Lily Flagg's Signal: Recent Episodes
Lily Flagg's Signal
Welcome to Lily Flagg's Signal, a lovingly-researched history podcast that explores the lore and legends of Huntsville, Alabama. New content will air every Monday, be it a mini-episode, a teaser trailer, or a full-length episode where we do a deep-dive into a local historical subject. Everyone loves a good story, but sometimes the truth gets in the way, so join us as we explore the myths and realities of the Rocket City's history and how true those stories were that Huntsville locals have grown up hearing, including the tales of a certain famous cow and the many (mis)spellings of her name! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Sometimes, the only way to save a historic structure from demolition is to relocate it - or as I decided to say, "scoot" it - and this was the case for multiple buildings in Huntsville’s past. Today’s episode covers a few of these instances, including the log cabins at Burritt on the Mountain, the Public Inn, the Steamboat Gothic House, the Humphreys-Rodgers House, and the Clemens House, and the various challenges and workarounds that come with “scooting” these buildings across town.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts and supplementary maps for this tour) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, Emily C., Shalin, Stephen, and AboveAverageBeard by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In this second-of-its-kind episode, we're doing something a little different: an audio walking tour through the northern part of downtown Huntsville, Alabama, set in the year 1901. We'll be exploring the Historic Black Business District and discussing the people, shops, churches, and transportation as you'd have seen it over a 120 years ago. Complete with background sound effects, this tour starts at the corner of Jefferson and Clinton and is paced such that you can follow along the 0.6 mile route on foot or listen along from the comfort of your couch.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts and supplementary maps for this tour) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, Emily C., Shalin, Stephen, and AboveAverageBeard by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
The thing about throwing a 150th birthday party for a growing city is that you get to pull out all the stops, like holding a week long party with a thousand-person stage production, beard growing contests mandated by the mayor, and an arsenal-sponsored beauty queen. However, such a milestone is also a chance to choose how you’ll be remembered, even if that means writing (and rewriting) your city’s history through rebranding that still impacts us today. 1955 was a pivotal time for Huntsville, Alabama, and this episode, I’ll be diving into the multi-faceted celebration that was our Sesquicentennial: the fun, the unhinged, the concerning, and everything between.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, Emily C., Shalin, Stephen, and AboveAverageBeard by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Have you ever wanted to pay your student debts in bacon, win a gold medal for cleanest dorm room, learn to fight with a broom, and become multi-lingual while enjoying the finest dining inside a Greek-temple-esque building and being banned from the local theatre? If you answered yes to any of these, let me introduce you to the Huntsville Female College, an all-girls school that operated here from 1851 to 1895. From their origins and course catalogs to daily life and pun-filled student newspaper, today’s episode takes you on a journey through local women’s education in the 19th century.
Huge thanks to SceneThat Tours for their sponsorship of this episode (www.scenethattours.com)
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
This podcast has been featuring highlights on individual topics from Huntsville's past for , but it's about time this show had a nice little round-up of the basics of the city's history, like the story of its founding and being named for John Hunt, the journey to statehood, some recognizable buildings, and famous leaders like Sam Houston...
Oh, right. This is the April Fools episode, so I'm actually talking about Huntsville, Texas, but fear not! There are some fun similarities and comparisons between "our" North Alabama Huntsville and this one, and who doesn't love learning about a new place?
Huge thanks to SceneThat Tours for their sponsorship of this episode (www.scenethattours.com)
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In the spring of 1962, Huntsville businesses were segregated, Easter Sunday church-wear was a fashion statement, and explicitly boycotting a business could get you arrested, but Huntsville's Community Service Committee had a plan to make a statement - and an economic impact - in favor of integration: Blue Jean Sunday.
Huge thanks to Scenethat Tours for their sponsorship of this episode (www.scenethattours.com)
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
What is Pope's Tavern and why does it have an active archaeological dig? I'm glad you asked! Join me in my chat with Brian Murphy, director of Florence (Alabama) Arts and Museums, and Daniel Rhodes, Pope's Tavern archaeologist and host of the Archaeology After Dark podcast, as we discuss the marketing power of a name and legends, the things learned from a hole in the ground, the importance of digging through historical trash, and ways that you can get involved in public archaeology and stopping looters in North Alabama.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Huntsvillustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
When the Civil War came to his newspaper office’s doorstep, a former Alabama governor’s son left his printing press behind and attempted to “strut to Guntersville” in 1862. A group of Ohio infantrymen and a journaling army band member soon took over and began printing their own publication: the “Huntsville reveille”. This short lived newspaper lasted only four editions, but its story is one of poetry and patriotism, sabotage and camaraderie, the powers of humor and fonts, and an oddly specific serialized love story.
Huge thanks to Scenethat Tours for their sponsorship of this episode (www.scenethattours.com)
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, HuntsvilleIllustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly atpatreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
They say you can't fight city hall, but what happens when city hall fights itself? On one side: the newly elected mayor (Frasier Adams) and his chosen city clerk, police chief, and other officers. Their opponents? The aldermen and their choices for city officials, including a separate police force ready and willing to arrest members in the mayor's faction. The objective? Control of local government offices, and to not look like too much of a fool. The battle played out in private and public meetings, court cases, and of course in the press, where Huntsvillians read each day to see who would win the feud dubbed "The City Hall War."For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Huntsville Illustrated, Laura, and Shalin by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Huntsville's water works had its bicentennial this year, and a lot has happened in the two hundred years that residents have been pumping spring water throughout the town. In just the first 35 years, there were public spats, lots of hollowed out logs, a high turnover rate of ownership, some cool hydraulic technology, and a guy who felt the need to purchase 588 pounds of flour all at once.
This is part one of two detailing the surprisingly more exciting than you'd expect history of the water side of Huntsville Utilities.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In honor of the bicentennial of the Huntsville water works this year, I've done a two-part episode sharing history and fun facts. In this episode I'll be talking about the system in its time as a public utility, starting in 1858, including expansions, odd fire fighting techniques, diseases, and fancy toilets!
This is part two of two detailing the surprisingly more exciting than you'd expect history of the water side of Huntsville Utilities.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
The library has multiple folders of letters applauding her, it would take a full page to list all her accolades and firsts, and her awards would cover a full wall, but most importantly: her work in public health touched and improved countless lives. Join me today in discussing Nurse Johnnie Loujean Dent (Alabama's first Black Nurse of the Year) and her impact on Triana and other rural and minority communities.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In this week's episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Chauncey Robinson, the founder of the Mud Creek Archive, a non-profit whose many local history projects include historic cemetery restoration as well as researching and documenting Huntsville's Black Business District. Join us as we about the destruction caused by urban renewal, the "bread crumbs" that lead to big research discoveries, and how it truly takes a community to preserve and remember the past.
Check out and donate to the Mud Creek Archive at mudcreekarchive.org and historicblackhuntsville.org
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Bricks! Tallulah! Frogs! Mysterious writing in cement! You asked and I answered this season's requests-only episode. All topics were submitted by listeners like you, and the questions led to fun facts about gargoyles, wild fonts in saloon advertisements, and the histories that lie beneath our feet.For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
What do indescribable natural wonders, an underground barbecue feast, an "Iowa syndicate", and some rare crayfish have in common? They all could be found in Shelta Cave, a now-protected area that was one of Victorian-era Huntsville's weirdest tourism destinations! Join me on this journey to not-quite-the-center-of-the-earth to explore this tourist-trap turned nature preserve!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Have you ever wondered what a walking tour through downtown Huntsville, Alabama, may have sounded like in 1901? This "episode" is just that, complete with building histories, descriptions of businesses, notes on current events, and background sound effects. The tour starts at the corner of Eustis and Green Streets and is paced such that you could walk the eight blocks through the current downtown and listen along, but it's also designed to still be a fun listen from the comfort of your home!
Supplementary maps, photos, and more can be found on the show's website: lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
"Did you know Huntsville's first hospital was originally a brothel?!" That's a clickbait-y fun fact that gets thrown around a good bit, but like most stories, there's a lot more to it. In this episode, I dove down a rabbit hole of census records, newspapers, misspellings, and pedantic court battles to piece together the story of Mollie Teal, the madam who donated her home to the city over 120 years ago. Sort of.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, and Laura by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were responsible for nature preservation and park construction across the country. From construction updates and literacy initiatives to silly poetry and inside jokes we'll never understand, the newspapers of Huntsville's CCC camps offer a fun look into the day-to-day lives of the men who built Monte Sano State Park.For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Eric, Laura, and Hector by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Did you know Huntsville has nine historic cemeteries, some of which are still active and all of which require constant maintenance and preservation? Join me as I talk with Tara Sloan, the interim director of the city's Cemetery Department, about monument restoration, documenting headstones, and more!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Laura, and Hector by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
This week's episode is an interview with John O'Brien, local author and historian, on the who, why, and where of how the "Huntsville" we know it was shaped. Join us for a chat on place making, Huntsville's red light district, the early housing authority, urban planning, the city beautiful movement, and a place called Boogertown.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like patrons like Allison, Emily, Laura, and Hector by supporting the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In modern times, we’d call it doom-scrolling: aimlessly flipping through articles filled with frustrating, frightening, or otherwise ominous news. In Fall of 1918, though, it was just called reading the news. From war to an influenza epidemic to power outages to literal snake oil salesmen, there was a lot going on, and as such I wanted to combine these reports with what we know now of the time to paint a picture of a few months in town over a century ago.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like Emily, Laura, and Allison and support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
And now for something completely different I asked ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence program, to write a trailer for the podcast and share some fun facts about Huntsville, Alabama. The results were so humorous, I felt like I needed to share them alongside some of my actual approaches to research and my personal favorite places to find primary and secondary sources.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also do like patron Emily and support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
(Logo made by Craiyon, inspired by the art of ???)
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Whether it’s a relaxing health retreat in nature, a destination to party all night, or a way to attract wealthy investors into town, there’s (apparently) nothing like a resort vacation, and for a short time in the late 1800s, Huntsville was home to one such resort. The Hotel Monte Sano offered prime examples of luxury amenities for its guests, whether they were there to take deep breaths of mountain air to try to cure their ailments and/or if their goal was dancing to the music of live orchestras at extravagant galas (one of which was of course in honor of a cow). However, the hotel was also home to money issues, dubious quality rail transportation, and apparently a good bit of soup.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also do like Emily and support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
When people talk about LGBTQ history, they'll often mention Stonewall in New York, Harvey Milk in California, or maybe HIV/AIDS protests in the mid-Atlantic region. Rarely does the American South first come to mind, but that's not due to a lack of historical places, events, and groundbreakers. The Invisible Histories Project (IHP, invisiblehistories.org), for whom this live panel was a fundraiser, is dedicated to collecting, archiving, and educating on queer history in the south, and believe me: there's a lot of it.
In this live panel, I was joined by IHP co-founder Joshua Burford (he/him) and Tristan Wildharber (they/them) to talk about this history, how it's preserved, and how the past relates to the present. From Victorian diary pages, "confirmed bachelors", and Cracker Barrel to labor unions, intersectionality, and "the gayest story you've heard all day", it's our longest episode yet, and you're sure to learn something about LGBTQ life in the south!
Want to donate to IHP? Check out invisiblehistory.org/donate or their Patreon at patreon.com/invisiblehistoriesproject to chip in!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also be awesome like Emily C. and support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
The event venue for this live episode is sponsored in part by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Dr. William Henry Burritt was a lot of things: a homeopathic doctor, a car guy, an inventor, a world traveler, and the eccentric brains behind one of Huntsville's weirdest homes. In part two of this two-part show on Dr. Burritt, I'll be discussing his third wife, his second mansion, and the city's first museum, as well as a custom car and herd of dairy goats (not a typo).
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Dr. William Henry Burritt was a lot of things: a homeopathic doctor, a car guy, an inventor, a world traveler, and the eccentric brains behind one of Huntsville's weirdest homes. In part one of this two-part show on Dr. Burritt, I'll be discussing his "origin story" as well as the construction and destruction of the first of his two X-shaped mansions (spoiler).
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
You know I love a good primary source, and when it comes to early-statehood-Alabama there's no source like travel writer (and convicted "common scold") Anne Royall. Unafraid to bash the manners of "high society" women, call out hypocrisy in the church, or insult the appearance of those she met, Royall also was responsible for documenting much about 1810s and 1820s Huntsville life, including descriptions of the city, its citizens, and the first recorded tornado in the area.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
All aboard, next stop: Chase, Alabama, the home of the North Alabama Railroad Museum. Along the way, we'll be passing through a nationally-famous wholesale nursery, some weird telegraph code words, restored locomotives, a former mayor, some US Postal Service history, the tiny little train depot that could, and so. much. kudzu.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. You can also support the show monthly at patreon.com/lilyflaggpodcast
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lilyflaggpodcast/support
It's the listener request episode! I've been encouraging listeners to submit local history questions these past few months, and in today's show I'm answering some of them. We'll be talking about a watercress salad themed party, an eccentric man's basement, road rage on Memorial Parkway (the autobahn of Huntsville), historic barns, and more!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Downtown Huntsville has been home to numerous buildings over the years, including four courthouses in the middle of the square. From gilded eagles to Greek temples to wild animals on the square to the ultimate space-race era modernism, join me on a journey through the drama and design choices of the courthouses of Madison County, Alabama.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In episode 12, I talked about Virginia McCormick's impact on the Huntsville community for the first three decades of the 1900s, but what I didn't get to discuss as much was her music. Listening to, playing, and apparently writing music were hobbies of hers, as well as a part of her mental health treatment. In this barely-an-episode-and-mostly-just-a-song, I'm sharing a sea shanty written by Virginia herself, as well as something I just learned about fish. Tune in for a few minutes and enjoy the sweet, sweet jam that is "I'm Only a Bold Sailor Lad".
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
She was an heiress, but her best known parties were open to some of the poorest citizens in town. She was declared legally unable to manage her own interests and finances, but she was a renowned musician, respected community member, and well-loved friend to many. Local legend calls her a recluse, but she was a frequent attendee to events she hosted. She only lived in town for a few months a year, but her philanthropy made a lasting impact on Huntsville.
Her name? Mary Virginia McCormick.
I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Wisconsin to study some of the McCormick family archives and view primary sources about Virginia's life, including diaries, correspondences, and notes by her nursing staff. Buckle in for an adventure in catchy songs, May Day celebrations, and donations towards healthcare equity as I share what I learned on my road trip to, in a way, meet Virginia.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Though the city changed hands multiple times during the Civil War, there was no "battle" for Huntsville. In April of 1862, American forces were able to walk right into town and take control, but how? In today's mini-episode, we're talking Civil War diaries, Morse code, the importance of trains, and how one woman's actions impacted an entire town.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
The Lily Flagg's Signal Preserving Huntsville History series is a collection of interviews with local historians, preservationists, storytellers, and other experts passionate about saving and sharing the history of Huntsville, Alabama. In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Reagan Grimsley, Head of Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Join us for a conversation on archiving in the digital age, some of the cool stuff they have available for study, and how there's something for everyone (local historian or not) at the UAH archives!
Links referenced in the show:
Science Friday interview - https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/preserving-and-telling-space-history/
UAH Archives Homepage - https://libguides.uah.edu/archives
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
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In honor of the last month of the Huntsville Times's print editions, join me on a journey through the early 1900s newspaper business, a bizarre stone "wedding cake" style house, and Jacob Emory Pierce, the founder of the Times and the root of an impressive number of local legends, scandals, and court cases.
NOTE: I found a new source and thus more insight into Pierce's potential pettiness after putting out the original episode; this added info has been edited into the episode and begins at the 11:50 mark. The show is otherwise unchanged from its original posting.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our website (with show transcripts) at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
What started as my quest to bust a local myth led to an even more interesting story of outlaws, betrayal, and a so-called "trial of the century" that could rival any episode of Perry Mason. In this episode, we're going on an adventure through a Muscle Shoals robbery, an often-overshadowed sibling named Frank, newspapers fawning over a gang member's eye color, and the closest to "true crime podcasting" you'll get out of a show named after a historical cow.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
There's no mode of transportation that brings up feelings of nostalgia quite like street cars, and good news: Huntsville had its own electric street car system for over three decades! Hop on for a ride through local rail history, overly optimistic news articles, and one of the coolest parties the city has ever hosted.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
This episode is sponsored by WeAreHuntsville (wearehuntsville.com, @WeAreHuntsville on social)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
In this episode, part two on Huntsville's mill villages, we'll be talking about the big shots (a.k.a. the guys who got streets names after them) who started the many mills in town, as well as the day-to-day lives of people who worked in these facilities and lived in the surrounding villages. Join me in this season finale as I talk about lots of rich people from Massachusetts, fancy toilets, electric streetcars, serialized romance novels, and baseball!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Lily Flagg's Signal will return January 2023.
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There's a lot to talk about regarding the history of Huntsville's mills. So much, in fact, that this will be a multi-part series! Here in part one, I'll be talking about mill life in the early 1900s, including how images of children working at Merrimack and Dallas Mills were part of a national campaign to improve child labor laws. There will also be fun facts about antique batteries, the story behind a local coffee shop's name, and a Charles Dickens reference I had to use Spark Notes to understand because I never read the book.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
A storm damaged spire creatively repaired, church bells missing due to miscommunications, Civil War legends about horses, a building relocated brick by brick across town, explanations behind lots of historical designations, and more await in the story of downtown Huntsville’s only National Historic Landmark: the Episcopal Church of the Nativity.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
You had to know it was coming: an episode about the era when the Rocket City started making rockets. Rather than a same-old discussion on who designed and flew the rockets, I instead wanted to focus on how the space race changed Huntsville as a city and some of the "by-products" of the population (and rocket) booms. Join me for a discussion of archaeology, architecture, awful traffic, an attempted amusement park, and absolutely no mentions of that German guy they named the civic center after.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
What combined the rapid-fire news blurbs of Twitter, the advertising-disguised-as-commentary of Instagram influencers, the political-leaning news of that link your conspiracy-theorist-uncle just sent you, the social updates on people you don’t know of Facebook, the sensationalized murder stories of a true-crime podcast, and the urgent sounding yet dubiously scientific healthcare advertisements of, well, everywhere online? Victorian-era newspapers, of course! In this episode, I’ll be talking about how Huntsville’s 1890s newspapers were, in many ways, not all that different than the media we consume today. I’ll be highlighting a specific newspaper - the Huntsville Gazette – and how one of the state’s most successful Black-run newspapers at the time got information into the hands of its readers every week.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Signal's Lily Flagg: she set a world record in Huntsville in 1892; she had elaborate parties thrown here in her honor but was invited to neither; she was disqualified from a competition at the Chicago World's Fair for being too good at what she does; she had multiple streets, businesses, a podcast, and a neighborhood named for her. Oh, and she was a Jersey cow.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
The Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll is one of my favorite reenactment events, as it's a time that thousands of Huntsville residents come out to see local historical figures "come alive". As one of the sixty or so costumed character actors at this year's stroll, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about my character - Mrs. Bessie K. Russell - and walk you through a day at the stroll.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. Full episode transcript is available on the show's website.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
The Lily Flagg's Signal Preserving Huntsville History series is a collection of interviews with local historians, preservationists, storytellers, and other experts passionate about saving and sharing the history of Huntsville, Alabama. In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Heather Adkins, Manager of Special Collections at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HMCPL). We discussed a day in the life of archive staff, where the items in the collection originate, some very impressive five hundred year old books, the HMCPL Main Branch's loveable resident puppet, and - just in time for Halloween - some spiders and other weird/wonderful surprises in the library's collections. Be forewarned, though: by the end of the conversation I was ready to change careers to become an archivist, and after listening, you may, too!
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Who was Huntsville's first mayor? When I looked online, everywhere I found said the leader from 1812 to 1816 was "unknown," and that just wouldn't do. The search for the answer to this seemingly simple question lead me down a rabbit hole of historical figures, terminology (was it "president" or "mayor"?), and eventually to the discovery that the internet and other modern writings are sometimes wrong when it comes to local history. It's a lesson in checking your sources and finding a reason to edit Wikipedia.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. Full episode transcript is available on the show's website.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
I knew an older fellow who once used the phrase “looks like the southbound end of a northbound horse” to describe things that were just a little bit... off in appearance. Horses are one thing, but what about houses? What if your house was supposed to face south, but the person in charge of building it had no idea how to read the blueprints and ended up having the house built facing north? Then what?
On this first full-length episode (22 min) of the first season of Lily Flagg’s Signal, we’ll be talking about a downtown Huntsville home where that exact thing happened, in which the building may or may not have been built with the wrong side facing the street, so passers-by are in fact seeing the southbound end of a northbound house.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com. Full episode transcript is available on the show's website.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Any story that starts off "It was a dark and stormy night..." is sure to be dramatic, but did you know Huntsville has its own such tale? This mini-episode (12 mins) tells the story of a group of 1930s Army pilots - a.k.a. "Birdmen" - in need of a place to make a night-time emergency landing and how the bright lights of the Russel-Erskine Hotel led them to Huntsville... except it was 1930s Huntsville, and the airport didn't have a lighted runway. I won't spoil the story, but I will let you know that ingenuity saved the day (and the pilots).It's a beautiful story of a community coming together at short notice to save the day, so it felt like a fitting way to kick off season one of Lily Flagg's Signal.
For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, follow us on Instagram at @lilyflaggpodcast, and check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
There are lots of Huntsville history questions to be answered this season, so why not list a few of them for you before the first episode drops on September 19?
If you want to read more about the show, get links to sources, follow along with our research, or otherwise engage with us and other listeners, check out our blog at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com and our Instagram @lilyflaggpodcast.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support
Welcome to Lily Flagg's Signal, a lovingly-researched history podcast that explores the lore and legends of Huntsville, Alabama. New content will air every Monday, be it a mini-episode, a teaser trailer, or a full-length episode where we do a deep-dive into a local history story to find out what really happened.
Our first episode premiers September 19th, and we'd love to have you listen!
Until then, check out our blog, photos, show transcripts, and links to additional sources at lilyflaggpodcast.wordpress.com, or follow us on Instagram @lilyflaggpodcast.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lilyflaggpodcast/support