What Happened Here?

She's a woman who might not exist, a piece of art and also a tourist trap, with either questionable morals or a pure heart, who stands in a place not where she used to be, celebrating an event that was either a year too early or decades too late. 

This bundle of contradictions is the Molly Malone statue in Dublin, Ireland, and we have to ask: What Happened Here?

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Find me on Insta: @whathappenedhere.pod, or on email: [email protected], and tell me what place you want to visit next!

Sources used in this episode:

Visit Dublin: https://www.visitdublin.com/molly-malone

Wikipedia-Molly Malone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone

Wikipedia-Jeanne Rynhart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Rynhart

Wikipedia-St. Andrew's Street: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Andrew%27s_Street,_Dublin

The Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/shining-example-an-irishwoman-s-diary-on-the-molly-malone-statue-and-inventing-a-tradition-1.4031633

Irish Family History Centre: https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/article/a-brief-history-of-dublins-mysterious-molly-malone/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-brief-history-of-dublins-mysterious-molly-malone

“Dublin Throws a Party”, Andrew Phillips, Maclean’s: https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1988/8/8/dublin-throws-a-party

Dublin Town: https://www.dublintown.ie/the-story-of-suffolk-street-st-andrew-street/

Database of Irish Excavation Reports: https://excavations.ie/report/2014/Dublin/0025191/

Five hours north of the city of Phoenix, and only a few miles from the town of Chinle, Arizona, a stunning, windswept canyon splits the earth in two. This is Canyon de Chelly, a national monument, a park, a homeland, and an important part of the story of the Navajo Nation. 

Why is this place so significant? What role does it play in the story of Manifest Destiny and Indigenous genocide? What happened here?

Join along to hear the story of this important place. 

Connect with me on Instagram (@whathappenedhere.pod) or via email ([email protected]) and let me know what you think of this episode, or to tell me what place you think we should cover next!

Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; I really appreciate it!

Sources used in this episode:

A short drive from the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania, a rather unusual monument stands as a testament to the determination and defiance of generations of people in a much-contested land. This is the Hill of Crosses: over 100,000 crosses left by people throughout the centuries as an act of resistance, cultural identity, and hope.

But what exactly is this hill a memorial to? Why was resistance necessary? What happened here?

Follow along as we find out, and explore this fascinating place!

Connect with me on Instagram (@whathappenedhere.pod) or via email ([email protected]) and let me know what you think of this episode, or tell me what place you think we should cover next!

Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; I really appreciate it!

Sources used in this episode:

1. Lithuania.travel.com: https://www.lithuania.travel/en/place/the-hill-of-crosses#:~:text=The%20Hill%20of%20Crosses%20near,in%20his%20homilies%20and%20speeches.

2. National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/things-to-do-hill-of-crosses-religious-tourism

3. UNESCO https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/cross-crafting-and-its-symbolism-00013

4. Wikipedia: Hill of Crosses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_of_Crosses

5. Wikipedia: Lithuania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania

6. Wikipedia: Partitions of Poland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland

7. Wikipedia: Lithuanian Cross Crafting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_cross_crafting

8. Wikipedia: Lithuanian Americans  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Americans

At the crossroads of four major Pittsburgh streets, CAP Park connects a bustling downtown with the Hill District, a historically black community touched by stardom, injustice, and urban blight. CAP Park is less than a year old, but it already plays a part in so many stories: from art, music, and culture; to architecture and infrastructure; to systemic racism and failed urban renewal; and a figurative (and literal) circus.

Join me, Hannah Allman Kennedy, as we ask: "What Happened in CAP Park?" 

...but first, "What is CAP Park?"

Sources used in this episode:

- Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Authority: https://www.pgh-sea.com/index.php?path=i5-ucp

- Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership https://downtownpittsburgh.com/visit/construction-updates/cap-construction-project/

- The Architect’s Newspaper: https://www.archpaper.com/2022/03/pittsburgh-is-the-latest-city-to-gain-a-freeway-capping-park/

- National Trust for Historic Preservation: https://savingplaces.org/stories/the-story-of-the-pittsburgh-neighborhood-that-inspired-fences#.YoMJwW7MITV

- “Creating Space for Virgil Cantini in Pittsburgh” (Holden Slattery) Belt Magazine, https://beltmag.com/virgil-cantini-artist-pittsburgh-public-art/

- Pennsylvania Historic Preservation https://pahistoricpreservation.com/virgil-cantini-saving-cantinis-mosaics/

- Lower Hill Redevelopment http://www.lowerhillredevelopment.com/events-announcements/ribbon-cutting-ceremony-marks-the-opening-of-frankie-pace-park-formerly-i-579-cap-park-connecting-downtown-and-hill-district

- Wikipedia for the Hill District: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_District_(Pittsburgh)

- Wikipedia for Oil City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_City,_Pennsylvania

- Obituary from the Pittsburgh Press: November 20, 1989 (Newspapers.com) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73246319/obituary-for-frankie-pace-aged-84/

Drive two hours north of the city of Pittsburgh, and you’ll find Venango County, Pennsylvania, a region of remote towns, rugged hills, shimmering river valleys, and endless emerald forests. To the average traveler, this place is nothing more than your typical rural backcountry, but looks, as they say, can be deceiving. Look again, and you’ll find the remnants of a past life buried under the tangled forest: networks of rusted pipe, giant rotted wood barrels, and the foundations of towns long gone.

Petroleum Centre is one of these towns.

In this, our first episode, Hannah Allman Kennedy explores the rise and fall of a small Pennsylvania ghost town, and the colorful characters that called it home.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_Center,_Pennsylvania

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_oil_rush

Hildegard Dolson, The Great Oildorado, Random House, 1959.

https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/petroleum_centre_tour#.YjZDXxDMI6A

https://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-C

https://uncoveringpa.com/ghost-towns-in-pa

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3823c.ct004159/?st=image

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whathappenedhere.pod/

Hannah's Website: https://hannahakwrites.com/ 

Welcome to What Happened Here, the podcast in which writer Hannah Allman Kennedy geeks out over interesting (and formerly uninteresting) places. From nature to history, culture to infrastructure, places hold so much meaning, and we can tend to forget. But as someone who grew up around ghost towns, Hannah is undeterred. Tune in each week as we look at a new, old, weird, or forgotten place, and ask, "What happened here?"