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Off the Path

Storytelling Podcasts

For seven years, Off the Path has explored spots from New York to Boston and beyond — everything from quirky roadside attractions to eccentric oddities to places with deep historical significance. This season, Davis Dunavin is going to sea. We’re telling stories of submarines, lighthouses, white whales, sea monsters, and — of course — pirates. In fact, you’ll hear about quite a few pirates in this series, which is why we decided to call it Off the Plank.Dunavin has always been fascinated by ships and the sea — maybe because he grew up in the landlocked parts of Middle America. From old sailing ships to lighthouses, there’s just something special about the places that tell the nautical history of New York and New England.There are stories of famous pirates — Captain Kidd, Black Sam Bellamy, William Fly. There’s a female lighthouse keeper who performed heroic rescues and became a national celebrity. And there’s the story of Moby-Dick — with its deep ties to New Bedford, Massachusetts, once the whaling capital of the world.As for the music, each podcast episode will end with a traditional song of the sea chosen and performed by the Ranzo Boys, a New York City-based folk trio. Some are shanties, some are ballads, but all of them tell sailors’ stories or celebrate aspects of life on the high seas.

Location:

United States

Description:

For seven years, Off the Path has explored spots from New York to Boston and beyond — everything from quirky roadside attractions to eccentric oddities to places with deep historical significance. This season, Davis Dunavin is going to sea. We’re telling stories of submarines, lighthouses, white whales, sea monsters, and — of course — pirates. In fact, you’ll hear about quite a few pirates in this series, which is why we decided to call it Off the Plank.Dunavin has always been fascinated by ships and the sea — maybe because he grew up in the landlocked parts of Middle America. From old sailing ships to lighthouses, there’s just something special about the places that tell the nautical history of New York and New England.There are stories of famous pirates — Captain Kidd, Black Sam Bellamy, William Fly. There’s a female lighthouse keeper who performed heroic rescues and became a national celebrity. And there’s the story of Moby-Dick — with its deep ties to New Bedford, Massachusetts, once the whaling capital of the world.As for the music, each podcast episode will end with a traditional song of the sea chosen and performed by the Ranzo Boys, a New York City-based folk trio. Some are shanties, some are ballads, but all of them tell sailors’ stories or celebrate aspects of life on the high seas.

Language:

English

Contact:

203-365-6604


Episodes
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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A 'close encounter' in New Hampshire

9/1/2023
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.

Duration:00:21:27

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The Desert of Maine: An ecological odyssey at a tourist spot

8/10/2023
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.

Duration:00:07:11

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Christina's World: The "enigma" and friendship behind a classic American painting

8/4/2023
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.

Duration:00:12:00

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"Appreciate the Mundane" at a museum for umbrella covers

7/20/2023
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.

Duration:00:07:07

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The "Lost Limner" returns in a new play

7/13/2023

Duration:00:09:29

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Chicken Farmer I Still Love You

7/6/2023
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.

Duration:00:12:14

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The view and the visionary behind the Appalachian Trail

6/23/2023
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