HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

38 years ago this month, a deceptively simple program was executed on a single computeter terminal at MIT. Though it was simple, it brought the early internet to a grinding halt and effectively launched the modern field of cybersecurity. In this episode, we explore the story of the world’s first computer virus (or worm), one that resulted in the first known Distributed Denial of Service attack. What began as an unsupervised experiment by a 23-year-old Cornell graduate student rapidly spiraled into nationwide digital gridlock, disabling thousands of university, NASA, and Pentagon computers, and landing its creator as the first person prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Using contemporary news reports, Usenet transcripts, and post-mortem technical papers, we will trace how a loose collective of late-80s system administrators reverse-engineered the code while the media panicked over the threat of “computer viruses.” And we’ll ask the question that still surrounds this case decades later: Was the creator of this worm a malicious hacker, a noble security researcher who got in over his head, or just an unfocused academic who unleashed a digital traffic jam out of boredom?

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/365/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

The Morris Worm

• Eugene Spafford’s analysis for Purdue
• NASA Ames Research Center incident report
• Don Seeley “A Tour of the Worm”
• UMass Lowell report by Bob Page
• JK Reynolds “Helminthiasis of the Internet”
• Cornell Commission Report
• FBI Famous Cases
• Newspapers (paywalled)

• Nov 3 New York Times
• Nov 3 San Francisco Examiner
• Nov 4 Boston Globe
• Nov 5 San Francisco Chronicle
• Nov 13 Boston Globe

This week’s episode is all about a career criminal in Boston in the 19-teens and roaring twenties known as Ethel Kimball. Ethel is known to history through the many newspaper articles about her crimes, including fraud and grand theft auto, but it’s her life between the stories that makes her interesting. She lived and worked as a man for years at a time, marrying three different women along the way. Ethel’s story gives us a chance to reflect on how we talk about gender and sexuality when we don’t know how historic figures would talk about themselves. Joan Ilacqua of Queer History Boston helps us figure out how to navigate the story.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/364/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Ethel Kimball's Crime Spree

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Joan Ilacqua & Queer History Boston

Find out more about Queer History Boston or follow all of QHB’s podcast updates. QHB hosts lots of community events, and the best way to learn about those is from their social media: Bluesky | Insta | Facebook | Youtube

Get the full show notes for episode 1 and make sure to subscribe to Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness so you don’t miss any of their upcoming episodes! Spotify | Apple Podcasts

Episodes referenced in this show

• Joan’s last appearance introducing Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness
• Emma Snodgrass, a similar figure in the 1850s
• Prescott Townsend and Charlie Gibson
• Russ Lopez interview
• North Shore and Cape Ann
• Harvard’s gay purge

Register for our live show and podcast wrap party: http://HUBhistory.com/LIVE/

If you've been listening to the last few episodes, you know that I've been promoting our first ever live show, our first ever live taping of Hub History coming up on November 13th, meant to celebrate 10 years of the podcast. The big news to share is that this live show is not only meant to mark a decade of Hub History, It's also going to be our podcast wrap party. After 10 years of making Hub History, I'm planning to wind down the show this fall. This is a bittersweet moment for me. This is the first time I've said this out loud, but I've been thinking about it for a long time. This podcast is probably the most meaningful thing I'll do. Certainly the biggest contribution i think i'll make to boston culture to the study of history.

But at the same time i have been doing this for 10 years i'm looking forward to getting my nights and weekends back this is basically the only thing i do when i'm not working, i'm not going to take the podcast feed down at least not anytime soon so if you enjoy the podcast you're going to be able to keep enjoying the back catalog and if I want to there's no reason I can't post a show down the road sometime, when I learn something new and exciting and I want to share it but, winding down the podcast is a way for me to free myself from the tyranny of my release schedule.

So for this last episode, let's get together. Let's make it a party. On Friday the 13th, which now that I say it out loud, maybe it's not the most auspicious day, but Friday the 13th of November, let's meet up at Old North Church on Salem Street in the North End. We're going to open the doors at 530.

At six o'clock, I'm going to interview Laurie Rogers Stokes and Jonathan Chu. Laurie's a scholar of the Puritans and the later Congregational Church in New England, and she's the author of books about, the religious identity and experiences of Puritan women and the relationship of indigenous New England nations with these congregational churches that were suddenly inserted into their world. Jonathan is Professor Emeritus of History at UMass Boston, and he's also the author of a book that examines how Puritans learned to adjust to the Quakers who invaded their insular New England world. So lots of religious adjustments happening.

Way back in November of 2016, our very first episode discussed Pope's Night. Pope's Night was the bizarre holiday in early Boston where parades, bonfires, and drunken street fights commemorated a thwarted plot against the British Parliament. So every year, the virulently anti-Catholic Boston population would get together and drunkenly burn the Pope in effigy, which made it pretty clear who was and was not welcome in colonial Boston.

So we open the podcast with that story. We're going to close it by recapping a little bit about Pope's Night and then contrasting Boston then and now. Jonathan and Lori are going to help us understand how those Puritans of early Boston who created that, religiously intolerant culture also helped to establish the culture of Boston that we know today, the culture of modern Boston, and how, changes in religion and government and culture transformed the most conservative British North American colony, into the most progressive modern American state.

We're going to serve some light refreshments in the Old North gift shop at the end of the recording, so there'll be a chance to meet and chat with anybody who wants to stick around at the end of the event. The live show is going to be free, but I am asking everybody to please register so we know how many people to expect, and because I'm buying refreshments, so I know what kind of refreshments to get. You can find all the details you need for our live show and podcast wrap party, including the Eventbrite registration link at http://hubhistory.com/live

Historian Kevin M. Levin joins us in this episode to discuss his new biography, A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Most of us know Shaw primarily as the tragic hero portrayed by Matthew Broderick in the film “Glory,” or from the iconic monument standing opposite the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street. But as Levin reveals, the real man behind the bronze was far more complex… a directionless young Boston Brahmin who initially rejected his elite family’s radical abolitionist views, struggled to find his purpose, and ultimately wrestled with the brutal realities of battlefield command and the deep-seated racial tensions of his era.

Together, we trace Shaw’s life story, from his privileged upbringing and early military service in the Shenandoah Valley to his fateful leadership of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first Black regiment raised in the north, and his death during the bloody assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863. Levin breaks down how Shaw’s postwar legend was shaped by his mother Sarah, how his family embraced his burial in a mass grave with his fallen Black soldiers as an enduring symbol of racial equality, and how public memory of the 54th evolved through books, monuments, and film.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/363/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

A Glorious Fate

Robert Gould Shaw is best known as the heroic colonel who led the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in its famous ill-fated charge against Confederate Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. The first biography of Shaw in a quarter century, A Glorious Fate traces his transformation from a rebellious son into one of the Civil War’s most celebrated heroes. Acclaimed historian Kevin M. Levin also reveals the sacrifice and service of the African American men who fought and died for their freedom afresh through Shaw’s eyes. Though Shaw never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices, Levin shows how the Civil War changed the young colonel as it did the nation.

Kevin M Levin is a historian, educator, and blogger. His three previous books about the history and memory of the Civil War Era are Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder, Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth,and Interpreting the Civil War at Museums and Historic Sites.He is an honorary fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and author of the popular blog Civil War Memory, which he began in 2005.

In this episode, we sit down with Ellen Cassedy, co-founder of the 9to5 movement and author of Working 9 to 5: A women’s movement, a labor union, and the iconic movie, to explore how a group of frustrated Boston typists and secretaries sparked a nationwide revolution for women’s labor rights in the 1970s. What began as informal lunchtime discussions about low pay, invisible work, and rampant workplace indignities quickly transformed into a powerful organizing force that challenged major corporations, won landmark back-pay settlements, and eventually birthed a dedicated union district for office workers.

Cassedy walks us through the nuts and bolts of early grassroots organizing—from handing out underground newsletters at T stations and distributing guerrilla employment surveys to hosting high-profile forums with leaders like Ted Kennedy. The conversation offers a captivating look at how these Boston-led efforts directly inspired the iconic 1980 Jane Fonda film and Dolly Parton hit song 9 to 5, while underscoring how organized labor, gender equality, and collective action continue to shape the modern workplace.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/362/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Working 9 to 5, with Ellen Cassedy

Ellen Cassedy was a founder of the 9to5 organization of working women in Boston. She is the author of a memoir of the 9to5 movement called “Working 9 to 5: A women’s movement, a labor union, and the iconic movie.”

• Learn more about the modern 9to5 movement
• SEIU Local 925 (Tufts University) Records
• SEIU District 925 Legacy Project, Oral History transcript: Karen Nussbaum, Debbie Schneider
• “From Roses to Raises: Women’s Fight for Just and Equal Pay in Massachusetts” from the Massachusetts Women’s History Center
• Senator Paul Tsongas addresses 9to5’s Second Convention for Working Women in 1981

For months now, listeners have heard me talking about another podcast I’ve been working on, but I haven’t shared much about what it is. This week, we introduce the brand new podcast “Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness.” It’s hosted by Joan Ilacqua, Executive Director of Queer History Boston, and she joins us in this episode for a brief interview. After that, we will play the first episode of her show, which is all about LGBTQ+ Bostonians who challenged gender and sexuality norms during the era of the American Revolution. I’m really proud of the work we have been doing, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/361/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness

Find out more about Queer History Boston or follow all of QHB’s podcast updates. QHB hosts lots of community events, and the best way to learn about those is from their social media: Bluesky | Insta | Facebook | Youtube

Get the full show notes for episode 1 and make sure to subscribe to Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness so you don’t miss any of their upcoming episodes! Spotify | Apple Podcasts

Before John Winthrop’s Puritan Arbella fleet made landfall in 1630 and set the standard narrative of Massachusetts Bay, a rowdy and disparate cast of English traders, eccentric recluses, and ill-fated opportunists was already carving out a precarious presence around Boston Harbor. In the decade before the Puritans named the colony they laid claim to “Massachusetts Bay,” the shores of the Bay were shaped by European fishing fleets, catastrophic epidemics that devastated indigenous communities, and early, mostly-failed attempts at permanent English habitation. From the ill-fated commercial colony at Wessagussett to Thomas Morton’s egalitarian “consociates” at Merrymount, these early experiments tested the bounds of survival, trade, and diplomacy on the Shawmut peninsula.

In this episode, we step back before the founding date on the city seal to explore the forgotten decades of pre-Puritan English settlement. We will trace how early figures like Samuel Maverick at Winnisimmet and William Blaxton at Shawmut established their lonely outposts, navigate the tangled land claims created by competing charters, and examine the grim realities of early European impact on the region’s indigenous nations.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/360/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Before Boston

• A replica of John Smith’s map of New England, based on his 1614 voyage
• Our header image is taken from a 1639 map of Massachusetts Bay.Can you spot Wessagussett, Mount Wollaston, and Winnisimmet?
• Landrigan, Leslie. “The Maypole That Infuriated the Puritans.” New England Historical Society, 2 May 2014
• Prince, Thomas. A Chronological History of New-England : In the Form of Annals, Being a Summary and Exact Account of the Most Material Transactions and Occurrences Relating to This Country, in the Order of Time Wherein They Happened, from the Discovery of Capt. Gosnold, in 1602, to the Arrival of Governor Belcher, In 1730. Cummings, Hilliard, and Company, 1755.
• Smith, John , Captain & Admiral and Royster, Paul , editor, “A Description of New England (1616)” (Electronic Texts in American Studies.
• Chamberlain, Mellen. A Documentary History of Chelsea. 1908.
• Morton, Thomas. The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton. Edited by Charles Francis Adams, The Prince Society, 1883. (Project Gutenberg version)
• Josselyn, John. An Account of Two Voyages to New-England, made during the years 1638, 1663. 1865.
• Maverick, Samuel. “A Briefe Discription of New England and the Severall Townes Therein, Together with the Present Government Thereof (1660).” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1884–1885, vol 1.
• Adams, Charles Francis. Wessagusset and Weymouth. Weymouth Historical Society, 1905.
• “The Massacre at Wessagusset.” The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, 2018.

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Plymouth shallop, 2021

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Plymouth shallop, 2021

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Plymouth shallop, 2021

Related Episodes

• The 1689 Uprising in Boston, revisited (episode 165)
• The Lost Viking City on the Charles (episode 275)
• Apocalypse on Boston Bay (episode 119)
• Original Sin: The Roots of Slavery in Boston (Ep74)

In this episode, Clemson professor Jonathan Beecher Field helps us explore the history of poor support in early New England and the surprising practice known as "warning out." In the 17th- and 18th-century, Boston and other New England towns tied public relief strictly to legal inhabitancy, a status similar to the modern concept of birthright citizenship, but on a hyperlocal level. Those without established local ties or the financial capital to post a cash bond were routinely "warned out," given two weeks to leave, and escorted beyond town borders to prevent them from becoming a financial burden on the town and its residents.

The conversation draws parallels between early colonial policies and modern approaches to poverty, examining how historical residency restrictions rhyme with contemporary anti-homeless architecture, municipal sweeps, and broader debates over who deserves social support. From the systemic exclusion of Black and Indigenous residents to the way early New Englanders decided who was deserving of poor support and who deserved to be warned out, Professor Field’s research reveals how early New England town structures and Calvinist mindsets mirrored and continue to shape our modern attitudes toward poverty, displacement, and public responsibility.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/359/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Jonathan Beecher Field

Jonathan Beecher Field is an Associate Professor of American literature at Clemson University in South Carolina, but don’t let that fool you, he’s also a transplanted Cantabridgian. He’s the author of Errands into the Metropolis, about religious dissent in a seventeenth-century New England dominated by theocracies, and Town Hall Meetings and the Death of Deliberation, which explores the way cheap imitations of New England town meetings allow politicians, corporations, and universities to paper over popular dissent.

Warning Out

• Bhandar, Brenna. Colonial Lives of Property : Law, Land, and Racial Regimes of Ownership. Duke University Press, 2018.
• Benton, Josiah Henry. Warning Out in New England, 1656-1817. (Read online)
• Crumley, Jamie D “The Social Construction of Race in Early Massachusetts History.” Old North Church, 20 Oct. 2022.
• Jones, Douglas Lamar. “The Strolling Poor: Transiency in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts.” Journal of Social History, vol. 8, no. 3, 1975.
• EDELSTEIN, SARI. “‘Good Mother, Farewell’: Elizabeth Freeman’s Silence and the Stories of Mumbet.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 92, no. 4, 2019.
• Hartog, Hendrik. “The Public Law of a County Court; Judicial Government in Eighteenth Century Massachusetts.” The American Journal of Legal History, vol. 20, no. 4, 1976.
• Zimmerman, Joseph F. “Genesis of the Massachusetts Town.” Social Science, vol. 41, no. 2, 1966.

Andy Woodruff’s new book Boston in 50 Maps goes beyond familiar compilations of public-domain historic maps of Boston, Woodruff’s work offers an engaging, data-driven look at the Hub through 50 original, modern maps. Andy’s maps reveal layers of Boston’s history, changing demographics, and hyper-local culture, from the myth of streets laid out by 17th century cows to the city’s long lost territories. In this conversation, we dive into fascinating corners of the area’s past and present, including what triple-deckers and houses of pizza tell us about historical immigration patterns, why residents can’t seem to agree on the boundaries of their neighborhoods, which areas had better transit access a century ago, and exactly how saturated we are in Dunkin Donuts franchises. Together, we explore how data-driven cartography offers a whole new lens on local history, revealing the stories that both historic maps and traditional prose histories often miss.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/358/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Boston in 50 Maps

Covering four distinct categories (“The Making of Boston,” “The Lay of the Land,” “Getting Around,” and “People and Culture” ), the newly created, original maps in Andy Woodruff’s Boston in 50 Maps investigate all facets of Boston’s past and present. Dig into the city’s history with a guided tour through Revolutionary War sites, landmarks of nineteenth-century Black Boston, and notable “first in the nation” events (like the first recorded UFO sighting). Uncover the structural forces that shaped the social and lived experience of Boston, with maps showing the impact of redlining, urban renewal practices, and the busing crisis of the 1970s. Discover how the city’s boundaries evolved through annexation and landfill and how they’ll continue to change due to coastal flooding risks. Explore some of Boston’s most unique quirks through surprising revelations about the density of Dunkin’ locations, the distinctive architecture of three-deckers, and the spread of the infamous Great Molasses Flood.

Andy Woodruff is a freelance cartographer whose work includes everything from hiking trail maps to data visualizations. He moved to the Boston area in 2008 and learned about his adopted city by mapping it. Soon, he was known as the consummate Boston maps nerd, including contributing to the Bostonography blog, creating maps for Boston Globe Ideas, and serving as the inaugural “designer-in-residence” with the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library.

• Andy’s Bluesky | Instagram | Mastodon
• https://andywoodruff.com/
• Bostonography

We mentioned a lot of past HUB History episodes in this conversation, including…

• Boston’s Annexations
• Balloons and the First Aerial Photo
• The Puritan UFO Sighting
• The Mother Brook and the Isle of Boston
• Beantown and Boston Baked Beans
• Triple-Deckers and the Bellflower Street Fire
• Not HUB History, but Jake talked about landmaking on Explain Boston to Me
• And in other news, a triple-decker became newsworthy in June

For fans of the Hamilton musical, many members of the cast of characters have appeared on the podcast in the past. We talked about the years when Angelica Schuyler lived under an assumed name in Boston; Thomas Jefferson’s epic shopping spree in Boston; the Marquis de Lafayette’s many visits to Boston, culminating in his 1825 trip where he carried a keg of soil from Bunker Hill back to France to be buried under; and (because he commanded much of the siege of Boston) George Washington has been on the show a LOT in 2026. Even General “instead of me” Charles Lee made an appearance in our episode about the Marblehead schooner named after him.

Over all those episodes, the stars of the show, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, have not appeared in Boston. In this episode, we are rectifying that omission. We will be talking about Hamilton and Burr’s fateful final meeting in Boston, as well as each of their first visits to our fair city.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/357/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Hamilton and Burr in Boston

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• Hamilton, Alexander (1712-1756), Hamilton’s Itinerarium; being a narrative of a journey from Annapolis, Maryland, through Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut…,1907 edition: privately printed.
• Landrigan, L. (2014, August 5). In 1744, The Doctor Found Not One Prude in Boston. New England Historical Society.
• Landrigan, L. (2014, July 21). The Other Alexander Hamilton Visits Boston. New England Historical Society.
• Micklus, Robert. “The Delightful Instruction of Dr. Alexander Hamilton’s Itinerarium.”American Literature, vol. 60, no. 3, 1988.
• Needler, Geoffrey D. “Linguistic Evidence from Alexander Hamilton’s Itinerarium.”American Speech, vol. 42, no. 3, 1967.
• Breslaw, Elaine. “’Scotch Drollery’ in the Marketplace: Dr. Alexander Hamilton’s Amusing Instruction in the ‘Maryland Gazette.’”Early American Literature, vol. 42, no. 2, 2007.
• RC (Library of Congress); at foot of letter “His Excellcy General Washington;” addressed “To His Excellency General Washington Commander in Cheif of the Continental Army &c At Cambrige;” docketed “The HonbleJno. Hancock 19th July 1775”
• Schellhammer, M. (2015, September 24). Aaron Burr’s Other Famous Adversary. Journal of the American Revolution.
• Chan, A. (2017, July 17). Burr in the Saddle. HistoryNet.
• Martyn, Carlos, 1841-1917. Wendell Phillips: the agitator.Funk & Wagnalls, 1890.
• Object of the Month (November 2018). Massachusetts Historical Society
• Alexander Hamilton. (2022, February 9). Boston Athenaeum. [the bust]
• Death mask of Aaron Burr (1756–1836). New York Historical.
• The Tremont House: The Exit of an Old Landmark. (1895). The Bostonian: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Local Interest, I(4).

In this episode, we mark the return of the tall ships to Boston Harbor when Sail Boston kicks off on July 11. We’re also continuing the Revolutionary War theme that we keep coming back to in this year of 250th anniversaries. This time, however, I’m not talking about a specific anniversary date. Instead, I am going to play my interview with author Eric Jay Dolin about his 2022 book Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. Back in November, we had an episode about the schooner Nancy that was commanded by the mysterious captain Manley. It was one of the very first ships of the Continental Navy, but especially early in the war, the American cause relied on private vessels and private crews. Some of the tall ships we see this month will be recreating these vessels, which were known as privateers. Privateers were civilian ships that were outfitted for war by optimistic investors, with volunteer crews who were willing to risk their lives fighting for a share of the profits. From the mouth of Boston Harbor to the very shores of Britain, these private warships sailed in search of rich English merchant vessels, while risking the lives and freedom of their crews. While their role is mostly forgotten today, Eric will explain how central privateer crews were to the Continental cause, with a special focus on the many privateers that were crewed by New Englanders.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/356/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Rebels at Sea, Revisited

Eric Jay Dolin is the author of 17 books, including a history of the US China trade, a history of whaling, and an environmental history of Boston Harbor. His 2019 book Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates was a finalist for the Julia Ward Howe award and a featured pick at the Mass Historical Society. His 2022 book, Rebels at Sea (now in paperback!), which shines a spotlight on piracy’s more respectable cousin the privateer, is available for preorder now, and it will be in bookstores everywhere on May 31.

Find out more about Eric and his upcoming book events on his website, and follow him on Facebook for the latest news.

In this episode, we’re turning the clocks back to 1976, when America and Boston were in the midst of a massive celebration marking the Bicentennial. While other ideas were considered and discarded, Boston would mark the bicentennial with a series of thoughtful events around the city throughout 1976. To highlight the living city, photographer Constantine Manos was charged with a mission "to photograph the people of the city, of all walks of life, for an exhibition and book to commemorate the 1976 bi-centenntial of American independence from England." The result of his effort was Where’s Boston, described as "a multi‐image, quadraphonic sound show and a graphic display of Boston today." Over the course of the summer of '76, tens of thousands of Bostonians and visitors streamed into the exhibit hall at the Prudential Center to see themselves reflected in the photographer’s lens. This summer, the Boston Athenaeum will revisit that optimistic vision of Boston in 1976 with the exhibition Where’s Boston? 50 Years Later. In this episode, curator Lauren Graves chats with Nikki about the project.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/355/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Fifty Years Later: Where’s Boston?

• Our header image is "Girls with baby carriages at neighborhood grocery" by Constantine Manos (1974), courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum
•

Where’s Boston? 50 Years Laterlanding page

•

Boston Athenaeum Digital Collections of Manos’ photos

•

Background on Manos’ Bostonians 1976 Photographs (by Lauren Graves)

• Revisit Boston’s original plan for a Bicentennial world’s fair in a domed city on made land in episdode 219.

In this week’s episode, Nikki sits down with J.D. Dickey to discuss his new book Boston, 1776: A Rogue Tour of Revolution City. Written as a historical travel guide, Boston, 1776 positions the reader as a visitor to Boston in July 1776. You’ll navigate the turbulent streets, tub-thumping taverns, and radical strongholds of a town at war with an empire. From the harbor wharves and seedy brothels to renowned assembly halls like Old South Meetinghouse and Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1776 leads us on a vivid tour of the vital hub of the Revolutionary War. At every stop along the way, we encounter iconic names like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, but also the forgotten men and women who bled and brawled for freedom in every corner of Boston. B…and still needed to get out of the house at night. We’ll follow in their footsteps into the taverns and dram shops of revolutionary Boston to learn the day’s news, strategize for survival, and of course let off some steam.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/354/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Revolutionary Nightlife in Boston 1776

Published in February by Diversion Books, Boston, 1776: A Rogue Tour of Revolution City explores the heritage of Boston street by street, as if the reader is taking a present-day journey into the heart of the Revolution in 1776. It’s an up-close, grassroots view of the early days of independence, one in which common artisans, citizens and laborers feature prominently as the true architects of social change. In this interview, we explore one theme from the book: the role of nightlife in Boston before and during the Revolution. Surprisingly for a town built by Puritans, there were more avenues for amusement than we might expect — everything from lively music performances at Concert Hall, to country dances and reels at outlying taverns, to oddball entertainment like displays of exotic birds and “learned pigs and horses,” to evening soirees at the mansions of the wealthy. Ultimately, even during the Siege and other crises, Bostonians found ways to distract and entertain themselves, despite the ongoing hardship and deprivation.

J.D. Dickey is a writer of narrative nonfiction about American history, society and culture. Of his book, Rising in Flames, Harold Holzer in the Wall Street Journal wrote, “No one interested in Sherman’s March should be deprived of his lively narrative. Absolutely spellbinding.” His earlier book, Empire of Mud, was a New York Times bestseller and described the troubled landscape of Washington, D.C., in the nineteenth century. He has also written articles on a broad range of historical, political and travel-related topics for newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, TIME and LitHub, and appeared in media from C-SPAN’s Book TV to PBS NewsHour to Public Radio International’s program The Takeaway. In support of his work, he has lectured for the New-York Historical Society, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, the Atlanta History Center, and the U.S. Army War College, among other organizations.

Related episodes

• Burgoyne’s Thespians and Boston’s First Theater Season
• The evolution of the combat zone
• The collapse of the Pickwick nightclub – allegedly caused by the boisterous dance steps of the Charleston
• The first secular public concert in the United States.

On May 22, 1964, sixty-two years ago this week, a fire that broke out on a back porch in Dorchester. The Bellflower Street fire grew so fast and burned so intensely that it created its own weather, creating a literal firestorm and leaving the fire department struggling to contain it. Columns of smoke and flame licked the sky, while every available firefighter from Boston and over two dozen suburban towns raced to the scene to make a desperate stand. When the smoke cleared, 35 buildings had burned and 300 people were homeless.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/353/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

A Firestorm in Dorchester

• Note: I had to use an AI-generated photo for the header image to avoid copyright issues.
• Main BFD report on the fire
• Lt James Kennedy’s Division 1 report on the fire
• District 6 chief John R Greene’s report on the fire
• Boston Civil Defense report on civilian response to the fire
• BRA report on “urban renewal” on Bellflower Street
• 50th anniversary Globe retrospective
• Aerial and on the ground photos of the fire [pdf link]
• Aerial photo of the smoke column
• Photos of the fire and its aftermath from the Boston City Archives
• Photos below are embedded from the Boston City Archives’ flickr account:

America’s first “interstate” highway was built to link Boston to New York City. The 17th century Boston Post Road is often overlooked in the city’s early history, but it marked the earliest and one of the most ambitious attempts to knit the fragmented English colonies of North America into a single, cohesive entity. From Boston’s first post office, which accepted only overseas letters, to the post riders who braved “mountainous passages” and roaring rivers, this primitive road network was the original interstate, forged not just for convenience, but for the survival of the British colonial project.

In this episode, we’ll explore how the Boston Post Road evolved from an indigenous trade route into the King’s best highway, a crucial artery for colonial and early federal correspondence. We’ll trace the routes of the upper Post Road through the wilderness of Central Massachusetts and Connecticut and the coastal lower Post Road that shaped the roads and transportation networks of modern New England. Along the way, we’ll uncover the stories of the people who marked the miles, from wealthy landowners like Paul Dudley, to determined travelers like Madam Sarah Kemble Knight, to George Washington, who arrived in Boston for his first official visit as President along the Post Road.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/352/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Boston’s 17th Century Interstate System

A 1914 map of the Boston Post Roads from Stephen Jenkins

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• The Boston Globe, Mon, Dec 28, 1885
• Moll, Herman. “New England, New York, New Jersey and Pensilvania,” Atlas Minor, 1729.
• Sewall, Samuel, 1652-1730. Diary of Samuel Sewall: 1674-1729. V. 1 [-3],Massachusetts Historical Society
• Knight, Sarah Kemble, 1666-1727. The private journal of a journey from Boston to New York in the year 1704,Frank H. Little, 1865.
• 1773-1774 Journal kept by Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America
• Jenkins, Stephen, 1857-1913. The Old Boston Post Road. New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1913.
• Marlowe, George F. The Old Bay Paths. New York: Hastings house, 1942.
• O’Connell, James C. Boston and the Making of a Global City, University of Massachusetts Press (2025)
• Gallagher, Winifred. How the Post Office Created America: A History, 2016.
• Fuller, Wayne E. The American mail: enlarger of the common life, University of Chicago Press, 1972.
• U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRESS SERVICE, “United States Route No. 1 is a Highway of History,” October 9, 1927.
• Bahne, Charles. “Milestones of Greater Boston, Then and Now,” Boston 1775, 2012.
• Photos, map, and history of NYC’s Boston Garden
• Our header image is by Carl Rakeman and is in the public domain

Related episodes to check out

• The 1689 Uprising in Boston (episode 165)
• Granite, Glass, and the Construction of King’s Chapel (episode 279)
• A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle Against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire, with Professor Adrian Chastain Weimer (episode 295)
• The Dread Pirate Rachel (episode 147)
• America’s First Christmas Cards (episode 316)

For Patriots Day this year, let’s talk about Paul Revere. Instead of focusing on his famous ride 251 years ago, let’s go into the back catalog to uncover some lesser known aspects of Paul Revere’s involvement in the Patriot cause. First, we’ll look at Revere as a messenger. He’s known for his famous ride on April 18, 1775, but Paul Revere was chosen for that ride because he already had a reputation as a reliable express rider, carrying secret messages from the Boston Committee of Correspondence on horseback to patriots in New York, Philadelphia, New Hampshire, and beyond. Then, we’ll turn the clock forward and look at Revere’s support for the cause after his famous ride. In 1779, Paul Revere was the colonel in charge of the Massachusetts artillery regiment, and he was tapped as one of the commanders of an expedition to dislodge the British from the Penobscot Bay in today’s Maine. The resulting fiasco was the worst American naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor, and it left Revere’s soldiers half-starved and wandering through the Maine wilderness. In this episode, we’ll learn how much blame Revere bore for the chaotic retreat.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/351/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

• Joseph Warren Revere’s exploits, including a parallel experience of court martial during the Civil War
• Paul Revere’s famous ride in literature and life

Paul Revere’s Other Rides

• Ray Raphael’s article inspired us to write this episode.
• JL Bell examines the provenance of “Come in Revere; we are not afraid of you.”
• Paul Revere’s own account of his most famous ride.
• Paul Revere’s Ride, by David Hackett Fischer.
• The Boston Port Act.
• The Suffolk Resolves.
• John Adams reacts to the Suffolk Resolves.
• John Rowe’s diary entry about the Powder Alarm.
• Accounts of the Portsmouth Alarm from the New England Historical Society and Smithsonian Magazine.
• Learn about the court martial of Paul Revere in Episode 25.

The Court Martial of Paul Revere

• A biography of Paul Revere that includes letters, papers, and diary entries from the Penobscot Expedition.
• A book coincidentally titled The Court Martial of Paul Revere.
• The header image is from a British map of the battle titled “Attack of the rebels upon Fort Penobscot in the province of New England in which their fleet was totally destroyed and their Army dispersed the 14th Augst. 1779”
• An illustration of the use of abattis in warfare.
• An article about and artist’s rendering of the future Paul Revere Heritage Site in Canton.

This week, we chat with Scott Kerman, whose new book about Governor Mike Dukakis is The Duke: Weekly Conversations With The Last Honest Politician: A Political Giant and a Comedian Walk Into a Kitchen. This book is very different from the typical political biography, and I think we could have a serious conversation about whether it “counts” as history, but the fact remains that Michael Dukakis was a major party presidential candidate and remains the longest serving governor of the Commonwealth. When The Duke dropped almost a year ago, I was shocked to learn that it’s the first book about Governor Dukakis in decades, and the only one to include a wider focus than the 1988 presidential race. As you will hear in a few moments, as a humorist and comedian, Scott approaches this book very differently from most biographers, but if you have any interest in Governor Dukakis, you will want to tune in.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/350/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

The Duke: Weekly Conversations With The Last Honest Politician, with Scott Kerman

Scott Kerman is currently the humor columnist at the Eagle Tribune newspaper writing the popular “World According to Scott” weekly column. He’s the author of eight books including the World According to Scott four book humor series. His recently released book is with Governor Michael Dukakis.The book is titled, The Duke. Weekly Conversations with the Last Honest Politician. A Political Giant and a Comedian Walk Into a Kitchen…

Scott was a stand-up comedian for over 20 years with appearances on “HBO Live from the Aspen Comedy Festival” & Comedy Central.

Scott is the host of the long running Boston sports talk show, “The Grandstanders!” Scott grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from
the American University in Washington, D.C.

• Catch Scott Kerman talking about The Duke at the Massachusetts State Library at the State House on Wednesday, April 8 at noon! Directions and more information
• The Duke on Facebook
• “The Grandstanders” on Youtube
• Details of the 2009 poll that found 57% of Bostonians had personally met Mayor Menino [PDF link]. See the top of page 24.

What does it mean to lose your home to a war you hoped would never come? In the popular imagination, the American Revolution is a black and white story of “Good Patriots” versus “Bad British,” but the reality on the streets of occupied Boston was far more gray, hungry, and heartbreaking. By the time the British fleet finally sailed out of the harbor on March 17, 1776, the city was a shell of its former self—a place where residents had been reduced to eating rats and burning their neighbors’ houses for warmth.

Our last episode examined the nearly miraculous American victory at Boston that forced the occupying British troops and Massachusetts residents who sympathized with them to evacuate Boston. In this episode, co-host emerita Nikki sits down with historian Dr. Patrick G. O’Brien to explore Evacuation Day from the perspective of the Bostonians who later became known as “loyalists.”

From the economic fallout of the Boston Port Act to the shocking sight of British soldiers sleeping in tattered tents on a frozen Boston Common, this conversation explores the human cost of civil war, from the 1774 arrival of thousands of Redcoats to the desperate 10-day scramble of the March 1776 evacuation. From the rocky, fog-drenched shores of Halifax to the lonely streets of London, it’s a story of divided families, broken kinship bonds, and the long, bitter road to reintegration, reminding us that for many, March 17th was not a day of liberation, but a day of profound loss.

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Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/349/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Loyalists in the Evacuation of Boston

Dr. Patrick G. O’Brien is a historian of the American Revolution who studies British sympathizing women and families, their experiences as exiles in Nova Scotia, and their return to the United States in the late 18th century. He is an associate professor of history at the University of Tampa.

• Check out Dr. O’Brien’s past talks for Old North Illuminated on Loyalist Exile and Return in Revolutionary Massachusetts and on the book Johnny Tremain.
• Sign up for Old North Illuminated’s upcoming talk by Lori Rogers-Stokes about the modern influence of 17th century Massachusetts Puritans
• The quote from General Nathanael Greene is from a letter to Gov Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island, dated August 9, 1775.

•

Money is scarce, provisions bad, and fuel scarce, and that there [is] no harmony among the troops. The inhabitants are now permitted to come out of town by giving in their names to the Town Major, who procures them certificates and passes. Many of the people that come out are real objects of pity ; their suffering has been exceeding severe, especially among the poorer sort. Great violence is done to the cause of humanity in that town. It has been very sickly there among the inhabitants, and troops too. Thirty a week are buried, among the troops.

• It’s on page 15 of this PDF

• J.L. Bell tracked the source of General Howe’s comment about the Continentals doing more work in one night than his army could do in three months a few days before Abigail’s letter to a British deserter. He also has a past ONI talk about Major John Pitcairn.
• Our header image is Henry Sandham’s The Coming of the Loyalists, which is in the public domain.

2026 marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, and here in Boston Independence Day comes early, on a holiday we celebrate every year on March 17 as Evacuation Day. In the early months of 1776, the American Revolution was stuck in a freezing, muddy stalemate. For nearly a year, George Washington’s fledgling Continental Army had kept the British regulars pinned inside the city of Boston, but without heavy artillery, they lacked the muscle to actually end the occupation. Washington, frustrated and desperate, even fantasized about a suicidal frontal assault across the ice of the Charles River. But the arrival of Henry Knox and his “noble train of artillery”—dozens of cannons hauled 300 miles through the winter wilderness from Fort Ticonderoga—flipped the script overnight. This episode explores the high-stakes gambit that followed: the secret, overnight fortification of Dorchester Heights.

We’ll dive into the primary accounts of those who lived through it—from Abigail Adams listening to the earth-shaking roar of a diversionary bombardment, to British officers waking up to find a “miraculous” fortress staring down their throats. You’ll learn how Washington used the best tactics and technology of 18th-century military engineering, like portable bulletproof shields crafted of wicker and dirt, known as Gabions, Fascines and Chandeliers, pulling off a logistical feat that left the British commander, General Howe, stunned. It’s a story of military brinksmanship, a providential storm that changed the course of history, and the chaotic, plundering retreat of the British that we remember every March 17th as Evacuation Day. Join us as we go behind the lines of the first great American victory of the war.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/348/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Evacuation Day

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View of Boston from Dorchester, 1773

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View of Boston from Dorchester, 1773

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Abbatis

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Chandeliers and fascines

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Gabions at Fort Ticonderoga

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Gabions at Fort Ticonderoga

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Castle William, 1705

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Castle William, 1773

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Castle William, 1771

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Castle William on fire

• J.L., Bell. “Gen. Howe Addresses the Selectmen.” Boston 1775, 2008.
• Heath, William, 1737-1814. Heath’s Memoirs of the American War. New York: A. Wessels Company, 1904.
• “Cambridge, March 21.” The New-England Chronicle: Or, the Essex Gazette, 21 Mar. 1776.
• “Cambridge, March 14.” The New-England Chronicle: Or, the Essex Gazette, 14 Mar. 1776.
• Rowe, John, 1715-1787. Letters And Diary of John Rowe, Boston Merchant, 1759-1762, 1764-1779. Boston: W. B. Clarke company, 1903.
• Barker, John, fl. 1775. The British In Boston: Being the Diary of Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment From November 15, 1774 to May 31, 1776. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1924.
• Balch, Thomas. Papers Relating Chiefly to the Maryland Line during the Revolution. Philadelphia, T.K. and P.G. Collins, for the Seventy-Six Society, 1857.
• Letters and General Orders

• George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Reed, 26 February 1776
• General Orders, 26 February 1776
• George Washington to John Hancock, 26 February 1776
• George Washington to the Massachusetts Council, 26 February 1776
• General Orders, 27 February 1776
• William Tudor to John Adams, 29 February 1776
• General Orders, 29 February 1776
• George Washington to Major General Artemas Ward, 2 March 1776
• Abigail Adams to John Adams, 2 March 1776
• General Orders, 3 March 1776
• Boston Selectmen to George Washington, 8 March 1776
• Horatio Gates to John Adams, 8 March 1776
• General Orders, 13 March 1776
• John Sullivan to John Adams, 15 March 1776
• Abigail Adams to John Adams, 16 March 1776
• General Orders, 19 March 1776
• George Washington to John Hancock, 19 March 1776
• General Orders, 20 March 1776
• Proclamation on the Occupation of Boston, 21 March 1776
• Joseph Ward to John Adams, 23 March 1776
• John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 March 1776

• Maps and images

• Archibald Robertson’s “Sketch of the burning & destroying of Castle William in Boston Harbour”
• John Montresor’s “A general & particular plan of the island of Castle William near Boston”
• Colonel Wolfgang Romer’s 1705 “The Respective Profiles belonging to the great Iconografical Draughts of Castle Island in the Bay of Boston”
• VIEW of BOSTON the Capital of NEW ENGLAND from Col. HATCH’s House on the Road to DORCHESTER
• Chandelier, is a wooden frame, whereon are laid fascines to cover the workmen while carrying on the approaches

At a time when most Bostonians were interred at burying grounds with familiar names like Copp’s Hill and the Granary, usually under slate markers decorated with winged skulls or cherubs, the congregants at Old North and just a handful of other Boston churches preferred to be sealed up inside the basement walls of their beloved churches. In this episode, co-host emerita Nikki is going to be interviewing one of her colleagues at Old North Illuminated, education director Emily Spence. They will be visiting the nearly-300 year old crypt that lies beneath the floorboards of the historic church, and talking about why it exists, who is buried there, and what researchers learned when the tombs were opened for a restoration project three years ago.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/347/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

18th Century Burial Practices at Old North Church

Emily Spence is the Director of Education at Old North Illuminated. Emily has led the education department through an evolution that includes new research, on-site interpretive experiences, and digital programming. These efforts earned Old North Illuminated a 2024 Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History and a 2023 Preservation Achievement Award from the Boston Preservation Alliance. Emily first came to Old North as a seasonal educator while teaching history to middle school students at St. Joseph School in Needham, MA. She received the 2018 Massachusetts History Day Teacher of the Year award for her work guiding student research projects for the National History Day competition.

• Get your tickets to visit Old North when it opens for tourism on March 1
• Take a 3D tour of the crypt at Old North
• Jane Lyden Rousseau’s talk about the archaeology done while the crypts were open in 2023
• Jake’s talk on the lost tunnels of the North End
• JL Bell’s talk on the final fate of Major Pitcairn’s body