JoCoYo

Before it was I-95, before it was US 301, before Johnston County even had a name — there was a path. Deer made it first. The Tuscarora walked it for centuries. Colonial settlers used it as their address system. And today, seventy thousand vehicles a day travel it without a second thought. This is the story of Greens Path: the ancient road hiding in plain sight beneath the highway you drive every day.

He was a free Black saddler from Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had a wife, a newborn daughter, and a rare kind of stability. He gave it all up — and walked into Harpers Ferry with a rifle.Most history books remember John Brown's raid. Few remember the five Black men who joined it. Fewer still remember the one who held the line until he took three bullets in a doorway — and refused to surrender.This week, we're telling the story of Lewis Sheridan Leary. The man history forgot. The man who may have made emancipation possible.

In 1864, Johnston County farmer William Rains Lee made a choice few dared—he walked away from the Confederate cause. Once a loyal soldier in North Carolina's 24th Infantry, Lee saw the truth behind the slogans: a “poor man's fight” fueling a planter's empire.With or Without You tells the untold story of a Confederate deserter who refused to die for slavery's survival—and found courage in conscience. His quiet rebellion reveals the soul of a war North Carolina tried to forget.

In 1711, the Carolina frontier burned. The Tuscarora Nation—once rulers of North Carolina's coastal plains—rose against English colonists after years of enslavement, land theft, and lies. At the center stood two leaders: Chief Hancock, who chose war, and Chief Tom Blount, who chose survival. Their decisions would determine whether the American colonies expanded—or collapsed before they began.Run to the Hills uncovers the forgotten war that opened eastern North Carolina and shaped America's earliest frontier.

Pine Level, 1941. A high school girl signs up for Navy WAVES—needing her parents' signature. From Bronx boot camp to D.C. code rooms, Lenora Crocker Stanley breaks every ceiling. Back home, her fierce alto turns Legion meetings and hospital boards into battlegrounds.

Step onto the muddy banks of Moores Creek in 1776, where the fate of North Carolina—and the fledgling American Revolution—hangs in the balance. In this episode, we follow Colonel John Smith as he leads Patriot militia into one of the first decisive battles of the war: the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. From midnight marches across rain‑soaked fields to the thunder of loyalist Highlanders charging through the dark, this is the story of nerve, strategy, and a bridge that changed a continent's history.

Strap in for the story of Easy Street Drag Strip, where Johnston County's red clay meets American speed. We trace Korean War veteran Charles Tart's journey from Army half‑tracks to Newton Grove farmland, where in 1957 he built Eastern North Carolina's first drag strip from scratch. From moonshine‑chasing sheriffs to flathead Fords under homemade Christmas lights, this is the roar that turned backroads into racing history.

It's March 2, 1933, and a U.S. Senator fresh off busting the Teapot Dome scandal—America's biggest political corruption case—is secretly honeymooning with a glamorous Cuban widow when his train suddenly stops between Wilson and Rocky Mount. He doesn't get back on. In this episode of JoCoYo, we ride the rails with Thomas J. Walsh from Montana mines to Havana romance, through poisoning rumors and political enemies, to his mysterious final stop just 40 miles from Benson—where a political titan met eternity and Johnston County entered the history books.

A Scottish orphan sails from the Highlands to New Bern in the 1780s, builds a waterfront empire, and watches Union soldiers occupy his elegant mansion during the Civil War. Fast forward two centuries—what if one of his descendants became the voice that taught America to dream of Carolina? In this episode of JoCoYo, we trace a 250-year family journey from New Bern's wharves to Chapel Hill's piney woods, culminating in a shocking musical revelation that connects coastal commerce to Piedmont poetry—and North Carolina's red clay to an anthem we all know by heart.

Picture this: it's 1932 in Selma, North Carolina. Gas is too expensive, cars are parked and useless, and farmers are hitching their mules to stripped-down Fords and rolling them straight through town—on purpose. They're not just getting to town; they're mocking the president and about to change history.

Warning: this episode could upset some people. Alcohol, alcoholism, genocide, white supremacy, eugenics are all on display here. And they're also all connected, at least in North Carolina history. Real history for real people. This episode is about hating the criminal instead of the crime. And there's a very real difference between the two. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message

Find me someone that does not like the TV show Young Sheldon… Actually, don't. I don't want to meet that person. It seems like a stretch, but there's so much of a connection to eastern North Carolina, including Johnston county. Makes me love the show even more. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message

I absolutely love it when we uncover almost uniquely geological marvels that exist under our feet, and in our backyard. Johnston County, and East, North Carolina, are home to thousands of lakes. You've never seen them, you say? You would know if we had thousands of lakes? Well, let's take a trip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message

This is episode number 100… Wow… This episode gives us no new historical information. It is a look back at the most listened to episodes and some of the stuff that went into making them. It is commemorative episode of me just saying thank you. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/support

No one would ever accuse central North Carolina of being a hotbed of science-fiction history. Yet, here we are. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/support

There's a place in Johnston County that's older than the hills… Quite literally. It is completely out of place and a freak of nature. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/support

This is the case where a tree likely change the course not just American, but also world history. In 1844, Henry Clay of Kentucky, sat under an oak tree in Raleigh and wrote a letter. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jocoyo/support

Hilery wanted a chance for his children. Legacy that they could build on. A legacy was made, but not by him and not the way that he wanted. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

What's in a name? Success. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Death at an early age was fairly common and colonial and early North Carolina's history. So were multiple marriages as a result of the death of a spouse. It's because it didn't have doctors back then, right? Wrong. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

This is the story about the Hunter family, two members of which were instrumental in the creation of North Carolina, although in very different ways --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Turning a person into a hero is not doing anybody any favors. It gives you unrealistic expectations of that person and paints an untrue biography. Such as the case with Ralph Lane. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

For all of our talk about colonial leaders and shapers of North Carolina history, they were millions of people who are not spoken about have not been spoken about and without hermit their contributions could not have happened. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

By all accounts, Josiah Martin was not a bad guy. Just the absolute wrong guy… In the absolute wrong place… At the absolute wrong time. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

John Hinton and his family, along with thousands of other North Carolinians in the colonial period, faced an identity crisis and some very hard choices. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

John Hinton was loyal to the crown. It seems even to a fault. For new students of the regulator conflict in North Carolina, it would be easy to spot seeds of the revolution in it. So imagine being neighbors of the regulators while also being a law maker for the British government. This is where we find John Hinton. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

The first recorded land deeds and land owners in the modern day county of Wake Meant that John Hinton was playing an outsized role in the development of the colony and later state Of North Carolina. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

To become a surveyor in colonial America made that you had made the big time. Your chance had come. It was up to people like John Hinton to take advantage of it. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

For poor and poverty stricken young English man, making the trip over to America in the 17th and 18th centuries Was full of risk and danger. Sometimes, those are the only things that will work --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

Before there was Johnston County, Wake County, or even a Carolina, North or South, there was Nansemond County and the forgotten people that it was named for. Before the English came, this is partly their story. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodliestsoil/support

Another gold rush, a shipwreck, a hurricane, and an overlooked cause for war. All here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

What do you do when opportunity comes your way? Do like Johannes Reith and grab onto it like it's going to run away. What happens when another one comes? Use both hands and grab again. This is a success story if I've ever heard one. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

"Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb". Wise words from Smashmouth. Admittedly, that band wasn't known for its wisdom, but it certainly works here. What kind of wisdom have we lost in our desire to gain knowledge? This is a story about a Greek fable, once widely known, that shaped American history in good and bad ways. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

If there has been a person with more of a whirlwind life than Maggie Williams...Well, I’m not actually sure that person exists. But I guess that’s what happens when you marry a person that treats the line between genius and insanity like a jump rope. Spoiler alert: Big crossover event. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

The Meadow/Newton Grove area of southeastern Johnston County has stories to tell. This one involves the old Whig Party and a man that acted on his conscience, changing the religious aspect in Johnston County and eastern NC permanently. A Monk that wasn't a monk, but was deeply religious, nonetheless. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

How does Johnston County keep producing music legends? What does this legend have to do with the Battle of Bentonville? In a word: Everything. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

This episode is about how the wheels go round and round, but these are not on the bus.  Well, that's not entirely true.  But these wheels are the wheels of history, so to speak, and how things tend to just happen over and over. In this episode, we find that Cary, the pre-Civil War South, and Old England are on a stage in which each must play a part. In this case, the same part. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

How does a living legend when awards for a song 40 years after he died? What does that have to do with eastern North Carolina? Listen and you’ll see. It’s a good story. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message

Extinct counties, proposed counties, petitions, attempted secession from Johnston County, and Facebook polls...All that glitters is not gold. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

The south eastern area of Johnston county has a really, really rich history. Music, civil rights... The middle of the 20th century saw bus bombings, sit-ins, and hard fought struggles to achieve justice, equality, and equity across America. In 1960, the town of Dunn, North Carolina saw all three. We will even throw in a rock 'n' roll legend for good measure. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

The fight for civil rights in Johnston county and North Carolina Seems to be a long and frustrating one, Especially to five young men from the neighborhood of Sorrow Valley in Benson --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Only 80 years ago events concerning Johnston County residents and their neighbors helped start the civil rights movement. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

So like, everyone around Johnston county knows about the Howell theater. Right? Did you know about it hosting a world premiere? Do you know what’s under the Smithfield Wal-Mart parking lot? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

October 12: Pretty important day for all of us, especially if you’re in a boat in the Atlantic or a plane in the Pacific. Or if you recite the Pledge of Allegiance. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Soda bottles, peanuts, root beer, and “soft” drinks. In this episode, we’re going into soda history with a Johnston twist. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

An episode of full circles and radio waves. Things don’t really change as much as we think they do. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Have you ever looked at a map of North Carolina and noticed how it cuts out into the sea? Do you ever see how Johnston county seems to be in a bull’s-eye for hurricanes because of it? Well, it ain’t just hurricanes that come after us. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need. From cars to highways to little piggies to alcohol, the good citizens of Johnston County have nearly always displayed a strong independent streak. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Dirt track racing in Johnston had a world famous observer one Sunday. You’ll have to hear it to believe it. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

So, what in the world do Hulk Hogan, Ted Turner, and Sylvester Stallone have to do with Johnston County?  Just a man and his will to survive. It's the Eye of the Tiger, man! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support

Ahhh, dueling and politics. Like a hand in a glove for a large part of American history. North Carolina and Johnston County know it well. A dusty street at high noon is not necessary. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jocoyo/support