Summer 2013 VOLUME 11/ NUMBER 3
The Brights Lights of Luna Park
Where Three Presidents Celebrated July 4th
Watching the World Series Before Television
From Hartford to Hankow
A Global Market in Seal Skins
On the cover: Luna Park, postcard, c. 1907. Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library
Table of Contents
9 Hog River Journal
10 Letters, etc.
13 From the State Historian: A Salute to Connecticut’s Other Kate
By Walter W. Woodward
14 The Scandalous Luna Park
The short life of Hartford’s amusement park. By Gene Leach
18 The Educator Who Went Camping
Frederick Gunn practically invented the outdoor classroom. By Paula Gibson Krimsky
24 The True Story of Captain Sluman and Sarah Gray
When your husband dies at sea and a Confederate raider is closing in, what to do? By Alicia Wayland
27 Mystic Seaport’s Charles W. Morgan Sails Again
The last extant wooden whaling ship prepares to sail again. By Matthew Stackpole
28 Round the Horn in Search of Seals and Fortune
Fortune hunting on the high seas. By Dave Corrigan
32 A Presidential July 4th Celebration
When Woodstock was the center of our natal day celebrations. By Laurie Masciandaro
38 A Missionary to China
What does an unmarried minister’s daughter do for her 30th birthday? By Elizabeth J. Normen
44 Site Lines: Connecticut State Parks at 100
By Cynthia Cormier
46 New London’s Monte Cristo Cottage
By Emily Bloom-Shufrin, Sophie Gandler, and Matt Levy
48 The Baseball Playograph
By Gregg Mangan
50 From the Desk of Stuart Parnes, Connecticut Humanities
52 Spotlight: Events & News from Partner Organizations
57 Afterword