American Countryside

One, five, ten, twenty?  Now imagine there were more denominations and dozens of different types of bills in circulation. What you would have is a major mess and that's exactly what banking was like in the 1850s... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One, five, ten, twenty?  Now imagine there were more denominations and dozens of different types of bills in circulation. What you would have is a major mess and that's exactly what banking was like in the 1850s... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether you have any or not, many of us are fascinated by gold.  It’s the storyline of many a tv show and movie.  Where can you find the biggest vault of it?  The answer may surprise you... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone knows that much of the nation’s gold is at Fort Knox.  Or is it?  That’s the question many wondered a few decades back... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve heard of the gold at Fort Knox, and while we can’t go inside the vault, we do know much about the beginnings of that heavily fortified treasury and its contents.  We visit with a  man who lives just next door so to speak... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the depths of the US Depression in the 1930s, the federal government took several steps to spur the economy.  One was forcing the sale of all gold to the federal government... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For centuries people have recognized the natural beauty along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, but Steven Fananda’s family is hoping visitors want to see what is below ground as well... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kids may go exploring when they have nothing better to do…and sometimes those adventures can lead to trouble.  But for this family…a wandering six year old built the family business... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes people will use secret codes to keep vital information from slipping into the wrong hands.  General Patton used such a code in World War II, just so he had something to drink... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the U.S. adopted prohibition in 1920, most alcohol production ceased, but when production resumed in the 1930s, it seems some of the old recipes, so to speak, had been lost.  This man combines history and a distillery to unlock some unique products... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can still find some old deeds that use a large tree to mark a property boundary.  Such was the case for Brent Goodin’s farm.  But their Boundary Oak is much more that simply a marker – it’s their business... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thomas Jefferson called this man, “As pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.”  So who was the man who garnered such praise?  I’ll reveal the name of an American hero most people don’t know... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

`Near the Philadelphia sites that Americans recognize as the birthplace of the country, there is a small memorial to a man most do not know.  However, it’s this man, born an ocean away, that perhaps turned the tide of the very revolution that formed a new nation... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was known as the Wheat King, a title bestowed on a farmer who built an empire growing the crop in California.  While the farm and the mansion are now gone, you can still find traces of the man who was one of the largest farmers of his day... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The name of this place tells you what the early settlers found here at the joining of two creeks.  The water from those streams continues to play an important role in what is grown here today... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a museum in Pikeville, Kentucky you’ll find a peace treaty between the states of Kentucky and West Virginia.  It is the resolution of a conflict we know between the Hatfields and McCoys – a struggle that engulfed two states and their respective governors... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the end of the Civil War occurred in 1865, some of the fighting in eastern Kentucky was just getting started.  And many people know the last names of some of those involved – the Hatfields and the McCoys... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The terrain of eastern Kentucky makes travel a bit of an adventure yet today.  Roads and highways snake between the rugged hills of the Appalachian chain.  That difficulty in travel was highlighted during the Civil War... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many towns and cities put up Christmas decorations during the holiday season.  In this small town they put up a Christmas tree each year and interestingly, they place it in a somewhat precarious location... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In east central Iowa you’ll find the small town of Lost Nation, Iowa.  Interestingly, the story of how it was named seems to be lost as well... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2020 the use of Aunt Jemima as a brand name was discontinued due to racial stereotypes.  However, the story behind the first person to become a living trademark is much bigger than that brand – it’s the story of woman dedicated to helping others... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1830s a lady named Nancy Green was born into slavery near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.  Although you may not believe you know her, there’s a chance you do because of a role she began later in life... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Judson Welliver is just one of the famous folks from this small town.  If you’ve not heard of Judson, he was the first of the folks to occupy a position that creates some important words delivered to the nation and world See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you drive into Aledo, Illinois you will notice that it is the world’s capital for this particular item.  That proclamation draws thousands of folks here every year... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the corner of one of Michael Dolan’s farm fields there is a place devoted to the story of Easter.  He never imagined what the place would become – today a site known as Reflections Park that attracts passing motorists as well as people from around the world... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.