Hugh Mulligan (1925-2008)
NUGGET #68
Mulligan, Hugh (1925-2008), a journalist and native of NYC, was a longtime correspondent and columnist for Associated Press. He drank with John Steinbeck, covered the death of three popes and President Kennedy, was the only reporter — British or American — at the wedding and the funeral of Princess Diana, and was dining with Salvador Dali when the artist was booted from a restaurant because his ocelot defecated on the floor. Wrote three books including No Place to Die: The Agony of Vietnam and Been Everywhere, Got Nowhere; lived in Ridgefield from 1977 until his death.
Jack Sanders, Who Was Who in Ridgefield.
More Historical Nuggets
First Pride Day, 1998
FIRST ‘PRIDE’ DAY: “A Celebration of Community: Straight, Gay and Lesbian“ took place in 1998, on the Community Center lawn. Just a year later, a Rainbow Flag was flown for the first time in the nation over a state capitol, Hartford, on March 21, 1999.
Hezekiah Scott (1789-1879)
Hezekiah Scott was a weaver and operated a distillery on the brook near his home on Barlow Mountain Road — a stream now called Kiah’s Brook.
Paving
The first road paving, part of a state experiment, was done on the eastern end of Branchville Road around 1912. Catoonah Street was paved in 1922.
Lillian Barnard Gilkes and Louise “Lulu” Davidson
Gilkes, Lillian Barnard, (1903-1977), was a nationally recognized scholar, author and critic who lived at 93 Olmstead Lane with stepsister.
