Hometown History

Latest Episodes:

Franklin's Turkey: America's Almost National Bird Mar 15, 2021

Show notes

Benjamin Franklin hated America's national bird. While Congress put the bald eagle on the Great Seal in 1782, Franklin saw it as a symbol of everything wrong with imperial power, a lazy bully that steals from smaller birds rather than working for its own food. His alternative? The humble, hardworking wild turkey.

Franklin's criticism wasn't just about birds. It was about what kind of country America would become: a small republic built on honest labor, or a militaristic empire modeled after Rome. His letter to his daughter comparing the "bird of bad moral character" to the "respectable" turkey reveals a tension that's existed since America's founding, are we the turkey or the eagle?

From our tiny standing armies before World War I to today's global military presence, this episode explores how America has struggled with Franklin's question for over 200 years. And in an age of financial predators and Wall Street hedge funds that behave exactly like the bald eagles Franklin described, maybe the old inventor was onto something.

Discover more forgotten American stories every week with Hometown History. Subscribe now.

Hometown History explores forgotten stories from small-town America. The overlooked events, hidden triumphs, and buried tragedies that shaped the country we live in. New episodes every Tuesday. Find every episode at mythsandmalice.com/hometown-history

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When More Democracy Means Less Freedom Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

Washington, DC. There's an old saying that everyone learns by experience. It's just a lot easier when it's someone else's. In one sense, that's all that history is, being proactive about learning from other people's mistakes, rather than waiting to make those mistakes yourself. Those of you who have listened to my podcasts over the past few years will know how I feel about the discipline of history.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Washington is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 15 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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The Burning Rag: Delaware's Deadly Powder Mills Mar 01, 2021

Show notes

Wilmington, Delaware. This new year, why not let Audible expand your life by listening? Explore over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and exclusive Audible originals that'll inspire and motivate you. Tap into your well-being with advice and insight from leading professionals and experts on better health, relationships, career, finance, investing, and more. Maybe you want to kick a bad habit or start a good one.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Wilmington is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 14 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

If you liked this: Episode 197 (Dover, Delaware)

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The Witch of Wall Street: Hetty Green's Story Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

New York City, New York. Long before there was ever a Wolf of Wall Street, there was a Witch of Wall Street, though that title was hardly earned. Her name was Hedy Green, and she did her business on Wall Street in the second half of the 19th century, in the very first part of the 20th, until she died in 1916. As far as finance goes, she was a heavyweight among heavyweights, to the point where she personally bailed out the entire city of New York multiple times when it ran out of money.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of New York City is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 13 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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The Philosopher Who Told Alexander the Great to Move Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Athens, Greece. George Dibborn, who we profiled in our last episode, was a really nice guy, and he was easy to like, but I think you're going to love Diogenes. Okay, maybe you won't love him, love him, or even like him very much, but you're going to like him, at least a little, because he's like a funnier, smarter version of your most antisocial impulses run wild.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Athens is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 12 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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The Sailor Who Rejected Nazi Germany Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

Hamburg, Germany. Have you ever gotten so fed up with society that you wanted to put all of your stuff in a sailboat and leave the world behind? Have you ever become so frustrated with the policies of your government that you wanted to declare yourself a sovereign nation of one? You could name your country anything you'd like, you could make up your own flag and your own passport, and you could travel as a diplomat on behalf of yourself with no one else to represent you.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Hamburg is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 11 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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The Man Who Could Never Stop Eating Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

Strasbourg, France. Honestly, I'm not even sure what to do with this one. We're talking about Tarare, the 18th century French showman and show-eater, and one of the least lovely and most helpless people in all of human history. He was born in 1772 and died in 1798. Tarare died young because his addictions consumed him, and just about everything else he could get his hands on.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Strasbourg is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 10 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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San Francisco's Self-Proclaimed Emperor Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

San Francisco, California. As well as U.S. history, you probably don't know that the U.S. Congress was officially abolished in 1859. After decades of corruption, its powers were stripped and its members were effectively banned from governing the people of the United States. All former members of Congress were told to evacuate the Capitol, effective immediately. All who did not comply with this request would be forcibly removed from the premises by the commanding general of the United States Army, Winfield Scott.

TIMELINE
1849: The gold rush of 1849 had grown the population from 1,000 to 25,000 in a single year.
1850: Though he never acquired any official power, the emperor became the unofficial mascot of the young city of San Francisco, which had been incorporated only 10 years earlier, in 1850.
1867: In 1867, Norton was arrested by a private security force on charges of madness for the purposes of committing him to what was called in those days an asylum for the insane.
1880: On January 8, 1880, Norton suffered a stroke on his way to a night lecture at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of San Francisco is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 9 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

If you liked this: Episode 88 (Crescent City, California)

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Belle Isle: Detroit's Abandoned Paradise Nov 15, 2020

Show notes

Detroit, Michigan. For some time now, Belle Isle has been the most surreal part of America's most surreal city. It's the little island getaway for the 20th century American apocalypse, also known as the city of Detroit. In the middle of the Detroit River, between the ugly concrete shores of Windsor, Ontario, and the mythical but still ugly shores of urban Detroit, sits a little piece of northern Michigan called, in French, the Beautiful Isle. And sure, it's fair to say it's beautiful.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Detroit is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 8 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

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Michigan's Sleeping Bear: A Nazi Ship Still Haunts These Waters Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

A Nazi cargo ship sits rusting in plain sight off South Manitou Island, Michigan, visible from shore, frozen in time since a 1960 snowstorm drove it into the shallows. This is the Francisco Morazan, a 235-foot former German naval vessel that survived Operation Sea Lion only to meet its end in Lake Michigan's treacherous Manitou Passage.

But the Morazan is just one ghost among many. These islands sit at the heart of one of the busiest, and deadliest, shipping lanes in 19th-century America, where an 1840 lighthouse tried desperately to save lives, and more than 50 shipwrecks still rest beneath the water. Behind it all lies a Native American legend of a mother bear who swam her cubs across 118 miles of open water, only to lose them in sight of shore.

This is the story of Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes and the islands she watches over, a landscape where mythology, maritime tragedy, and forgotten history converge at the edge of America's third coast. From ancient Ojibwa spirituality to Civil War-era lighthouse keepers to literal Nazi naval vessels, these waters hold more secrets than most people realize.

Subscribe to Hometown History for forgotten stories from America's small towns, strange places, and overlooked corners, where the past is never quite as simple as you thought.

The Ojibwa legend behind Sleeping Bear Dunes' haunting name
Why South Manitou Island became the busiest harbor between Chicago and Buffalo
The Francisco Morazan: A Nazi warship's surprising final resting place in Michigan
The 1840 lighthouse keeper who drowned trying to save his family
More than 50 shipwrecks hidden in the Manitou Passage
Frank Lloyd Wright's forgotten cottage on a Lake Michigan ghost island
Why these islands became America's abandoned frontier

Key Figures:

Mishimakwa - Mother bear of Ojibwa legend, namesake of Sleeping Bear Dunes
Aaron Sheridan - Civil War veteran lighthouse keeper who drowned in 1878
Frank Lloyd Wright - Designed 26-year-old's first cottage on South Manitou

Timeline:

Ancient Era: Ojibwa people establish islands as sacred burial grounds
1840: South Manitou Lighthouse commissioned by Congress
1878: Lighthouse keeper Aaron Sheridan drowns near the tower with his family
1945: Francisco Morazan seized by Allies in Germany after WWII
1960: Francisco Morazan runs aground in snowstorm, remains visible today
1958: Lighthouse decommissioned after 118 years of service
2019: Lighthouse relit permanently as memorial

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