Recorded History podcast

Randal Charlton, son of the man responsible for building a 1950s replica of the famed Pilgrim ship, tells the fascinating story of how it came to be donated to Plimoth Plantation, his reaction to its recent reconstruction at Mystic Seaport and the real meaning of the Mayflower Compact.

Amateur historian and Niantic resident Tom Schuch, a native New Londoner, takes us on a mind-bending spin through some of southeastern Connecticut’s hidden history, including local sites found in the Green Book, the listing of places where African Americans were likely to be served during an era of Jim Crow laws and discrimination between the 1930s and 1960s. He also talks about the black educator Ichabod Pease, the story of Civil War-era firebrand John Brown and a local connection to famed writer and orator W.E.B. Dubois.

Bishop Benjamin Watts, the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in New London, tells us the fascinating story of one of the region’s most prominent African-American cultural, social and religious organizations that started in people’s homes and now has grown to about 1,000 members.

Laura Natusch, executive director of New London Landmarks, talks about the group’s recent purchase of a historic home as well as its efforts to keep two buildings on Bank Street from being torn down.

Evan Nickles, former owner of Mystic Emporium, and Dan Curland, proprietor of Mystic Disc, talk about the three days of peace and love that defined a generation. Each of them still has vivid memories of attending the famed concert that featured Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Janis Joplin.

Stonington Historical Society’s outgoing president Elizabeth Wood tells about plans for the Old Lighthouse Museum, discusses the group’s role in saving old houses and remembers a blacklisted "Citizen Kane" actress’s final days in Lords Point.

Joseph McGill Jr., a veteran Civil War re-enactor and former employee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Charleston, S.C., has made it his life’s mission to sleep in every slave dwelling known throughout the United States. We caught up to him in New London as he appeared in the fifth annual Juneteenth Celebration June 6-8, commemorating the announcement in 1865 that the Civil War had ended and all slaves were now free.

Michael Dreimiller, a member of the Thames Base Ball Club in New London, reviews the history of the game in southeastern Connecticut and how aficionados are reviving 19th-century rules.

Historians Jim Streeter and Tom Althuis talk about the heroine of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, along with other interesting characters, including three presidents, who spent time in her Groton home. The City of Groton is trying to sell the 1782 house, and many history buffs want it turned into a museum.

Trinity Missionary Church in New London is honoring five people as part of a Black History program Feb. 24, and we are able to gather four of them: attorney Lonnie Braxton, funeral home owner Lester Gee, prison ministry leader Winston Taylor and local businessman Bill Cornish. We also talk about the fifth honoree, longtime United Way Food Center employee Sara Louis Chaney.

Built originally in 1868, the Ocean House in Watch Hill attracts thousands of visitors every year for its upscale dining not far from Taylor Swift’s beachside residence. Now a new hardcover book by Ocean House events manager Lauren DiStefano tells its story.

Dirk Langeveld tells the story of millionaire Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, the most infamous draft dodger of the Great War and one of America’s first airplane pilots (he trained under the Wright Brothers), who made a daring escape from U.S. custody and used fake identities to flee from Canada to Germany, where he survived two kidnapping attempts only to return to the United States in ignominy just before WWII.

Mystic Seaport historian Fred Calabretta takes us on a high-seas adventure as he delves into the fascinating world of 19th-century whaling, particularly the largely untold story of black whalers in New London.    

Mystic native Jade Huguenin and historian Martin Smith talk about their new book, “Postcard History: Mystic” as well as plans for an Aug. 18 panel discussion about Groton and Mystic history.

Author Ken Kesey talks about his new book, “A Pictorial Journal of Ocean Beach Park,” recalling the New London beach’s early days as a fun spot for the wealthy, along with its evolution into a honky-tonk area and then, after the Hurricane of 1938, its transformation into a public park.

Tom Callinan of Norwich, the first official state troubadour, takes us on a musical journey through two centuries of American history, including songs about the first submarine built in Connecticut and a famed dog from WWI.

Everyone knows about Norwich’s claim to the Revolutionary War’s biggest traitor, but City Historian Dale Plummer tells tales of the Wauregan, where President Lincoln once stayed, as well as a secret burial ground in Norwichtown and efforts to restore a WWI cannon.

Jim Littlefield of East Lyme discusses Nazi spies in our midst, a Revolutionary War skirmish in Niantic and a murder mystery. 

Eighty-eight-year-old James Mosely of Waterford, the first African-American medical corpsman to go through the Navy’s nuclear training school, remembers the day when the U.S. military was desegregated and tells about being part of a Library of Congress history project.

New London City Historian Sally Ryan talks about the early days of Ocean Beach, the Hurricane of 1938 and urban renewal, drawing extensively from personal experiences.

John Ruddy and Dirk Langeveld, authors of the new coffee-table book published by The Day titled “When Disaster Strikes: Shipwrecks, Storms and Other Calamities in Southeastern Connecticut,” tell how they found out about little-known fires, floods and plane crashes from the distant past as they scoured historical societies and archives for dramatic photographs.

Gail MacDonald joins us to talk about her new book "Morton F. Plant and the Connecticut Shoreline: Philanthropy in the Gilded Age." Plant built the Branford House at Avery Point in Groton. 

Groton Town Historian Jim Streeter discusses his new book, "Remembering Our Veterans: A Directory of Groton's Veterans & War Memorials." Streeter says he was surprised at the number of memorials dotting Groton, including nearly 30 at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base. In all, the town has more than 80 memorials celebrating the lives of those involved in conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War.