STRANGE AMERICA. There’s more America than you think. Today, three places where the map, the record book, and ordinary life do not quite agree. We will visit an American community reached through Canada, a neighborhood buried beneath a state capital, and a vanished Illinois town founded by a formerly enslaved man who bought freedom for himself and members of his family. These are not curiosities arranged in a cabinet. They are arguments about borders, memory, work, and who gets to be called a founder. I am Lenny Voss.
In this episode:
• The American Town You Reach Through Canada
• The Neighborhood Buried Beneath Rhode Island’s Capitol
• Free Frank’s Vanished Town
Sources & further reading:
• History Center: https://www.explorepointroberts.com/history-center/
• Before Rhode Island Built Its State House, a Racist Mob Destroyed the Community That Lived There: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-snowtown-and-the-racially-motivated-mob-attack-that-changed-rhode-island-180978798/
• New Philadelphia National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/neph/
