Next, witches lurking in the colonial darkness.

You know about Salem, but did you know there was a witch trial in the Hamptons too?

- There was a witch trial here?

- There was a witch trial?

- There was a witch trial.

Find out what happened that terrified Long Island's earliest settlers, and why neighbors became convinced one of their own was casting spells in the night.

Also, the unexpected connection between Ulysses S. Grant, Medieval England, the American colonists...and cranberries?

Drive By History starts now.

[Music] Made possible by: the New Jersey Historic Trust, advancing historic preservation in New Jersey for the benefit of future generations.

Also, the New Jersey Historical Commission, enriching the lives of the public by preserving the historical record and advancing interest in and awareness of New Jersey's past.

Every day, thousands of motorists pass by countless history markers and say to themselves, One of these days I'm going to stop and read that.

One I'm going of these days I'm going to find out what happened and why it mattered.

Well, this is that day.

I'm meeting Drive By Historian Anthony Bernard at a history marker involving a little known fact about the colonial era.

This history, from what he tells me, is nothing short of spellbinding.

I'm Ken Magos, and this is Drive By History.

Today's investigation takes me about 100 miles east of New York City, to East Hampton, Long Island.

In the 19th century, the train brought the well-to-do to this Suffolk County seaside destination, captured by Winslow Homer in the painting you see here.

By the mid 20th century, East Hampton had evolved into an elite enclave for artists, and now East Hampton is on par with Beverly Hills as one of the most aspirational addresses in America.

The history I'm exploring today, however, begins a little farther back, before East Hampton was either famous or fashionable.

[Music] - Here it is...look at this.

- OK. good thing it's printed on both sides.

- It says, Town of East Hampton founded 1648.

- First church 1652.

- First academy in the state of New York.

Governor Nicolls Patent 1666-7.

Governor Dongan Patent 1686.

- OK, I'm not understanding this, Anthony.

- What can you tell me about it?

- Well, there's a few things I can tell you.

- First of all... [Music] Intriguing as the information might be, there are details here that clearly need to be deciphered.

To find out more, Anthony and I take a break from our travels and sit down for a cup of coffee and library-like conversation about the history he's discovered here.

- OK, Anthony, I'm having trouble understanding - that history marker.

What can you tell me about it?

-Well, I always look for history that has broad cultural appeal, - local history that matters to everyone.

- What I found is incredible.

- Is it spellbinding?

- It is.

- But as with any history, we need to start at the beginning.

- And in this case, - the history marker tells us that the beginning is 1648 - when East Hampton was founded by English settlers.

- So that's less than 30 years - after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

- Yes, and they had a connection to Plymouth.

- They were from Massachusetts Bay Colony.

- Why did they migrate?

- They were looking for fertile soil, - and they wanted to establish a community of their own making.

- So you've got the English who are settling in the area.

- Now, Puritans are provincial, to say the least.

- Very.

- But what about the Dutch?

- They also laid claim to Long Island, right?

- So the Dutch were tolerant, - sometimes.

Sometimes they were intolerant.

- and sometimes there were acts of outright hostility.

- Ah, it's not surprising to me.

- You've got New Amsterdam just to the West, - but you've also got, - you know, the Native Americans and relations - with the Native Americans weren't always peaceful, right?

- That's a good point.

And it brings us to - a really interesting part of this history.

- So the English in Connecticut hire a military engineer - to come over and build them a fort as protection against - both the Dutch and the Native Americans.

- His name is Lion Gardiner.

- Remember that name?

- OK. - So, ultimately Gardiner ends up not in Connecticut, - but on the east end of Long Island, where he runs - a 3000 acre estate that included tenant farmers.

- Oh, it's very different - from a Puritan settlement that's religious based.

- Yes, I mean, think of the Puritans, - they're farming their own land and they're always living - in close proximity to their church.

- Right.

- So it's 1648.

- You've got English settlers in East Hampton.

- There's the Dutch to the west of them.

- You have strangers working at a nearby estate, - nothing but water surrounding them on three sides - and you've got Native Americans throughout the area.

- Yeah, there was unknowns everywhere.

- And that alone is hard enough, - but it was even more difficult for the people of East Hampton.

- How so?

- Because these Puritans squabbled with each other.

- We know from the records that they dealt - with this pressured situation that they were under - with fear and blame.

- Not good.

- Not at all.

- But, what comes next is the piece of history - that I think you'll find incredible and spellbinding.

- That's a hint.

- It's also where this part of our next investigation begins.

[Music] To find out more, Anthony takes me to the Mulford Farm, one of the earliest farmsteads not only in East Hampton, but in the nation.

We're greeted by Professor Elizabeth Hyde.

She chairs the Department of History at Kean University.

Together we walk the picturesque property.

It quickly transports us back in time.

- It gives you a sense of what farming and what the feeling - was like when people arrived on this part of Long Island.

The earliest colonists who settled here were mostly Puritans.

From dawn 'til dusk, they worked the land, intent on forming their own society.

No question... their days were hard.

Their nights, however, weren't any easier.

- We often forget just how dark the past was.

That darkness exacerbated an already unnerving aspect of 17th century life.

At the time, people believed in black magic as well as demons.

- So, the shadows were dark.

- but what you feared lived in those shadows was even scarier.

Most settlers also believed Satan was always on the prowl.

And those who did not have the moral strength to resist his temptations, those who indulged themselves in turn owed a debt to the devil.

And as a result, they did his work.

- There were interlocutors between... - Absolutely.

- ...the devil and, say, people.

- Absolutely, there were interlocutors, - people who were subject to the devil's wishes, and who could - therefore, do the devil's bidding.

Colonists in East Hampton came to suspect one such interlocutor was living among them -- a middle aged woman named Elizabeth Garlick.

She was arrested, with her accusers intent on holding her accountable.

- There was a witch trial here.

- There was a witch trial?

- There was a witch trial.

- There was a witch trial here in 1658.

When we think of witch trials, we immediately thing of Salem, Massachusetts.

But how interesting to learn that there was actually a witch trial right here on Long Island in East Hampton.

Witch trials actually took place all over North America, in part because the colonists believed witches could be anywhere.

- Belief in witches was extremely common - in the early modern period.

- Were they imagining though a crone sitting around a cauldron?

- Absolutely...that, that... - Riding a broom.

- There were elements of what - fits in our stereotypical notion of what a Halloween - witch is erupting in this time period.

The devil is in the darkness.

Puritans impress this idea on their children from a young age.

- And the idea that witches were actually convening - in the middle of the night, - transporting themselves magically into..into the woods.

In 1658, when East Hampton's Elizabeth Garlick was accused of being a witch, neighbors claimed she was casting spells on them, as well as their families and their farm animals.

The charge couldn't have been more serious.

- She could have lost her life.

- Absolutely.

- Accusations of witchcraft were...were capital crime.

- Right.

Also known as Goody Garlick -- Goody is short for good wife -- the accused purportedly turned a hateful gaze toward a young woman who had recently given birth...a young woman named Elizabeth Gardiner Howell, the daughter of Lion Gardiner.

- She became ill in the days following the birth.

- She began to believe that she had become bewitched.

According to records, the failing young mother recited a psalm, peered into the darkness and then stiffened and cried out.

[Scream] A witch, a witch.

- So she saw a dark figure at the end of her bed.

- I mean, can you imagine if you woke up and saw that?

- There's no lights.

- No.

It's just frightening.

Perhaps the candles flared momentarily, or maybe a sliver of moonlight spilled into her room.

But the shadows parted just enough for the young mother to recognize the menacing silhouette.

She swore it belonged to Goody Garlick.

Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth Gardiner Howell was dead.

- So the town sprang into action to take control of the - situation and to try to identify who was responsible.

Many neighbors pointed an accusing finger at Goody Garlick.

By the time the trial began, 13 witnesses had come forward citing additional evidence of witchery.

- Wouldn't the community have then been afraid - to cross that person with all these powers?

- You would be afraid, but you have to root it out - before the entire community becomes contaminated.

- Stamp it out in her.

- That's an interesting side of it.

- Exactly, exactly, - because your soul, - your life in the hereafter - versus eternal damnation was at stake.

According to records, Neighbors told the magistrates stories of woe and misfortune, such as black cats, showing up at odd times, a hexed sow whose piglets died, an ox whose leg had broken.

At the time, all of these events were believed to be caused by the presence of a witch.

[Sound of cackling witch] - Belief in the power of witches was centuries and centuries - and centuries old, and witches were believed to have - power over a broad swath of ordinary life.

Thought to be compelling evidence, the testimony also left the justices with questions.

Did they know enough about demonology to reach a verdict?

Certainly, they did not want to set a witch free, but they did not want to wrongly convict her either.

- Instead, they referred the - case up to a higher court in Connecticut.

By 1658, witch trials were a somewhat familiar event in Connecticut.

More than one witch had been hanged in Connecticut for her crimes.

Surely a witch would be recognized there.

- It was crucial at this moment, however, that - Connecticut's new governor was John Winthrop, Jr. John Winthrop, Jr. presided over the trial.

Records are scarce, but it's likely the accusers were hoping for a confession, that they were looking for names, believing Goody Garlick was part of a coven trying to take down Puritan East Hampton in the name of the devil.

- The accusers believed that their God had somehow... - was somehow testing them - by sending the devil into their community, Likely preaching fire and brimstone, the accusers might have pressed the court to hang the witch and send her to judgment.

We know Winthrop weighed the arguments, and we know he did not find Goody Garlick innocent.

However, there was more.

- In that judgment, John Winthrop, Jr. indicated - that they also could not find her guilty.

- She she's not fully acquitted, but they refused - to find her guilty.

By court order, Goody Garlick returned to her home, to East Hampton and lived out the rest of her natural life.

And the community was ordered to put aside any grievances they might have with her, and live peacefully.

Thought to be the first witch trial over which John Winthrop, Jr. sat in judgment, the unwillingness to convict in this case is an important aspect of this specific history.

- So is this reflective of the changes - that were taking place in the world, this schism - between the scientific and the religious?

- It absolutely is a reflection of that.

This tells me that the Scientific Revolution had arrived in the man of John Winthrop.

Today, we know Elizabeth Gardiner Howell probably died from puerperal fever, an infection associated with pregnancy.

But as the day draws to a close, I find myself thinking John Winthrop, Jr. had no way of knowing that.

He trusted his education and his understanding of science and allowed that to guide his judgment.

He also realized the colonists explained what they could not understand as a consequence of magic.

And in the wake of tragedy, the community might scapegoat someone as the cause of those events.

They might believe someone had been conjuring spells in the darkness of night.

They might believe someone was working against them.

And in their struggle to achieve some semblance of stability.

one of them might be accused [Clap of thunder] of being a witch.

[Music] The best prophet of the future is the past.

So said Lord Byron.

My next investigation begins now, in Cranbury, New Jersey, Located in Middlesex County, I'm intrigued by the town's name and a history I think will prove extremely fruitful.

What I think we have here is something of a historic homonym Take a look at the sign and you'll see what I mean.

Now there's a lot of text on this marker, so I'm only going to focus on the top part.

Cranberry Mills.

This gristmill stone commemorates Cranberry Mills, the first industry in Cranbury erected by Thomas Grubbs in 1737 on the south side of Cranbury Brook.

The village was once called Cranberry or Cranberry Town, changed its name to Cranbury late in the 19th century.

So perhaps it's not a homonym, strictly speaking, but the two spellings have got me intrigued nonetheless.

I'm off to find out more.

It seems to me that the cranberry must have played a bigger part in our history than most of us realize, no matter how you spell it.

To find out more, I'm off to the Morris Museum located in Morristown, New Jersey.

It's a Smithsonian affiliate museum, and it's also where Drive By History's Anthony Bernard is spending his day wading through this history.

- I just came from a history marker that talks about a place - here in New Jersey called Cranbury, Cran-B-U-R-Y - That was also known as Cranberry, Cran-B-E-R-R-Y.

- So what can you tell me about this?

- I can definitely tell you that - this is one of those local stories - that fits into a larger narrative.

- Well, I had a feeling it might be.

- So what have you been able to dig up?

- OK, so cranberries -- plural -- played - a very important role in our region's development.

- But first, we have some grammatical history - to talk about.

- Grammatical history... - now that's a new one for us, isn't it?

- It is, and it takes us back about ten or eleven centuries, - to the early Middle Ages.

- That B-U-R-Y suffix derives from the Anglo-Saxon, and it means fortified place.

- Like a walled city.

- Well, there were walls around pretty much everything - in England at the time, weren't there?

- There were a lot of walls, for sure.

- So youd need that word in broad conversation.

- In the 9th century, you'd use Bury as a standalone word.

- But over time, it becomes incorporated - into a location's name.

- As you say, there were a lot of walls.

- So you get Danbury, meaning Dan's fortified town - or Westbury, the fortified town in the West.

- You get the idea.

- And the B-U-R-Y suffix is still with us...we know that.

- But has it changed meaning?

- It did, - from walled city, to just city.

- Now fast forward to colonial times, - when the Europeans arrived.

- They named places in our region for - familiar places back home in England.

- So you get Danbury, Connecticut - or Westbury, Long Island.

- And that naming convention is extrapolated out.

- So in the 19th century, Cranberry Town becomes - Cranbury, which literally means Cranberry Town.

- I'm glad you said that.

- I think literally it means Cran Town.

- You see Bury B-U-R-Y means town.

- Berry B-E-R-R-Y means berry, a kind of fruit.

- It's a homonym, sort of.

- Sounds the same, but different meanings.

- And that's our grammar history lesson.

- And from that, we can conclude that at one time, cranberries - had to be really important to Cranbury, New Jersey.

- So important that the town derived its identity from them.

- In fact, my research shows that cranberries played - an important role in large stretches of New Jersey, particularly the Pine Barrens.

- Well, that sounds like a much bigger story.

- It is, and it's where the next leg of our investigation begins.

To find out more, Anthony joins me, and together we head south to White's Bog Historic Village, located in Browns Mills, New Jersey.

Once one of the largest cranberry farms in our region, today, White's Bog welcomes history lovers and nature lovers alike.

It's also a pet friendly destination for those of us who like to travel with our four legged friends.

- Were greeted by Monmouth University Professor Rich Veit coauthor of New Jersey: A History of the Garden State.

He takes all of us on a late afternoon walk, starting with the fields and bogs.

This is a site where people might have been growing cranberries for 1000 years.

- The Lenape and other Native Americans - would have used them for medicine.

- They would have used it for a dye, a beautiful red dye.

- But they also would have used them as a food.

At the time of the Lenape, cranberries were gathered like many other fruits that grow on the vine, low to the ground.

It wasn't until much later that bogs were flooded, creating the image many of us have of the cranberry harvest today.

Many hundreds of years ago, this backbreaking work was essential.

Cranberries often provided the base for something called Pemmican, a highly nutritious food the natives relied on to survive the worst of the winter.

Cranberries are tart, no doubt about that, and it wasn't until the colonists came to America that cranberries became more pleasing to the palate.

As we tour the grounds, Rich Veit explains that cranberries took a giant leap in the 17th century -- 1622 to be precise -- after a very fortuitous ocean crossing.

- Honeybees, which are not indigenous to North - America, are brought over in the 17th century.

- And then you've got that sweetness from honey.

- Ah.

- Tart sweet.

- So it changes the way you can use the cranberries.

- You combine the two, right, and you get a new flavor, - maybe even as something a new flavor sensation.

From that point, forward Americans embraced cranberries in all sorts of ways.

A 1683 cookbook references cranberry juice.

Records from 1703 suggest cranberries were served at a Harvard commencement dinner.

And in the late 1700s, Amelia Simmons published a recipe for cranberry tarts.

- It sounds like cranberries explode onto the colonial scene.

- I think they're popular in the colonial period, but really - it's in the 19th century when they become so very popular.

[Music] - During the Civil War, - Ulysses S Grant, right, the famous Union General, - that he in fact asks for cranberries as part of a meal - for his troops -- a Thanksgiving meal.

During the Civil War, The nation was struggling with wounds both literal and emotional.

General Grant likely thought adding this very American side dish would spark a feeling of patriotism, invoking what might have been eaten at the first Thanksgiving.

It's fascinating to find out that Ulysses S Grant, who was the General in the Civil War and later president of the United States, would use cranberries at his Thanksgiving meal in order to unify the country.

[Music] As the century marched forward, commercial production of Cranberries did too.

Many entrepreneurs established farms across South Jersey.

The location was no accident.

- So this part of South Jersey is perfect - for growing cranberries -- they have acidic soils, right, - so that's a little bit distinctive.

- Theyre sandy, they're well drained, - and this is what the cranberry likes to grow in.

- So they naturally occur here.

Though the land had been farmed for decades, owner JJ White transformed White's Bog into its own community beginning in 1890.

By 1925, so many people worked here, White's Bog had its own general store and schoolhouse.

Autumn was high season, with cranberries maturing between September and November.

At harvest time, in order to get all of those cranberries to market -- well, it took a village.

- Now these are workers houses so families would have been - living in them, multiple families.

- And then the other buildings are things like - packing houses and... and meeting halls.

- So, it's a full production facility.

[Music] Though a massive operation, White's Bog was very much a family business.

And it was the owner's daughter, Elizabeth Coleman White, who really made history at White's Bog.

- She's a female pioneer at a time that this industry - is almost entirely dominated by men.

Focused not only on the economics of the farm, but also the welfare of its employees, one of the biggest challenges Elizabeth Coleman White faced was how to grow the business and keep her workers employed for longer periods of time.

The cranberry season was relatively short.

What she needed was another crop, one that would also thrive in the sandy soil of the Pine Barrens, but could be harvested at another time of year.

Our visit in July, well before cranberry season, has everything to do with that discovery.

- So I brought you here in July because - we are at the height of blueberry season.

- I can see that.

- Yeah.

Elizabeth Coleman White found the answer to her conundrum in blueberries.

Harvested from mid-June to mid-August, blueberries paired perfectly with cranberries.

However, growing them consistently in large quantities wasn't that easy.

Others had tried and failed, with many farmers believing blueberries could only grow in the wild.

Elizabeth Coleman White was convinced otherwise.

She just needed to find the perfect blueberry bush, one that was hearty and could grow reliably, while also yielding sweet fruit.

- She does that by collecting blueberries - and the plants from local folks.

- She has them bring in berries, - and she measures them on a little gauge - to try and get the biggest one she can, - the sweetest one she can.

Elizabeth Coleman White began her quest in 1911, and over a five year period she identified dozens of bushes that met her criteria.

From cuttings, she was able to propagate those superior blueberries, ultimately creating a small orchard.

Her first crop went to market in 1916, and quickly set the standard.

- Before Elizabeth Coleman White, like, the commercial - blueberry does not really exist.

As a result, White's Bog is known today as the birthplace of the High Bush Blueberry.

And Elizabeth Coleman White is remembered as one of our nation's most important horticulturalists.

- Theyre great, aren't they?

- Theyre fantastic, I can't stop eating them.

- So are we sort of in the artist's studio, so to speak?

- We are in the artist's studio.

- As the day draws to a close, I find myself fascinated with the history made here at White's Bog, and understanding why this site is part of the New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail.

Elizabeth Coleman White achieved big things here, essentially creating the blueberry as we know it today.

And that never would have happened if not for the quest to find a crop that would complement the cranberry and its growing season.

And, of course, all of it stems from our nation's fondness for cranberries, and their tangy tartness, an affection so strong they're not only part of our history... in some cases, they're part of our identity, too.

See you next time.

Made possible by: the New Jersey Historic Trust, advancing historic preservation in New Jersey for the benefit of future generations.

Also, the New Jersey Historical Commission, advancing interest in and awareness of New Jersey's past.