Episode 87 celebrates the coming of fall while also taking one look back at summer.
Looking forward to fall there is a special Road Trip that showcases a beautiful fall foliage drive from each of the six New England states. There are nearly limitless scenic drives throughout the region and these are only a taste of what is out there.
Looking back to summer there's a brand new Top 5 celebrating some of the most popular defunct New England amusement parks of yesteryear. These might not exist anymore but they left long-lasting memories for those generations that got to experience them.
Many lighthouses have unique stories behind them. Perhaps none is more unique than that of the Three Sisters of Nauset. Once standing proudly on the bluffs of Eastham, Massachusetts these diminutive lighthouses were separated for decades before being reunited in a field far removed from the ocean's waves. How did they get there?
We go way Back In the Day to look at what it was like as a child of the 1980s getting a crash course in 1950s television through the onset of Nick at Nite. Dennis the Menace, Mr. Ed, Car 54, and so many more became must-watch for a generation of 80s kids.
There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule focusing on the release of The Beatles famed Abbey Road album.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 86 here.
Episode 87 celebrates the coming of fall while also taking one look back at summer.
Looking forward to fall there is a special Road Trip that showcases a beautiful fall foliage drive from each of the six New England states. There are nearly limitless scenic drives throughout the region and these are only a taste of what is out there.
Looking back to summer there's a brand new Top 5 celebrating some of the most popular defunct New England amusement parks of yesteryear. These might not exist anymore but they left long-lasting memories for those generations that got to experience them.
Many lighthouses have unique stories behind them. Perhaps none is more unique than that of the Three Sisters of Nauset. Once standing proudly on the bluffs of Eastham, Massachusetts these diminutive lighthouses were separated for decades before being reunited in a field far removed from the ocean's waves. How did they get there?
We go way Back In the Day to look at what it was like as a child of the 1980s getting a crash course in 1950s television through the onset of Nick at Nite. Dennis the Menace, Mr. Ed, Car 54, and so many more became must-watch for a generation of 80s kids.
There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule focusing on the release of The Beatles famed Abbey Road album.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 86 here.
Intro
Hello World, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 87. Fall has begun, but we're not quite ready to get rid of summer yet. So this week's episode is going to celebrate both. We're going to begin with the unique story of Cape Cod's three sisters of Nauset lighthouses, our road trip is going to look at the best scenic fall foliage drives in each of the six New England states. We're gonna go way back in the day and look at what it was like as a child of the 80s getting a crash course on television of the 1950s and 60s through Nick at Nite. There's going to be a brand new top five that are the top five defunct New England amusement parks. And of course, we'll have a brand new this week in history and Time Capsule all coming up right now on episode 87 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Welcome in. How's everybody doing out there? We're in the fall just leaving summer behind. That's why I've got fall foliage and amusement parks all mixed together this week. It's my favorite time of year that basically starts off right after Labor Day ends and goes all the way through to New Year's. So this is all in my wheelhouse. And then starting next week, it's October so spooky season. I've got some good scary slash true crime stories that will be getting featured. I first wanted to start by just saying thank you to everyone who tunes in. I love putting these together and sharing them and just seeing the response that each episode gets. Like I say I try to find things that you will find interesting with this podcast being kind of like a quilt with a bunch of segments stitched together. I hope at least one of them you find interesting each week, I wanted to give a shout-out to Christopher for giving me a donation on buy me a coffee. I really appreciate it. I always say if you donate that's great if you can't if you share the podcast that means just as much to me. Christopher also made a suggestion he had said he was having trouble finding the podcast through searches when looking for Cape Cod podcasts. So I don't know if you noticed this week or last week that the podcast name has slightly changed where it is now In My Footsteps, a Cape Cod in New England podcast. Because why not put the area where this is mainly about when I first did this podcast way back in November of 2020. I had thought a shorter name was better and easier for people to find. But now almost two years in, I realized maybe I should put in the title, what the podcast is about. And I can't really put New England and Cape Cod history travel nostalgia lifestyle. It's way too long. So this was the compromise. So just let me know if you have an easier time finding the podcast or if it makes no difference whatsoever. And I just changed it for the sake of change. In another bit of super exciting breaking news. I reopened my TikTok page. It's just Christopher Setterlund Just my name. I hadn't done a TikTok video in about a year and a half. But I know it's a really popular app and a really great way to promote myself and my work. So I'm giving it another go. And the fact that you can do videos up to 10 minutes long. That means that I can release a lot of podcast clips and some of my 4k New England videos and stuff like that. So be on the lookout for me on TikTok. Now, I won't be doing dancing videos, but there'll be a lot of entertaining content. And speaking of entertaining, we're gonna kick off this episode with the unusual and entertaining story of the Three Sisters of Nauset lighthouses, they have one of the most interesting stories of any lighthouses in New England. So let's dive right into the story of them. Right now on episode 87 of the In My Footsteps podcast.
The Three Sisters of Nauset
Lighthouses are invariably connected to the sea, they overlook the water helping to guide vessels safely. However, three fascinating little lighthouses in Eastham are not even within sight of the water. Sitting quietly in a field a third of a mile from the ocean waves are the three sisters of Nauset. How did they get there, though? Well, this is their story. The history of the Three Sisters began nearly 200 years ago when the town of Eastham petitioned to have a beacon built along the shore after there had been so many shipwrecks. The proposal was approved on March 3 1837 with 10,000 $1,000 being appropriated for the construction of the new lighthouse, which is about $308,000 in today's money, instead of there being one Lighthouse though, it was decided that there would be three. The reasoning was to help vessels differentiate the Eastham lights from the single Highland light to the north and Truro and the twin lights of Chatham to the south. The 15-foot-tall brick structures were constructed by local builder Winslow Lewis and his team who would put in the lowest bid. These triplet lighthouses were hastily built by Lewis and his crew 150 feet apart on five acres of land that had been bought for $150. In total, it only took 38 days for the construction of the three lighthouses. The crew did not even abide by the markers for the three beacons that had been laid out. The project was seen afterward to have been cursed as work on the beacons had occasionally occurred on Sundays, which was seen at the time as a desecration of the Sabbath. On July 30 1838, the Eastham lighthouses were lit for the first time. The three towers which were initially referred to as the line lights, because they were constant and not flashing soon gained the Three Sisters nickname. Legend has it that vessels passing by remarked that they resembled three ladies in white dresses wearing black hats. Iconic author Henry David Thoreau came upon them during one of his visits to Cape Cod in the mid-19th century, he was less than impressed, calling the beacons shiftless and costly. Another harsh criticism came from a report from Lieutenant Edward Carpenter. When inspecting the site in 1858. He saw the three sisters as serving no purpose, as they did not help guide vessels into any nearby harbor. Carpenter also stated that the job of the three could just as easily be done by one beacon, preferably with a red colored lantern. Despite those less than favorable opinions by some, the lighthouses did their job for decades, until shoreline erosion threatened them. Today when a lighthouse is threatened, measures are taken to save them by moving them safely away from the eroding cliffs. In the late 1800s though, the three brick towers were simply allowed to succumb to nature and fall into the sea. They were replaced in 1892 by three new sisters standing 22 feet tall, and 150 feet apart. These new wooden towers with brick foundations were positioned 30 feet back from where the original towers had fallen. The relentless hand of nature continued to eat away at the cliffs of present-day Nauset Light Beach. In less than 20 years, the shoreline had eroded to the point that it was within eight feet of one of the towers. Finally, in 1911, it was decided that a single flashing Lighthouse would be the best course of action going forward, and the three sisters were officially decommissioned. At that point, only the center tower would remain as a solo beacon attached to the lighthouse keeper's house. The two discontinued lights were sold to BJ and Helen Cummings in 1918 for $3.50 Each, or $68.67 in today's money. They were moved in 1920 down the nearby Cable Road after some repairs, and they were joined together by a room and renamed the Twin Lights cottage. The beacons were used one as a pair of bedrooms, the other as a kitchen, and the cottage also saw use as a gift shop and dance studio. The career of that remaining sister the center tower that was along the shore was short-lived. By 1923 It had also fallen into disrepair, but rather than fixing it up, it was decided that it would be decommissioned and replaced. It was sold to Albert and Mary Hall for 50 cents, or about $8.66 in today's money they bought a lighthouse for less than $10 this center beacon was turned into a cottage much like the other two and named the beacon but one of the beach with now with no lighthouse. Well, a perfect substitute to take command of protecting Eastham's coastal waters sat 13 miles to the south in Chatham. It was there at the coast. guard station where another recently decommissioned Lighthouse one of the Chatham twin lights resided. The 48-foot-tall cast iron lighthouse was moved to East Ham and nos at Lighthouse was born. Although it did not get its partial coat of red paint until 1940. After the formation of the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961, the lighthouse cottages were grandfathered in. In 1965, the Twin Lights cottage on Cable Road was purchased by the National Park Service. The center tower cottage was purchased 10 years later in 1975. It was at this point they decided to reunite all of the sisters. So the center tower was placed in its former spot between the other two for the first time in over 50 years. After extensive renovations in the 1980s. The three sisters were open for tours, with a formal dedication of the site taking place on May 16 1990. At the turn of the 21st century, the three sisters caused a bit of a stir along the shore. It is just offshore at Nauset Light Beach that a circular brick Foundation was unearthed by the shifting sands, it was determined to be the foundation of one of the three sisters that had fallen over the bluff. Since then, the foundation gets covered up by sand it gets revealed again. So it's a fun little game to go out to Nauset Light Beach, essentially a straight shot to the water from where Nauset Lighthouse currently stands. Because when the tide is low enough and the time is right, that circular foundation of one of the original three sisters gets exposed. And to this day, the three sisters the second set of them, stand stoically in a green field on Cable Road, you can park at Nauset Light Beach and walk a third of a mile 10 minutes at most to get to them. But in the last couple of years, they built a parking lot right next to the lighthouses along with a new road that leads out to cottages as the original Nauset light road that passed by the Lighthouse has been shut down as it is getting way too close to the bluffs. And at some point perhaps even in my lifetime, they're going to have to move Nauset Lighthouse back again. Lighthouses are a part of the fabric of Cape Cod and have been for centuries. Some have simple stories, some have complex stories. It's likely though that none of them have a story that's as unique as that of the Three Sisters, to go from lighthouses on the beach to being used for cottages, to now standing in a green field, not even within sight of the water, I highly recommend you go and check them out though. If you're on the Cape, or even if you've lived here forever, it's definitely worth checking them out.
Road Trip: New England Fall Foliage Drives
We're in the first full week of fall as this podcast goes live and one of the most popular traditions of the fall season especially in the north and in New England and such is leaf peeping slash fall foliage drives, you get people coming from all over to come up here to see the leaves change colors. And I thought what better road trip to do than to share one of the most popular fall foliage drives in each state? I picked one from each state. So everybody listening in New England in New York, you should be able to try at least one of these. I did a lot of research on Boston magazine.com and New england.com. And I picked ones that I think are manageable and enjoyable. So let's dive into them. In the state of Massachusetts, we have the Mohawk Trail, which winds through Western Massachusetts. Mohawk Trail is basically route two is the name of it. It goes 60 miles from the village of Millers Falls, Massachusetts all the way to the New York border. I did the entirety of the drive when coming back to Cape Cod from a vacation I took out in the Berkshires a few years ago. One thing I noticed with this trail is the changing elevation and the winding roads that combined with the colorful, changing leaves. It kind of makes you feel like you're in another world. I found myself stopping repeatedly just to get pictures of the road with the leaves or to get a picture of the sign for Florida, Massachusetts, which I just think is funny that we have a town named Florida in the state. There are loads to see like the bridge of flowers in Shelburne Falls, but if you're going to go there I would recommend going like now if you're listening to this podcast when it drops because as soon as we get the first frost the flowers on the bridge, you're gonna start to die. As was the case when I went there, they were all dead when I showed up. Up in New Hampshire is the Kancamagus Highway. It stretches 34 miles through the White Mountains between the towns of Lincoln and Conway. So I said I had only done the Massachusetts foliage trail that's on this road trip segment. But I've also done the Kancamagus highway, just not as leaf peeping actually went up there to run it. I ran from Kancamagus Pass, which was the highest point along the route, and did about four miles out and four miles back to kind of test my legs for a marathon I was training for. There's a lot of wide open scenery with the mountains around but then you'll get the trees right along the route. It's very rural, very deserted, you need to make sure you have enough gas to get through the trail. And because there are no gas stations, there's pretty much no cell phone service, which is a good thing when you're out there trying to just enjoy nature. And you never know you might see a moose you might see a bear. The neat thing about the Kanc and being through the White Mountains is that the elevation changes also lead to different times when the leaves change colors. So you could go up there right now and there'll be changes in the colors as opposed to mid-October. So if you come further south into Connecticut, Rhode Island, up in Maine as the Acadia National Park loop, which I visited Acadia, way back in 2010. Got to watch the sunset on top of Cadillac Mountain, which was mind-blowing. It's amazing how popular Acadia is, but if you drive the loop even in summertime, it seems like it's deserted because it's so big. The Loop Trail is 27 miles and goes all around Acadia Bar Harbor. If you're going to go up to Acadia for fall foliage, I would recommend staying up there. Find an affordable Hotel. That's what I did in Bar Harbor. Because there's so much to see in Acadia, way beyond just the foliage that you'll see. I mentioned Cadillac Mountain, there's the thunder hole, which is a crevice in between rocks that when the waves rush in, it sounds like thunder and the water explodes up. So take your time there. Take your time at any of these places. If you're doing the drive, take the time to enjoy it and get lots of pictures and videos. Sticking up in northern New England. There's Smuggler's notch in Vermont. smuggler's notch is one of the most popular drives in New England period. And the joke is that pretty much anywhere in Vermont is considered a scenic foliage drive during the fall. But Smuggler's notch is between Stowe and Jeffersonville. It's Route 108. And there's lots of much like the Mohawk trail, a lot of elevation changes. There are some pretty steep grades, so make sure that you go on a day that's warm enough that the road might not be frosty. I don't believe there's anything quite like the hairpin turn at the Mohawk trail where it's pretty dangerous. But you've got Mount Mansfield, which is nearly 4400 feet, and the route goes all around it. So you could have a stop off at Mount Mansfield State Forest and have a picnic there. And of course, a lot of you know, that Smuggler's Notch in the town of Stowe, is known for its skiing. So this is another place that you could go in the dead of winter if you like skiing in the winter scenery. There's not a bad time of year to go to any of these roots. It's just in wintertime, you have to be more aware of the conditions of the road because the northern New England ones are pretty high elevations. sticking around in southern New England though you've got a little bit more wiggle room as far as when you go to see the foliage it can be as late as mid to late October that things start to change. The Last Green Valley Scenic Byway is a great one to check out. It's a total of 35 miles in length between Woodstock and Norwich, Connecticut and you don't have to drive all 35 Miles naturally. It's Route 169. And you can pick it up anywhere it goes through 35 different towns, which I laugh because they must be small towns if it's a 35-mile route and it goes through 35 towns. There may not be winding mountain peaks like in northern New England, but there's a lot of forest and farmland, and that abundance of trees leads to more of an abundance of colorful leaves. There are historic homes and hiking trails, it's a different it's experience. And like I said, with all of these, I give you the full length of the trail where it starts and where it ends for all these driving routes. You don't have to drive the whole thing but you're going to end up getting kind of lost in the scenery that you'll find out you'll suddenly you're done. That was how it was with me with the Mohawk trail. Suddenly I was done. I had driven the whole thing. And lastly, on this special road trip for the best fall foliage drives, we come to Rhode Island. It's kind of fitting because the Blackstone River Valley drive begins in Rhode Island and Connecticut and then goes north to Oxbridge, Massachusetts. So we come back to the state we started at Blackstone River Valley is a beautiful place to go in the fall. I've been through there through Uxbridge opt in Sutton, places like that, Grafton, it's 30 total miles in length to drive. So it's manageable. But it's a little bit different than the others, there are mills and taverns. It's more connected with the industrial era of the country. That's part of the reason why I love New England is that we've got six states, but each one's got its own identity, where if I asked you to close your eyes and picture quintessential Rhode Island or Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, you get a different image for every state. That's why I tried to choose routes to show you the differences between each state. Have you done any of these routes before? Have you driven any of them, maybe there's some that I missing I picked one from each state, but there were a lot of others, I'll put a link up to the Boston Magazine article that's got a whole bunch of more routes if you want to try them out. But the main thing when it comes to these types of road trips, get your camera, get in your car, and just go when the leaves start to change, any route becomes a scenic route. But it doesn't last forever, from now until early to mid-November maybe. And also let me know what you think of this different type of road trip. I didn't give you any places to stay or where to eat. I just gave you the roads and said Just drive. That's usually what I tell you on these is getting your car in drive, and kind of let you find your own way. So here we go. Here's proof. But that'll wrap up this week's road trip. Get out there, get in the car, and do some leaf-peeping. So much beauty awaits you out there in New England.
This Week In History
This week in history, we're going back 53 years ago this week, September 26, 1969, and the Beatles releasing their Abbey Road album. Everybody knows the Beatles even if you're young you know who they are. one of if not the most influential musical acts of all time. Abbey Road was technically they're second to last album with Let It Be coming out in 1970. But for all intents and purposes, Abbey Road was the last album with the band coming back together to finish Let It Be which they had started before. And the way you can kind of tell was the fact that on Abbey Road, all four of them are rarely in any songs together. It's usually three of the four because Lennon and McCartney were both battling it out to see who would quit the band first. As with all of the Beatles albums, this Abbey Road included so many legendary songs, like Come Together, Something, Here Comes the sun. It was the 11th studio album by the Beatles. And by this point with this band, how big they were, I think it was only natural that the four of them wanted to see what they could do on their own. And there's that legendary cover of the album of the for them crossing that crosswalk on Abbey Road, which led to the conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney had died and it was a lookalike that was in the band, with Lennon dressed in white leading the group and McCartney with no shoes like he was a corpse. Some crazy stuff crazy conspiracy theories. Naturally, the album went to number one in basically every country you could imagine. The album through all of its rereleases and remastering it's sold well over 30 million copies. And even though there were some mixed reviews, the album is regarded as a landmark album in music. And think about that that was with the Beatles basically breaking up, that they could put something out like Abbey Road and the Beatles would get back together later in 1969 Finish up Let It Be which was their swan song. But it's amazing to think of the influence of the Beatles still to this day. How they just couldn't put out a bad album even when they were fighting and wanted To all quit. But 53 years ago this week the Beatles put out Abbey Road, yet another piece of amazing history in their catalog of unbelievable music. And now it's time for a brand new time capsule. We're going to stick to the same day that Abbey Road was released September 26 1969. So let's see what was going on in the world of pop culture the day that Abbey Road was released. The number one song was nothing by the Beatles it was Sugar Sugar by the Archie's this song is very famous. It's every bit of bubble gum pop. The Archie's is the cartoon group. The song is on the album Everything's Archie. It was written by Jeff Berry and Andy Kim. The song was number one in America for four weeks and number one in the UK for eight weeks. The Archie's version of this song sold 6 million copies, and it's been redone many times since including by Wilson Pickett the next year, which made it a hit again. The number one movie was The Learning Tree. This was a coming-of-age drama film starring Kyle Johnson, Mira Waters, and Alex Clark, about 14-year-old Newt Winger born into a poor black family in Kansas who learns about love and fear and life in general. It's 75% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It was hard to find any budget for the film or box office receipts it made 1.5 million in rentals. I have no idea what that means if that's in general since it's been released. But it was the first film directed by an African American for a major film studio, and in 1989 was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress for being culturally significant. So it's got to be a very impactful movie. The number one TV show was Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In sketch comedy variety show. It starred Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and ran for a total of six seasons, and 140 episodes between 1968 and 1973. It's known for starting the career of Goldie Hawn, but also having some legendary comics on it like Ruth, Buzzy Lily Tomlin, Henry Gibson, and Gary Owens, the announcer. And if you're around back then September 26 1969, and you were looking for the hip, new way to listen to music. You could get yourself an eight-track cartridge player from Montgomery Ward, which they described as the coming thing. I don't know what the hell that means. But you could get the stereo with two speakers and headphones for $119.95 or $968 in today's money, but that's just the stereo, you've got to actually buy some eight tracks to play in your eight-track player. Don't worry, Montgomery Ward has you covered there too. They've got music by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, and the Beatles, you could get yourself in a track by any of them for $6.69 or a whopping $54 in today's money. Could you imagine going to any sort of music store today and getting a CD for $54 Just a regular one? And this was an eight-track. But good luck to you if you were alive in 1969. I'm sure those eight tracks will stand the test of time. And that's going to wrap up another time capsule another this week in history. We talked earlier about fall and fall foliage drives. Well let's take one last look back at Summer in a brand new top five these are going to be the top five defunct New England amusement parks coming up right now.
Top 5: Defunct New England Amusement Parks
There are a few things that scream summer and excess spending, like going to visit an amusement park during the heat of July and August. There are so many New England amusement parks still available today. But this week's Top Five is going to look at the ones that used to be these are the best amusement parks that used to be around but are now no longer. As with all of these top five lists, or at least most of them, they're in no particular order. The only criterion is that these places had to be considered amusement parks and must no longer be around. So that leaves out Riverside Park which I wanted to put in here out in Agawam Massachusetts, being stupid I forgot that it's now Six Flags, so that doesn't count. And with all of the lists, we have some honorable mentions to kind of get your memories going. Honorable Mentions include Wonderland amusement park from Revere, Massachusetts, which I'll be talking about more in-depth in a future episode. There was also Benson's Wild Animal Farm in Hudson, New Hampshire, and Crescent Park in Riverside, Rhode Island. Do you remember those? It's fine. If you don't, we're gonna dive right into the top five now, starting at number one, Rocky Point Amusement Park. This was in Warwick Rhode Island and was open from the 1840s up to 1995. If you grew up in the 80s, or 90s, in New England, you probably remember seeing Rocky Point commercials, especially if you got the Rhode Island TV stations on your TV. It was open seasonally from Memorial Day to just after Labor Day. And from the 50s. Until its closing, it was one of the most popular attractions in all of Rhode Island. They had concerts sometimes at the Palladium ballroom, the Shore dinner Hall, and of course famous rides like the Skyliner Log Flume, and corkscrew loop roller coaster. Interestingly, even after closing well over 25 years ago, the grounds of the park are still open, you can go and walk. It's been mostly cleared out. But it's really neat. There are parts of the former equipment still there. And it just makes it a unique experience. I'll post a couple of pictures from when I went there so you can see what I mean. Number two is Paragon Park. This was in the town of Hull, Massachusetts right on Nantasket Beach, it was open from 1905 to 1984. So some of you who are somewhat older than me probably would remember this better than I do. Although the carousel is still there, which makes it a little bit of a connection to the past. They had a wooden roller coaster known as the Giant Coaster, a Ferris wheel, and they had other rides that you can still find at county fairs, tilt-a-whirl, those crazy swings, and super slide, but the main attraction was that carousel, which was built in 1928 with the wooden horses, so you can kind of relive Paragon Park in Hall. But if you also want to find it somewhere else, the giant coaster is still alive too. It's actually at Six Flags, nicknamed The Wild One, but this is in Six Flags in Maryland, so it's not the one in Agawam. Number three is Whalom Park. This was in the town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts out in Worcester County. It was an operation from 1893 up to 2000. It's now a condominium complex. The flyer wooden roller coaster was one of its most well-known rides. They also had an old carousel but when the park closed, they got broken up, so you can't ride it anymore. They had other unique rides like the Looper the Scrambler, kids of my age will probably remember the advertisements on TV, but we living on Cape Cod weren't close enough to drive two hours out west to Worcester to go to it. At the time of its closing. Whalom Park was the 13th oldest amusement park in the country, as well as the second oldest trolley Park. Number four was Lincoln Park, not the band. This amusement park was in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and was open from 1894 to 1987. It was hugely popular in its day with tons of rides, a bowling alley dance hall. The end though came when their famous comment roller coaster had a fatal accident in 1986, which led people to question the safety of the park which led to a decline in attendance. The park had a lot of debt, and within a year it was closed. It remained vacant for 25 years. There are a lot of pictures you can find online of the decaying rides. But finally, the Comet roller coaster was torn down in 2012. And finally, number five is Seven Rock Amusement Park. This was located in West Haven, Connecticut, it was open from the 1870s up to 1966. So I'm not sure how many of you listening had ever even heard of it. I only heard of it doing my research for this segment. But at its peak, it was attracting more than 1.2 million visitors per year. It was probably based on all of the roller coasters it had which included a thunder bowl, Sky blazer, and White City flyer. It was nearly destroyed by the hurricane of 1938 But it survived and kept going for another 30 years. A lot of the artifacts can be found at the Seven Rock Museum and Learning Center in West Haven. But that's the top five did you go to any of these Amusement Parks had you even heard of some of them? Rocky Point, Paragon Park, Whalom Park, Lincoln Park, and Seven Rock Amusement Park. Go on to YouTube, you can find commercials for at least three of those five. And I'll be back next week with a brand new top five, that shore to stir up some sweet nostalgia for everyone my age, younger, older whoever.
Nick at Nite
As I've stated a million times on this podcast, I am a child of the 1980s. I've got countless 1000s of memories from that time, which is why I love doing the nostalgia segments on this podcast. But one thing I found interesting was my knowledge of 1950s and early 60s TV shows, especially from back in the 80s. And that can all be traced back to the creation of maybe not a new network, but kind of a new direction in programming for Nickelodeon. So I wanted to go way, way back in the day, and look at what it was like to be a kid. getting exposed to these classic TV shows with the dawning of Nick at Nite. Way back in episode 10. I talked about the dawning of Nickelodeon, the creation of the channel and my first memories of watching shows like Danger Mouse Double Dare You Can't Do That on Television, and Mr. Wizard, and I only briefly touched on Nick at Nite. Nick at Nite is still going strong. And for those that may have never heard of what this is, it was when Nickelodeon would get to be later in the evening, eight or nine o'clock at night, they would switch over from the kid and teen shows and just play old classic television shows. All black and white basically, the genesis of Nick at Nite came when the arts and entertainment network which previously occupied that time on Nickelodeon was spun off into its own network, which I never knew. Before Nick at Nite, Nickelodeon would just run promos for their other shows. And they tried original content, but it just didn't work. So this is when programming and branding consultants, Alan Goodman and Fred Siebert came up with the idea of an oldies TV network. It was the greatest hits of TV. It debuted on July 1 1985. So I was seven years old. I don't know when I started watching Nick at Nite. It could have been I was just a kid flipping around and saw something different. Initially, it ran seven nights a week from 8pm to 6am. And was typically mostly sitcoms maybe a drama here and there maybe a movie. For those of you that are in my generation that watched Nick at Nite, take a moment and think of what are the first shows that you think of? For me, it was the Donna Reed Show, Car 54 Where are you, my three sons. It was sort of a weird mix to be a kid then, watching all the typical shows from the 1980s, the mid-80s. Maybe Cosby Show, Alf, maybe Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard I loved, but then to also have this other side where I looked forward to these old shows. For the most part, they were much simpler in the storytelling from the 50s. It's just a different time. Mr. Ed with the talking horse. I always loved that show. There was Dennis the Menace who was a troublemaker but a 1960s troublemaker, not like how it would get changed as the decades went by. Dennis the Menace was the very first show ever shown on Nick at Nite. And there were so many classic TV shows from back then that I started to get acquainted with like Lassie. That lineup must have been popular because it's still around today, but they started to add different shows. It was almost like the later It got, the late 80s, and early 90s They were able to start pulling shows from the mid to late 60s. F Troop, Bewitched. I'll never forget for a brief time they had a show on there called Lancelot Link Secret Chimp. You want to talk about a trippy psychedelic 60s show. It's literally like a chimpanzee that talks and is a secret agent. It's like people saw a talking horse on Mr. Ed and said we'll see that and we'll give you this acid trip show that Joe was on for two seasons and a total of 13 episodes. But yet when I think of Nick at Night, I can picture the show in my head. It's crazy. I'm sure my sister Kate, if she's listening to this can picture it in her head, too. We used to laugh at the foolishness. But as time went on, Nick at Nite started to evolve, they started playing SCTV, which was the Canadian cousin of Saturday Night Live. The original show was on from 1976 to 1984. And it had so many famous comedians on it. John Candy Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Rick Moran is Catherine O'Hara. And it was great when they would show SCTV it wasn't that old of a show. So you could watch the show and then see John Candy and Splash or Eugene Levy, and Splash 2 or American Pie, and Martin Short in Three Amigos. Another one of those brief shows that I was a big fan of on Nick at Nite was Mad Movies, this starred a comedy group called the LA Connection, there were only 26 episodes. But basically what it was was old movies 50s 60s. And these comedians would do their own kind of stand-up work over it, basically making fun of the show, go and look it up on YouTube and find their parody of Night of the Living Dead. I still remember that because I had never seen Night of the Living Dead when I was 11-12 years old, and them making fun of the zombies, I guess made it not as scary. But for me, the memories of Nick at Nite still come back to those original old shows. As a kid, 8,9,10 years old, I became invested in shows that were even at that time. 30 years old. Nick at Nite has kind of changed over the years as a lot more recent shows that they've started to put on there. But their idea of a greatest hits of TV network spawned a lot of these classics that you see today like me TV, even music ones like VH1 classic, because there's a market for nostalgia. That's why I do a lot of it on the podcast. But there's a market out there for people my age and older, it's a comfort food for the soul. But did you out there watch Nick at Nite back in the 80s when you were kids, I mean not now it's different. Now they even run actual Nickelodeon shows like repeats of their old shows at Nick at Night. But I'm talking about those old days in the 80s when I knew all the words to the shows they would air at least the ones that had lyrics to their songs like Gilligan's Island or Car 54. And if you watched Nick and Knight back then what was your favorite old show that they used to share? I loved Mr. Ed, I think that was my favorite. The idea of a talking horse was very amusing to eight and nine-year-old me. But even to me back then some of the shows were cheesy, like my three sons where whatever drama they had was just level one on a scale of one to 10. But like I said, 50s early 60s, it was a different sort of culture, and everything was wholesome. There were very, very rarely ever any problems that couldn't be solved in that half hour. Except on Lancelot link. Boy, what an insane show that was a talking chimp that solves crimes. It sounds like something that I would have created with my camcorder in the 90s. But if you have the time, take a few minutes to go on YouTube, and find some of those classic Nick at Nite shows they have some with the commercials from back then too. That's one of my rabbit holes. I go down sometimes when edibles kick in, but it's a lot of fun. Nostalgia is fun. That's why I do it. So go enjoy some nostalgia now with Nick at Nite.
Closing
And that's gonna wrap up episode 87 of the In My Footsteps podcast. I hope you had a fun trip down memory lane. Maybe the road trip gives you an idea to take some trips down a new memory lane. Like I always say thank you so much to everyone who tunes in and shares the podcast. I appreciate it as I enjoyed doing these. They're sort of my own escape. And I hope that's what the podcast is for you also a brief escape from the craziness of the world. If you want to donate you can find me on buy me a coffee find the in my footsteps podcast. Any donations go toward advertising the podcast. But like I say if you can't donate, I really appreciate those who share the podcast word of mouth. That's the best way to make this grow. Find me all over social media. Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. I just posted a new 4k New England video there my trip to the Wayside Inn historic district in Sudbury, Massachusetts is a great video. There'll be more to come. Now like I said, I'm back on TikTok. I don't know what that's going to entail. I might share some of the podcast segments, some of the old podcast videos, and retro clips from way back a year ago. But it's all free ways to promote the podcast, which is the best thing for me. Check out my homepage, Christopher setterlund.com. Created updated designed by my oldest friend Barry Menard, you've heard me mention him a ton. You've also heard me mention Kiwis Kustoms at etsy.com kiwis, both spelled with Ks. Homemade handcrafted gifts for any occasion. Cat and Dog sweaters Bacalavas, fairy hats, there's jewelry. Kaleigh Marks is always brainstorming new ideas also. She takes requests if it's something that's in her wheelhouse that she does, and you have a twist on it that you would like go to Kiwis customs@etsy.com. Send her a message. Look at what she's got. It costs nothing to look. We're approaching October. There are so many holidays coming up Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, she's going to have holiday-themed gifts. So keep your eyes peeled for Kiwis Kustoms at etsy.com. Also keep your eyes peeled for mind-body spine chiropractic and our sister gym, Cape Kettlebell. We're trying to become a one-stop shop for everything wellness. It's so much more than chiropractic. I'm not a chiropractor, obviously. And I'm there as a personal trainer, corrective exercise, a lot of rehab stuff. But we got Dr. Michael Singleton, the master chiropractor, knowledgeable in nutrition, fitness, and just life in general. He's always got something that he shares with me that just opens my eyes to something I never thought of. And if he can do that for me, he can do it for you. We have one on one training small group fitness trainer Maggie, she does a lot of that. I dabble in it, I'm heading more towards the rehab side, getting people back to 100% so that then they can go to Cape Kettlebell and just kick ass. We're doing a lot of updating of our website. So hopefully I'll have a lot more of that to share in the coming weeks and months of course. But in the meantime, next week is episode 88. The first in October, the spooky season has begun. And it's going to kick off with the story of Providencetown's secret smallpox cemetery. I don't want to give too many spoilers, you'll just have to listen. We're going to take a road trip to the largest town in New England area-wise. And again, I'm not going to spoil it because it's no place you probably could think of largest town by area. We're going to go way back in the day 20 years ago to the release of Nirvana's final song, you know, you're right. There's gonna be a brand new top five as we get spooky again, as I talk about my favorite 1980s horror movies. And of course, there'll be a brand new this week in history and Time Capsule coming up next week on episode 88 of the In My Footsteps podcast. I've said it a whole bunch in the last few weeks, and I'll continue to say it. This is my favorite time of year. All those holidays I talked about plus my birthday. But even with all of that, it's important to focus on your mental health. This is my favorite time of year and I'm leaning heavy and all the stuff I enjoy the sunsets, photography, and general road trips, the weather still being nice warm in the day and cool at night. Fitness, and feeling good physically and mentally, all go hand in hand. So make sure you do the same thing and lean into what makes you happy. Always try to make the next day better than the one before even if it's by 1,000,000th of a percent. Whether it's one big step or a million tiny steps as long as you're moving forward. That dream that goal whatever it is, it's still in sight. I thank you once again for tuning in to Episode 87 of the In My Footsteps podcast, whatever you do, have a great week and a great weekend. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I have been Christopher Setterlund and I will talk to you all again soon.