234. Saving Connecticut’s Historic Barns
Grating the Nutmeg
In 2006, , then the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, realized that historic barns across the state were being demolished or allowed to fall down. What could be done to save them? Where were they? How many are there? How can we get people across the state to be interested in barns? All of this was unknown. My guest, Todd Levine, was hired to help answer those critical questions. Todd is currently the Environmental Review officer and Connecticut Freedom Trail Coordinator at the . He is an architectural historian and received his graduate degree from the Savannah College...
info_outline
233. Rough Justice for Connecticut State Hero Nathan Hale (10th Anniversary Encore Release)
Grating the Nutmeg
Happy 250th birthday to our nation and 10th anniversary to Grating the Nutmeg! In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered edition of an episode recorded in 2020 with , Connecticut State Historian Emeritus. Dr. Woodward takes a new look at the actions surrounding the Revolutionary War execution of State Hero Nathan Hale, and finds there are still some burning questions left to be answered about this hasty and irregular event. It’s a story from Walt's book from Globe Pequot Press. As you’ll soon hear, when looking for answers about the...
info_outline
232. Guides for Black Travelers: New London’s Green Book Sites
Grating the Nutmeg
What’s the first thing you do when you want to take a trip? Look through Instagram to find things to do? Or Yelp for restaurants that serve local cuisine? Today travelers can follow social media influencers and websites that promise to give you an insider’s look at places to stay or the best discounted hotel rates. But for Black travelers in the Jim Crow era through the 1960s, it wasn’t easy to find places to eat or stay overnight. In this episode, we are going to talk about two national guides for Black travelers, both published beginning in the 1930s, and places that were included...
info_outline
231. John Hooker: Hartford’s Abolitionist Lawyer
Grating the Nutmeg
In this episode, you’ll be introduced to John Hooker, a Hartford lawyer, judge, and abolitionist as well as a reformer for women’s rights. Hooker was the president of the anti-slavery committee in Hartford, published the Charter Oak anti-slavery newspaper with the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society of Hartford, and co-authored with his wife Isabella Beecher Hooker, the state bill in 1877 that gave married women more control of their property. Why isn’t he better known? Our guest for this episode is Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation & Visitor Experience at the ....
info_outline
230. Pursuing Happiness: New Horizons Village
Grating the Nutmeg
In 1955, a group of disabled young adults living at New Britain Memorial Hospital signed a letter declaring their intention to seek out "adventuresome living for the physically handicapped." They formed a nonprofit called New Horizons and set out on a thirty-year journey to raise money and navigate legal barriers in order to realize their most cherished dream: a housing complex for the disabled, run by the disabled. In 2026, New Horizons Village in Farmington turns 40. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the gives you a capsule history of the New Horizons movement and speaks with...
info_outline
229. Irish Immigration in Art from the Fairfield Great Hunger Museum at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum
Grating the Nutmeg
Famine Irish, lace-curtain Irish, shanty Irish: the Irish Diaspora has shaped Connecticut’s European immigrant history from the 1840s. Traces of Irish history and culture in the state are not only found in archival and artifact collections but also through the historic buildings, neighborhoods, and cemeteries that stand across the state. Whether they were immigrants, expatriates, refugees, or indentured servants when they arrived from Ireland, 14 percent of Connecticut’s current residents claim Irish ancestry. In today’s episode, we take you to a new exhibition, curated by...
info_outline
228. Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut
Grating the Nutmeg
If you are driving in Bristol, Connecticut-maybe you’re going to Lake Compounce Amusement Park - and suddenly you spy a cluster of huge satellite dishes, you might wonder if space aliens had really landed. But what you’ve discovered is the home base of ESPN - originally entitled the Entertainment & Sports Programming Network - shortened to ESPN in 1985. Every year tens of millions of fans watch ESPN but 47 years ago, a 24-hour sports television cable network was considered a wild and impossible idea. Our guests on this episode are the authors of the new audiobook ...
info_outline
227. Pioneering Woman Sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman
Grating the Nutmeg
I’ve got a story about an artist that I’ve been obsessed with for years. In this episode, Patricia Hoerth Batchelder talks about her new biography of Evelyn Beatrice Longman, The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments. Poor, motherless at five, and uneducated after elementary school, Longman made the highly ambitious claim at nineteen that she could create monumental sculpture. The book tells the story of how she created beauty, moved into upper class society, and succeeded in a field of art that was overwhelmingly dominated by men. Ms. Batchelder has worked for...
info_outline
226. Abby (and Julia) Smith and Their Cows
Grating the Nutmeg
Last year, in Episode 217, listeners were introduced to Hannah Smith. Born in 1767, Hannah was the matriarch of the non-conformist Smith Family of Glastonbury. In the 2020s, her diaries inspired Leonard Raybon, a music professor at Tulane, to compose an original mini-musical based on her writings. You can view the debut performance of "Hannah and Her Daughters" . This episode focuses on the next generation of the Smith family. Hannah Hickock married Zephaniah Smith of Glastonbury in 1786, and their marriage produced five daughters. Two of the...
info_outline
CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Grating the Nutmeg
March is Women’s History Month! Here's 5 Not to Be Missed Stories!
info_outline
Whaling was big business. Connecticut and her sister New England states built ships, forged cast iron tools, produced wooden storage casks and outfitted sailors. Stonington, Mystic, New London, and New Haven were part of New England’s predominance in successful whaling. We’re going to get into the nitty gritty of the trade in this episode and hear about some of the striking artifacts from Mystic Seaport’s whaling collection - tools, ship logs, harpoons, blubber hooks and scrimshaw - that are on view. They speak to the staggering risks and rewards of the whaling industry that lit America’s lamps and greased its machines for over a century. We’re also going to talk about the largest whaling artifact of all - the Charles W. Morgan, the last American whaling ship in existence. It was considered “ancient” in the 1920s but has been faithfully restored.
This summer we are featuring two episodes on whaling. To get the big picture on whaling, we talked to one of our favorite guests, Eric Jay Dolin, in episode 211, about his book Leviathan, the History of Whaling in America. And in today’s episode, we’ll visit Mystic Seaport Museum’s new exhibition “Monstrous: Whaling and Its Colossal Impact” with curator Mike Dyer. The exhibit explores the sheer scale-physical, economic, and human-of the nation’s whaling industry and its legacy. Dyer is the Curator of Maritime History and an Instructor in the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime History at Mystic Seaport Museum. Visitors can tour the new exhibit and visit the Charles W. Morgan for an unforgettable immersive experience.
*Warning: Listeners may find the content of this episode disturbing. Whaling was a brutal trade. We are describing the industry in its historic context.*
Listen to the whaling episode with Eric J. Dolan at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/211-leviathan-new-englanders-and-the-history-of-whaling
Contact Michael P. Dyer at michaeldyer@mysticseaport.org
Find out more about the new exhibit here: mysticseaport.org/exhibit/monstrous/
Find out more about the Charles W. Morgan here: mysticseaport.org/explore/morgan/
Find out more about American whaling here: whalinghistory.org/
You’ll find the link to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park here:
--------------------------------------------
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials - Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!