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Off the Path
Davis Dunavin
130 episodes
3 days ago
For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.
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All content for Off the Path is the property of Davis Dunavin and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.
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Places & Travel
Society & Culture
Episodes (20/130)
Off the Path
Vampires! On a Boat! In New York City!
Every Halloween, WSHU’s Off the Path gets a little .... spooky. Visits to Lizzie Borden’s house, a haunted pirate cave, and Sleepy Hollow, to name a few. This year, reporter Davis Dunavin finds himself on a boat in the middle of New York Harbor — surrounded by creatures of the night — for New York City’s 5th annual vampire cruise. The Gothic Vampire Cruise on the Hudson is co-hosted and features music by The Sedona Effect
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3 days ago
6 minutes 39 seconds

Off the Path
Looking for the Original "Podunk Town"... In Connecticut
The origins of the word "podunk" are shrouded in history. In the Algonquin language, it most likely meant a boggy place, a swamp or a junction of streams and rivers. But we now use it to mean a small, unimportant, and isolated place. There was also a tribe called the Podunk, one of many who lived and fished on the Connecticut River.
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1 month ago
13 minutes 5 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Path Revisited: Where the Appalachian Trail Began
The Appalachian Trail stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. It was the brainchild of an idealistic forester who drew inspiration from a mountain top in Vermont. 
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2 months ago
13 minutes 7 seconds

Off the Path
The Making of Theodore Roosevelt
We like to picture Theodore Roosevelt as this vigorous, energetic, hyper-manly guy. And he was. But he didn’t start that way. He began as a bedridden, asthma-stricken boy in New York’s East Village. He went through a lot to become the guy who led the charge up San Juan Hill and served as our 36th president.
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2 months ago
19 minutes 41 seconds

Off the Path
Andre the Giant Has A Posse
Back in the summer of 1989, a lot of weird little stickers appeared on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island. They were on walls, trash cans and utility poles. You’d find them outside bars, record stores and skate shops. They were all the same, a grainy black-and-white picture of a bulky scowling man, with the words: “Andre the Giant has a Posse.”
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3 months ago
16 minutes 28 seconds

Off the Path
A Trip to Tuxedo Park, the Cradle of American Etiquette
 It began with one of America's richest men jumping out of a moving train to trudge through the mud and scope out the property. It was the cultivating grounds for the 'queen of American etiquette,' Emily Post, as well as the most iconic men's suit in the modern world. This week, join us for a tour of Tuxedo Park, New York! 
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4 months ago
22 minutes 29 seconds

Off the Path
Did a German immigrant in CT fly before the Wright Brothers?
Everyone knows the story of the first manned airplane flight, right? The Ohio-based Wright Brothers flew a biplane more than 850 feet across North Carolina’s Outer Banks in December of 1903. That historical event is featured on the license plates and on the state quarters of Ohio and North Carolina. But some people say someone else deserves the credit: a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead. He supposedly flew his flying machine two years before the Wright Brothers in Fairfield, Connecticut. Additional mixing by Bella Fabbo. Historical voices by Carter Dewees and Bill Buchner.
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4 months ago
18 minutes 2 seconds

Off the Path
Spacewar! Or, the Rise of the Computer Bums
The first widely-played video game wasn’t Pong, or Donkey Kong, or Space Invaders. It wasn’t made by Nintendo or Atari. Instead, imagine a bunch of scruffy young nerds at MIT in 1962, given free rein over the latest computer technology. The result: Spacewar!
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5 months ago
16 minutes 53 seconds

Off the Path
Trailer: Where It All Began
This season on Off The Path, Davis Dunavin digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.
Show more...
5 months ago
2 minutes 41 seconds

Off the Path
The Ghost Pirate of Dungeon Rock (A Halloween Bonus Episode)
In the mid-1800s, a father and son spent years digging a long, winding tunnel into solid rock on a hill in Lynn, Massachusetts. They said they were looking for lost treasure—with directions from a ghostly pirate.
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1 year ago
5 minutes 51 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: A National Special
It's here! The hour-long Off the Plank special aired this fall on stations nationwide, distributed by American Public Media. Hear about sea shanties, pirates, lighthouses, white whales and more.
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1 year ago
52 minutes 45 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Great Gloucester Sea Serpent
Over two centuries ago, a sea serpent showed up in Gloucester Harbor, swimming and playing and splashing in full view of the townsfolk. It’s one of the most well-documented sea serpent sightings in history. But what was the mysterious creature?
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1 year ago
13 minutes 50 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: Pirate City USA
Pirates terrorized the Atlantic coast in colonial times during what was called the Golden Age of piracy. But there was one place where pirates were welcomed with open arms — for a while. That place was Newport, Rhode Island.
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1 year ago
22 minutes 28 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Ranzo Boys are Young, Queer and Here to Sing Sea Shanties
This season of "Off the Path" has featured music from the Ranzo Boys, a New York City-based traditional folk music trio. In this episode, Davis Dunavin sits down with the Ranzo Boys to learn more about the stories behind the songs.
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1 year ago
14 minutes 31 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Buried Treasure (Or Not) of Captain Kidd
One of history’s most notorious pirates is Captain William Kidd. His legend is tied to rumors of the buried treasure he supposedly left up and down the Atlantic coast, from the Caribbean to Canada. But Captain Kidd insisted he wasn’t a pirate — and in reality, he may not have buried much treasure at all.
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1 year ago
20 minutes 44 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Daring Rescues of Ida Lewis
A lighthouse keeper in Newport, Rhode Island, became nationally famous in the late 1800s for rescuing sailors. Her name was Ida Lewis — and she drew the attention of a sitting president and the early suffragette movement.
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1 year ago
15 minutes 2 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: Murder on Smuttynose Island (Revisited)
There’s a 27-acre island off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire called Smuttynose Island. The population in 1873 was six: a family of Norwegian immigrants who rented the only house on the island. So it shocked the country when two of them were brutally murdered. The murder still inspires wild theories — and a bestselling book and movie — a century and a half later.
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1 year ago
9 minutes 6 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Pirate and the Preacher
William Fly’s pirate career was short and brutal — and his death in 1726 is sometimes considered to mark the end of the days when pirates ruled the Atlantic. It began with a mutiny — led to a last-ditch conversion attempt — and ended with a gruesome display on an island in Boston Harbor.
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1 year ago
16 minutes 30 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: Moby-Dick in New Bedford
Herman Melville published one of the great American novels in 1851. Just in case you missed it in high school, a quick refresher: we follow Ishmael. He’s a crew member aboard the whaling ship the Pequod. Its captain, Ahab, is a menacing figure obsessed with catching a whale he calls Moby-Dick. This book is all about whaling, which used to be one of the most lucrative industries in the world — and it was partially inspired by the author’s time in the seaside whaling town of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
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1 year ago
21 minutes 41 seconds

Off the Path
Off the Plank: The Turtle, America's First Submarine
America's first submarine dates to the Revolutionary War. Built by a Connecticut inventor, it sailed into New York Harbor in 1776 with a mission to blow up a British warship. It was ahead of its time — maybe a little too ahead of its time. There are a few places you can see replicas of the Turtle — and one of them is at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex.
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1 year ago
12 minutes 37 seconds

Off the Path
For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he digs deep to explore the origins of things that are ubiquitous, Teddy Roosevelt, the tuxedo, the first video game, as well as those stories we think we already know, like the first airplane flight or stories that aren't as well-known, like the beginnings of the artist behind the Barack Obama “Hope” poster. But every single episode involves an element of surprise, an ironic twist or a fascinating connection you might not expect when the story begins.