Welcome to Wahpeton, North Dakota, home of the Chahinkapa zoo, North Dakota State College, and much more!  Wahpeton is located in Southeastern ND along the Bois de Souix River.  The first European explorer in the area was Jonathan Carver in 1767. Carver's mission was to find the Northwest Passage, the imagined waterway to the Orient that many explorers of the time believed existed.  The area wasn't settled by Europeans until after the Civil War.  One of the town's major attractions appears to be the Chahinkapa Zoo, which is home to over 300 animals from 6 continents.  The newest animals at the zoo are two white rhinos that arrived in May of 2018.  Settle in for a strange ride through a lovely little town!    

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to the town of Pilot Mountain, NC, a small town located just outside of Pilot Mountain State Park. It is named for the nearby Pilot Mountain, a geological formation with a big pinnacle and a small pinnacle.  The town is also believed to be the inspiration for the fictional town of Mount Pilot in The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD.  The State Park is one of the many stops on the Mountains-to-Sea State Park Trail in NC.  The trail runs from the Appalachain Mountains to the coast connecting many of North Carolina's State Parks.  Pilot Mountain is actually part of the ancient Sauratown Mountains, not the Appalachain Mountains.  We hope you enjoy our trip to Pilot Mountain!  It might be a little dicey if you love Andy Griffith!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to Saint Albans, Vermont!  We are visiting the city, not the town which surrounds it.  Yep, the city is surrounded by a town of the same name.  The area was originally chartered in 1763 but didn't see much growth until after the Revolutionary War.  The town was also the site of the Northernmost engagement of the Civil War, known as St. Albans Raid.  The city of St. Albans was incorporated in 1902 from a 2 square mile area within the town.  We can't find any good reason for it, but it seems to be a common occurrence in Vermont.  The area is known for its Maple Syrup production and is one of the many towns on Lake Champlain that have reported sightings of Champ, the lake monster said to live in the lake.  We hope you enjoy our little trek through Saint Albans!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to Schuyler, Nebraska, a Great Place to Live and Grow!  The town was originally known as Shell Creek Station and was renamed Schuyler in 1870 after Schuyler Colfax, our 17th Vice-President, Schuyler Colfax.  During the same year, the Union Pacific Railroad chose the town as the loading point for cattle driven North from Texas, making Schuyler Nebraska's first "cow town."  The resulting boom was short-lived as the loading point moved to the nearby town of Kearney in 1871.  The town has never regained its previous notoriety and has been constantly "one-upped" by Kearney at every turn (in our opinion).  Somehow former President Gerald Ford, who was born in Omaha, NE, makes his way into this week's podcast.  Omaha is about an hour east of Schuyler, although we had no idea of the link at the time.  We hope you enjoy your time in Schuyler with President Nixon, Spiro Agnew, and Gerald Ford!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Welcome to Thibodaux, Louisiana, the "Queen City of LaFourche"! First settled in the 18th century by French colonists, the area was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  The town was incorporated under the name Thibodauxville in 1830, but was shortened to its current name in 1838.  From the early 1800s until after the Civil War, Thibodaux was the trading center for the numerous sugar cane plantations in the region.  After the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, civil unrest caused by sugar cane plantation owners attempting to return to slavery era conditions led to the Thibodaux Massacre where at least 50 African Americans were murdered in the midst of a workers' strike.  The town was also the birthplace of "The Bayou Strangler", Ronald Joseph Dominique.  Dominique was a serial killer who murdered at least 23 men and boys in Louisiana between 1997 and 2006.  While this certainly paints a dark picture of Thibodaux's past, the town has been referenced in a kinder light in songs by a number of popular musicians like Hank Williams, George Striat, and Jimmy Buffett.  Join us for a quick trip through this interesting small town on the banks of the Bayou Lafourche!

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov