Off the Path
Storytelling Podcasts
For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he 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.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Storytelling Podcasts
Description:
For Davis Dunavin, being a journalist is a little bit like being a cross between a wandering storyteller and a detective. For nearly eight years, he's set sail to learn about pirate history, hiked the Appalachian Trail, spent the night in Lizzie Borden's house and browsed the books in Mark Twain's library, all in search of the hidden stories buried in everyday places across the Northeast.This season on Off The Path, he 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.
Twitter:
@WSHUPublicRadio
Language:
English
Contact:
203-365-6604
Email:
offthepath@wshu.org
Episodes
Off the Path Revisited: Where the Appalachian Trail Began
8/21/2025
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.
Duration:00:13:07
The Making of Theodore Roosevelt
8/14/2025
We like to picture Theodore Roosevelt as this vigorous, energetic, hyper-manly guy. And he was. But he didn’t start that way. He began as a bedridden, asthma-stricken boy in New York’s East Village. He went through a lot to become the guy who led the charge up San Juan Hill and served as our 36th president.
Duration:00:19:41
Andre the Giant Has A Posse
7/24/2025
Back in the summer of 1989, a lot of weird little stickers appeared on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island. They were on walls, trash cans and utility poles. You’d find them outside bars, record stores and skate shops. They were all the same, a grainy black-and-white picture of a bulky scowling man, with the words: “Andre the Giant has a Posse.”
Duration:00:16:28
A Trip to Tuxedo Park, the Cradle of American Etiquette
7/3/2025
It began with one of America's richest men jumping out of a moving train to trudge through the mud and scope out the property. It was the cultivating grounds for the 'queen of American etiquette,' Emily Post, as well as the most iconic men's suit in the modern world. This week, join us for a tour of Tuxedo Park, New York!
Duration:00:22:29
Did a German immigrant in CT fly before the Wright Brothers?
6/24/2025
Everyone knows the story of the first manned airplane flight, right? The Ohio-based Wright Brothers flew a biplane more than 850 feet across North Carolina’s Outer Banks in December of 1903. That historical event is featured on the license plates and on the state quarters of Ohio and North Carolina. But some people say someone else deserves the credit: a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead. He supposedly flew his flying machine two years before the Wright Brothers in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Additional mixing by Bella Fabbo.
Historical voices by Carter Dewees and Bill Buchner.
Duration:00:18:02
Spacewar! Or, the Rise of the Computer Bums
5/29/2025
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!
Duration:00:16:53
Trailer: Where It All Began
5/22/2025
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.
Duration:00:02:41
The Ghost Pirate of Dungeon Rock (A Halloween Bonus Episode)
10/31/2024
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.
Duration:00:05:51
Off the Plank: A National Special
10/9/2024
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.
Duration:00:52:45
Off the Plank: The Great Gloucester Sea Serpent
10/3/2024
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?
Duration:00:13:50
Off the Plank: Pirate City USA
9/13/2024
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.
Duration:00:22:28
Off the Plank: The Ranzo Boys are Young, Queer and Here to Sing Sea Shanties
8/22/2024
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.
Duration:00:14:31
Off the Plank: The Buried Treasure (Or Not) of Captain Kidd
8/15/2024
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.
Duration:00:20:44
Off the Plank: The Daring Rescues of Ida Lewis
7/25/2024
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.
Duration:00:15:02
Off the Plank: Murder on Smuttynose Island (Revisited)
7/12/2024
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.
Duration:00:09:06
Off the Plank: The Pirate and the Preacher
7/5/2024
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.
Duration:00:16:30
Off the Plank: Moby-Dick in New Bedford
6/20/2024
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.
Duration:00:21:41
Off the Plank: The Turtle, America's First Submarine
5/30/2024
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.
Duration:00:12:37
Off the Plank: The Wreck of the Whydah
5/24/2024
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.
Duration:00:19:46
The legend of Sleepy Hollow lives on
10/27/2023
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.
Duration:00:06:44