Weird Island

Episode Description:

While today, tomatoes are one of the most commonly consumed vegetables in the United States, that wasn’t always the case. For much of history, tomatoes were not only ignored, but feared. So, what changed? And is it possible a Newport man played a role in introducing the tomato into the American diet? 

Episode Source Material - Michel Felice Corne

• Cornè House - Atlas Obscura
• Michele Felice Cornè - Wikipedia
• Michel Felice Corne, Summer Exhibit 1972
• February Meeting, 1941 - Colonial Society of Massachusetts
• Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe, Florence Howe Hall, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, in two volumes, with portraits and other illustrations: volume 1
• Michele Felice Cornè

Episode Source Material - Tomato History

• The Tomato in America, Early History, Culture and Cookery | Andrew F. Smith
• 10 Tomatoes That Changed the World | William Alexander
• Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years | Smithsonian
• Sixteenth-century tomatoes in Europe: who saw them, what they looked like, and where they came from
• How a ‘Strange,’ ‘Evil’ Fruit Came to Define Italy’s Cuisine

The first famous American daredevil got his start leaping from Pawtucket Falls. 

Episode Source Material

• Sam Patch The Famous Jumper | Paul E. Johnson
• The Real Simon Pure Sam Patch | Rochester History
• The Last Leap of Sam Patch | Headlines & Heroes
• The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, October 28, 1829, Image 2 « Chronicling America «
• Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], January 06, 1830, Image 3
• Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], January 06, 1830, Image 3
• Mineral Point tribune., February 24, 1870, Image 3
• Sam Patch's Last Leap
• The Daredevils of Niagara Falls | Library of Congress
• Leaps of Fame: The Rise of Sam Patch and a Changing Industrial Landscape - Not Even Past
• Sam Patch: a 19th Century Rhode Island Daredevil Worth Remembering
• 1824 Strike - Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)
• Labor History: The First Factory Strike - In These Times
• “4 or 5 Active Lads to Serve in Cotton Factory” - Child Labor at Slater Mill | Rhode Tour
• Pawtucket Falls - Blackstone River Valley

In 1848, a man named Orson Squire Fowler ignited a homebuilding fad when he dreamed up a  bold new home design, one that might be cheaper, more efficient and even make you happier. 

Inventory of Octagonal Houses in RI - One’s I’ve found to still be there:

• Lemuel C Richmond Octagon House, 41 High Street, Bristol
• Cranston (Battey) Octagon House, 80 Phenix Avenue. The only surviving of 3 once in Cranston. Built around 1854. Today there are four apartments in the building
• East Providence Octagon House, 21 Sunnyside Avenue. Built around 1900 as a bandstand for the short-lived Boyden Heights Amusement Park, and converted to a private residence by 1916.
• Providence, 36 Crescent Street. Eliza H. Dix House, built 1855. 
• Providence, 63 Elmwood Ave. Built 1857 for Silas M. Field, jeweler. Is now a 4 family residence. 
• Providence, 669 Public Street. Now a 4 family residence. 
• Providence, 76 Harrison Street. Modern house. 
• Warwick, 25 South Fair Street, Pawtuxet Village. Built in the 1830s?  
• Albert S. Potter House, 4 Carolina Main Street, Carolina. 
• Riverside, 163 Halleck Avenue. Custom built in 1990. 
• Smithfield, J. S. Sweet Octagon House. Built 1865. 108 Farnum Pike. Need to check this one. 
• Olneyville Octagon House, built in 1988

Houses that appear to have been torn down:

• Bristol Octagon House, Wood Street. No longer there. 
• Central Falls Octagon House, built around 1877 - don’t think it’s still there
• Cranston Ezra Read Octagon House, on Pontiac Avenue. Demolished in the 1970s.
• Cranston Octagon House on Wayland Avenue, on a 1882 map but gone by 1895
• Johnston Octagon House. Built before 1880, located at 745 Hartford Ave near Killingly St. Demolished in the 1960s. 
• Pawtucket Octagon House, located at 42 Park Place. Built in 1856, demolished in the 1950s. 
• Providence, Gano Street. 1906 newspaper article references it. Gone now. Possibly meant another one a street over on Ives. 
• Providence, 343 Williams Street. No longer there. Built pre 1875. Check this one again.
• Providence, Stewart Street. No longer there. 
• Providence, 241 Ives Street. Razed in the 1980s. 
• Providence, Locust Street. No longer there. 
• Providence, 307 Knight Street. Built 1855. Thought to be the earliest octagon house built in the city. Built by Benjamin Merril Hubbard. Went looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Likely gone. 
• Woonsocket, Sabin Pond House. Built 1849. At 315 Grove Street. Gabled Octagon House, very interesting looking. Demolished in the mid 1980s. 
• Woonsocket, 21 (?) Fountain Street. No longer there. 
• South Kingstown, no longer there. 
• Block Island?
• Prudence Island - Not sure of the address!

Episode Source Material

• Albert S. Potter Octagon House - Wikipedia
• The Octagon House Inventory Book
• Octagonal pegs in a square landscape
• 76 Harrison Street, Unit#76, Providence, RI 02909 | MLS #1176582 | Lila Delman
• 163 Halleck Avenue, East Providence, RI 02915 | Compass
• Waltham Watch Company - Wikipedia
• Orson Fowler, the Phrenologist Who Started the Craze for Octagon Houses - New England Historical Society
• The Octagon Houses of Orson Fowler | Amusing Planet
• Phrenology | Thompson | Encyclopedia of the History of Science
• Phrenology in Victorian America (U.S. National Park Service)
• Phrenology – Library News
• Facing a Bumpy History | Smithsonian
• The Fowler Brothers
• The abolitionist, vegetarian, octagon-obsessed utopia that never was | by Meagan Day | Timeline | Medium
• An Eccentric Victorian, His Book and the Giant Pink Pastry of a House He Inspired
• Orson Squire Fowler - Wikipedia. 
• American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, Volume 11
• When Heads Were Headlines
• Orson Squire Fowler: Phrenology and Octagon Houses 1809-1887 by John H. Martin
• History of watches - Wikipedia
• Battle of the Giant Watchmakers - Business History
• Carolina: Old mill town now a scenic gem

This week, we’ll meet Ida Lewis, the fearless lighthouse keeper of Newport, Rhode Island, who became a national hero for her daring rescues at sea. 

Episode Sources:

• The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: The Remarkable True Story of American Heroine Ida Lewis by Lenore Skomal
• Women who kept the lights : an illustrated history of female lighthouse keepers : Clifford, Mary Louise : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
• Ida Lewis, The Heroine of Lime Rock | George D. Brewerton - Published 1869 (Ida 27)
• Excerpts Books From With Ida Lewis Chapters or Sections
• Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine
• Ladies Home Journal | July 1890
• The Outing Magazine | January 1910
• The American Magazine | January 1910
• A Half-Forgotten Heroine; Putnam's Magazine | February 1910
• Beacons of History: The Women Lighthouse Keepers of National Marine Sanctuaries
• National Woman Suffrage Association - Wikipedia.
• Media and the Rise of Celebrity Culture

Weird Island is back! In the first episode in over a year and a half, we’ll uncover the story of a gym for women in 1880s Providence, begun by feminist philosopher, lecturer and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  

• “As Near to Flying as One Gets Outside a Circus”: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Providence Ladies’ Sanitary Gymnasium, 1881-1884 - Online Review of Rhode Island History
• The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Papers of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1846-1961
• Feminist Gothic in "The Yellow Wallpaper" |
• CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1860-1935) from The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Suicide Note, August 17, 1935 from The Right to Die
• 'Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Letters to Martha', by Abigail Rabinowitz
• The Philanthropist and the Physical Educator
• Catharine Beecher | National Women's History Museum
• Catharine Beecher, Champion of Women’s Education - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project
• Physiology and Calisthenics. For Schools and Families | Catherine Beecher
• The Origins of American Women’s Exercise – The New Inquiry

Oscar seemed like an ordinary kitten when he was adopted by Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation center in Providence, RI. But the staff and residents at Steere House quickly suspected Oscar had a unique ability. He seemed to be able to predict when someone was going to die. 

Heads up, this episode is more speculative than usual. And it includes a lot of talk of death. Keep that in mind while listening. 

Episode Source Material - Oscar

• A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat
• Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat - Kindle edition by Dosa, David. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
• Classic cases revisited: Oscar the cat and predicting death - PMC
• Meet Oscar, the Cat that Predicts Death and Provides Comfort
• This Cat Sensed Death. What if Computers Could, Too? - The New York Times
• Can animals predict death? | HowStuffWorks
• Oscar (therapy cat) - Wikipedia
• Cat's 'Sixth Sense': Predicting Death?

General on Cats

• A Brief History of House Cats
• Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows
• The Taming of the Cat - PMC
• Stress, security, and scent: The influence of chemical signals on the social lives of domestic cats and implications for applied settings - ScienceDirect
• Dogs Vs. Cats: A Comparison of the 5 Senses – MIDORICIDE

Death and Diseases, further info

• What to expect when someone is in the last few days of life | Hospice UK.
• Core body temperatures during final stages of life—an evaluation of data from in-hospital decedents | SpringerLink
• Heart attack - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
• Identifying human diamine sensors for death related putrescine and cadaverine molecules | PLOS Computational Biology
• Programmed cell death and apoptosis in aging and life span regulation

Predicting Death

• Development of multivariable prediction models for institutionalization and mortality in the full spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease
• Predicting Death: An Empirical Evaluation of Predictive Tools for Mortality | Medical Journals and Publishing | JAMA Internal Medicine

Studies on Scents

• Scents and Senescence: "Old Person Smell" Is Real, but Not Necessarily Offensive - Scientific American
• The Scent of Disease: Human Body Odor Contains an Early Chemosensory Cue of Sickness
• Sick People Smell Bad: Why Dogs Sniff Dogs, Humans Sniff Humans, and Dogs Sometimes Sniff Humans - Scientific American Blog Network
• Sweat smells like ammonia: Causes and treatment
• Disease and odor: An intriguing relationship
• The electronic nose technology in clinical diagnosis: A systematic review
• 12 Diseases Doctors Can Actually Detect Through Smell

Bio-Detection Dogs

• Diagnostic Accuracy of Canine Scent Detection in Early- and Late-Stage Lung and Breast Cancers
• Dogs can discriminate between human baseline and psychological stress condition odours | PLOS ONE  
• How Do Dogs Sniff Out Diseases? | Discover Magazine
• The science of sniffs: disease smelling dogs :: Understanding Animal Research

Therapy Animals / Our Relationship with Animals

• The difference between dead and away: An exploratory study of behavior change during companion animal euthanasia - ScienceDirect
• Animal-assisted therapy in adults: A systematic review - ScienceDirect
• An Evaluation of the benefits that animal-assisted therapy provide to the terminally iII and their families
• Animal-Assisted Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review | SpringerLink
• Measuring the Effects of an Animal-Assisted Intervention for Pediatric Oncology Patients and Their Parents
• Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk | Circulation

Other Animal Abilities

• Toads able to detect earthquake days beforehand, says study | Animal behaviour | The Guardian
• Sharks use Earth's magnetic field to navigate the seas | Science | AAAS. 
• Fire-chasing beetles sense infrared radiation from fires hundreds of kilometres away. 

Hey all! I’m taking a tiny pause on new episodes for a little while to work on some other things that inspire me. I’ll be back before you know it! And, in the meantime, I still have a couple of episodes to drop. So, I hope you’ll stick around. 

If you’re looking for something new to listen to while I’m taking a breather, I wanted to share some of the podcasts that I've been loving recently. Some local (see list 1!) and some that are just incredible podcasts I think will be up your alley. I have 100% forgotten some (Spotify history needs to go back farther!), so I’ll keep adding!

Local Stories:

• Crimetown (If you haven’t already listened to this one, this is a MUST)
• Mosaic (amazing)
• The Memory Palace (One of my ALL TIME favorite writers. Not every episode is local, but you’ll stumble across many that are)
• New England Legends
• The Bowery Boys (New York, but lots of crossover) 

Not local, but I think you love them:

• Heavyweight (This is my favorite podcast of all time.)
• Sidedoor
• Unexplainable
• Not Past It
• Nice Try (highly recommend the episode on bidets)
• HISTORY This Week
• Ologies
• Lore
• Meet your Heroes

While researching RI mills, I came across this one little snippet about the Ashton Mill in Cumberland, and had to know more: “Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company bought the mill... They operated in the mill until 1983. They made tire cord, drapery, and beta cloth for spacesuits for the Apollo Moon missions.”

Episode Source Material:

• Address at Rice University in Houston, Texas on the Nation's Space Effort, 12 September 1962 | JFK Library
• We choose to go to the Moon - Wikipedia
• Beta cloth - Wikipedia
• BA 500BC / CF500 F (Beta Cloth, Beta Fabric) – Bron Aerotech
• Popular Science | November 1967
• Comparison of Observed Beta Cloth Interactions with Simulated and Actual Space Environment
• Beta Cloth Durability Assessment for Space Station Freedom (SSF) Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) Blanket Covers
• Apollo Applications of Beta Fiber Glass
• Lunar Dust Effects on Spacesuit Systems
• Man in Machine: Apollo-Era Space Suits as Artifacts of Technology and Culture | Douglas N. Lantry
• APOLLO SPACE SUIT
• Journeying to the Moon in a Suit of Glass | Behind the Glass
• Tensile Fabrics Enhance Architecture Around the World | NASA Spinoff
• Owens Corning 2019 Sustainability Report
• Our History
• Owens Corning - Wikipedia
• Owens-Corning Records, 1938-Present , MSS-222
• OWENS-CORNING MILESTONES
• Coated Membrane Materials for Use in Construction of Stressed Membrane Structures
• Beta Cloth Patches
• 50 Years on, Apollo 11 Spacesuit Continues to Influence Imaginations and New Designs | KQED
• Textiles in space - Textile Technology Source
• Space Mission Patches - About Patches
• Toledo's Owens Corning made Apollo 11 spacesuits possible | The Blade

If you want to know more about: Playtex and Space Suits

• Playtex - Wikipedia
• What Did Playtex Have to Do With Neil Armstrong? | Arts & Culture| Smithsonian Magazine
• The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon: When NASA needed a lunar spacesuit, they turned to the women who sewed girdles and bras for Playtex - CBS News
• How Playtex Helped Win the Space Race | Mental Floss

The Apollo 1 & the Space Race:

• Apollo 1 - Wikipedia
• The Legacy of the Apollo 1 Disaster | Science| Smithsonian Magazine
• Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects
• The Space Race: Timeline, Cold War & Facts - HISTORY
• Apollo | History, Missions, Significance, & Facts | Britannica
• How Apollo 11 Raised The Flag On The Moon, And What It Means Today
• Where No Flag Has Gone Before:
• How the race to the Moon–with an assist from pop culture–changed the meaning of the word 'technology'
• Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

Ashton Mill

• Ashton - Blackstone River Valley
• Labor news clippings, 22 scrapbooks, 1867-1902
• National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form

This week, I’m joined by Amanda Quay Blount, who just released her new book Meet Me at the Biltmore this October. She brought me a story I’d never heard before about this Rhode Island based Ford dealer. His name was Dutee Wilcox Flint, and he was one of the earliest and most successful Ford dealers in the world before he lost his empire, moved into the Biltmore, and largely vanished from memory.

Find Amanda's book, Meet Met at the Biltmore HERE! Meet Me At The Biltmore | Amanda Quay Blount

Episode Source Material

• Meet Me At The Biltmore | Amanda Quay Blount
• Dutee Wilcox Flint - The Meteoric Rise and Disastrous Fall of a Ford Dealer and Confidant of Henry Ford | Hemmings
• Once Largest Auto Dealer in World — Lost Fortune in 1929 Market Crash | April 2, 1961
• OT - Ford Agent Dutee Wilcox Flint
• Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, Volume 38 - July 1, 1916
• Ford Times, Volume 7
• The New York Times | June 8, 1940
• Our History
• Ford Motor Company | Detroit Historical Society
• Ford Motor Company incorporated - HISTORY
• Last day of Model T production at Ford - HISTORY
• Chronology of call letters WDWF | Radio-TV Broadcast History
• Resolutions and Ordinances of the City Council of the City of Providence ...
• Crystal Receivers
• Rhode Island Radio - WEAN
• WPRO (AM) - Wikipedia
• Radio World - October 7, 1922
• https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Age-20s/Radio-Age-1922-11.pdf
• This Day in History, 1927: Ford reveals its Model A to an eager public | Hemmings
• Possner Castle | ArtInRuins
• WPRV - Wikipedia
• Introduction of the New Ford Car
• http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/506218/575684.html?1444755798
• http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/411944/479401.html?1410787237
• US1480056A - Wooden shaft - Google Patents

This week, as many get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, I wanted to revisit the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving that many of us learned as kids. Because, I found out as an adult that I didn’t really learn the full story–I learned a mythologized version of it. And I learned that while I heard a lot about the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, I didn’t know as much about the Wampanoag people who were already in New England, many of whom were living in what is part of Rhode Island today. 

Episode Source Material

• Image 9 of Massasoit's town Sowams in Pokanoket, its history, legends and traditions,
• Massasoit’s Illness, and How Winslow Cured Him - Account of Winslow visiting Massasoit Ousamequin 
• Massasoit, Chief Who Signed Treaty With the Pilgrims, To Be Reburied | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
• Sowams Heritage Area Brochure
• Sowams Heritage Area Historical Overview
• Sowams Lives Four Centuries Later - coastalmags.com
• This Once Was Called Sowams - Reporter Today
• Pokanoket booklet FINAL SMALL.pdf
• with Ancient Records of Sowams and Parts Adjacent, illustrated. – Rhode Island History NavigatorSowams: with Ancient Records of Sowams and Parts Adjacent–Illustrated - Written by Thomas W Bicknell, 1908
• Burr's Hill
• Early History - Narragansett Indian Tribe. 
• Mount Hope Farm To Celebrate 400 Years Since First Thanksgiving | Bristol, RI Patch
• All the Facts About Thanksgiving | Newport, RI Patch
• Proclamation - Thanksgiving Day - 1806, Rhode Island - WallBuilders
• For Indigenous people, Thanksgiving represents a day of mourning
• White House Thanksgiving Turkeys in the Roaring '20s
• How to Tell the Thanksgiving Story on Its 400th Anniversary | History| Smithsonian Magazine
• This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. They still regret it 400 years later.
• Thanksgiving's hidden past: Plymouth in 1621 wasn't close to being the first celebration
• Wampanoag History
• Tribal chief who signed treaty with Pilgrims to be reburied
• Pokanoket - Wikipedia
• Wampanoag - Wikipedia
• History of the Pokanoket Tribe
• Pokanoket is the name of the Massasoit’s tribe, not “Wampanoag” – Sowams Heritage Area
• Pokanoket not Wampanoag in 17th century Sowams   June 5, 2020
• Warren's History
• Burr’s Hill Pokanoket Royal Burial Ground – Sowams Heritage Area
• The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue | History| Smithsonian Magazine
• The true, dark history of Thanksgiving - Potawatomi.org
• Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong - The New York Times
• This Land is Their Land
• Culture — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
• In 1621, the Wampanoag Tribe Had Its Own Agenda
• Of Patuxet - Colonial Society of Massachusetts
• The History of the Pokanoket Tribal Diaspora