Off the Path from New York to Boston

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One of the most successful pirates of all time died at sea in a dramatic storm, leaving all his treasure buried under the ocean floor. Hundreds of years later, a Cape Cod man followed a real-life treasure map to find it — and now you can go to his museum to see real-life pirate booty. Featured song: “Jolly Sailor Bold,” performed by the Ranzo Boys.

Host Davis Dunavin previews his upcoming adventure at sea! Among other things, you'll hear about quite a few pirates in this series, which is why we decided to call it Off the Plank.

In 1820, Washington Irving wrote a short story steeped in the ghostly folklore of New York's Hudson Valley. Its simple premise and terrifying climax has spooked and entertained people for two centuries. It was set in North Tarrytown, but Irving called it Sleepy Hollow.

Barney and Betty Hill claimed they had an encounter with aliens more than 60 years ago. Their story became the launching point for alien abductions in popular culture. And it happened — supposedly — late one night on a lonely road in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

The state of Maine has deep forests and rocky shores. It also has one small stretch of sandy dunes in the town of Freeport — that looks more like the Sahara than northern New England.

Andrew Wyeth's 1948 painting “Christina's World” shows the reality of life for his longtime friend, a woman with a disability, on her farm in coastal Maine.

A small museum on an island in Maine boasts the world's largest collection of a specific kind of artifact: umbrella covers. Not umbrellas — just the covers.

There are six words spray painted on a rock along a highway near Newbury, New Hampshire. How they got there is still a mystery. Davis Dunavin took a drive up Route 103 to see the mystery rock — and maybe get some answers.

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.

The beloved poet bought a home in Vermont — where he wrote some of his most famous poems, weathered family tragedy and picked lots of apples.

Host Davis Dunavin is back on the road as he previews his next set of adventures on a new season of Off the Path!

Most New Yorkers might be a little skeptical about eating something they found on the street — if it's not from a food cart. But one New Yorker has made it his life's work to convince his neighbors that nature's bounty is accessible even in the heart of the city.

Take a look through your medicine cabinet — from skin cream to body wash and deodorant. Many of these products share an ingredient: witch hazel. And the witch hazel industry has deep roots in the Connecticut River Valley.

The first colonial governor of Massachusetts planted a pear tree in the 1600s. It's now believed to be the oldest cultivated fruit tree in the Americas.

A few LGBTQ families met up on the tip of Cape Cod one summer in the mid '90s. Their fun beach week had a bigger impact than they expected. Family Week — as it's called — has helped redefine ideas of marriage and family for more than 25 years. And it still takes place every summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

One of America's most beloved artists kept a secret. Andy Warhol — pop artist and gay icon — was also a lifelong Catholic who went to mass regularly at a church in New York City's Upper East Side.

A few years before the Stonewall riots, a protest took place at another New York City gay bar, just about a block away. It didn't draw as much attention, but in its own way, it was a milestone for gay rights.

Musician Nicole Singer, the organizer of Youth Traditional Song Weekend, which took place online this month due to the pandemic, is trying to bring young people and non-traditional audiences into folk music.

Sea shanties have enjoyed some renewed attention on social media. A lot of them have strong ties to New England's maritime culture and whaling industry.

A group singalong has hopped from bar to bar in New York City for years — and in the age of the pandemic, it lives on Zoom. It's called Exceedingly Good Song Night.

There's a camp in the woods of Massachusetts where traditional styles of folk music and dance from around the world are kept alive. It's the oldest continuously operated folk dance camp in the United States. It's called the Pinewoods Dance Camp.

At least 11 people were executed for witchcraft in Connecticut. And they're far less remembered than the victims of Salem.

The address for the Institute for Advanced Study is 1 Einstein Drive, named after undoubtedly the most famous scientist to work here. The campus lies amid sprawling green meadows, oak trees and a peaceful pond. I walk up to the front door and a deer trots right past me. I'm only a few miles from downtown Princeton, but it feels remote and pastoral.

It's not unusual to hear music on a boardwalk in New Jersey on a nice summer day. But there's one house where the music has played all day, every summer, for 20 years. And it's always the same performer coming from the speakers: Frank Sinatra.

How did Atlantic City end up as the inspiration for all those place names in Monopoly — Marvin Gardens, Park Place, the Boardwalk? It's a tale of race and social conflict you'd never suspect when you sit down to play one of America's most famous board games.

Interested in a kitschy, kooky and cool Catskills motel? How about one previously owned by B-52s singer Kate Pierson? Kate listed her motel for sale this summer. Revisit Davis's 2018 trip to "Kate's Lazy Meadow" and decide if you'd like to visit a real-life Love Shack — or maybe own it outright.

If you're on the road this summer, you may find yourself looking at a scenic vista through one of those coin-operated viewing machines. You know the ones — binoculars on poles, encased in a metal shell. And if you do, there's a good chance you're looking through a machine assembled in a small factory in Norwalk, Connecticut.

‘Off the Path' is taking a summer break, but we're revisiting a few of our favorite episodes. In 2019, Davis visited Long Island to learn the story of a French classic — ‘The Little Prince' — written not in France, but on Long Island's North Shore.

There's a place in Manhattan that makes you feel like you just took a trip on the Wayback Machine — to the 1600s, when European settlers first arrived. And you can find it all the way up on the northern tip of Manhattan Island in Inwood Hill Park.

Tiffany lampshades — made of leaded glass — are icons of American art. Louis Comfort Tiffany showed them to the public for the first time in the 1890s. It was always assumed Tiffany designed all his lamps. But it took a century to recognize the contributions of the women who designed many of them — thanks to some long-lost letters.

The tradition of American cooking can trace its origin to a single cookbook — published less than a decade after the U.S. Constitution. It was the first to present recipes of the new world, instead of just copying English and French dishes. And it’s called — simply — American Cookery.

A dashing young heir to one of America’s most famous families had a dream. He loved to race expensive cars, and he wanted a road tailor-made to do it. He built his speedway on Long Island in 1908. It was the first road in the country designed just for cars. He called it the Long Island Motor Parkway — also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway. For more information on the Vanderbilt Cup races and the Long Island Motor Parkway — and to read Vanderbilt's wild speech in its entirety — visit vanderbiltcupraces.com .

A meteorite fell from the sky into a field in rural Connecticut more than 200 years ago. It didn’t cause much damage, but it did put American science on the map. And it's preserved at Yale University’s Peabody Museum.

Four of America’s greatest authors lived in the same small town in the mid-1800s. Now they're all buried there together, just a few steps away from each other.

There’s something weirdly unexpected along a drive down a winding country road in Lincoln, Massachusetts. You round a corner and there, in a field, is a herd of children’s rocking horses. The locals call it Ponyhenge.

For sale: a charming New England Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts. Victorian style, three floors, eight bedrooms. A little pricey at $2 million. But it’s a rare find — because it's the site of one of the most gruesome murders in American history.

American Nazis built dozens of youth camps around the U.S. in the years leading up to World War II. The purpose was to indoctrinate German-American kids into the Nazi ideology. There’s only one place we know of that stood up to them and ran them out of town: Southbury, Connecticut.