Tag: newton

The Lost Viking City on the Charles (episode 275)

If you walk down Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, you might notice a small stone marker that states, “on this spot in the year 1000, Leif Erikson built his house in Vineland.”  You might be surprised to learn that Leif Erikson had a house in Cambridge, and if so, you’ll be even more surprised to learn that the lower Charles River was the seat of a thriving Norse city around the turn of the first millennium.  Learn about Harvard professor Eben Norton Horsford’s theory that the legendary Viking city of Norumbega was situated along the Charles River in this week’s podcast!


Continue reading The Lost Viking City on the Charles (episode 275)

Joseph Lee and his Bread Machines (episode 268)

Joseph Lee was a hotelier, caterer, and one of the richest men in his adopted hometown of Newton.  By the time of his death in 1908, Lee had worked as a servant, a baker, and for the National Coast Survey; he had worked on ships, in hotels, and at amusement parks.  He had earned a vast fortune in hotels, lost most of it, and earned another one through his patented inventions that helped change the way Americans eat.  He had entertained English nobles and American presidents.  And he had raised three daughters and one son, who was a star Ivy League tackle before graduating from Harvard.  If you make bread at home, or meatballs, or fried chicken, or casserole, you are the beneficiary of the technology Joseph Lee developed.  That would be a remarkable life for anyone, but Joseph Lee was enslaved in South Carolina until he was about 15 years old, making his accomplishments even more remarkable.


Continue reading Joseph Lee and his Bread Machines (episode 268)