What's the first thing you do when you want to take a trip? Look through Instagram to find things to do? Or Yelp for restaurants that serve local cuisine? Today travelers can follow social media influencers and websites that promise to give you an insider's look at places to stay or the best discounted hotel rates. But for Black travelers in the Jim Crow era through the 1960s, it wasn't easy to find places to eat or stay overnight. In this episode, we are going to talk about two national guides for Black travelers, both published beginning in the 1930s, and places that were included from New London, Connecticut.

Our guests, Nicole Thomas and Tom Schuch, are part of the team that produced the New London Black Heritage Trail, designated as one of 20 Connecticut History Gamechangers by Connecticut Explored magazine in 2022.

Nicole Thomas was born and raised in New London. She is the Assistant Site Administrator at the Hempstead Houses Museum for Connecticut Landmarks and is instrumental in the interpretation of the life of Adm Jackson who was enslaved at the Hempstead Houses. You can hear that story on Grating the Nutmeg episode #175 Sleeping with the Ancestors with author Joe McGill.

Tom Schuch is a New London native and a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has a special interest in forgotten local history. This interest led to the discovery of several of the New London Green Book sites, as well as other sites that are now part of the New London Black Heritage Trail. Tom was featured on Grating the Nutmeg episode #149 New London and the Middle Passage.

Be sure to go to the Connecticut Landmarks website to plan your visit to the Hempstead Houses.

Learn about the mid-20th century Green Book guides that Black Americans used to find welcoming lodging and other services whether traveling for work or pleasure on Preservation Connecticut's website Architecture of the Green book in Connecticut:

https://preservationct.org/architecture-of-the-green-book-in-connecticut

And find Tom Schuch's blog All Schuch Up on Substack.com

To see the Green books, visit https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/03/24/schomburg-treasures-green-book

To listen to Nicole and Tom's other Grating the Nutmeg episodes. Visit:

https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/175-sleeping-with-the-ancestors-in-connecticut

https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/149-the-middle-passage-west-africa-to-connecticut

Grating the Nutmeg is partnering with Preservation Connecticut to bring you summer and fall episodes on saving historic barns, New London sites found in the historic Green Book guide for black travelers, Mid-Century Modern architecture, and sites that reveal the state's LGBTQ+ history. Connecticut's historic places matter! Visit Preservation Connecticut's website to learnmore and become a member at https://preservationct.org/

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This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow Grating the Nutmeg on Facebook and Instagram.

Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!