Author: Tom
Thomas Jefferson’s Unexpected Role
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/03Jul25-Independence-Day-Jefferson-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Thomas Jefferson took an important role in writing our declaration of independence, but most people don’t know he wasn’t even…
Crater of Diamonds
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/02Jul25-Crater-of-Diamonds-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s a sate park like none other – a place where your entrance fee allows you the chance to find…
A Crater Full of Precious Stones
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/01Jul25-Crater-of-Diamonds-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Arkansas state license plate has a picture of a diamond on it. That is mostly due to a famous…
The Place Where the Diamond Rush Started
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/30Jun25-Crater-of-Diamonds-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you think of state where you can find volcanoes you probably aren’t thinking of this spot. However, it’s this…
The Worst Disaster in U.S. Maritime History
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/27Jun25-Sultana-Museum-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It remains the worth disaster in U.S. maritime history. Add to the tragedy the fact that many of the dead…
The Tragedy of the Steamboat Sultana
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/26Jun25-Sultana-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It was the early morning hours of April 27th, 1865. The steamboat Sultana was overcrowded, bearing a load of souls…
Returning Civil War Prisoners to Home
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/25Jun25-Sultana-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)As the Civil War drew to a close in April of 1865, there was a massive job to return prisoners…
The World’s Greatest Athlete
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/24Jun25-Jim-Thorpe-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In 1912 he was proclaimed the world’s greatest athlete and some of his Olympic records from that year still stood…
The Rise of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School Football Team
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/23Jun25-Jim-Thorpe-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you think of historically great collegiate football programs, names like Notre Dame, Penn State and Alabama might come to…
The Story of the Spencer Rifle at the Illinois Military Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/20Jun25-Illinois-Military-Museum-Spencer-Rifle.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine you had invented a new type of rifle that could be helpful to the U.S. military. How would you…
The Tombstone Courthouse
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/19Jun25-Tombstone-Courthouse-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In the 1880s, stagecoaches brought dozens of people each day to a boom town called Tombstone. But it was a…
Dig a Grave When You Get There
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/18Jun25-Tombstone-Courthouse-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When this man set out to find his fortune he was told he’d need to dig his grave when he…
The Lake of the Ozarks
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/17Jun25-Lake-of-the-Ozarks.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In the 1930s, it became the largest lake in the world. Interestingly, that record-setter was nestled in the undeveloped forest…
The Memphis City Park – Shelby Farm
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/16Jun25-Memphis-City-Park-Shelby-Farms.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)This city park is over five times the size of Central Park in New York City. People not only come…
Sawdust City, Arkansas
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/13Jun25-Sawdust-City-Arkansas.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)This town was founded on sawdust – in some cases quite literally. While the mill and the homes are gone,…
The Parkin Archeological Park
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/12Jun25-Parkin-Archeological-State-Park-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)At the Parkin Archeological Park in Arkansas you can see a piece of wood that is believed to be a…
A Preserved Community Near Memphis
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/11Jun25-Parkin-Archeological-State-Park-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Long before European explorers first arrived in North America, Native American villages dotted the landscape of present day Arkansas. One…
The Calavaras County Frog Jumpin’ Contest
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/10Jun25-Calavaras-County-Jumpin-Frog-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Each May in Angels Camp, California, thousands of people will come to witness a contest that could pay a winner…
A Trip to Angels Camp That Launched a Career
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/06/09Jun25-Calavaras-County-Jumpin-Frog-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In 1865 Mark Twain came to Angels Camp, California. A tale he heard, or perhaps one he made up, became…
The Old Stone Fort
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/05/06Jun25-Old-Stone-Fort.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s known as the Old Stone Fort, but using the tern “fort” is perhaps a bit liberal. While the structure…
