It's Not History

In this episode, I sail in a small boat to a remote string of islands and the largest brick fortress in the Americas, one which began sinking into the sand the moment it was finished.  It's a story that involves Cuban revolutionaries, Spanish silver mines and how a pile of wet coal in the wrong place can sink a battleship and an empire. And how the truth about what actually happened took almos...

In this series we discover how a bizarre, beautiful, steampunk hybrid called USS Olympia, a ship I first came to know as a kid, destroyed one empire, birthed another. Then had breakfast. It’s a story that involves a (literal) mountain of silver, how Hoagies came to be and why coal, battleships and revolutions are a terrible combination. And how America first tried on becoming an empire. And decide...

In this episode, recorded before a live audience in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we look at Conestoga Town through a different lens: the challenge of historic preservation without physical artifacts. Looking for inspiration, we discover 27 miles of fabric and cans of red spray paint. What happens next is up to you.

In this, the final episode of this series, my family discovers a new war and a new fortress in the fields of Negiuchi. The B-29 Super Fortress. Much is lost. But some things are found. And saved.

For 150 years during the Sengoku Jidai, thousands of men, both distinguished and noble men, had a go at making all of Japan theirs. Three men made it happen. One was labeled a fool, another was born a peasant, and the last established a dynasty. An omnipotent dynasty powerful enough to rule all of Japan for over two hundred years. But was toppled by six Black Ships.

In this episode, the poster child of the Sengoku-jidai rebrands himself and marches north - picking up three provinces, 80,000 guys, millions of barrels of rice, and a few dozen castles. One of these castles is my castle. Negiuch-jo. Meet the new Hojo clan.

In this episode, we look at how my 500-year-old survived both a 16th-century civil war and 20th-century bulldozers. And how one of the clues to its survival is in another field. One in Pennsylvania, named Gettysburg.

Why is there a 500 year old Samurai Castle in my yard? Negiuchi Castle stood at a turning point in the struggle for unity in medieval Japan. Once the tip of the spear of one the most powerful clan in the Sengoku-jidai - The Age of Warring States. Today it's nearly forgotten, hidden in a forest ..and our backyard. In this episode we explore deep history and lethal landscapes in a suburb of Tokyo.

We conclude this series and season with the answer to the question 'What happened to the people the rivers are name after'—the second part of our interview with Michael Mantooth of the Conestoga Susquehannock tribe.

In which the question that started this whole series - 'What happened to the people the rivers are named after " is finally answered. By the people the rivers are named after.

In this, our next-to-last episode, we get ‘meta’ and look at the story of the ‘Paxtons and Conestoga’ as just that—a story. We also examine how that story has been retold, manipulated, appropriated, and occasionally fabricated over nearly 300 years in print, prose, movies, television, and, best of all, graphic novels. As a bonus, we—my contributors and I—get to show our homework: how we came to th...

In which we see how the impact of the Paxton Boys' violence and the complicity of the colonial elite extended far beyond the immediate victims, shaping the political landscape of colonial America and contributing to the growing tensions that would eventually lead to the American Revolution. Inspired by the Paxton Boys’ impunity, other groups, like the Black Boys, take up arms against both Native A...

Conestoga Town is an opportunity to delve into a hidden chapter of American history, one that challenges our understanding of the nation's origins and the very foundation upon which it was built. A story that is only now being uncovered. And likely one that you and your audience have never heard of. I know I didn't before I made this series "Conestoga Town," doesn't just recount history – it rewri...

Over this series, we've uncovered many hidden, unexpected, and surprising things. Today we get the most head-spinning of all.  Because the Paxtons, in their wake, kicked off another war. A war that would shortly blow up the political landscape and ultimately the government of Pennsylvania and send Benjamin Franklin fleeing for help. To the King of England.

In this episode, we look at two of the foundational treatises of America. One explores the rights of men the other explores the justification for exterminating Native Americans. The two documents could not be more different but they share some shocking similarities and convergences -including the same editor - Benjamin Franklin. 

After destroying Conestoga Town and massacring its inhabitants a new larger Paxton army rises in the backcountry of Lancaster County and marches east over frozen fields to destroy Indians sheltered in Philadelphia and anyone helping them. They are stopped by a man with a pen.

In this episode, we see that- it didn't have to be like this. Not all powerful men seek to make their massacres seem just. And that the brave can seek justice and are swayed by mercy.

Evidence not seen for nearly 300 years is discovered in a long-forgotten archive. Evidence that reveals an answer to the question of why the Conestoga was murdered, who knew about it even before it happened - and could have stopped it. 

In the wake of the destruction of the Conestoga Town community, Native Americans react with outrage; in the Settler community, women and men of letters respond with shock and horror. Among the colonial elites supporters of the Paxtons emerge from the shadows.

The Paxton militia, believing that all Indians are now the enemy, launch a genocidal campaign and ride to Conestoga Town. 

1763: English America gets a continent. Native America launches a war of independence. And on the Frontier between the two, pacifist Quakers fund an army. The Paxton Rangers.

The first, First World War begins—not in Sarajevo, but in Pennsylvania—when a young Virginia Plantation owner and part-time Army officer walks into a room full of gunpowder with a lit match. And sets the world ablaze.

With William Penn gone, Pennsylvania begins its transformation from a Peaceable Kingdom to a violent frontier. Leading this, a new wave of settlers establish a base of operation at a place they name Paxton.

We explore the mystery of how a people's homeland becomes larger and more powerful... after they leave the land behind. And a man is saved from execution by an army of ghosts…with knives. 

In which a woman emerges from the Great Dragon Swamp to create one of the most essential and enduring documents in America. And she did it her way. Meet Cockacoeske "Queen of the Pamunkey"