Grating the Nutmeg

    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 want to come to your own conclusions, this is an episode for you!   Guests today are Mallory Howard, Assistant Curator at The Mark Twain House & Museum and Dr. Jason Scappaticci, historian and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Connecticut State Community College Capital in Hartford.   And if you need more ghostly insight after listening to this episode, the Mark Twain House is sponsoring a book talk on Dec. 14, 2023 at 7:30pm with television’s Ghost Hunters Adam Berry and Steve Gonsalves in conversation discussing their debut books. Tickets are available on the museum’s website at marktwainhouse.org    If you want more Spiritualism and ghost stories, check out Grating the Nutmeg Episode 109. Communicating with the Spirits: Theodate Pope Riddle. Listen here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/109-communicating-with-the-spirits-theodate-pope-riddle You can purchase author Steve Courtney’s book “We Shall Have Them With Us Always” The Ghosts of the Mark Twain House at the Mark Twain House Museum gift shop. Dr. Jason Scappaticci can be reached at jason.scappaticci@gmail.com image: Samuel Clemens experimenting in Nicola Tesla’s lab in 1894. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grating the Nutmeg is the podcast of Connecticut history and 2023 winner of an Award of Merit for excellence from the Connecticut League of History Organizations. Brought to you by Connecticut Explored, Connecticut’s premiere history magazine. Subscribe now at ctexplored.org     It’s almost the end of 2023. Please use your Power of Giving to help us continue to offer the podcast at no charge to our listeners-students, teachers, and CT history fans around the country.  Podcast episodes were downloaded over 29,000 times this year! Could you make a $5 or $10 dollar monthly donation? To make your monthly or one-time donation go https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg   Thank you so much for your support!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.   

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, and publishing in our state. A "true crime" section in the exhibit features stories that document Connecticut's centuries-old fascination with criminal mayhem. Go to connecticutmuseum.org for details.   Thanks to our guest! M. William Phelps is the author of 45 books; exec-producer, writer and host of the #1 true-crime podcast franchise Paper Ghosts; a frequent television consultant and contributor, and more.    Contact Natalie Belanger at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford, Connecticut.   ----------------------------------------------------------- Grating the Nutmeg brings you top-flight historians, compelling first-person stories, and new voices in Connecticut history. Your donation will ensure that Executive Producers Mary Donohue and Natalie Belanger can bring you a fresh episode at no cost every two weeks! GTN works with museums around the state to spotlight places that you’ll want to visit, books published by Connecticut authors, new exhibit openings, and more. Use your Power of Giving to help us continue to offer the podcast at no charge to our listeners-students, teachers, and citizens around the country. In 2023 podcast episodes were downloaded over 28,000 times! Make your monthly or one-time donation at  https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.    

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 exoneration project, and with Sarah Morin about newly discovered evidence that accusations of witchcraft continued well into the 1700s in Connecticut.   Beth Caruso is a Windsor author who writes historical novels, including her novel One of Windsor about Alice Young, and has published original research about the Connecticut witch trials. She and Katherine Hermes are the authors of “Between God and Satan: Thomas Thornton, Witch-Hunting, and Religious Mission in the English Atlantic World, 1647–1693.” Connecticut History Review 61, no. 2 (2022): 42-82.   Sarah J. Morin is a project archivist at the Connecticut State Library. She has processed institutional and manuscript collections at the Connecticut State Library, the University of Connecticut, and two historical societies in Massachusetts   Kathy Hermes is the publisher of Connecticut Explored and professor emerita in history at Central Connecticut State University.   -------------------------------------- Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored     Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. Did you know that you can make a monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg by setting it up once on our website? You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated. Thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Kathy Hermes and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. 

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 pre-ordered it and read it the week she received it. Sleeping with the Ancestors How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery authored by Joseph McGill, Jr. and journalist Herb Frazier was published by Hachette Books.   In this episode, Donohue interviews author Joe McGill, Jr. and Nicole Thomas. Thomas was born and raised in New London. She gained in interest in local history 20 years ago after her  mother purchased a historic home.   Nicole works for Connecticut Landmarks as the Assistant Site Administrator at the Hempsted Houses Museum and is also a researcher for New London’s Black Heritage Trail. The New London Black Heritage Trail was honored as a History Gamechanger Project by Connecticut Explored in 2022.   Thanks to our guests author and historic preservationist Joe McGill, Jr. and historian and site manager Nicole Thomas.   To find out more about the Slave Dwelling Project, go to their website at slavedwellingproject.org and follow Joe on Facebook on the Slave Dwelling Project page. His book is available on Amazon.   To find out more about upcoming events at the Hempsted Houses go to ctlandmarks.org and follow them on Facebook at The Hempsted Houses. I highly recommend booking a tour with Nicole to experience the place where this history happened. To read more about enslaved man Adam Jackson at the Hempsted Houses, click here: https://www.ctexplored.org/adam-jacksons-story-revealed/    For more information on the Greenwich Historical Society’s recreation of an enslaved person’s sleeping area, visited by McGill in 2012, read more here: https://www.ctexplored.org/slave-quarters-in-bush-holley-house/   And for more articles that explore the long arc of Black history in Connecticut, find out more here:   https://www.ctexplored.org/african-american-history-in-connecticut-2/ https://www.ctexplored.org/slavery-in-connecticut/ ----------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored   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 podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. 

    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 sponsored by Connecticut Landmarks to celebrate the work and legacy of Asher Benjamin, one of the most influential members of the first generation of American architects. Take in a full day of learning and gorgeous Fall foliage  at the site of his first formal architectural commission, the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden in Suffield, Connecticut. The symposium is on October 7th, 2023-to find out more and to register go to ctlandmarks.org    Thank to guests William Ranauro and Lynn Merosh. To find out more about upcoming events at the Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden,  go to ctlandmarks.org. And don’t forget to register today for the upcoming Asher Benjamin Symposium at ctlandmarks.org. William Ranauro’s book Asher Benjamin American Architect, Author, Artist is available on Amazon.com   --------------------------------------  Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored     Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. Did you know that you can make a monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg by setting it up once on our website? You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. 

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 Connecticut from Panama in the 1950s and blazed a trail as an educator, overcoming racial prejudice that denied him access to some jobs, all while instilling a love of sports in his son.  George tells us about the ways that sports, particularly baseball, helped to foster community in the ethnically diverse towns like Bristol and New Britain where he and his dad raised their families.     You can learn more about the Springer family and the Pleibol exhibition at connecticutmuseum.org. The exhibition is open through November 5, 2023.    image: 1976 Forestville Little League World Series team, George Springer Jr. pictured, courtesy of the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame. ------------------------------------------------------- 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 podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you! Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.  

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 Administration and new stewards such as the New London Maritime Society and the Norwalk Seaport Association.   In this episode, Executive Producer Mary Donohue interviews guests Susan Tamulevich, Executive Director of the New London Maritime Society since 2008, during which time the NLMS became the steward of three area lighthouses, and Jordan Jackson, a Grating the Nutmeg listener and lighthouse fan who shares her first-hand account of visiting the Sheffield Island Lighthouse in Norwalk Harbor administered by the Norwalk Seaport Association.   There are many ways to visit Connecticut’s lighthouses. In the summer, the New London Maritime Society takes visitors by boat to see both the interior and exterior of its two lighthouses located in the Long Island Sound. The Norwalk Seaport Association also schedules summer boat trips out to Sheffield Island. The Cross Sound Ferry from New London has a cruise that includes sailing by eight lighthouses available until October 9th. Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven is open until November 1st-a perfect place for a close look at an early lighthouse, a walk on the beach or a sandwich.   For more information, visit these websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lighthouses_in_Connecticut   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lighthouses_on_the_National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_Connecticut   https://www.nlmaritimesociety.org/   https://www.seaport.org/   https://www.ctexplored.org/stoningtons-first-family-of-lighthouse-keepers/   https://www.ctexplored.org/two-if-by-sea-new-londons-harbor-light-stoningtons-old-lighthouse-museum/   New London photos courtesy of New London Maritime Society and Sheffield Island Lighthouse photos courtesy of Jordan Jackson.   -------------------------------------------------------------- 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 podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at www.ctexplored.org/   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you! Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.

  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 podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!   Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.

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 widespread corruption and political instability. McLean rose from obscurity as a Connecticut farm boy to serve as Governor of Connecticut and as a senator from Connecticut in Congress where he advised five US presidents and helped lead change and shape events as a US senator from 1911 to 1929.   Senator George P. McLean established the McLean Game Refuge in 1932 as a life sanctuary to preserve over 3,000 acres of meadows and forests he feared would be lost to development and resource exploitation. Today the wildlands have grown to over 4,400 acres, and protect hundreds of animal species. For more information, go to https://mcleancare.org/game-refuge/   To contact the author or to schedule a book talk, please go to: https://willgreeley.com   To purchase your copy of A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington, Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate, please go to the independent bookstores shown below: RJ Julia (all locations) Breakwater Books, Guilford, CT Books on the Common, Ridgefield, CT Byrd's Books, Bethel, CT To order online go to the RIT Press website: https://press.rit.edu/search-results-grid/?keyword=Mclean or Amazon.com   --------------------------------------------------------- Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history is the winner of a 2023 Award of Merit for excellence from the Connecticut League of History Organizations.  We count on your support to be able to bring you fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg every two weeks. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link. We appreciate your donations in any amount -thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.

  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, Author, Independent Historian P.O. Box 3294 Gettysburg, PA 17325 (203) 735-8739 https://sites.google.com/site/carolynivanoff/   Ivanoff offers book talks and programs in person and virtually. Programs include: 1) We Fought at Gettysburg--Stories of the Care Givers, Wounded and Honored Dead 2) We Fought at Gettysburg-- Comrades in Combat   To order your copy of We Fought at Gettysburg, please go to gettysburgpublishing.com or Amazon.com   Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history at:  ctexplored.org/shop     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 podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.