Grating the Nutmeg

In 1938 pioneering female architect and founder of the Hill-Stead Museum, Theodate Pope Riddle of Farmington enjoyed an excursion through Europe. While in London she participated in three sittings with trance mediums, continuing an avocational interest in spiritualism that lasted 34 years. Hear more about Riddle's efforts to scientifically prove the ability to communicate with the deceased in this episode hosted by Mary Donohue, Asst Publisher of Connecticut Explored and Melanie Bourbeau, Curator and Director of Interpretation and Programs at the Hill-Stead Museum.

If you'd like to learn more about the Theodate Pope Riddle and Spiritualism, visit the museum's website at https://www.hillstead.org/ and read Bourbeau's article in the Winter 2020-21 issue of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut History.

Theodate Pope Riddle was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame-read more here: https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/theodate-pope-riddle

For more on Spiritualism in Connecticut, go to the website of Connecticut Explored for these articles at:

https://www.ctexplored.org/isabella-beecher-hooker-and-the-spirit-of-reform/

https://www.ctexplored.org/the-pine-grove-spiritualist-camp/

Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored. She has documented Connecticut's architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years.

This episode was produced by Mary M. Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan.

Want a daily dose of Connecticut history? Subscribe to TODAYINCTHISTORY.com and follow Connecticut Explored on Facebook and Instagram.

Mohegan Medicine Woman, Tribal Historian, and award-winning playwright and screenwriter Meissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel does a virtual sit-down with state historian Walt Woodward to talk about the radio drama Up and Down the River she and her equally accomplished daughter Madeline Sayet recently wrote, produced, and directed for Hartford's Heartbeat Ensemble.

The five short plays provide a unique and important window into key moments in Mohegan history and culture. Zobel provides both a writer's and a people's perspective on the stories, and tells how everyone can - for a limited time - hear the radio drama for free on the Heartbeat Ensemble website

In this episode, Mary Donohue talks to Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing about one of the most beautiful places to visit in Connecticut - the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. Did Old Lyme become the home to an art colony because of the good food at Miss Florence's boardinghouse or because of the soft, lovely light on the salt marshes along the Lieutenant River? The episode uncovers the roots of the Old Lyme Art Colony and also new exhibitions up now including Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection, an exhibit that marks the arrival of 190 works of art in 2001, a gift that transformed the Griswold Museum, and a second exhibition, the Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery , the museum's neighbor, that partially recreates their 1921 inaugural exhibition in their shingle style building designed by society architect Charles A. Platt, designer of the Freer Art Gallery in Washington, DC and the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, Connecticut. Florence Griswold was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.

https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/florence-griswold

For more information and photos go to the website of Connecticut Explored at:

https://www.ctexplored.org/the-spirit-of-miss-florence-restored/

https://www.ctexplored.org/painting-with-needle-thread/

https://www.ctexplored.org/only-waiting-to-be-painted-the-inspirational-landscape-of-old-lyme/

To learn more about the Florence Griswold Museum and the current exhibitions, go to https://florencegriswoldmuseum.org/

Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She has documented Connecticut's architecture, built environment and pop culture for over 30 years.

This episode was produced by Mary M. Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan.

In the summer of 1991, reporter and environmentalist Steve Grant traveled the entire 410 miles of the Connecticut River from its source near the Canadian border in New Hampshire to the Long Island Sound by self-addled canoe. Throughout the 33 day journey, Grant reported on his voyage in stories for the Hartford Courant. His every-other-day tales made Grant a celebrity and his journey a legend. Twenty-nine years after that life-changing trip,State Historian Walt Woodward met Grant on the banks of the Connecticut River in Hartford, to talk about the journey, the man, and the river in another time.

It's a fascinating two-part interview that covers everything from early 90's internet technology, to environmental restoration, to moose-induced traffic jams in the Great North Woods.

"The Connecticut River: First National Blueway Runs Through Connecticut," Spring 2014 "Connecticut River Legends," Spring 2019 "Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River," Summer 2018 Read all of our stories about Connecticut's landscape and environment on our TOPICS page.

In part two oof Steve Grant's Legendary 1991 Source-to-Sea journey on the Connecticut River, we'll talk about Some of the Connecticut RIver's endangered species, the issues that affected the river's health then and now, the celebrations at the end of the voyage, and what the journey means to Grant some thirty years one.

"The Connecticut River: First National Blueway Runs Through Connecticut," Spring 2014 "Connecticut River Legends," Spring 2019 "Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River," Summer 2018 Read all of our stories about Connecticut's landscape and environment on our TOPICS page.

To read Steve's work and see more of his nature photography visit thestevegrantebsite.com

The song 'Great River" by Walt Woodward, was peformed by Walt and The Band of Steady Habits –– Rachel Smith, Teagan Smith, Jeremy Teitelbaum, Duke York, & Walt Woodward

In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society takes a look at the iconic Rosie the Riveter character. To get the scoop on what it was like to be a real-life "Rosie" in CT during WWII, she speaks to Gretchen Caulfield, President of the American Rosie the Riveter Association. (https://rosietheriveter.net/)

Get our Commemorative 75th Anniversary of World War II Fall 2020 issue-full of CT WWII stories-by subscribing to Connecticut Explored at our Special Podcast Sale Price! Get 6 issues for the price of 4 or 10 issues for the price of 8! Teacher rates excluded. Use the code NUTMEG on our website at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/

And see photos of Connecticut's own Working Women in WWII at this link:

https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-own-rosie-the-riveter/

This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan.

(Image - Brookfield Registrars, chistinascucina.com)

With elections leaving so many people with a bitter taste in their mouths, we're celebrating one of Connecticut's oldest – and for centuries best known – traditions; the Connecticut Election cake. In this conversation with Allie Kyff of the Connecticut Democracy Center at Connecticut's Old State House,state Historian Walt Woodward discusses the fascinating history of this delicious tradition.

BAKE YOUR WAY TO GLORY! Join in a statewide election cake decorating contest held by Connecticut's Old State House.

Celebrate a 200-year old Connecticut Election Day tradition by entering our Election Day Cake Virtual Contest. Inspire everyone to vote by baking a cake, decorating it, and entering to win!

Bake your cake using the original Election Day Cake recipe or follow a recipe of your own choosing! Since our judges won't be able to taste your delicious creations, we are going to judge on decoration alone. Make a cake that you would love to eat on election day-- one that looks as good as it tastes, celebrates elections, and inspires voting!

Watch our Facebook Live interview with State Historian Dr. Walt Woodward from September 23rd, Hartford's Election Day Cake: A Yummy Civic Tradition, to learn more about this great tradition.

Make sure that your are following Connecticut's Old State House on Facebook, Instagram (@CTOldStateHouse) and Twitter (@CTOldStateHouse) or opt into our email list for October updates and the winning announcement on Monday, November 2, 20202!

Rules: 1. Bake a cake and decorate it in a way that celebrates voting and inspires people to vote on November 3rd. 2. The cake MUST be non-partisan. 3. Cakes that promote an issue, party, or person will be disqualified. 4. Submit no more than three pictures of your cake. One photo must be of the entire cake either from above or at an angle. 5. Send your submission to [email protected] by 5pm on Monday, October 26, 2020. 6. Only one submission per person is permitted. 7. This contest is open to all ages.

Winners and prizes will be announced on Monday, November 2, 2020. ------------------------------------------------- Please note that this is a virtual event. There is no in-person component.

Owned by the same family for its first 200 years then purchased by star architect Cass Gilbert in 1907 for his summer home, the Keeler Tavern was there when the American Revolution's Battle of Ridgefield happened and it has a cannonball embedded in the façade to prove it. New York City architect Cass Gilbert, designer of early skyscrapers like the Woolworth Building in New York City, kept all of the home's Colonial charm and added to it! Cass Gilbert had a big impact on Connecticut's architecture in Hartford, Waterbury, Waterford and New Haven.

But there's more to the Keeler Tavern than a pretty place! New research is enhancing the museum's ability to tell women's and African American history in programming for adults and children. The pandemic pushed many museums to reach out to their audience using new technologies. Hear more about how the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center's dynamic staff is telling their story and finding new audiences in 2020 with architectural historian Mary Donohue.

Thank our guests Hildi Grob, Executive Director, Catherine Prescott, Chief Curator, and Melissa Houston, Educational Director from the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center. See more at https://keelertavernmuseum.org/

Find a photo album for this episode at https://www.ctexplored.org/

Read more online at ctexplored.org in the article https://www.ctexplored.org/benedict-arnold-and-the-battle-of-ridgefield/

And read about architect Cass Gilbert in our online articles including https://www.ctexplored.org/glamour-and-purpose-in-new-havens-union-station/

https://www.ctexplored.org/longer-lasting-than-brass-waterburys-city-hall-restored/

https://www.ctexplored.org/seaside/

Our mid-reel sponsor is the Wilton Historical Society at http://wiltonhistorical.org/

Mentioned in the episode: Historical Interpreter-Cheyney McKnight at NotYourMommasHistory http://www.notyourmommashistory.com/

Playwrights: Joanne Hudson, Redding, CT and Royal Shiree, Lynchburg, VA

This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan.

Music by Hyde.

In this podcast from the memoir of Ellsworth S Grant, one of the state's great historians, Walt Woodward tells us about the invention of the world's best fastening device. It's a story that begins with Archimedes, and that came to fruition because of silk worms, Cornelius Vanderbilt, an entrepreneur named Dimoch, and an Irish inventor who gave this unique tool its name. It's a story for anyone who ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture - the story of the recessed hexagonal screw and the Allen wrench

Sophie Tucker was one of the 20th century's most successful and highest paid performers. A singer and humorist, she transitioned successfully through vaudeville, recordings, Broadway, radio, movies, nightclubs and finally television. Born into a Jewish family that immigrated from Eastern Europe, her parents ran a kosher restaurant in Hartford's Front Street district. Many of the threads that run through her life resonant with women now including body positivity, female agency, an artist's control of their own work and career as well as a rags to riches immigrant success story. This episode includes snippets from three of her most famous songs-"One of These Days" by African American composer Sheldon Brooks; "I'm the Last of the Red Hot Mama's" by Milton Agar and Jack Yellen, and "My Yiddishe Momme" by Jack Yellen. Tucker never forgot Hartford and contributed to numerous local charities. She left almost 400 scrapbooks documenting her full career to the New York Public Library. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1999.

https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/sophie-tucker

For more information and photos go to the website of Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/sophie-tucker-last-of-the-red-hot-mamas/

Tor read more about her mother and the "Handkerchief Brigade" go to https://www.ctexplored.org/the-handkerchief-brigade/

Look for a new online exhibition in late Sept, 2020 on the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at https://jhsgh.org/

Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She has documented Connecticut's architecture, built environment and pop culture for over 30 years.

This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan.

To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org