Grating The Nutmeg

  In this episode, we celebrate and commemorate National Borinqueneers Day coming up on April 13th. It recognizes the bravery, service, and sacrifice of the 65th Infantry Regiment,  a United States Army unit that consisted mostly of soldiers from Puerto Rico and the only segregated Latino unit in the United States Army.   But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952 during the Korean War when 91 regiment members were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen to such a distinguished and decorated unit of the Army?   Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guest for this episode is accomplished Connecticut author of young adult literature, Talia Aikens-Nunez. In her book, Men of the 65th, The Borinqueneers of the Korean War, she guides us through the history of the 65th from its beginning in 1899.   This book is a great read for a young adult reader or anyone that has a member of their family that served in the regiment. There is a beautiful monumen

  One of the most recognizable food brands in the world got started in a kitchen in Fairfield, Connecticut. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with historian Cathryn J. Prince about Margaret Rudkin, the woman who founded Pepperidge Farm.    Read Prince's full-length article about Rudkin on the Connecticut Explored website here: https://www.ctexplored.org/pepperidge-farm-healthful-bread-builds-a-business/   Natalie Belanger is the Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. You can see the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in their current exhibition, Connecticut's Bookshelf, open now through September 8, 2024.   ---------------------------------------------------------- Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you!  Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you s

Are they pirates, profiteers or legitimately authorized extensions of George Washington’s almost non-existent American Navy? We’ll find out with guest historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American RevolutIon. Dolin will underscore an element missing from most maritime histories of the American Revolution: a ragtag fleet of private vessels — from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war helped win the war, including some 200 from Connecticut. Armed with cannons, guns, muskets, and pikes, thousands of privateers tormented the British on the Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.    Eric Jay Dolin is the author of sixteen books, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, a topic we look forward to exploring in an upcoming episode of Grating the Nutmeg. Rebels at Sea was awarded the Morison Book Award for Naval Literature, conferred by the Naval Order of the United States, and was a finalist for the New England Society Book Award.  His forth

  181. Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950   In the February 4, 2024 issue of the New York Times, journalist Adam Mahoney describes the Great Migration as a time when millions of Black people left the South to escape segregation, servitude and lynching and went North in search of jobs and stable housing. In this episode, host Mary Donohue will discuss Hartford and the Great Migration with Dr. Stacey Close. Connecticut Explored’s book African American Connecticut Exploredpublished by Wesleyan University Press has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Dr. Close served as one of the principal authors for this groundbreaking volume of essays that illuminate the long arc of Black history in Connecticut.   A native of Georgia, Dr. Close has worked in higher education for more than 25 years. A professor of African American history at Eastern Connecticut State University, Close received his Ph.D and M.A. from Ohio State University and his B.A. from Albany State College, a Historically Black College in Georgi

  Although Connecticut sometimes seems like such a small, isolated place on the map, it was connected to the far-flung, complex, cosmopolitan British empire even in the 17th century.  This year on Grating the Nutmeg, we’re going to explore Connecticut’s maritime history with episodes on Colonial Connecticut’s trade with the British colonies of the Caribbean, privateering during the American Revolution and the whaling ships sent around the globe in the nineteenth century. Connecticut’s maritime entrepreneurs made fortunes by sending ships to sea and employed sailors, shipbuilders, traders, drovers, provisioners, and more.   In this episode, we talk about sugar. Sugar production in the tropical climate of the British islands of the West Indies made men tremendous fortunes. But to cultivate and process sugar cane into sugar required vast amounts of labor. As my guest Dr. Matt Warshaurer wrote in the Summer 2023 issue of Connecticut Explored “The fields and mills of the Caribbean were worked by African peoples s

  179. Connecticut’s Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Hated Man This is our first new episode for 2024 and we’ve got some big news! Thanks to you-our listeners-we had 30,106 downloads in 2023! That’s our best year ever! We have brand new Facebook and Instagram pages under Grating the Nutmeg-please follow us and you’ll get behind the scenes photos, sneak peeks of new content, and info on how to purchase our new merchandise!   In today’s episode, we discuss one of the most well-known sons of Connecticut and one that is one of the most perplexing! My guest is Jack Kelly, historian and author of the new book God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man. Kelly believes a reevaluation of Arnold’s career with his string of heroic achievements as well as his betrayal of the American patriot cause is needed. In Connecticut, Benedict pivots from being a greatly admired hero of the Battle of Ridgefield on the American side to being the commander of the British troops that burned New London and ma

    Did you ever think the universe was trying to tell you something? I just finished reading Anderson Cooper’s book on the Vanderbilt family. In it, he describes family patriarch Commodore Vanderbilt’s interest in Spiritualism and clairvoyance. Cooper writes “Evidence suggests that the Commodore had begun attending seances as early as 1864, but given the mainstreaming of Spiritualist practices in the 1860s and ‘70s, this was not as unusual as it may sound. The period immediately after the Civil War had seen a dramatic rise in the Spiritualism movement and other alternative modes of healing and perception, driven largely by the staggering loss of life experienced during the Civil War.”  We explored heiress Theodate Pope Riddle’s obsession with Spiritualism in Grating the Nutmeg episode #109 but what did Hartford’s most famous resident of the Gilded Age, Mark Twain, think about it? And what about the ghosts seen in the Twain House? Whether you  believe in the afterlife, don’t believe in it at all, or just wan

In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger sits down with acclaimed crime writer M. William Phelps to get to the bottom of a notorious early 20th century Connecticut murder story. In the 1910s, Amy Archer Gilligan operated an innovative business in Windsor: a convalescent home for the ill and elderly. Her benevolent facade, however, hid a deadly purpose: a business plan that depended on constant inmate turnover, aided by arsenic poisoning. You'll hear all about how the case was broken by a neighbor who happened to write for the Hartford Courant, in a story involving midnight graveyard autopsies, poisoned lemonade, a shady doctor, and the birth of the Connecticut State Police. And oh yeah, the story got turned into a blockbuster Broadway comedy and a 1944 movie starring Cary Grant.      If you want more historical true crime content, check out the latest exhibition at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Called "Connecticut's Bookshelf," the exhibit covers 300 years of reading, writing,

Witchcraft accusations began in Connecticut in May, 1647, with the trial and execution of Alice Young of Windsor, 45 years before the better-known witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts.  Connecticut had witchcraft accusation outbreaks in the early 1660s in Hartford and again in Fairfield in 1692, with criminal trials ending in 1697.  In colonial Connecticut, dozens of women, and some men associated with them, were accused of witchcraft. The colony hanged eleven people.   In May, 2023, Connecticut’s General Assembly moved to clear the names of all those accused of witchcraft in the state and issue an apology. State lawmakers, descendants of the accused, and local historians organized to present testimony and pass a resolution declaring the accused innocent. House Joint Resolution 34, "Resolution Concerning Certain Witchcraft Convictions In Colonial Connecticut," passed 376 years after the state put Alice Young to death.   Today, Dr. Kathy Hermes talks with Beth Caruso about the history of witchcraft and the ex

Podcast host and historic preservationist Mary Donohue started following a project on Facebook four or five years ago. It was based on a very simple idea-sleeping overnight in historic buildings-but it was also genius. The project was the Slave Dwelling Project. Joseph McGill,Jr., a Black historic preservationist and Civil War reenactor based in South Carolina, had begun this groundbreaking project to sleep overnight in the countless and very underappreciated former slave dwellings that still stand across the country. What has this to do with Connecticut? McGill not only sleeps at residences across the South but the North and West too. In Connecticut, he has slept at buildings owned by the Greenwich Historical Society and in New London at the Hempstead Houses owned by Connecticut Landmarks. At each stop, events and campfires are held to explore with the public the way the history of the enslaved has been told.   When Donohue discovered that Joe had a new book coming out in the summer of 2023, she immediately

    From the rural backwater of Hartland, Connecticut in 1773, Asher Benjamin would rise to become one of the most important figures of early American architecture. In addition to training as a skilled finish carpenter, he published the first architectural guidebooks-how-to books by an American-born author. These went through many editions and left a lasting record of how Federal-period craftsman could build the many stunning churches and homes from the earliest years of our country. He may have even held the first architectural school in America-more about that in this episode.   In this episode, architectural historian Mary Donohue interviews guests William Ranauro, author of Asher Benjamin, American Architect, Author, Artist, published by Outskirts Press in 2021 and Lynn Mervosh, Site Administrator for the Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden in Suffield, Connecticut. Mr. Ranauro is one of the speakers for the  upcoming  Asher Benjamin Symposium.  Today’s episode is inspired by an upcoming symposium sponsore

This fall the Connecticut Museum is hosting the Smithsonian traveling exhibition ¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues / En los barrios y las grandes ligas. It explores the historic role that baseball has played as a social and cultural force within Latino communities across the world, and how Latinos in particular have influenced and changed the game.    You can’t find a better local story about baseball, family, and community than that of the Springer family of New Britain. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with George Springer, Jr. George is a very proud dad. His daughters Nicole and Lena played collegiate softball, and both went on to play for the Puerto Rican National team. His son, George Springer III, plays right field for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2017, when he played for the Houston Astros, he was an MLB All-Star and named World Series MVP.    But if George Jr. Is a proud dad, he’s equally a proud son. You’ll hear him tell the story of how his dad, George Springer Senior, migrated to Co

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