Out in the woods of Cape Ann exist the remnants of a village where hardworking folk once dwelled alongside interesting characters and legends. Hear about the people -and the dogs - who once populated the countryside and the myths that grew up around them.

Jacob Marley, who was, in life, Scrooge's partner, is deeply rooted in mid-19th century London, but was his character inspired by a story written in Lowell, Massachusetts? Listen in and decide for yourself, about Marley's Middlesex County roots.

In 1927 - three years before the first FIFA World Cup - The Uruguay National Team made an unlikely visit to Malden, MA as a warm-up game for that first tournament. Uruguay had done well, beating top teams from around the world, and the club would be victorious in the 1930 World Cup. More surprisingly than their visit, was the fact that they lost to a local team. Listen how the Boston Wonderworkers took on - and beat - the world's best, not only in the match, but also in the ensuing riot.

Sometimes legend and reality coincide. That's the case with the famous Thanksgiving song "Over the River and Through the Woods." Although a seemingly wistful ditty of what we'd like life to be, the tune is actually biographical. The sights and events chronicled in the verses actually exist. Listen to find out where the route of the sleigh takes the listener and discover what river is being crossed.

Everyone knows George Washington was our first president, right? Well, there's a little more to the story than that. Before the current constitution was in place we already had a government - The Congress of the Confederation, and at its head was the President of the United States in Congress Assembled. Nine people held that position before Washington was sworn in. First among them was a man from Connecticut. Hear the story of Huntington's brief, but meaningful, presidency.

What could be more exciting than pirates, buried treasure, and a treasure hunt, all in our own backyard? That's what we have in Lynn Woods. In the mid 1600s it was rumored that pirate Tom Veal secreted his ill-gotten booty deep in the heart of Lynn Woods. Did it really happen? Nobody knows for sure, but that didn't stop nineteenth century treasure hunters from seeking it out. Listen to how a man and his son devoted their lives to searching for it, and hear about what they left behind.

Boston has had several well-known fires, from the Great Fire of 1872 which consumed most of the downtown area, to the Cocoanut Grove, taking 492 lives, and the tragedy at the Hotel Vendome. One that is nearly forgotten today is the Stadium Fire of 1894 - a blaze that started in the middle of a baseball game and ended with the destruction of an entire neighborhood.

When the Civil War came to a close, musician Patrick Gilmore developed a fantastical idea to help heal the nation's wounds - a large-scale concert featuring thousands of performers to be held in a temporary building holding 50,000 spectators. Nearly everyone thought he was crazy, but, against all odds, he pulled it off.

On a cold January day President Elect Franklin Pierce and his family boarded a train in Andover, Massachusetts, two months before he took office. A mile later the train left the track and tumbled down an embankment. The horrible accident nearly ended his presidency before it started, He survived, but the tragedy hobbled his administration for the entire term, destroyed his home life, and probably led to an early death..

Lexington is a town that everyone knows about. The first shots of the American Revolution took place on the town green. Every school child learns about it early on. Together with nearby Concord it's a household word. But who was its most famous resident? He had nothing to do with the town's fame, but, nonetheless, he's notorious. This podcast explains how this person's name became a part of the language.