Perhaps no object symbolizes the importance of craftsmanship and historic preservation better than the ghost ship Captain James Buddington and a skeleton crew of 11 sailed into New London harbor on Christmas Eve 1855. The prize vessel, which the veteran whaler had discovered abandoned on an ice floe off Baffin Island three months before,…
Author: waltwould
I am State Historian of Connecticut Emeritus and an Associate Professor of HistoryEmeritus at the University of Connecticut. Check my links to 1) See What Happened Today in Connecticut History; 2) Listen to our latest Connecticut History podcast; 3) Attend my next lecture, performance, or book signing. See you soon, I hope.
December 15: America’s First Attempt to Bring Canada Into the Union Wasn’t Very Subtle
Today in 1775, the icy gray ramparts of Quebec trembled to the sound of Connectican-commanded guns. From a frozen patch of ground within musket-shot of the city’s St. John’s Gate, Norwich-born Colonel Benedict Arnold— who only seven months before had captured Fort Ticonderoga and its guns from the British with another Connect-born leader – Ethan Allan—ordered…
November 28: The Portland Gale Leaves Connecticut Buried
Today in 1898, after two relentless days of wind and snow, a massive storm that became known as The Portland Gale finally moved off the Connecticut shoreline, but not before bringing the state to a stand-still. The storm had formed on November 26th, when two large storms intersected over New York state, then marched…
November 25: From News Seller to News Maker, “La Madrina” of Hartford
María Colón Sánchez arrived in Hartford at the age of 28 in 1954, one of thousands of Puerto Ricans who moved to Connecticut in search of better economic opportunity during the mid-20th century. Within a few years, she had saved up enough money to open a convenience store, Maria’s News Stand, on Albany Avenue,…
November 20:Newly Discovered Bones Challenge the Bible in a Hartford Saloon
Today in 1845, awestruck visitors gathered at Gilman’s Saloon in Hartford to view the skeleton of an extinct great American mastodon recently unearthed at a marl pit near Newburgh, New York. At a time before the discovery of the great dinosaurs, when ideas about the world’s origins conflicted with deeply held theological views of…
November 18: Stonington Sailor Discovers Antarctica
Born in Stonington, Connecticut in 1799, Nathaniel Brown Palmer, like so many other young men from Stonington, first set sail at an early age, working as a teenage deckhand on American ships running through the British naval blockade during the War of 1812. After the war, Palmer joined scores of Connecticut sailors who sought…
November 17: Eli Terry Gets the First American Clock Patent –– His First of 10
Today in 1797, inventor and famous clock manufacturer Eli Terry of Plymouth received the first clock-making patent ever issued in the United States, launching an incredible career in manufacturing that helped make Connecticut the epicenter of quality clock manufacturing for the duration of the 19th century. Born in the eastern division of Windsor in…
October 26: The Killingworth Farmer Who Carved His Way Into the Smithsonian
For most of his 72 years, Clark Coe’s life typified that of the hardscrabble Connecticut Yankee farmer. He eked out a living for his family on a 100 acre plot in Killingworth that was as much stone as it was soil, supplementing farm income through woodworking – making baskets and producing axe handles for…
September 27: The Man Who Made Long Wharf the Longest in the United States
Though the name Long Wharf is today associated with a number of shops, businesses, ships and projects along the New Haven coastline (not to mention Allen wrenches and cinnamon buns), it originally referred to an actual wharf that extended into the harbor, reaching ¾ of a mile out into deep water. The wharf construction…
September 22: The Man Who Proved We Are What We Eat
Wilbur Olin Atwater, who died today in 1907, was a nineteenth-century pioneer in nutrition science who talked about food and metabolism 150 years ago in a way that would seem totally at home on the pages of a health magazine or nutrition brochure today. The son of a New York minister and librarian, Atwater…
September 19: “Schoolboy” Johnny Taylor Throws No-Hitter Against Baseball Giant Satchel Paige
The man considered by many to be the greatest baseball player ever to come out of Connecticut got off to an unusual start. The future pitcher and slugger who would be idolized by fans across the Americas as “Schoolboy” Johnny Taylor (“Escolar Taylor” in Mexico), was a track team member focused on high-jumping and…
September 8: “Old Nan” Comes to the End of the Line
When Amtrak’s Northeast Regional train 67 crossed the Niantic River on its nighttime run from Boston to New York at 11:39 p.m. on September 7, 2012, it was the last train ever to travel on “Old Nan,” the 105 year old railroad drawbridge between East Lyme and Waterford, a historic “choke point” on the nation’s busiest rail line. At…