American Countryside

She was small in statue but mighty in the punch she carried.  An Irish born lady who brought a message of hope and resilience to...

A mother cares for her sons and this mother had many adopted souls that she took under her wing.  She was a fiery woman who...

Some people plant flowers around their home every Spring.  Now imagine you need to plant 70,000 or more of them.  That's what takes place here...

In the 1920s there was an effort to build a memorial along the international border between the U.S. and Canada.  The idea was a park...

It's one of the best known songs of that past century.  In fact, one president said it was his favorite.  But then a lawsuit stopped...

You may not fancy yourself a poet, and you may have forgotten a poem called My Western Home.  But in a moment you'll find that...

The name Farmers Branch sums up the beginning of this place.  A rich ag community along a north Texas stream.  Today the landscape has changed…but...

Many people like to get popcorn when the go to the movies.  Initially though, theatres banned the snack because of the mess.  A visit here...

In Marion, Ohio you'll find a museum that is the only one devoted to this in the world.  That fact is interesting in light of...

One, five, ten, twenty?  Now imagine there were more denominations and dozens of different types of bills in circulation. What you would have is a...

When most of us hear of Fort Knox, we think of gold.  While gold is there, there is much more to the story, for this...

Whether you have any or not, many of us are fascinated by gold.  It's the storyline of many a tv show and movie.  Where can...

Everyone knows that much of the nation's gold is at Fort Knox.  Or is it?  That's the question many wondered a few decades back…

You've heard of the gold at Fort Knox, and while we can't go inside the vault, we do know much about the beginnings of that...

During the depths of the US Depression in the 1930s, the federal government took several steps to spur the economy.  One was forcing the sale...

For centuries people have recognized the natural beauty along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, but Steven Fananda's family is hoping visitors want to...

Kids may go exploring when they have nothing better to do…and sometimes those adventures can lead to trouble.  But for this family…a wandering six year...

Sometimes people will use secret codes to keep vital information from slipping into the wrong hands.  General Patton used such a code in World War...

When the U.S. adopted prohibition in 1920, most alcohol production ceased, but when production resumed in the 1930s, it seems some of the old recipes,...

You can still find some old deeds that use a large tree to mark a property boundary.  Such was the case for Brent Goodin's farm. ...

Thomas Jefferson called this man, “As pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.”  So who was the man who garnered such praise? ...

Near the Philadelphia sites that Americans recognize as the birthplace of the country, there is a small memorial to a man most do not know. ...

He was known as the Wheat King, a title bestowed on a farmer who built an empire growing the crop in California.  While the farm...

The name of this place tells you what the early settlers found here at the joining of two creeks.  The water from those streams continues...

In a museum in Pikeville, Kentucky you'll find a peace treaty between the states of Kentucky and West Virginia.  It is the resolution of a...

When the end of the Civil War occurred in 1865, some of the fighting in eastern Kentucky was just getting started.  And many people know...

The terrain of eastern Kentucky makes travel a bit of an adventure yet today.  Roads and highways snake between the rugged hills of the Appalachian...

Many towns and cities put up Christmas decorations during the holiday season.  In this small town they put up a Christmas tree each year and...

In east central Iowa you'll find the small town of Lost Nation, Iowa.  Interestingly, the story of how it was named seems to be lost...

In 2020 the use of Aunt Jemima as a brand name was discontinued due to racial stereotypes.  However, the story behind the first person to...

In the 1830s a lady named Nancy Green was born into slavery near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.  Although you may not believe you know her, there's...

Judson Welliver is just one of the famous folks from this small town.  If you've not heard of Judson, he was the first of the...

If you drive into Aledo, Illinois you will notice that it is the world's capital for this particular item.  That proclamation draws thousands of folks...

You've most likely never heard his name, but you've likely heard his music.  His family tried to dissuade him from majoring in music, but it...

In the corner of one of Michael Dolan's farm fields there is a place devoted to the story of Easter.  He never imagined what the...

Many people like to be patriotic and support our troops.  This small town went well above and beyond, helping over 1.5 million soldiers all with...

He was a farm kid who discovered one of the most distant objects in our solar system.  And recently, his ashes were sent to that...

This business is about a century and a half old and has been housed in the same building since before the 1900s.  It remains a...

When this immigrant came to America he was looking for a job as a stone mason.  He ended up founding the oldest one of this...

It's the kind of place kids would love to climb around, on and through.  It's also a place that tells an important part of America's...

It's hard to imagine today's largest city in Alabama didn't even exist at the time of the Civil War.  However, in the years following that...

The cliché says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  Two pictures of Emmett Kelly said much about the man, and the story behind those...

If you go to a circus you'll probably see some clowns.  Most clowns smile and laugh.  This one did the opposite.  He never smiled and...

A lot of kids love the circus.  Maybe some imagine joining the circus one day.  This kid did just that and his story is one...

He is the biggest of his kind and you certainly won't miss him if you drive into Audobon, Iowa.  He's been in the movies and...

There have long been tensions between the U.S. and the middle east…but Chuck Scott believes today's challenges stem from an incident decades ago…an ordeal in...

When the Iranian hostage situation began…most of those Americans held would have told you the conflict would have lasted a week at most…but in the...

Considering world events, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at an interview I did about twenty years ago with Chuck...

Some call this place the home of the generals.  It's a fitting title because during the U.S. Civil War, nine generals all hailed from this...

When this man left town, to most, he was just a man who just rented a home and worked in a business here.  When he...

The name of a town can sometimes tell you a lot about its history.  That's the case for a place in the northwestern corner of...