American Countryside

Most of us don’t think of the state of Illinois as a major coal mining region, however in the 1800s and early 1900s, this was a place where miners extracted coal from the ground and often had little to show for doing so.  In 1898 in a resulted in a strike that is still remembered today... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She was small in statue but mighty in the punch she carried.  An Irish born lady who brought a message of hope and resilience to workers across the nation... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A mother cares for her sons and this mother had many adopted souls that she took under her wing.  She was a fiery woman who would not stand for the atrocities she saw around her... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some people plant flowers around their home every Spring.  Now imagine you need to plant 70,000 or more of them.  That’s what takes place here each year... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1920s there was an effort to build a memorial along the international border between the U.S. and Canada.  The idea was a park that commemorates the peace between the two nations.  What resulted can be found along a relatively unpopulated area along that border line... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may not fancy yourself a poet, and you may have forgotten a poem called My Western Home.  But in a moment you’ll find that you do know those words quite well... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s one of the best known songs of that past century.  In fact, one president said it was his favorite.  But then a lawsuit stopped it from being played... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The name Farmers Branch sums up the beginning of this place.  A rich ag community along a north Texas stream.  Today the landscape has changed…but you can still find those roots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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In Marion, Ohio you’ll find a museum that is the only one devoted to this in the world.  That fact is interesting in light of just how popular this has been in this country for well over a century... 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.

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.