In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 23: The Home of Cape Cod Clam Chowder; Road Trip Narragansett, RI; Reliving My First Crushes; This Week In History(Memorial Day)(6-3-2021)

• Christopher Setterlund • Season 1 • Episode 23

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Episode 23 starts with a look back at one of Cape Cod's most iconic restaurants: Mildred's Chowder House.  In the shadow of the Barnstable Airport this legend spent decades delivering classic clam chowder to locals and visitors alike.  It is still looked back upon fondly more than 20 years after it closed.
This episode's Road Trip is a journey to one of the most beautiful towns in New England.  The classic seaside town of Narragansett, Rhode Island has something for everyone.  From pristine beaches, spectacular old homes, a lighthouse, and even an eating establishment featured on nationwide television.
We'll go Back In the Day as I relive some sweet, innocent, and definitely embarrassing moments of my first crushes.  I stick to the 1980's meaning I was 12 and younger.  These stories are laugh out loud funny and shake your head cringe-worthy.
This Week In History features the first Memorial Day, the end of the Ford Model T, and more including a new Time Capsule from a very special birthday!
Also be sure to check out my livestreams called Without A Map Friday's at 8pm on Instagram which serve as a sort of postgame show for the podcast. Find them on IGTV and YouTube after they've finished.

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Listen to Episode 22 here.

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Intro

Hello, world. Welcome to Episode 23 of the in my footsteps podcast. I am your host, Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination that is known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but representing all six states of the New England region and beyond. Welcome to the month of June summer starts at the end of the month, I hope that everyone has had a great spring so far. And I hope that you're ready for a fun and loaded podcast that is perfect for a beautiful late spring walk outside, which is what I do with a lot of my favorite podcasts. So take mine on the road with you too. It's short enough that you don't have to walk too far. Thank you all for tuning in. I want to give a big shout-out to anyone who listened to the podcast during the month of May, I ended up having the biggest single day for downloads, my biggest single week for downloads, and my biggest month for downloads all in the month of May. And obviously that all comes down to you. I can do my ads, I can market it, I can promote it all over social media. But it takes people to actually take a chance on it, listen to it. And if they enjoy it, share it with as many people as they can. And that's what's been happening. I'm really excited about where we're going. It feels like I'm gaining traction gaining an audience. So whether you listen on Apple, podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, any of those streaming services, if you listen on Stephanie Viva’s Lemonadio on Saturdays, if you found it through Google searches, if you're one of the people on the podcast nation page on Facebook that I'm a member of shout out to you guys. Anyway, you found it, thank you for finding it. Thank you for listening. It brings a smile to my face that in the last month or two, because I've told you that I can look and see where the downloads are coming from as far as specific apps and specific locations. Boston, Massachusetts has been my number one spot throughout the podcast and Boston's gonna get its own episode of the podcast at some point, just all about the city. But I had noticed that Manhattan and Atlanta Georgia had been number two and three as far as downloads. And I thought it might have been kind of an anomaly like one person happened to download a few rapidly and it bumped them up the list. But no, they're still on the list in my top five cities that are downloading listening to the podcast. So if you're from Manhattan, if you're from Atlanta, those areas, thank you for listening, shoot me a message if you are, I'm always looking for people to give me a shout from where they're from. Just because I'm curious. I hope that if you've gotten a chance to purchase my new book, iconic hotels and motels of Cape Cod, that you've enjoyed it, let me know if you have, I'll also be doing a new article for Cape Cod Life magazine coming later in the summer. I won't spoil it. But it's going to be kind of connected to the book. And thank you for tuning in to the live stream on the actual release date of the book on May 24. I feel there are some big potential next shoes to drop in the next few weeks and months. And I'm very excited. But I'm also nervously optimistic and anticipating because you want things to happen. And you know that some take time and you want to kind of rush them and push them. But you sometimes have to let things breathe because if you squeeze too tight, you know you're going to kind of lose opportunities. I make the joke and I'm a writer, so I kind of tend to go this way that I feel like I currently live in a suburb of my dream life, where I'm close enough that I can see it. But I'm not actually there yet, and I'm just itching to get there. But you know, you got to be patient like I've been with the podcast. And speaking of this is episode 23. And it's going to be a loaded one and a fun one. So we're going to take a look back at one of Cape Cod's true icons of the restaurant industry Mildred’s Chowder House in Hyannis. We're going to take a road trip to one of my favorite spots in New England, the coastal town of Narragansett Rhode Island. I'm going to embarrass myself by going back in the day and talking about my first crushes and how stupid I acted. And you can laugh at that. And of course we've got this week in history with a new time capsule that has a very special meaning to that date. So if you're getting ready to go for a walk outside, enjoy the weather, turn on the podcast and get ready. This is episode 23. I'm so glad you're here. And come on, let's go take a walk. 

Mildred's Chowder House

About four years ago, in the summer of 2017, I released a book called historic restaurants of Cape Cod, in which I listed and gave the histories and significance of some of Cape Cod's most beloved iconic restaurants of the past. And in a future podcast episode, I'll definitely go over a lot more in detail that book and what went into it and some of the restaurants that were in it. If you're curious, you can order it through the history press or Amazon still. But when coming up with a list for that book of just the biggest, most well-known restaurants ever on Cape Cod, there were two that popped in my mind immediately. One of them I already spoke about in episode three, that was Thompson's clam bar. But the other one that ran neck and neck with it is the one I'm going to talk about now. And it was the home of Cape Cod clam chowder. And that was Mildred’s Chowder House in Hyannis, long before there was the annual chowder festival that usually takes place in the Cape Cod melody tent. There was Mildred chowder and people everyone from the average person to presidents would come down to this restaurant located near the Barnstable Airport. The Mildred of the Chowder House fame was born Mildred Bassett in 1897 in West Dennis, Massachusetts. Later on, she married James Desmond and had two children James Jr. And Bernie and after they divorced in 1925, she moved to Hyannis While James moved to Boston. Later on, she would marry another man made her Johnson years before she would open her Chowder House. Mildred was already showcasing her cooking skills for the public. So in 1934, she was in charge of serving her homemade chowder at Liggett's drugstore at the east end of Hyannis his main street. And after years of having just rave reviews of people coming in customers raving about her chowder and her cooking her apple pie. It finally convinced her to branch out on her own. The original Mildred Chowder House was at 251 Iyannough road in Hyannis. And for those that visited Mildred’s in the 60s 70s 80s 90s, this first restaurant was more akin to a coffee shop. It's much smaller in size. And it had its grand opening on June 17 1949. The building was small, like I said it had the ability to seat 44 in the dining room and another 10 at the counter. And back then in the late 40s. Through the 1950s competition among restaurants was a lot different than it is now. The fast food chains and restaurant chains that you see today. Didn't really make it down to Cape Cod until the late 60s. So back then it was basically one-off restaurants that were usually family-dominated, and the quality and service was how they got to be popular and famous on Cape Cod. Mildred served up fresh local seafood, including the classics like fish and chips, fried clams, scallops, lobster and shrimp and steaks and chicken but the chowder that was the reason why everyone went I mean God was in the name. How popular was that chowder? President John F. Kennedy would order the chowder bass for the summer White House in Hyannis Port the Kennedy compound. The president also ordered a specially made lobster stew that was made by Mildred's son Bernie, which consisted of only knuckle meat of the lobster. And it was said that it took 25 pounds of lobster to get a pound of knuckle meat which was put in the stew for the president. In 1957. Mildred moved her Chowder House to the restaurant that people got to know through the 60s through the 90s. This was the one that directly abutted the airport, and it featured a casual down home atmosphere and traditional Cape Cod decor dealing with fishing in the ocean because that's what we're surrounded by. Mildred Johnson died suddenly at her home on Norris street on April 13 1961 At the age of 64, leaving her Chowder House in the hands of her two sons, but they were more than capable of continuing the legacy. I mean, they had been in the business for decades already themselves. The first new step they did was bring entertainment to Mildred Chowder House. Happy hour at one point featured Cape Cod's first lady of jazz Marie Marcus, I'm sure she'll get covered in a future podcast. But the food was what brought everyone in and in 1969 things hit the tipping point where they couldn't really afford to bring entertainment in anymore because there was they needed more room to serve more people and in the 70s it became commonplace for Mildred's to serve 900 customers a night for dinner with a line out the door waiting to get in every night of the summer from five to 9pm people did they waited. Mildred was such a juggernaut as far as food went that it was commonplace to wait hours to eat there. And it became one of those rare Cape Cod restaurants that kind of breaks through as far as being mentioned by newspapers as far away as New York and Chicago. And Mildred Chowder House powered on through the 1970s just incredibly busy all the time. In 1983. Mildred's sons Jim and Bernie had become understandably burned out from years of high stress, high sales restaurant industry. I worked in that business many years, I can tell you, it's very stressful. So I couldn't imagine working at a place much busier than any one that I worked at years and years, it would be crazy. Jim and Bernie, they sold Mildred’s Chowder House to a group headed by a man named Robert Allen. He had previously run lobster in the rough and Ships fair in Yarmouth. Allen was more than capable of continuing the legacy of milk grids. Even though places like Chili's and pizzeria Uno and Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken had all sprung up around Mildred, it still was the place to go. However, by the 1990s business had started to slow as things tipped in favor of these chains that had come in. And for years, the restaurant was rumored to be up for sale, and it was finally sold one last time in March of 2000. After five decades, Mildred’s Chowder House was no more. The restaurant was renovated, and the property was reopened as a place called Fish landing Bar and Grill. It did not succeed and it did not last long. It was closed after the summer of 2002. But I mean, you can hardly blame the new restaurant you imagine being the spot that had to follow Mildred’s Chowder House in that building, decades of people coming down to go there and then you come down one summer and it's fish landing and you're like, ah, but Mildred. So you know, that was really a once-in-a-generation spot. And when you think about it when I mentioned the book that I wrote, and I said Thompson's clam bar and Mildred’s Chowder House were one and one as far as what needed to go in the book at first, and they ran neck and neck. They were open basically the same duration like almost to the year. I think Thompson's closed a couple years earlier than Mildred. But both of those places Were here on Cape Cod and succeeding for decades. The empty shell of the Mildred’s Chowder House building in 2003, there was discussion of possibly having it converted to a homeless shelter but nothing came of it. It was torn down in 2005. And as of now it's still just an empty lot. I think there's maybe one section of split rail fence in the front. That might have been from the old Mildred, but I don't know that chowder though, is legendary, iconic. It's one of the most well known dishes ever on Cape Cod Mildred’s chowder in 2008. A person saying they were a former employee sent the recipe for millions chowder into the Cape Cod times. And although the recipe would obviously have to be scaled way down for a few people, I wonder how many people read that and made Mildred chowder for themselves. Mildred Johnson of Mildred Chowder House, she was an icon of Cape Cod business. And although she didn't make it through much of the success of the restaurant, she laid the blueprint for it. And it continued over decades after she left this earth. And I'll definitely go more into detail with some of the other restaurants that were in the book and saw how it was writing the book. But if you want to see Mildred Chowder House, there are postcards online, type it in Google it and Mildred Chowder House, and you'll see it and it'll, you'll get the memories. If you visited Cape Cod any time from the 60s through most of the 1990s you probably went to Mildred. And if you didn't go to Mildred, you went to Thompson's but you probably went to both. That's a story of the home of Cape Cod clam chowder, Mildred Chowder House one of the true iconic restaurants ever in the history of Cape Cod. 

Sponsor: Wear Your Wish

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Road Trip: Narragansett, Rhode Island

I'm excited to get to share one of my favorite places to visit in New England with this week's road trip. Now I'll never share a city or town on the podcast that I don't like because that will kind of be counterproductive to say I don't like this place but you go see it. But there are going to be some that are more in my favorites pile than others. And this one is one of those. We're talking about Narragansett Rhode Island. It's a coastal town in southern Rhode Island about 30 miles south of Providence. The name Narragansett itself comes from the tribe of Native Americans that first inhabited the area. And I'll try my best to do justice to this place with words you're going to have to see photos really, what I tell people when sending them down to Narragansett, I say just kind of just drive coastal drive. That's kind of what you want to do. Just weave yourself along the water. So start on Ocean Road, there's a place called the towers. That's probably if not the most famous landmark in Narragansett. It's tied with something that's coming up later. It's like a beautiful stone archway that you drive under, and it's almost like it beckons you into the town. Even though it's not the official entrance to Narragansett. It actually should be the towers, as it's called. It's basically what's left of the old Narragansett pier Casino. And this casino was the center of social life during the late 1800s. And it rivaled the popularity of Newports casino until it burned down in 1900. This fire burned the neighboring Rockingham hotel, and quickly caught the casino on fire as well. And all that remained was the only part of this casino that wasn't made of wood. And that was the granite towers. You can stop and take photos of it. I've done it plenty of times. And there's also Narragansett Beach, which is right on the side and that's always filled with surfers, which makes it gives it a fun atmosphere. Just start driving down Ocean Road. There's the Ocean Road Historic District, which is filled with homes dating back a century and a half at least. There's the Dunmere house built in 1883, which was owned by Robert Graham Dunn, and he entertained the likes of the Vanderbilt family and President Grover Cleveland. Further down Ocean Road is Scarborough State Beach, which is a huge parking lot but it looks like a slice of California. It's about a mile of untouched beach in front of you. And it's kind of an unexpected surprise because it looks like something that should be out on the West Coast. Any of you that have listened to several of these podcasts at least you know how much I love lighthouses. So that brings me to what I think is rivaling the towers as far as the best spot in Narragansett. And that's Point Judith lighthouse. The current Lighthouse itself was built in 1857. And it's made of brownstone. It's half white and half kind of brownish red, which maybe that's the brownstone I guess, the ego smart. A neat little fact about Point Judith itself the landmass is that in the early 20th century, the boat traffic that past Point Judith was actually greater than that of what was entering New York Harbor. And Point Judith lighthouse is amazing for sunrises. My buddy Steve who I interviewed in Episode 14 about photography, one of our big while several of our big trips, we've actually gone for sunrise at point, Judith. So for us, from where we are on Cape Cod, you're looking at an hour and a half, I think to get there. So imagine we would go usually in the winter because sunrise is later. But even then, if the sunrise is at 7am, you're looking at getting up before five o'clock to get there with some time to spare, but it's worth it. It's beautiful to see you really got to check that out. And while you're down there, checking out Narragansett, you gotta have something to eat, you have to go to crazy burger. It's located at 144 Boone Street. They've been open since 1995. And we're on diners, drive-ins and dives which was how I had heard of them. Now it was several years ago, when my buddy Steve and I went there. I've been there a couple times. But when he and I went, I believe he got the Wasapi burger which has wasabi Brie cheese and onion rings, and I believe that I got the Cajun burger. A neat thing is that they make their own ketchup there too. Like they have regular ketchup in the glass bottles, but they also have their own homemade and one time when I was there, I actually bought some to take home you can buy it at least you could then they're probably the most popular spot in Narragansett diners, drive ins and dives really blew them up which is great. So if you're going in the summer, just be prepared go at a time when you don't think it'll be busy. Go in like two or three o'clock because if you go in the busy times, whoo. Good luck trying to get in but it's worth it believe me. Narragansett is about 80 miles south of Boston and 85 miles east of Hartford, so it's possible to go and visit there for a day trip from most of New England. But if you're gonna go and really soak it in, definitely find a place to stay check out the brake hotel at 1208 Ocean Road so you're smack dab in the middle of the historic district. It's a 16-room boutique property with a retro aura and a turquoise color scheme so it's very ocean-like there and you get spoiled. There's a year-round saltwater pool they got peloton bikes. And like I said you're right in the middle of the action of the Ocean Road Historic District. Visit them at the break hotel.com For more info, and also Narragansett as a jumping-off point to go to Block Island if you go to Galilee port, which is where the Block Island Ferry departs from. And if you go there, there's also the award-winning George's of Galilee seafood restaurant built in 1948 and located at 250 Sand Hill Cove road. And if you want to learn more about Block Island, you can go check out episode 15 of the podcast where I did a road trip out there. Like I said at the top of this segment, Narragansetts one of my favorite places to visit in New England Point Judith, the towers, crazy burger that's just scratching the surface. I went there and did a run many years ago for the fun of it down Ocean Road as a way to kind of better soak in the whole surroundings. You don't have to go and run but ride a bike, or just drive around and just see what there is to offer. Have a bite at Crazy burger go to crazy burger.com To find out more about them check out their menu that's eclectic, but very delicious. Maybe find a little out-of-the-way nook and have a Narragansett beer, even though that's produced in Providence, but still have Narragansett beer in Narragansett. Check out Narragansett coc.com. The Chamber of Commerce to get a lot more information about what to see and do and where to eat and where to stay. But mainly just go and explore Narragansett. It's close to Block Island, it's close to Newport. Like I said, it's 30 miles south of Providence you can get there from anywhere in New England, New York, New Jersey, just the further away you come make sure you stay overnight. It's worth it. You can go to sunrise at Point Judith and it'll be a lot easier than driving an hour and a half like I've done in the dark to get there. A crown jewel on southern New England coast, Narragansett Rhode Island. I hope you'll go check it out. And I hope you'll come back next week for another road trip to some other one of the hundreds and hundreds of amazing cities and towns that they're doing the region has to offer.

Back In the Day: First Crushes

Well, this one is going to be fun. So on the podcast, I always go back in the day child of the 80s, and teenager of the 90s and we relive a lot of fun, retro topics, nostalgia, and things that just bring you back to being a kid especially if you're my age. And I've shared some of my own embarrassing moments from childhood. are funny things like I did little league or staying at the National Seashore or sleepover parties or being scared of movies thinking they were real. But another thing happens as you grow up, and it is you discover the opposite sex. And at some point, you have your first crush, and you have your first I don't know if you'd be considered a girlfriend when you're that young, or a boyfriend. But you start to have all those firsts as far as first crushes and how you act and things, especially when you're a little boy. And I guess, when you're a guy growing up, you just act stupid. I hesitated to do this topic, but I figured why not have some fun. And of course, I won't name names. So that leaves me in the clear. So what we're going to do here is go back in the day to my first crushes, and some fun topics that centered around that, I'm going to stick to the 1980s. So when the decade ended, I was 12 years old. So that's as far as we're gonna go now, because this will be all the innocence and fun of puppy love and crushes without any of the soul-crushing garbage that comes as you age. So I think my first crush that I had, that I remembered was in second grade. And the reason why I think this is true is because I believe that was the first time that I chose to sit next to a girl in class and would routinely get talked to for showing off basically in class to get her attention. But I mean, it's different when you're eight years old. I mean, I think at one point, I was kind of fidgety in my seat. And my teacher said something about me having ants in my pants. So after a little while, I was making these huge wild movements, like I was getting eaten by ants to make this girl laugh. Obviously, the teacher didn't like that too much. But I was always shy and introverted, especially when it came around girls. So I mean, I wasn't going to do anything besides showing off in general and hoping that she noticed. But I also didn't do anything that like you might hear them say typical little boys would do if they like a girl, like throwing things at them and stupid stuff, like throwing sand at him or sticking gum in their hair and things like that. I never did that. I think I was more afraid that I would do that. And then I get in trouble. And they wouldn't like me rather than the off chance that I throw rocks at a girl and then she comes over and says oh, I didn't know you cared. And third grade. There was another girl I had a crush on. And I was like crazy about this girl. So much so that I found out when her birthday was and I went and I actually got her a present. So I was nine years old. I don't remember what I got her. But my mother brought me to her house. And I had to walk up and give her the gift it was in wintertime I think because it was cold. I think it was snowy, but I had to go up to her door and knock on the door and give her this birthday present just scared to death. And I think she was shocked that a boy from her class came and gave her a birthday present. I saw it as a grand gesture. At nine years old. She was kind of shocked then. But I remember the next day on the playground, I was just terrified of whatever her response would be. And lo and behold, she did she came over to me I was standing against the fence. And she came over and she was very nice. And she thanked me for the birthday present. And how did I respond to this? What was my cool comeback as a smooth nine-year-old? I asked her to give me five? Slap me five? What the hell kind of stupid way is that to get a nine-year-old girl interested? Like give me five like she's one of the guys. Yeah, you can see where that when we're not talking about some big romance that occurred from that that was another one and done. Does anyone else out there remember the first time they called someone of the opposite sex on the phone? How about that? That's terrifying. This was fifth grade for me. And I'll tell you, I don't even remember how I got the girl's number because I think I would have been too scared to even ask. So I probably asked one of her friends to get it from her for me. So there you're already batting 1000 Having someone else go ask for her number. And boy do I remember that first time because this was back in the day where we had more than one telephone in the house. And so I'm one of five kids and I'm whatever I was 11 years old, I believe when I was going to call this girl on the phone. And so my oldest sister she's only two years younger than me. So I was worried that she was going to get on the phone and just make fun of me. My youngest siblings, my twin sisters and my brother. They were too little, I think to even worry but I had to go around to my mother and my stepfather and my oldest sister and just like tell them what my plans were so much for being secretive. I couldn't just go sneak off in my room and call a girl I had to say, I'm making this phone call to this girl, please don't pick up the phone for the next 20 minutes. But before you get ahead of yourself, don't worry, the phone call wasn't anything special. I think I was amazed that I even dialed the number. But when she when it was her mother picked up, and she had to pass the phone off to her. And that just heightened the anticipation where I was just scared out of my mind. I didn't have much to say I think it was like, Hey, what's up? How's it going? What did you think of whatever we did in school that day? But again, what do you expect at 11 years old. And in the 1980s, there weren't cell phones, it was regular. Either push button phones, I mean, even a cordless phone back then was a rarity. I think I don't think we had a cordless phone at my house when I was 11. Because I believe I was on the phone like hiding behind the wall of a room just praying that no one walked in. I don't remember writing any notes to girls, I think I would have been too scared to try something like that. I think with that girl that I was the first one that I call that was fifth grade. I think that year was a double whammy because nothing went anywhere with her. I mean, what are we going to do at 11 We can't really go to the movies. We're going to go to the park and go on the swings. And then I think there was another girl that I started to have a crush on in fifth grade. And it was like, I think the day she found out or the day before it was like the next day or the next day she moved. Not because she found out but it was like it was already in the works. But I'm like, wow, there's a good omen for my love life. Looks like I have a crush on this girl. Well, she's moving tomorrow. It's like, oh, oh my God. And the last one as far as talking about my first crushes. Because the other ones were all I say one and done. That sounds terrible. They were all like, one school year. And then the next year wasn't that I didn't like them. It was just I didn't pursue them. But there was one girl whose family had a house basically across the street from mine. So it was like her grandparents and her family. They would all come down at different times during the summer. And that was different, because she was the same age as me. So we had some stuff in common. And I thought she was cute. And it was sweet and innocent. Because we first met we were eight years old. So our minds weren't in that place. Naturally. I think her father didn't like that I was kind of into her because it was summer after summer. So I think he saw that as we grew up, he was probably starting to worry more. And he was right. She was my first kiss, but it was truth or dare. So I don't know if that really actually counted. But her dad was right to be worried, I guess. But she was another one that it was just constantly showing off acting like an idiot like guys do. But on a different level when you're 910 11 years old than when you're later in like in high school and college and such or even now in your 40s. But the thing that I remember a lot about this girl that I had a crush on that would come down in the summers. And she knows who she is she listens to the podcast, but I'm still not going to name names. So if you hear this and you know it's you, you can always message me. But this whole thing was more interesting because one of my oldest friends who grew up in the same neighborhood, he ended up kind of being interested in her too. And he lived on the other side of her. So it became like a rivalry between us during the summer where we'd kind of be side-eyeing each other about this girl. And then when she went back in the off-season, then we were buddies again, like we forgot all about it. But that always made summer vacations even better, because I knew that she was going to come down with her family. Obviously as she got older, she came down less than less. And I actually became closer friends with her brother because he was a few years younger and he would keep coming down. But there are some of my first crushes my first experiences some nice embarrassing moments that you can laugh that I don't mind sharing because it's everyone goes through something similar. It may not be the same exact thing where you say you have a crush on a girl and she says she's moving away the next day, but something similar. So I hope you enjoyed some laughs at my expense as we went back in the day to my first crushes how successful they were. 

Sponsor: Cleat & Anchor

Do you like delicious, authentic barbecue from a specially crafted smoker? Do you like beautiful outdoor seating? Shady made for family dining? Do you like the most extensive craft beer list on Cape Cod? Do you like live entertainment? If you like any of those things are all of those things you've got to come and visit the Cleat and anchor at 243 Lower County Road in Dennis port. They're open for dinner every night of the week and brunch on weekends in the spring. That'll be changing in the summer. But the kitchen and all of its unbelievable items on the menu are artfully crafted by award-winning chef Mason Prime and his crew Whew, that worked so hard to make every meal the best it can be for its customers. Though there's lots of things to have definitely try the barbecue. There's wings. There's ribs, pulled pork sandwiches. Stop by and say hi to Carl. He's the man that is the pit master manning Tabitha the pig-shaped smoker. The Cleat and anchor combines family dining, with a youthful exuberance with live entertainment. It's got something for everyone. And coming up in the next episode of the podcast, I will have an in depth interview with Chef Mason prime and what makes the Cleat and anchor an up-and-coming restaurant, super busy super great food, the craft beer, the wine list the entertainment, it's all there. Visit them like I said at 243 Lower County Road and Dennis port. Check them out at cleat and anchor.com. I promise you will love whatever you have there. cleat and anchor go and check them out.

This Week In History

This week in history starts off with a holiday celebration. So let's go back 153 years ago this week to May 30 1868 was the first Memorial Day celebration. On this day Commander in Chief John A Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designated may 30 as a memorial day for the purpose of strewing flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city village and Hamlet churchyard in the land. This first celebration took place at Arlington National Cemetery, where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried. But the big thing was that we know it is Memorial Day. It was originally known as Decoration Day because of the fact that you would decorate the graves with flowers and other trinkets. The idea for this Memorial Day slash Decoration Day kind of got its start two years earlier, when a woman's Memorial Association and Columbus Mississippi decorated the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers on April 25 1866. It was seen as an act of generosity and reconciliation, which prompted an editorial piece published by Horace Greeley New York Tribune, as well as a poem by Francis Myles Finch called the blue in the gray in 1971. Federal law changed the observance of Memorial Day to the last Monday in May, and extended the honor to all soldiers who had died in American wars. Although a few states still continue to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30. And the very first Memorial Day slash Decoration Day took place 153 years ago this week in history 94 years ago, this week in history, May 31 1927. The Ford Model T automobile produces its very last unit. The Model T was introduced by Henry Ford in 1908. As Ford wanted this to be an affordable, simple to operate and durable vehicle, and it was one of the first mass-produced vehicles allowing for to achieve the goal of manufacturing a universal car that anyone could get. Well, pretty much anyone. Because of this mass production, the Ford Motor Company could sell the vehicle for as low as $260 or roughly $7,500. Today, the Model T was first tested by Henry Ford himself he took the vehicle on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan, and the Model T became famous for stunts it could perform including climbing the stairs of the Tennessee State Capitol and reaching the top of Pikes Peak, nicknamed the tin Lizzy. By the early 1920s. More than half of the registered automobiles in the world were Ford's more than 15 million Model T's were built and sold. And a ceremony was held to honor the end of the production of the Model T with the very last model T being purchased by Henry Ford himself. And that took place 94 years ago this week in history. This weekend history 53 years ago this week, June 5 1968. Robert F Kennedy is assassinated. Senator Kennedy was shot in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its divisions. Kennedy was shot several times by 22-year-old Old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan and was pronounced dead a day later on June 6. This was another incident that just rocked the summer of 1968. With the Vietnam War going on, and Dr. Martin Luther King having been assassinated only two months earlier, but through all of that turmoil, Robert Kennedy was perceived by many to be the only person in American politics capable of uniting the people. And after winning the California Primary, he was seen as the person who would receive the Democratic nomination for president and face off against Richard Nixon in the general election. As Kennedy was heading out a rear exit of the Ambassador Hotel, Sirhan Sirhan stepped forward, hiding his 22 caliber revolver. He was only about a foot away when he fired several shots at Kennedy wounding five other bystanders. Sirhan was found guilty and sentenced to death on March 3 1969. But in 1972, the California State Supreme Court invalidated all death penalty sentences. So he has spent the rest of his life in prison. And in the wake of Kennedy's assassination, Hubert Humphrey ended up running for the Democrats in 1968, and ultimately lost Richard Nixon. And this was one of the most famous assassinations in political history in America. And it happened 53 years ago this week. On a much lighter note, 30 years ago this week, June 2 1991, liquid television debuts on MTV. For those of you around my age, a little younger, a little older, liquid television is something that you likely remember from MTV, if you don't remember, it was basically a late-night adult animated variety show kind of, it's known as being the launching point for Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux, the vision of Jeff Asher. The show initially ran for three seasons and 22 episodes, ultimately having a very short revival in 2014. The bulk of the TV shows material was created by independent animators and artists specifically for the show. And as groundbreaking and popular as the show was in its first run on MTV, the irony is that due to the extensive use of licensed music throughout this series, full episodes of liquid television have not been seen in any form. Since its original run. You might get segments here and there. There were a couple of VHS tapes in the late 90s that were the best of liquid television. But it's kind of hard to get permission to mass produce DVDs of liquid television, you have to secure all the rights I mean, it would start the show would start with like a contemporary music video. Like the very first episode was Robert Palmer is Addicted to Love, but it would be liquefied. It's kind of the same as anyone that watched Beavis and Butthead they would always talk about music videos, and they would show them it's got to be difficult to get licensing for those to the show's last original first-run episode was New Year's Day 1995. After that the show was succeeded by cartoon sushi. And obviously Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux went on to have several more seasons Beavis and Butthead will be something that definitely gets covered in the future. Liquid television the cartoon anthology series on MTV debuted this week in history 30 years ago, and now we've got a special time capsule. We're gonna go back to May 31 1999 22 years ago this week, the number one song was livin la vida loca by Ricky Martin. It was released off of his self-titled debut solo album after being in the pop band Menudo in the 80s. The song was number one for five weeks and was easily Ricky Martin's biggest hit of his career. The number one movie was Star Wars Episode One The Phantom Menace, which is absolutely a polarizing movie. Some people loved it. Some people hated it, but everyone went and saw it. It basically tells the origin story of Anakin Skywalker who would grow up to be Darth Vader on a budget of $115 million. The film made over $920 million, which adjusted for today, you know, 22 years later, is just over $1.4 billion. So everyone went to see it, everyone's opinions vary. It's got a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes so that guests that makes it slightly rotten, and I believe it's the only one of the Star Wars films to actually have a rotten rating. Most of them are highly, highly fresh if you go by those ratings. The number one TV show was Frasier starring Kelsey Grammer. This was the spin-off of cheers starring Dr Frasier Crane. Frasier ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004, which when coupled with his time on cheers, which ran from 1982 to 1993. That means that Kelsey Grammer played Frasier Crane for basically 20 straight years on TV because Frasier started the season after cheers ended, and it became its own huge hit even if you didn't watch cheers. It won the Emmy for Outstanding primetime comedy series, five years in a row, and the cast itself 137 primetime Emmys, which was a record at the time for a scripted show. And if you happen to have a newborn baby, May 31 1999, a box of 40 newborn diapers at Babies R Us would cost you $9.29. And on this day, 22 years ago, I was lucky enough to become an uncle for the first time. And this is my niece Kaleigh’s birthday today she is 22. And I wanted to let her know how lucky I am to be able to call her my niece and how blessed I have been to have her as a part of my life and my family. You make me very proud. And I wish you a happy birthday. And I love you and I can't wait to see you and have more foolish fun adventures that only an uncle like me can have. And that'll wrap up another time capsule another this week in history. And I'll be back next week for more finding out what was going on in the world this week in history. 

Closing

That'll wrap up episode 23 of the in my footsteps podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for your support through all of these episodes. For as much as I market and promote my podcast, nothing tops, having listeners who enjoy it, promote it and share it. That's the best endorsement I could possibly get. You don't know how much that means to me. Thank you so much. Like I always say check out my website, Christopher setterlund.com. Find me on Twitter, Instagram. I do my live streams Friday nights at eight o'clock. Now you can find me on Tik Tok. See how I'm doing with that? It's different but fun. And it's definitely not all dancing and music stuff, which is what I thought shows how much I know in my advancing age. Pick up your copy of iconic hotels and motels of Cape Cod either through the history press.com through amazon.com or any local bookstore, Cape Cod, southeastern Massachusetts it's all there. Learn all about some of the biggest Hotels Resorts motels over the last century and a half Chatham Bars in will cross it ocean edge and so many more. And let me know if you liked it if you get it With summer coming and the weather just beautiful outside if you're looking to get in shape stay in shape. Definitely check out Coach K Oh Kailyn or find her on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. I had asked her if she had anything that she wanted me to plug for her because she is friend of the show. And she said she had so many things she would let me know but I'm just going to plug her in general. She's an amazing and gifted trainer. And so any of you out there that are looking to get in shape stay in shape. You would be very lucky to train with her take some of her classes boot camps one on one. Just find her on social media Koach KO, special thanks to my sponsors for the show where your wish checkout where your wishes.com and Cleat and anchor restaurant at Cleat and anchor.com. Check both out tell them that in my footsteps podcast pointed you toward them. That always does good for me shows me that people listening actually enjoy what I have is promotions on here. Again, I wanted to wish my niece Kaleigh a happy 22nd birthday it already occurred on May 31. But the timing of the podcasts such as it is and a special birthday shout-out coming up on June 6 to my brother Matt, who will turn 38 years old, which I don't know how we've gotten this old bro but I love you and hope you have a happy birthday and you may get a special time capsule on the next episode. So stay tuned for that. Coming up next week is episode 24. We are starting to pile up the episode numbers 24 is going to have the interview with Chef Mason prime as I mentioned earlier in the Cleat and anchor promo. He talks a lot about his journey as a chef and why you should definitely go check out Cleat and anchor I did it's awesome. The smoker is amazing. I have a video You on Tik Tok so you can go see that of Carl the pit master throwing the ribs inside a smoker that looks like a pig. We're also going to talk about the SS James Longstreet. That was also known as Cape Cod's own target ship, which is still located in Cape Cod Bay. You just can't see it anymore. But that's a fascinating story. And we're going to have a little discussion about a micro-generation known as Xennial, which is a cross between Generation X and millennial, which I found out I am a part of, so I'll expand on that, and the whole generation and characteristics and all that fun stuff. And this week in history, we'll come back with a new time capsule that I think I hinted at already. So I hope you'll come back for that one and enjoy it. Take care of your mental health. Make time for yourself and things that make you happy. That makes the world a whole lot easier when you put yourself first and your mental health first. But remember, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and this journey that we call life and enjoy every moment that you can, because you never know tomorrow's never promised. Thank you again for listening. And I will talk to you all again soon.





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Christopher Setterlund

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