Glenn Kreisberg is a researcher, engineer, author of Spirits in Stone: The Secrets of Megalithic America and co-founder of The Overlook Mountain Center in Woodstock, New York. For this in-the-field episode, we visit a mysterious archaeological site, a mountainside covered in signs of ancient indigenous habitation, enigmatic cairns and serpentine walls. After a reading of early 19th-century accounts from the likes of Lewis & Clark about stone heaps and large stone worship in Native America...

Dominique Kostelac is an amateur archaeologist, artifact hunter, farmer and all-around history buff living outside Charlottesville, Virginia. After a newspaper reading from 1869 about uncovering the skeletal remains of a conquistador in Appalachia, we open with Dominique describing the Monacan village he discovered on his riparian farm. From there we get into shocking examples of early, forgotten, and/or theoretical first arrivals of Europeans [and even the Chinese!] to Virginia and the East ...

The West Virginia Fur Auction is an annual fur, root, skull & antler consignment sale in Glenville, West Virginia. After a reading about the first fur-trade explorations over the Alleghenies into West Virginia in 1671-74, we head into the auction with in-the-field reporting on the modern fur, root, meat, gland and oddities markets, interviewing the likes of trappers, fur hangers, graders, buyers and members of the West Virginia Trappers Association. Many grew up trapping and we hear how m...

Steve McCue is a trapper, naturalist, all-around outdoorsman & Vice President of the West Virginia Trappers Association from Nicholas County, West Virginia. On this in-the-field episode we visit his wall-tent camp and head out for a morning on the bobcat trapline. After a 1929 reading about handling & relocating backcountry bobcats, Steve opens on the significance of the bygone American chestnut. We hear of his deep Appalachian roots & how his outdoorsman lifestyle is a spiritual ...

Nathan Griffin [like his younger brother] is a lifelong houndsman, bear hunter, and commercial turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. On this 2nd part of our in-the-field, ride along with Appalachian bear hunting brothers we open with a riveting reading from the memoir of an early-1800's backwoodsman about a bear skin umbrella & hunting with a knife. As we drive the snowy mountain roads in search of a fresh track, Nathan describes various aspects of being a modern houndsman: fr...

Jacob Griffin is a lifelong houndsman, bear hunter and turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. This is the first of a two-part podcast series recorded in the field with the Griffin brothers as we drove up rough mountain forest roads covered in snow and ice in pursuit of bear tracks. After a reading of Abraham Lincoln's 1846 poem, "The Bear Hunt," we jump right into it, hearing how the dogs work including Jacob's fearless mountain feist, Pete, who recently was nearly killed by a bear...

Doug Wood is a West Virginia living historian portraying the life of the eastern woodland American Indians. After a reading about bear hunting & raccoon trapping with Mohawks in 1755, Doug describes how a historical trail project mixed with his own Cherokee ancestry got him interested in representing the lives of the various woodland Indians of the 18th-century. We begin on captive-taking practices and West Virginia being abandoned by the time of European arrival, yet remaining as a hunti...

Harrison Idol is a sportsman, fly fisherman, Army Officer and budding antiquarian currently building up his collection of antique sporting books in Maryland. After a reading from The Compleat Angler written in 1653 about fly tying & trout, Harrison opens on growing up on his family's generational tobacco farm in North Carolina. While inspired by vintage sporting aesthetics, Harrison boldly embarked on a collector's shopping spree of antique fishing & hunting books dating back to the 1...

Simeon England is a blacksmith, traditional flintlock hunter, and living historian portraying the 18th-century frontiersmen, scouts and longhunters of Kentucky. We start this living history episode about the daily lives of the colonial longhunters [1760s-1770s] who set out from Virginia & North Carolina for deer skins & furs in the wilds of Kentucky, with readings of first-hand accounts about beavers and salt licks. From their hunting methods to their frontier camps we discuss topics ...

Fair Lawn Farm's 18th-Century Trades Fair is an annual living history trades encampment in bucolic Highland County, Virginia, featuring artisans affiliated with the likes of Colonial Williamsburg, The Frontier Culture Museum, The Smithsonian and Townsends. For this in-the-field episode, we will be touring the tents, hearing from a dozen craftsmen-&-women about their historical trades ranging from gunsmithing & engraving, to powder horn making & woodworking. Topics discussed: India...