's New Canaan Glass House got the nod for Connecticut,” reported CT Insider. The Glass House, internationally famous for its design is also a landmark in the history of historic preservation and the history of the LGBTQ community. To celebrate May as historic preservation month and June as LGBTQ Pride month, here’s the story of its owner and designer Philip Johnson and his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. https://www.ctinsider.com/living/article/Glass-House-named-most-beautiful-building-in-6777524.php   Our guest for today’s episode is Gwen North Reiss, who has conducted many interviews for the Glass House oral history project and worked for several years as an Educator, conducting tours of the 49-acre National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Her article for CT Explored—Philip Johnson's 50-year Experiment in Architecture and Landscape—was published in the winter of 2020.  She has written many a

You may have heard the phrase “it’s not zoned for that” as in “Can I build a factory next to my house?” or “Can I put a trailer park in my north forty?”  But we may not understand the difference between the town’s master plan, land use requirements and zoning regulations. So let’s break that down. The State of Connecticut mandates that every ten years each community adopt its master plan as a blueprint for aspirations for growth, preservation, and sustainability. The master plan details in broad terms how land can be used-land use-for housing, retail, transportation, education and recreation. It also identifies environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands that should not be built on as well as historically significant areas like historic districts whose architectural character should be safeguarded. But it’s the town’s zoning regulations that pinpoint exacting what can be constructed and where. But zoning also has a dark side. What is “exclusionary zoning”? In this episode, Dr. Jack Dougherty, Professor and

  Connecticut and Puerto Rico have strong ties. The guest for this episode is Pablo Delano, a visual artist, photographer, and educator recognized for his use of Connecticut and Puerto Rican history in his work, including his 2020 book of photography Hartford Seen published by Wesleyan University Press, a Connecticut Book Award 2021 “Spirit of Connecticut” finalist. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Over the course of 20 years Delano amassed a substantial archive of artifacts related to a century of Puerto Rican history. Using this material, including three-dimensional objects, newspaper clippings, and photographs, he created The Museum of the Old Colony, a dynamic, site-specific art installation that examines the complex and fraught history of U.S. colonialism, paternalism, and exploitation in Puerto Rico. T

In this episode of GTN, Natalie Belanger and Elena Peters of the Connecticut Historical Society take a look at the beginnings of our national obsession with soft drinks. Here in Connecticut, people have been drinking carbonated drinks for a long time, maybe longer than you’d expect. Today, the soda industry is dominated by just a couple of corporations, but a hundred years ago, Connecticut was home to an astonishing number of soda bottlers. Listen to their conversation to learn about the origins of the soda craze, its relation to Prohibition, and the stories of the oldest surviving Connecticut bottlers. You’ll also hear about some really weird flavor combinations you could once order at Connecticut’s soda fountains, such as the Hot Beef Egg, which is exactly what it sounds like. This episode is best enjoyed with the soda of your choice!  Image caption:   Soda jerk at Monroe Pharmacy, New Britain. CHS collection, 2003.110.1.39    Read more about Connecticut’s soda companies here: https://hosmersoda.com/ https

As a preservationist, I have always believed that if you knew about the history of a place, it would make you care more about it. And if you uncovered the history, you’d feel inspired by the stories of the people who came before you. This episode reveals the importance of “citizen historians” - people who are dedicated to saving a historic place’s story as well as preserving the site for future generations.   Masses of Eastern European Jews began immigrating to the United States in the 1880s. Between 1881 and 1924, more than two and a half million Jews arrived in America. Many settled in large cities such as New York. But some were aided in becoming farmers and land- owners by the philanthropy of the Baron de Hirsch, a wealthy German Jew who amassed a fortune in building railroads. Funded by de Hirsch, the American Jewish Agricultural Society helped Jews to buy farmland, provided money for synagogues, published a Yiddish farm magazine and had Jewish farm agents. In Connecticut, an early Jewish farm community

Why did the State of Connecticut feel entitled to part of Ohio?  Where was Connecticut’s Western Reserve and how was it settled? The Litchfield Historical Society is opening a new exhibition on Connecticut’s Western Reserve on April 22,  2023 entitled “Come to a Land of Milk and Honey”.   Here’s what they say about the exhibit: “The story of the Western Reserve can be told through any number of historical lenses, but it is primarily a story of people: the people who felt compelled to leave Connecticut and New England for a new life in the west, and the people who chose to stay behind; the Native peoples who were forced from their lands by the arrival of migrants; the enslaved men, women, and children who were brought to the Reserve against their will, and the Black migrants who chose to make their homes in Ohio despite continued discrimination.”   In this episode, author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Alex Dubois and Linda Hocking from the Litchfield Historical Society about what they’ve found out abo

The book Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by New York Times best-selling author Erik Larson is a gripping account of the sinking of the British transatlantic luxury liner the Lusitania during World War 1.  Theodate Pope, the architect and owner of what is now the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut, who was a passenger on the Lusitania. Why did she sail on a British ship when Britain was at war? The ship was hit by a German submarine torpedo and sank within an hour. Why wasn’t Pope in a lifeboat? Why did she jump from the ship into the water? And how did Pope survive and what were the after effects?   In this episode, author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Melanie Bourbeau, Senior Curator at the Hill-Stead Museum. Bourbeau shares Pope’s first-hand accounts of the sinking and its aftermath from Pope’s letters, telegrams, diaries, and newspaper accounts, many of which are in the museum’s archives. After the war, it was revealed that the passenger ship was carrying 4 million rounds o

Journeys 旅途: Boys of the Chinese Educational Mission is on view at the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) through July 2023. This exhibition honors the 150th anniversary of the Chinese Educational Mission (CEM), a cultural and educational exchange program from 1872 – 1881. Headquartered in Hartford, the CEM enabled 120 Chinese boys, most of whom were barely teenagers, to study in New England with the goal of modernizing China by educating its future leaders abroad. It is a story of hopes, dreams, sacrifice, and the life-changing experience of international exchange.   In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Museum Educator Natalie Belanger talks to Karen Li Miller and Henry Qu about their work on Journeys. The CEM collection at the CHS was a well-known resource, but contained Chinese-language materials that had never been translated....until Henry Qu, himself an international student, made an unexpected stop at CHS on his way from New Jersey to Massachusetts. Three years later, Henry's detour resulted in a

Wall-to-wall posters, sticky floors, a small stage and the stale-beer smell give Toad’s Place its enduring character as a live-music shrine. Authenticity can’t be faked. Opened as a restaurant in 1975, Toad’s has welcomed hundreds of musical acts from the pioneers of the Blues like B.B. King, to today’s megastars Drake and Cardi B. But what does it take to run a nightclub? And have it be successful for almost half a century?   Author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Randall Beach, co-author with Toad’s Place owner Brian Phelps, of the new book The Legendary Toad’s Place, Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue, published in 2021 by Globe Pequot Press. Beach was the rock music critic for the New Haven Register from 1978 to 1984, covering many shows at Toad’s Place. He later wrote about rock music for the New Haven Advocate, the Hartford Courant, and Billboard magazine. He currently writes a column for Connecticut magazine.    Read more about Toad’s Place in the photo essay published in Connecticut Expl

Connecticut Explored magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary and our Grating the Nutmeg podcast it’s 7th anniversary. Neither of these milestones could have been reached without your support! Please make a gift to our new Fund for Excellence in Publishing at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/friends-of-connecticut-explored/   We need to ask our listeners for your help! This podcast is part of our “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History” series, and we’d like your feedback. Take our 5-minute survey and get a free copy of Connecticut Explored magazine. You’ll find the survey link in the Shownotes for this episode below. Thank you! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HARTEA12   When was the color line broken in the Hartford Fire Department? And how did a high school dropout and a Vietnam vet both become distinguished firefighters in the Hartford Fire Department? Hear their inspiring first-hand stories of growing up in Hartford’s African American community in the North End in and dive into the detectiv

Connecticut Explored magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary and our Grating the Nutmeg podcast it’s 7thanniversary. Neither of these milestones could have been reached without your support! Please make a gift to our new Fund for Excellence in Publishing at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/friends-of-connecticut-explored/   For over a century, almost 1700 people buried in the cemetery at the Connecticut Valley Hospital were identified with gravestones bearing only a number instead of a name.  In the 1990s, names of the deceased were restored to the site. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society (https://chs.org/) is taking a look at a digital history project that will help expand our understanding of the lives of the people buried in that cemetery and of mental health care in Connecticut's past. Kaitlyn Oberndorfer, CREC history teacher and graduate student, has undertaken a project that will link genealogical and demographic information to the n

How did 15 Connecticut high school students find themselves in French World War 1 trenches and what were they doing there? Find out in today’s episode! This podcast is part of our “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History” series, and we’d like your feedback. Take our 5-minute survey and get a free copy of Connecticut Explored magazine. You’ll find the survey link below. Thank you! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTWW1   My guests for this episode are Christine Pittsley, Special Projects Director for the Connecticut State Library and Katy Hitson, a Connecticut student who participated in the trench restoration in France when she was in high school. Pittsley has directed several award-winning World War 1 programs, including the Digging Into History trench restoration project and the Remembering World War One Digitization program, and has been recognized as a leader in the nation's WW1 commemorative efforts.   When the United States entered Europe’s Great War, World War 1, in 1917, Connecticut manufacturers