
Grating the Nutmeg
Connecticut is a small state with big stories. GTN episodes include top-flight historians, compelling first-person stories and new voices in Connecticut history. Executive Producers Mary Donohue, Walt Woodward, and Natalie Belanger look at the people and places that have made a difference in CT history. New episodes every two weeks. A joint production of Connecticut Explored magazine and the CT State Historian Emeritus.
Latest episodes

Jul 30, 2021 • 36min
123. Connecticut Seen: The Photography of Pablo Delano and Jack Delano
In this episode, join Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, for a discussion with Pablo Delano, visual artist, photographer and professor of fine arts at Trinity College - and the artist behind the new book Hartford Seen, published in 2020 by Wesleyan University Press. His work is featured in the photo essay “Visually Breathtaking Hartford Explored” in the Summer 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine. Professor Delano’s father, Jack Delano, was a renown American New Deal-era photographer for the Farm Security Administration who photographed Connecticut in 1940. To see more of Pablo Delano’s work, visit www.pablodelano.com and look for his new book Hartford Seen wherever you get your books or order here https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/hartford-seen-delano/ For more information on “The Museum of the Old Colony” exhibition, see the exhibit website and exhibition information below: Official website: www.museumoftheoldcolony.org Web page from the last iteration of the project at Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture: https://cadvc.umbc.edu/pablo-delano-the-museum-of-the-old-colony/ Web page from Photoville Festival https://photoville.nyc/the-museum-of-the-old-colony/ Exhibition catalog from CADVC https://cadvc.umbc.edu/files/2020/02/Museum-of-The-Old-Colony-2.pdf Exhibition catalog from Hampshire College https://sites.hampshire.edu/gallery/files/2018/10/MoOC_catalogue_spreads.pdf To see more of Jack Delano’s work as a photographer for the Federal Security Administration, go to the Library of Congress website at LOC.gov Jack Delano Photographs, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/photos/?fa=subject:color%7Ccontributor:delano,+jack Jack Delano Papers, 1927-1995, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/mm98084274/ To read more about Jack Delano’s photographs taken of Connecticut’s Jewish farmers, get the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers available from the Greater Hartford Jewish Historical Society on their website at https://jhsgh.org/ This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Contact Donohue at marydonohue@comcast.net Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art, and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored-in your mailbox or inbox. And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by the Connecticut State Historian at TodayinCThistory.com

Jul 15, 2021 • 56min
122. The New Connecticut Yankee
In this special summer episode we visit Frank and Lisa Catalano, who in their 18th-century home garden in Lebanon, are using some very inventive approaches to bring back an old Connecticut tradition – self-sufficient food production. It's a history show for garden geeks . . . or maybe a garden show for history geeks.

Jun 29, 2021 • 1h 5min
121. Rooted in History: Connecticut’s Trees
In this episode, Dr. Leah Glaser and students from her 2021 Public History class at Central Connecticut State University present stories about the state’s witness trees — a project that evolved out of a semester-long class on local and community history. Trees are central characters in the state’s history, myths and legends. They witnessed the changing environmental, political, social, economic, and cultural landscape for decades and even centuries. What’s a witness tree, you ask? Find out in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg. Find Dr. Glaser’s article about witness and memorial trees in the Spring 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored online at www.ctexplored.org/trees-as-memorials-and-witnesses-to-history/ Dr. Leah Glaser is a professor at Central Connecticut State University and Coordinator of the Public History Program. Her 2021 class researched tree stories and each student presented one story on the podcast. Contact her at glaserles@ccsu.edu Andy King-The Mashantucket Pequots and the rhododendron David Prochorena-Pinchot Oak, Simsbury Helena Torres Diaz-The Witch Tree and the Hartford Witch Trials, Hartford Despina Merriman-Nathan Hale Pear Tree, Coventry Gregory Franklin-Puritans to Patriots (Ye Olde Oak), Easton Cameron Clarke-John Brown’s Tree, Torrington Grayson Belisle- Teddy Roosevelt and the McKinley Tree, Farmington Emma Koss-Land Stewardship and the Dewey Oak, Granby Valerie Chase-WWII Patriotism and Arbor Day, Windham Benjamin Johnson-The Old Oak Tree and the Coltsville labor strike, Hartford Kaitlyn Oberndorfer- Blue Cedars and the Rural Cemetery Movement, Hartford Patricia Wallace– The Cypress Tree Mystery at an Olmsted Park, New Haven Garrett Saranich-The Chestnut Oak, Shipbuilding on the Connecticut shoreline, Clinton Ben Haberman- The Black Cherry Tree oversees Seaport to Coastal Gateway, Madison Tom Ieronimo- Of Hickory and Baseball, Hartford For more information on Hartford’s historic trees, go to the Hartford Preservation Alliance website at https://hartfordpreservation.org/ccsu-tree-history/ Find the Connecticut Notable Tree Project at http://oak.conncoll.edu:8080/notabletrees/ Read More! Connecticut Explored ctexplored.org https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-connecticut-state-parks-at-100/ https://www.ctexplored.org/cherry-trees-for-wooster-square/ https://www.ctexplored.org/wickham-park-in-manchester/ https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-historic-rose-gardens/ Listen Grating the Nutmeg Podcast https://www.ctexplored.org/grating-the-nutmeg-115-americas-first-public-rose-garden-elizabeth-park/ Subscribe to our free newsletter at https://www.ctexplored.org/ Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine — in print to your mailbox or digitally to your e-mail inbox. Visit ctexplored.org to subscribe. And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by the Office of the State Historian at TodayinCThistory.com. This episode was produced by Leah Glaser and Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg!

Jun 15, 2021 • 53min
120. How Four Connecticut Inventors Helped Change The Way We Live, Think, & Act
State Historian Walt Woodward talks with award-winning author and materials scientists Ainissa Ramirez about her award-winning and highly acclaimed book The Alcehmy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. On virtually every national Top Science Book of the Year List for 2020, The Alchemy of Us is a wonderfully readable, lively, smart and witty account of the development of eight inventions that have not only transformed the way we live, but have transformed us, too. Not surprisingly, half of those inventions have important Connecticut connections. Ramirez and Woodward discuss the roles Samuel F Morse, Edwin Land, Ansonia’s William Wallace and New Haven’s George Coy played in creating inventions that have helped the world Convey, See, Capture and Think in new and different ways. It’s a fascinating and surprising story fest with one of the science world's best story tellers.

May 28, 2021 • 34min
119. Uncovering Connecticut’s LGBTQ History
Lives of the state’s LGBTQ citizens have moved from being hidden and solitary to claiming visible, powerful, valuable, and contributing places in society. In this episode, Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, interviews CCSU Assistant Professor of History William J. Mann about when and how the LGBTQ movement started in Connecticut, what legislative goals and strategies drove the movement, and what the current goals are for the LGBTQ movement. Mann discusses the impact of AIDS and the ways that the LGBTQ community supported its members. He describes how his students helped to research and uncover the people and events highlighted in the online exhibition, “Historic Timeline of Connecticut’s LGBTQ Community.” Mann wrote CT Explored’s “A Brief History of Connecticut’s Gay Media,” available at www.ctexplored.org/a-brief-history-of-connecticut-gay-media/. Mann teaches LGBTQ history, film history, and the history of AIDS. He is the director of CCSU's LGBTQ Center. From 1989-1995, he was the editor and later publisher of Metroline, the state’s LGBTQ newsmagazine, and coordinator of Your Turf, the first LGBTQ youth group in the state. In 1989, along with Terri Reid, William founded the long-running queer film festival known today as Out Film CT. He is author of 12 books, many on American film history. Find the LGBTQ Timeline at https://chs.org/lgbtq/. It is a partnership between Central Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Historical Society, and is based on the work of Richard Nelson, CCSU 403 students in 2019, and will continue to grow. Read more! Sign up for our free newsletter at www.ctexplored.org/ LGBTQ Icons Ann Stanback- https://www.ctexplored.org/women-who-changed-the-world/ https://www.ctexplored.org/an-early-advocate-for-connecticuts-gay-community/ https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-a-love-story-at-the-palmer-warner-house/ https://www.ctexplored.org/philip-johnsons-50-year-experiment-in-architecture-and-landscape/ https://www.ctexplored.org/stonington-poet-james-merrills-house/ This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history and mixed by Patrick O’Sullivan. Mary Donohue has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net

May 15, 2021 • 47min
118. The Connecticut RIver Valley Flood of 1936
In this episode, Josh Shanley – firefighter, paramedic, and Emergency Management Director for Northampton, Massachusetts, talks about the Great Connecticut RIver Flood of 1936, its devastating effects, long-term consequences, and the message it has for a world in climate change. Based on his new book, Connecticut River Valley Flood of 1936 from the History Press.

May 1, 2021 • 30min
117. Before 42: Ball Players of Color in Connecticut
Connecticut Historical Society's Natalie Belanger talks with labor historian Steve Thornton of The Shoeleather History Project about Black baseball in Connecticut. Thornton is the author of Connecticut Explored's "African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball," Summer 2018. Read or Watch More!To learn more about the Negro Leagues, check out this recent talk at the CT Historical Society by Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. "African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball," Summer 2018 Shoeleather History Project at https://shoeleatherhistoryproject.com/ Follow the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League here. This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Photo Credit: Johnny "Schoolboy" Taylor and Savitt Gems business manager Bernie Ellovich, 1930s-40s. Connecticut Historical Society 1990.51.988

Apr 15, 2021 • 55min
116. Connecticut In Motion: The Story of Our Time
No one knows more about transportation in Connecticut than historian, civil engineer, and highway and transportation planner Richard DeLuca. In this recent virtual lecture for Cheshire Public Library, promoting his new, second volume on Connecticut transportation history Paved Roads and Public Money (Wesleyan University Press), DeLuca underscores the inseparable relationships among population, technology, and the environment.

Apr 3, 2021 • 31min
115. America’s First Public Rose Garden - Elizabeth Park
Visitors have been enchanted by the thousands of soft and fragrant rose petals in Elizabeth Park’s Rose Garden since it opened in 1904. Climbing roses intertwined in overhead garlands, hybrid tea roses and heritage roses in every color symbolize romance, friendship, and passion. Elizabeth Park on the Hartford-West Hartford border is home to the country’s oldest public rose garden. Visitors by the thousands come to stroll in the rose garden and sit in the vine-covered gazebo. Generations of prom goers as well as wedding parties have had their photos taken there. But how did Elizabeth Park become the public park it is today? Find out how Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture, a contested will and a beloved wife are all part of the story. Mary Donohue interviews Elizabeth Park’s Rosarian Stephen Scanniello about all things roses. Read more! Sign up for our free newsletter ctexplored.substack.com https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-historic-rose-gardens/ https://www.ctexplored.org/off-the-streets-into-the-parks/ This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net Visit www.elizabethparkct.org

Mar 15, 2021 • 38min
114. When Tombs Are Also Crime Scenes
Sometimes tombs become crime scenes. State Archaeologist Emeritus Nick Bellantoni talks with Walt Woodward about two such cases in which he was called in to do forensic archaeology, and the process of doing historic detective work in pursuit of justice. He also provides the latest developments concerning the discovery of revolutionary war skeletons in a basement in Ridgefield in December 2019.