Author: Tom
The Clover of 4-H
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/12Feb15-4-H-Clover.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)The 4-H Program is now over a century old and many people recognize the familiar green clover that symbolizes those…
Hallowed Ground in a Field
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/11Feb15-Clear-Lake-Iowa-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)In northern Iowa you will find many picturesque corn and soybean fields dotting the landscape. But one of these fields…
The Day the Music Died
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/10Feb15-Clear-Lake-Iowa-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:03 — 2.1MB)Don McClean wrote the song “American Pie” about the day “the music died.” It was the night of February 2nd,…
A Night at the Surf Ballroom Over 50 Years Ago
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/09Feb15-Clear-Lake-Iowa-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)It’s been over fifty years now since a big time music tour rolled through the upper Midwest. It was called…
Saved Jewish Artifacts
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/06Feb15-Chicago-Holocaust-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)The movie, “Monuments Men,” details the race by Allied forces to save precious Jewish artifacts from destruction by the Nazis. …
A Museum Dedicated to Jewish Survivors
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/05Feb15-Chicago-Holocaust-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)In 1976 a group led by Frank Collin wanted to march in the city of Skokie, Illinois. The event drew…
A Journey to the US Ahead of the War
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/04Feb15-Henry-Straus-4.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)Today we know the atrocities committed against Jews at the hands of the Nazis. However, in the years leading up…
A Cemetery With Different Markers
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/02/04Mar15-Tombstone-Arizona-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Most cemeteries have markers with a person’s name, date of birth and death, and little else. Not so for many…
The Night of Broken Glass
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/03Feb15-Henry-Straus-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)It is a night that Henry Straus will never forget. November 9th, 1938. It’s today known as the “Night of…
The Life of Punxsutawney Phil
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/02Feb15-Groundhog-Day.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)He is by far the oldest and wisest groundhog in the nation, and every February 2, you can be assured…
A Jewish Family’s Challenges in Nazi Germany
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/30Jan15-Henry-Straus-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)We resume our moving conversation today with Henry Straus as he share his family’s challenges living as Jews in a…
Growing Up Jewish in Germany
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/29Jan15-Henry-Straus-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)From his earliest memories, Henry Straus remembers discrimination. As a young Jewish boy living in a German city, his family…
The Union Army’s Order Number 11
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/28Jan15-Bates-County-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)In the summer of 1863 the Union Army issued Order Number 11, an edict that forced every resident living in…
Clearing Out the County
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/27Jan15-Bates-County-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:03 — 2.1MB)If two people are arguing, perhaps it’s best they both stop and take a rest from one another. That was…
Tensions on the Missouri – Kansas Border
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/26Jan15-Bates-County-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)In the decade leading up to the Civil War, tensions rose along Kansas’ border with Missouri. Even if one tried…
A Place Called Penneytown
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/23Jan15-Penneytown-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Virginia Houston holds a unique distinction. She was the last child born in Penneytown. It’s a fact that holds much…
Establishing a City for Newly Freed Slaves
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/22Jan15-Penneytown-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)Establishing a new city can take plenty of planning. Now imagine trying to begin that new town when others are…
Jim the Wonder Dog
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/21Jan15-Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Any betting man or woman would love to know the winners before placing a wager. The people of Marshall, Missouri…
Going Beyond the Basic Dog Tricks
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/20Jan15-Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.1MB)Many people have dogs and some of us have even taught our dogs to do tricks. But Sam had a…
More Than An Excellent Hunting Dog
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2014/12/19Jan15-Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)It all began quite by accident. A pup mysteriously arrived on a train, addressed to a man who loved to…
