Exploring Connecticut: Recent Episodes
Dave Pelland, CT author and historian
Every week, author Dave Pelland describes a Connecticut historical site, event or landmark. Learn about the events, people and places that make the Nutmeg State so special!
When Yale medical students were suspected of body snatching in the early 19th century, New Haven experienced two nights of rioting.
Noted actor William Gillette’s retirement home, high above the Connecticut River, remains a popular attraction a century after its construction.
A lurid New Haven murder trial in 1882 combined sex, the city’s wealthiest family, and allegations of bribery and witness tampering.
For more than 80 years, the Merritt Parkway has provided a scenic — and sometimes fast — route through Fairfield County.
When two hurricanes hit Connecticut within a week, the resulting flooding produced the state’s largest natural disaster.
At the start of his 1860 presidential campaign, Abraham Lincoln made five speeches in Connecticut cities.
The first telephone exchange, the first phone directory, and the first payphone were all developed in Connecticut.
How did seemingly half of Hartford's businesses and landmarks come to share the name "Charter Oak?"
Does the oldest civil war monument in the United States stand outside a church in central Connecticut? The answer depends, in part, on how you define the idea of oldest and what qualifiers you attach.