Off the Path

The Sons of Liberty, the activists who helped start the American Revolution, liked to frequent a watering hole on the tip of Manhattan Island called Fraunces Tavern. The tavern played more than one surprising role during the American Revolution. 250 years later, it still serves libations — and celebrates its history.

There’s only one known intersection in America where the buildings on all four corners were built before the American Revolution. The place is Kingston, New York -- the state’s first capital -- until British troops burned it to the ground. But that corner survived - and a few dozen more structures - thanks to some hefty building materials.

The first woman in American history to get an honorable discharge or a military pension served almost 250 years ago. Her name was Deborah Sampson. She disguised herself as a man and fought in several skirmishes -- and was injured -- before she was found out. Her adopted hometown, Sharon, Massachusetts, still honors her memory.

Long before the first shots of the American Revolution were fired, there was -- a tree. An elm tree in a grove in Boston, where some say the Revolution truly started. It became famous across the colonies in paintings, engravings and poems as the Liberty Tree. Now, 250 years after the British unceremoniously chopped it down, Liberty Trees are springing up once again.

Today, a mystery rooted in Vermont history: the case of the missing Tinmouth Apple. Once thought to be lost, the search for this rare apple reveals how one community worked to preserve a piece of its agricultural heritage. Thanks to our friends Sabine Poux, Josh Craneat, Vermont Public and their podcast Brave Little State for sharing this story with us. Here’s a link to the original episode.

It’s believed that some of the oldest preserved depictions of Jesus Christ are from a town in Syria, abandoned nearly 2000 years ago. The paintings, on a rough stone wall, can be seen at the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven.

Every Halloween, WSHU’s Off the Path gets a little .... spooky. Visits to Lizzie Borden’s house, a haunted pirate cave, and Sleepy Hollow, to name a few. This year, reporter Davis Dunavin finds himself on a boat in the middle of New York Harbor — surrounded by creatures of the night — for New York City’s 5th annual vampire cruise. The Gothic Vampire Cruise on the Hudson is co-hosted and features music by The Sedona Effect

The origins of the word "podunk" are shrouded in history. In the Algonquin language, it most likely meant a boggy place, a swamp or a junction of streams and rivers. But we now use it to mean a small, unimportant, and isolated place. There was also a tribe called the Podunk, one of many who lived and fished on the Connecticut River.

The Appalachian Trail stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. It was the brainchild of an idealistic forester who drew inspiration from a mountain top in Vermont.

We like to picture Theodore Roosevelt as this vigorous, energetic, hyper-manly guy. And he was. But he didn’t start that way. He began as a bedridden, asthma-stricken boy in New York’s East Village. He went through a lot to become the guy who led the charge up San Juan Hill and served as our 36th president.

Back in the summer of 1989, a lot of weird little stickers appeared on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island. They were on walls, trash cans and utility poles. You’d find them outside bars, record stores and skate shops. They were all the same, a grainy black-and-white picture of a bulky scowling man, with the words: “Andre the Giant has a Posse.”

It began with one of America's richest men jumping out of a moving train to trudge through the mud and scope out the property. It was the cultivating grounds for the 'queen of American etiquette,' Emily Post, as well as the most iconic men's suit in the modern world. This week, join us for a tour of Tuxedo Park, New York!

Everyone knows the story of the first manned airplane flight, right? The Ohio-based Wright Brothers flew a biplane more than 850 feet across North Carolina’s Outer Banks in December of 1903. That historical event is featured on the license plates and on the state quarters of Ohio and North Carolina. But some people say someone else deserves the credit: a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead. He supposedly flew his flying machine two years before the Wright Brothers in Fairfield, Connecticut. Additional mixing by Bella Fabbo. Historical voices by Carter Dewees and Bill Buchner.

“The Little Prince” is one of the best-selling books of all time. It was written by a Frenchman, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and translated into 300 languages since its publication in 1943. But the author didn’t write “Le Petit Prince” in his native France – he wrote it in New York. And there’s a wonderful story about a statue of the Little Prince outside a library on Long Island’s North Shore.

Kate Pierson spent decades on tour as one of the vocalists of the legendary rock group the B-52s. You know – the big hairdos? The surf guitars? Love Shack? Turns out, at the same time, Pierson also collected art, antiques and other decor. That collection is now part of her offbeat side project. A cute little roadside motel – a real-life “Love Shack” – just outside Woodstock, New York.

The first widely-played video game wasn’t Pong, or Donkey Kong, or Space Invaders. It wasn’t made by Nintendo or Atari. Instead, imagine a bunch of scruffy young nerds at MIT in 1962, given free rein over the latest computer technology. The result: Spacewar!

This season on Off The Path, Davis Dunavin digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.

In the mid-1800s, a father and son spent years digging a long, winding tunnel into solid rock on a hill in Lynn, Massachusetts. They said they were looking for lost treasure—with directions from a ghostly pirate.

It's here! The hour-long Off the Plank special aired this fall on stations nationwide, distributed by American Public Media. Hear about sea shanties, pirates, lighthouses, white whales and more.

Over two centuries ago, a sea serpent showed up in Gloucester Harbor, swimming and playing and splashing in full view of the townsfolk. It’s one of the most well-documented sea serpent sightings in history. But what was the mysterious creature?

Pirates terrorized the Atlantic coast in colonial times during what was called the Golden Age of piracy. But there was one place where pirates were welcomed with open arms — for a while. That place was Newport, Rhode Island.

This season of "Off the Path" has featured music from the Ranzo Boys, a New York City-based traditional folk music trio. In this episode, Davis Dunavin sits down with the Ranzo Boys to learn more about the stories behind the songs.

One of history’s most notorious pirates is Captain William Kidd. His legend is tied to rumors of the buried treasure he supposedly left up and down the Atlantic coast, from the Caribbean to Canada. But Captain Kidd insisted he wasn’t a pirate — and in reality, he may not have buried much treasure at all.

A lighthouse keeper in Newport, Rhode Island, became nationally famous in the late 1800s for rescuing sailors. Her name was Ida Lewis — and she drew the attention of a sitting president and the early suffragette movement.

There’s a 27-acre island off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire called Smuttynose Island. The population in 1873 was six: a family of Norwegian immigrants who rented the only house on the island. So it shocked the country when two of them were brutally murdered. The murder still inspires wild theories — and a bestselling book and movie — a century and a half later.

William Fly’s pirate career was short and brutal — and his death in 1726 is sometimes considered to mark the end of the days when pirates ruled the Atlantic. It began with a mutiny — led to a last-ditch conversion attempt — and ended with a gruesome display on an island in Boston Harbor.

Herman Melville published one of the great American novels in 1851. Just in case you missed it in high school, a quick refresher: we follow Ishmael. He’s a crew member aboard the whaling ship the Pequod. Its captain, Ahab, is a menacing figure obsessed with catching a whale he calls Moby-Dick. This book is all about whaling, which used to be one of the most lucrative industries in the world — and it was partially inspired by the author’s time in the seaside whaling town of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

America's first submarine dates to the Revolutionary War. Built by a Connecticut inventor, it sailed into New York Harbor in 1776 with a mission to blow up a British warship. It was ahead of its time — maybe a little too ahead of its time. There are a few places you can see replicas of the Turtle — and one of them is at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex.

One of the most successful pirates of all time died at sea in a dramatic storm, leaving all his treasure buried under the ocean floor. Hundreds of years later, a Cape Cod man followed a real-life treasure map to find it — and now you can go to his museum to see real-life pirate booty. Featured song: “Jolly Sailor Bold,” performed by the Ranzo Boys.

Host Davis Dunavin previews his upcoming adventure at sea! Among other things, you’ll hear about quite a few pirates in this series, which is why we decided to call it Off the Plank.

In 1820, Washington Irving wrote a short story steeped in the ghostly folklore of New York’s Hudson Valley. Its simple premise and terrifying climax has spooked and entertained people for two centuries. It was set in North Tarrytown, but Irving called it Sleepy Hollow.

Barney and Betty Hill claimed they had an encounter with aliens more than 60 years ago. Their story became the launching point for alien abductions in popular culture. And it happened — supposedly — late one night on a lonely road in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

The state of Maine has deep forests and rocky shores. It also has one small stretch of sandy dunes in the town of Freeport — that looks more like the Sahara than northern New England.

Andrew Wyeth’s 1948 painting “Christina’s World” shows the reality of life for his longtime friend, a woman with a disability, on her farm in coastal Maine.

A small museum on an island in Maine boasts the world’s largest collection of a specific kind of artifact: umbrella covers. Not umbrellas — just the covers.

The "Lost Limner" returns in a new play

There are six words spray painted on a rock along a highway near Newbury, New Hampshire. How they got there is still a mystery. Davis Dunavin took a drive up Route 103 to see the mystery rock — and maybe get some answers.

The Appalachian Trail stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. It was the brainchild of an idealistic forester who drew inspiration from a mountain top in Vermont.

The beloved poet bought a home in Vermont — where he wrote some of his most famous poems, weathered family tragedy and picked lots of apples.

Host Davis Dunavin is back on the road as he previews his next set of adventures on a new season of Off the Path!

Most New Yorkers might be a little skeptical about eating something they found on the street — if it’s not from a food cart. But one New Yorker has made it his life’s work to convince his neighbors that nature’s bounty is accessible even in the heart of the city.

Take a look through your medicine cabinet — from skin cream to body wash and deodorant. Many of these products share an ingredient: witch hazel. And the witch hazel industry has deep roots in the Connecticut River Valley.

The first colonial governor of Massachusetts planted a pear tree in the 1600s. It’s now believed to be the oldest cultivated fruit tree in the Americas.

A few LGBTQ families met up on the tip of Cape Cod one summer in the mid '90s. Their fun beach week had a bigger impact than they expected. Family Week — as it’s called — has helped redefine ideas of marriage and family for more than 25 years. And it still takes place every summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

One of America’s most beloved artists kept a secret. Andy Warhol — pop artist and gay icon — was also a lifelong Catholic who went to mass regularly at a church in New York City’s Upper East Side.

A few years before the Stonewall riots, a protest took place at another New York City gay bar, just about a block away. It didn’t draw as much attention, but in its own way, it was a milestone for gay rights.

Musician Nicole Singer, the organizer of Youth Traditional Song Weekend, which took place online this month due to the pandemic, is trying to bring young people and non-traditional audiences into folk music.

Sea shanties have enjoyed some renewed attention on social media. A lot of them have strong ties to New England’s maritime culture and whaling industry.

A group singalong has hopped from bar to bar in New York City for years — and in the age of the pandemic, it lives on Zoom. It’s called Exceedingly Good Song Night.

There’s a camp in the woods of Massachusetts where traditional styles of folk music and dance from around the world are kept alive. It’s the oldest continuously operated folk dance camp in the United States. It’s called the Pinewoods Camp.