This episode delves into the public health industry that emerged in New York in the 19th Century. As the understanding of medicine and health evolved over time, there were many communities in New York state whose location was thought to have healing properties, most often because of the existence of springs or some other perceived environmental benefit. The most famous is Saratoga Springs, but there are others around the state, including Pitcher Springs in Chenango County. These locations flourished in the 19th Century, as people began to look to them not only as places of healing, but as places of high society and entertainment.

Devin and Lauren dive into the history of Timbuctoo, an African American settlement founded by philanthropist Gerrit Smith in response to an 1846 law requiring all Black men to own $250 worth of property in order to vote in New York state. To counter this racist policy, Smith decided to give away 120,000 acres of land to 3,000 free, Black New Yorkers, hoping to enable them to move out of cities and work the land to its required value. Lyman Epps and other Black pioneers relocated to the wilderness near Lake Placid, New York — as did abolitionist John Brown, who based his family in North Elba to assist the Black pioneers in their farming.

In this episode, Devin and Lauren research the life of Audrey Munson, America’s first supermodel. Born in upstate New York, Munson was one of the most famous models of the early 20th Century, and posed for the top American artists in the Beaux Arts movement. Sculptures based on Munson dot the landscape of New York City, and are held in museums around the country. She was also one of the first American actresses to pose nude in a major motion picture. Once called “Miss Manhattan,” Munson’s life would take a tragic turn by the age of 40. In 2015, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation erected a historical marker near her final resting place in New Haven, New York.

In this episode, Devin and Lauren investigate the invasions of Canada by the Fenian Brotherhood, a group of Irish Nationalists intent of freeing Ireland from British control. These invasions were launched from several locations in upstate New York, including the site of a recently-erected William G. Pomeroy Foundation marker in the Franklin County town of Constable.