Category: Episodes

The Original War on Christmas (episode 212)

The Puritan dissenters who founded the town of Boston are remembered as a deeply religious society, so you might think that Christmas in Puritan Boston would be a big deal.Ā  Youā€™d be wrong though.Ā  Celebrating Christmas was against the law for decades, and it was against cultural norms for a century or more.Ā  What were the Puritansā€™ theological misgivings about Christmas?Ā  What were the practices of misrule, mummery, and wassailing with which Christmas was celebrated in the 17th century?Ā  And why did the Puritans literally erase Christmas from their calendars?Ā Ā Ā 


Continue reading The Original War on Christmas (episode 212)

The Ice King of Boston (episode 211)

Ice seems like such a simple thing today, when I can just go to my freezer and grab a few cubes to cool down my drink.Ā  But before artificial refrigeration, New Englanders would cut and store ice during the long winter to keep their food fresh and their drinks cold during the summer.Ā  That was all well and good for people who lived near an ice pond anyway, but what about people in the faraway tropics who might want to get their hands on some ice?Ā  Until the early 1800s, the idea of shipping ice to the tropics was seen as a crazy pipe dream, but then along came Frederic Tudor, the Boston entrepreneur who built a fortune and a global reputation as the Ice King!


Continue reading The Ice King of Boston (episode 211)

Lost Wonderland, with Stephen Wilk (episode 210)

The show this week is all about Wonderland, the early 20th century amusement park at Revere Beach.Ā  Dr. Stephen Wilk has deeply researched the investors and entrepreneurs who bought 27 acres of land along Revere Beach Boulevard and opened the park; the inventors behind rides like Shoot the Chutes, Hellā€™s Gate, and Loveā€™s Journey; and the people who ran attractions like a firefighting demonstration, a wild west show, and a model Japanese village.Ā  His new book Lost Wonderland: The brief and brilliant life of Bostonā€™s million dollar amusement park reveals all of that, as well as changes in the broader economy that doomed Wonderland nearly from the beginning.Ā  After opening in 1906, the park went through periods of success and bankruptcy in a meteoric run that lasted just four short years, while leaving a major cultural impression on the Boston area, and Revere in particular.


Continue reading Lost Wonderland, with Stephen Wilk (episode 210)

A Shooting at the State House (episode 209)

From our viewpoint in modern Massachusetts, with stringent gun licensing and background check laws, itā€™s hard to imagine how a young man with an extensive criminal record who had been involuntarily committed to multiple mental health institutions could walk into a store and walk back out with a shiny new handgun.Ā  And from a post-9/11 point of view, with security at the forefront of every public space, itā€™s hard to imagine how an uninvited visitor could walk right into the governorā€™s State House office and open fire.Ā  But on December 5, 1907, thatā€™s exactly what happened, when a disturbed man with a gun and a grudge decided to pay a visit to our seat of government.


Continue reading A Shooting at the State House (episode 209)

Ghost Stories (episode 208)

In honor of Halloween, Iā€™m going to be sharing eight of my favorite Boston ghost stories this week.Ā  From haunted houses and inexplicable premonitions recorded by Cotton and Increase Mather in the years leading up to the Salem Witch hysteria, to Nathaniel Hawthorne encountering his friend in the reading room at the Athenaeum for weeks after the friendā€™s death, to the apparition that only seems to appear in Bostonā€™s most venerable gay bar when only one person is there to see it, weā€™ll cover nearly four hundred years of paranormal claims. And if youā€™re wondering why parts of the recording arenā€™t up to our usual standards, itā€™s because I was recording this after midnight, and I fell asleep in the middle of recording multiple times.


Continue reading Ghost Stories (episode 208)

Launching the USS Constitution (episode 207)

The USS Constitution is the most famous ship in Boston history, and perhaps in the history of the US Navy.Ā  When the Navy was reborn in 1794, the Constitution was among the first fleet of frigates that made up its backbone.Ā  A decade later, the USS Constitution would earn a brilliant, nearly flawless record of naval combat against the British in the war of 1812, and today it stands as the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and the last American ship to sink an enemy in a ship-to-ship duel.Ā  However, the Constitutionā€™s origins were far from flawless.Ā  It was part of a procurement program that was nearly cancelled, and the famous frigate was almost scrapped before it was even completed.Ā  After it was rescued and completed, the USS Constitution took not one, not two, but three attempts to successfully launch.


Continue reading Launching the USS Constitution (episode 207)

Joseph Chapman, from Boston to L.A. (episode 206)

Your humble host really misses travel, so this weekā€™s episode is inspired by travel, both historic travel and my own. In the early 19th century, Ā a Boston shipwrightā€™s apprentice went to sea with a whaling voyage, and ended up being recruited into a crew that was assembled in the Hawaiian Islands, then captured by Spanish authorities on the California coast and accused of piracy.Ā  Escaping the gallows through hard work and Yankee ingenuity, Joseph Chapman would build a New England style mill for the San Gabriel mission, the first of its kind in Alta California.Ā  He would live through tumultuous times, witnessing the independence of Mexico, the downfall of the mission system he had become part of, and eventually the American annexation of California.

(Donā€™t forget toĀ vote for us for the ā€œfan favoriteā€ award!)


Continue reading Joseph Chapman, from Boston to L.A. (episode 206)

Matthew Dickey: Saving History with the Boston Preservation Alliance (episode 205)

This week, Jake sits down with Matthew Dickey, the Communications and Operations Manager at the Boston Preservation Alliance to discuss the organizationā€™s important work in saving the historic nature of Bostonā€™s many diverse neighborhoods.Ā  They fight to preserve individual buildings of historic importance, but they also work to keep the cohesion of historic neighborhoods and raise awareness with the public through efforts like the Boston Preservation Awards.Ā  Stay tuned to the end to learn how you can attend this yearā€™s virtual awards ceremony, where HUB History will be one of the nine honorees.

(Donā€™t forget to vote for us for the ā€œfan favoriteā€ award!)


Continue reading Matthew Dickey: Saving History with the Boston Preservation Alliance (episode 205)

Peace in Boston After the Civil War (episode 204)

Since last weekā€™s show was about Bostonā€™s 1851 Railroad Jubilee, which was an enormous celebration at a time when the nation was in the midst of a rush toward civil war, it seemed appropriate to discuss the Grand Peace Jubilee this week.Ā  Held in Boston in 1869, when the war was still a raw wound on the American psyche, the Peace Jubilee was a musical spectacular unlike anything the world had ever seen.Ā  Composer Patrick Gilmore hoped to bind the country together and help it healā€¦ and if he happened to get rich in the process, that would just be icing on the cake.Ā  This weekā€™s show also revisits another peacetime memory of the Civil War in Boston.Ā  In 1903, after the pain of the Civil War had dulled, Boston gathered at what is now the ā€œGeneral Hooker Entranceā€ to the State House to dedicate a statue to the highest ranking general from Massachusetts during the war.

Vote for us as the ā€œFan Favoriteā€ at this yearā€™s Boston Preservation Awards! Continue reading Peace in Boston After the Civil War (episode 204)