Grating the Nutmeg

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 and Natalie Belanger look at the people and places that have made a difference in CT history. New episodes every two weeks. A production of Connecticut Explored magazine.

Episodes

April 15, 2025 40 mins

 

In her new book, Book and Dagger, How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of the World, Dr. Elyse Graham tells the story of academics, like Yale literature professor Joseph Curtis, who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents, and Sherman Kent, a Yale history professor who rose t...

Mark as Played

 

Last year in episode 186, we talked about Grove Street Cemetery’s pioneering role as the first planned cemetery in the country. The design of Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven ...

Mark as Played
March 15, 2025 34 mins

Coffee is more than a hot drink or a boost of caffeine. For Connecticans, it’s hundreds of years of history. It has fueled new ideas, social reform, and workers’ rights. It is comfort in wartime and connections across cultures. It is universal, yet distinctly local. In this episode, the Connecticut Museum of...

Mark as Played

Carousels are marvels of brightly painted animals, mechanical excellence, music and lights.  Located in a historic mill building in Bristol, the Carousel Museum houses well over 100 antique wooden carousel animals including white rabbits, pigs, lions and even an alligator. The museum has ...

The New Haven Museum staff and their community partners have reinterpreted the Amistad story in an exhibition that takes a new angle on the familiar story of the Amistad.

Read more

Mark as Played

 

After a campaign initiated by schoolchildren, Prudence Crandall was designated the Connecticut State Heroine by the Connecticut General Assembly on Oct. 1, 1995. You may not know Connecticut has a state heroine, or you might have some inkling that Crandall was maybe a spinster Quaker schoolmarm, who had an...

Mark as Played

In this episode, Host Mary Donohue talks to Griffin Dunne, actor, producer and director and now New York Times best-selling author about his family memoir The Friday Afternoon Club. His Har...

We did it!!  This is our 200th episode of Grating the Nutmeg! Thanks to our listeners, we have travelled across the state during every time period to bring you vivid, fascinating s...

Mark as Played

 

In the mid-20th century, Hartford's G. Fox and Co. was one of the most successful family-owned department stores in the United States. Today, many Connecticans have fond memories of visi...

Mark as Played

 

We all know a little about New England and Connecticut’s  European maritime history. Dutch traders came to North America to trade for beaver pelts and English colonists came to start ...

Mark as Played

 

Early voting has already started in the 2024 presidential election and I just couldn’t resist the suggestion by my guests to explore what Samuel Clemens alias Mark Twain, Hartford’s greatest Gi...

Mark as Played

 

Have you got your Halloween costume ready? Been on any graveyard tours this month? Well, this story for you! I’d never thought of body snatching as having anything to do with Conne...

Mark as Played

 

Most people know something about Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens. After all, he wrote his most famous books while living in Hartford, Connecticut. His 25-room house on Far...

Mark as Played

In this episode, you'll hear about the remarkable life and legacy of the man that Lin-Manuel Miranda called "America's favorite fighting Frenchman," the Marquis de Lafay...

Mark as Played
September 1, 2024 44 mins

Author Steve Thornton asks “Who really makes history”?

In his new book, Radical Connecticut: People’s History in the Constitution State, co-authored by Andy Piascik,  guest Steve Thornton tells the stories o...

Mark as Played

 

Have you ever discovered that one of your favorite places is being renovated? Like your grandmother’s kitchen, your favorite restaurant, or even a museum, and you worry that the charm o...

Mark as Played
July 15, 2024 31 mins

 

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Hartford Circus Fire. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the ...

Mark as Played

July 1990 marked the passing of a landmark piece of federal legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA. To recognize this event and to celebrate Dis...

Mark as Played

 

We love a Sherlock Holmes "who done it" whether it's Basil Rathbone from the 1940s, Benedict Cumberbacth from the 2000s, or Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock's sister Enola Holmes from the 2020s. But it was a Har...

Mark as Played

June is PRIDE month and we’re celebrating by bringing you an episode about efforts to bring LGBTQ+ history to light. As one guest, historian William Mann writes, “Throughout its history, ...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

    Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

    The Bobby Bones Show

    Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.