Weird Island

Episode Description:
While today, tomatoes are one of the most commonly consumed vegetables in the United States, that wasn’t always the case. For much of history, tomatoes were not only ignored, but feared. So, what changed? And is it possible a Newport man played a role in introducing the tomato into the American diet? 
Episode Source Material - Michel Felice Corne
Cornè House - Atlas Obscura
Michele Felice Cornè - Wikipedia
Michel Felice Corne, Summer Exhibit 1972
February Meeting, 1941 - Colonial Society of Massachusetts
Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe, Florence Howe Hall, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, in two volumes, with portraits and other illustrations: volume 1
Michele Felice Cornè
Episode Source Material - Tomato History
The Tomato in America, Early History, Culture and Cookery | Andrew F. Smith
10 Tomatoes That Changed the World | William Alexander
Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years | Smithsonian
Sixteenth-century tomatoes in Europe: who saw them, what they looked like, and where they came from
How a ‘Strange,’ ‘Evil’ Fruit Came to Define Italy’s Cuisine

The first famous American daredevil got his start leaping from Pawtucket Falls. 
Episode Source Material
Sam Patch The Famous Jumper | Paul E. Johnson
The Real Simon Pure Sam Patch | Rochester History
The Last Leap of Sam Patch | Headlines & Heroes
The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, October 28, 1829, Image 2 « Chronicling America «
Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], January 06, 1830, Image 3
Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], January 06, 1830, Image 3
Mineral Point tribune., February 24, 1870, Image 3
Sam Patch's Last Leap
The Daredevils of Niagara Falls | Library of Congress
Leaps of Fame: The Rise of Sam Patch and a Changing Industrial Landscape - Not Even Past
Sam Patch: a 19th Century Rhode Island Daredevil Worth Remembering
1824 Strike - Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Labor History: The First Factory Strike - In These Times
“4 or 5 Active Lads to Serve in Cotton Factory” - Child Labor at Slater Mill | Rhode Tour
Pawtucket Falls - Blackstone River Valley

In 1848, a man named Orson Squire Fowler ignited a homebuilding fad when he dreamed up a  bold new home design, one that might be cheaper, more efficient and even make you happier. 
Inventory of Octagonal Houses in RI - One’s I’ve found to still be there:
Lemuel C Richmond Octagon House, 41 High Street, Bristol
Cranston (Battey) Octagon House, 80 Phenix Avenue. The only surviving of 3 once in Cranston. Built around 1854. Today there are four apartments in the building
East Providence Octagon House, 21 Sunnyside Avenue. Built around 1900 as a bandstand for the short-lived Boyden Heights Amusement Park, and converted to a private residence by 1916.
Providence, 36 Crescent Street. Eliza H. Dix House, built 1855. 
Providence, 63 Elmwood Ave. Built 1857 for Silas M. Field, jeweler. Is now a 4 family residence. 
Providence, 669 Public Street. Now a 4 family residence. 
Providence, 76 Harrison Street. Modern house. 
Warwick, 25 South Fair Street, Pawtuxet Village. Built in the 1830s?  
Albert S. Potter House, 4 Carolina Main Street, Carolina. 
Riverside, 163 Halleck Avenue. Custom built in 1990. 
Smithfield, J. S. Sweet Octagon House. Built 1865. 108 Farnum Pike. Need to check this one. 
Olneyville Octagon House, built in 1988
Houses that appear to have been torn down:
Bristol Octagon House, Wood Street. No longer there. 
Central Falls Octagon House, built around 1877 - don’t think it’s still there
Cranston Ezra Read Octagon House, on Pontiac Avenue. Demolished in the 1970s.
Cranston Octagon House on Wayland Avenue, on a 1882 map but gone by 1895
Johnston Octagon House. Built before 1880, located at 745 Hartford Ave near Killingly St. Demolished in the 1960s. 
Pawtucket Octagon House, located at 42 Park Place. Built in 1856, demolished in the 1950s. 
Providence, Gano Street. 1906 newspaper article references it. Gone now. Possibly meant another one a street over on Ives. 
Providence, 343 Williams Street. No longer there. Built pre 1875. Check this one again.
Providence, Stewart Street. No longer there. 
Providence, 241 Ives Street. Razed in the 1980s. 
Providence, Locust Street. No longer there. 
Providence, 307 Knight Street. Built 1855. Thought to be the earliest octagon house built in the city. Built by Benjamin Merril Hubbard. Went looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Likely gone. 
Woonsocket, Sabin Pond House. Built 1849. At 315 Grove Street. Gabled Octagon House, very interesting looking. Demolished in the mid 1980s. 
Woonsocket, 21 (?) Fountain Street. No longer there. 
South Kingstown, no longer there. 
Block Island?
Prudence Island - Not sure of the address!
Episode Source Material
Albert S. Potter Octagon House - Wikipedia
The Octagon House Inventory Book
Octagonal pegs in a square landscape
76 Harrison Street, Unit#76, Providence, RI 02909 | MLS #1176582 | Lila Delman
163 Halleck Avenue, East Providence, RI 02915 | Compass
Waltham Watch Company - Wikipedia
Orson Fowler, the Phrenologist Who Started the Craze for Octagon Houses - New England Historical Society
The Octagon Houses of Orson Fowler | Amusing Planet
Phrenology | Thompson | Encyclopedia of the History of Science
Phrenology in Victorian America (U.S. National Park Service)
Phrenology – Library News
Facing a Bumpy History | Smithsonian
The Fowler Brothers
The abolitionist, vegetarian, octagon-obsessed utopia that never was | by Meagan Day | Timeline | Medium
An Eccentric Victorian, His Book and the Giant Pink Pastry of a House He Inspired
Orson Squire Fowler - Wikipedia. 
American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, Volume 11
When Heads Were Headlines
Orson Squire Fowler: Phrenology and Octagon Houses 1809-1887 by John H. Martin
History of watches - Wikipedia
Battle of the Giant Watchmakers - Business History
Carolina: Old mill town now a scenic gem

This week, we’ll meet Ida Lewis, the fearless lighthouse keeper of Newport, Rhode Island, who became a national hero for her daring rescues at sea. 
Episode Sources:
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: The Remarkable True Story of American Heroine Ida Lewis by Lenore Skomal
Women who kept the lights : an illustrated history of female lighthouse keepers : Clifford, Mary Louise : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Ida Lewis, The Heroine of Lime Rock | George D. Brewerton - Published 1869 (Ida 27)
Excerpts Books From With Ida Lewis Chapters or Sections
Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine
Ladies Home Journal | July 1890
The Outing Magazine | January 1910
The American Magazine | January 1910
A Half-Forgotten Heroine; Putnam's Magazine | February 1910
Beacons of History: The Women Lighthouse Keepers of National Marine Sanctuaries
National Woman Suffrage Association - Wikipedia.
Media and the Rise of Celebrity Culture

Episode Description:
Weird Island is back! In the first episode in over a year and a half, we’ll uncover the story of a gym for women in 1880s Providence, begun by feminist philosopher, lecturer and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  
Episode Sources:
“As Near to Flying as One Gets Outside a Circus”: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Providence Ladies’ Sanitary Gymnasium, 1881-1884 - Online Review of Rhode Island History
The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Papers of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1846-1961
Feminist Gothic in "The Yellow Wallpaper" |
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1860-1935) from The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Suicide Note, August 17, 1935 from The Right to Die
'Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Letters to Martha', by Abigail Rabinowitz
The Philanthropist and the Physical Educator
Catharine Beecher | National Women's History Museum
Catharine Beecher, Champion of Women’s Education - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project
Physiology and Calisthenics. For Schools and Families | Catherine Beecher
The Origins of American Women’s Exercise – The New Inquiry