Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut‘s Beaten Path

The Best Story Ever Told in Connecticut

This story from the 1600s has a little bit of everything. It involves a critical part of CT history. It was a “who done it” – with candles suddenly going out during an important meeting of top British and Patriot officials in Hartford. It concerns a hiding place inside a huge tree that could fit 10 people standing. It created one of the most iconic visual and political images of the state of Connecticut. Hear the story of the Charter Oak from the retired, long-time Curator of the Museum of Connecticut History, Dave Corrigan.

Digging for Evidence at Gallows Hill

When a team of archeologists found burned rocks, burned bones, broken rum bottles, old nails, and musket balls at a site in western CT, they knew they had found a winter encampment for Revolutionary War soldiers – a place where two Patriot soldiers had been executed for desertion during the winter of 1778-79. They also had uncovered evidence of how the other 1,000 soldiers survived that winter. Hear the intriguing and meticulous way that Western Connecticut State University Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Dr. Laurie Weinstein and her team uncovered these 250-year-old secrets.

As Slavery Ended in CT, Ugliness at the State’s First All-Black School

Prudence Crandall, CT’s State Heroine, opened the first all-black female school in CT, in the 1830s. It led to some of the ugliest, most violent and disgraceful bigotry in state history. The white community took multiple vigilante and legal steps to try to stop her from operating. In the end, the case gave rise to critical concepts in one of the key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hear this fascinating story from the Curator of the Prudence Crandall Museum, Joan DiMartino. RSSVERIFY

When CT Residents Were Sent to the Poor House

If you couldn’t pay your bills in the old days, you were sent to the poor house. Every CT town had either a poor house or a town farm to help care for poor, disabled, and mentally handicapped. The last one closed only in 1991. Poor houses were unique places that were largely unregulated for a good portion of their existence. Hear the story behind Alms Houses from the author of the book, The Road to the Poor House, Michael Westerfield.

World War II Could Not Have Been Won Without Connecticut

Connecticut’s industrial manufacturers were huge contributors to military success in World War Two. From half the aircraft engines used in the war (made by Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford) to submarines (Electric Boat, Groton), a large percentage of the billions of bullets used and guns for soldiers (Remington Arms, Bridgeport), and large and small items: “G-force” suits to allow pilots to maneuver their planes without losing consciousness, radar advancements, parachutes, rubber boots, ball bearings, air compressors for torpedoes, and periscopes. Hear the impressive story from Sharon Cohen, who has written a book that documents these fascinating contributions.

The Day 2 Rolling Skulls Revealed a CT Vampire Grave

Two boys playing in a sand and gravel pit 30 years ago came across two human skulls that led to a truly bizarre investigation – the unearthing of a suspected vampire grave. CT’s State Archeologist at the time, Dr. Nick Bellantoni, has continued to work for the past few decades, even into retirement, with a folklorist who specializes in vampires to tentatively identify the individual whose initials – J.B. – were at first all he had to go on.

The Life-Saving Miracle at Yale New Haven Hospital

It was nothing short of a miracle. A woman was barely hanging on to life at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1942. She had been running a fever of 106 degrees for four weeks, and doctors were out of options. A new treatment – never before tried in the U.S. – brought her back to life in less than 24 hours. Hear the incredible story about the first use of penicillin in the U.S. from the Director of Infection Prevention at Yale New Haven Hospital, Dr. Richard Martinello.

CT Won the Cigar War by Actually Creating a Weather Climate

Soil and climate are two critical factors in agriculture, especially for CT’s tobacco farmers. CT leads the world in the profitable crop of cigar wrapper leaves, thanks largely to these two points. However, while the state had excellent soil, it didn’t have the right climate to overtake market leader Sumatra, in Asia. So, in the 1800s CT literally created its own weather climate over 1% of the land in the state. Wait until you hear the story from topic expert John Cilio.

An Extremely Unique Gated CT Community

One of the oldest gated communities in CT started as the result of Jewish firefighters in Queens, NY wanting to get their children out of the city during a polio outbreak. The firefighters transformed a virgin, 600-acre site by hand into a gorgeous and serene community, featuring what is still one of the most pristine lakes in western CT. Over the years, summer bungalows have been replaced by year-round housing in the Lake Waubeeka community. And, one of the country’s most famous musical legends spent her summers growing up there. The story is told by a professor of Jewish history, a long-time resident, and the author of a book on Lake Waubeeka, Jeffrey Gurock.

The Famous Russians Who Fled Their Revolution for Southbury

When Stalin overthrew the czars in Russia in 1917, many famous Russians made their way to CT, where they created a colony for famous intellectuals. The so-called Russian Village is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was started by Russian literary giant Ilya Tolstoy, son of famed writer Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace. The Village was started 100 years ago this year. The back story is incredible – especially when told by 92-year-old Natasha Jahrsdoerfer, whose vivid recollections from when she lived there at age 3 paint a world that we will never see again.