Episode 2: Cape Cod's Atlantis, Newport, RI, Making Mixtpes, and This Week In History Debut(11-19-2020)

The second In My Footsteps Podcast episode shares one of my favorite Cape Cod history stories.  It is that of Cape Cod's Atlantis known as Billingsgate Island.  Once a thriving island community off of Wellfleet today Billingsgate is all but a memory, only appearing at low tides as a sandbar.
Newport, Rhode Island is one of the crown jewels of New England.  From its beaches and shops, to historical sites specifically its Cliff Walk and mansions, there is so much to see and do in a road trip to Newport. 
Long before the days of streaming and mp3's, even before the days of recordable compact discs, there were mixtapes.  They were a way to express yourself through music and a way to share your love of music with others by making custom mixes for friends.  I'll share some of my memories of what it was like crafting a rad mixtape.
Also this episode will see the debut of This Week In History.  It features 4 stories, local, national, world, and pop culture stories sure to pique your interest!
All of this and more in Episode 2! Come and take a walk.

Check out Episode 1 here.

Transcript

00:00 Intro 

Hello World! Welcome back to The In My Footsteps Podcast. This is episode number two. I wanted to take a second to say thank you to all of you that downloaded or listen to the debut episode. I am so thrilled, it really means a lot that you took a chance on fledgling podcast, however you got here, you can find my podcast anywhere. Pandora, Spotify, Apple, Google, Stitcher, I Heart Radio, any other big one that you can think of. 

So this is Episode Two, I'm hoping that you enjoyed the first episode in the format there, I'm going to try to keep that format the same, so that you kind of know what to expect going into each episode. However, now saying that I'm going to be adding a segment this week, I know what you're saying, Wow, two episodes in, he's already changing it up. Well, this is something that I've wanted to put in, I just decided to start with something much simpler last time. So this podcast is a lot of history in it. From the retro to kind of tracing back some of the history of Cape Cod, New England and beyond. I figured what better way than to add a segment called This Week in History, it's going to be a little bit different, we're going to have four segments in it, it'll be one will be local, you'll have one that's national for the country, another that's world. And finally one that's more pop culture, that'll be kind of funny or wacky. And this week, there is a good one for that. But I'm going to try my best to keep the format the same, I have several other segments that I'm going to be looking to add to this podcast as we go on. But I don't want to have it where it's just every week, you can't tell what's coming. So at least through the end of the year, I'm going to try to keep it like this, while also trying to keep the length the same. I like the idea of it being a manageable bite that you can either on the commute to work, or just around the house or going for a walk, it's kind of a manageable podcast for you to listen to. 

So I wanted to give a special thanks to Buzzsprout. They are the website that is hosting this podcast. So basically what it is, is this podcast gets uploaded to their site. And from there, it gets sent off to all of the big streaming platforms, they're really good, I would definitely recommend them. I also want to give a big thank you to The Podcast Host.com. Before I got started with this, you know, was about two months ago or a little more that I had the idea to maybe do a podcast and put a lot of things that I'm passionate about on the air and share with whoever is interested in them as well. But honestly, I had no idea about how to even start a podcast. And that was kind of how the search got started. I typed in 'how do I start a podcast' and Podcast Host.com. I went to their site they had everything I could possibly imagine. From the Samson q2 microphone that I'm using right now to the Audacity software that I'm also using right now to just general tips about who to speak to what the content should be little things like that, that I would have no idea of. So I wanted to give them a shout out and just say thank you. It's really been helping me out and hopefully, this podcast will continue to grow. And then I can thank them more.

So moving on, in addition to the this week in history segment of the podcast we're going to be traveling back in time to discover Cape Cod's own Atlantis, which is one of my favorite stories about the Cape and it's actually something that really sparked my interest in Cape Cod history. We'll also be making a rad mixtape, as long as the DJs don't talk over the music. And we'll be taking a trip to one of the crown jewel towns in New England. With a great walk and some great mansions. There's a tease. So thanks for joining me for In My Footsteps, Episode Two, and let's take a walk.

5:40 In Their Footsteps - Cape Cod's Atlantis

The Lost City of Atlantis is a legend that most people have heard of growing up. It was a fictional Utopian society. First mentioned by Greek philosopher Plato more than 2300 years ago, it was seen as technologically advanced, this great society that Plato used in his teachings about imperialism, things of that nature, and one day it just disappeared. Atlantis may have been fictional, but there is actually a real Atlantis you could say on Cape Cod, and that was a spot known as Billingsgate Island, and that is referred to often as cape cod's Atlantis. And this will be the story of Billingsgate Island what it was and where it is now In Their Footsteps.

Today Billingsgate is a shoal. Its location is about three miles west of Sunken Meadow Beach and Eastham, just south of Jeremy Point. So if you go out to Wellfleet there's Great Island out in Wellfleet, Billingsgate was noted by the Pilgrims when they first came to the New World after they landed at Provincetown in 1620. And the first known European inhabitants of this island were Mayflower passenger, Constance Hopkins and her husband Nicholas Snow in the 1640s. It was initially part of North Eastham because of its location until Wellfleet came along, separated itself from Eastham in 1763 and became its own town. Then Billingsgate Island was seen as part of Wellfleet.

The peak of Billingsgate was the mid 1800s. It capitalized on how big the fishing industry was on Cape Cod and New England in general back then, it was at this time, or at least in this recorded time that it was the island itself was 60 acres in size. It may have been larger before, but that's as large as it was seen documented. And in this time, when it was at its peak, there was as many as 80 people that would be living on this island in the warmer months. In the winter, the bay would freeze much like it does today, Cape Cod Bay freezes sometimes with the flats out there, but in 1821 a salt works was built on the island, and in 1822, the government designated four acres of land for a lighthouse on the island. After the lighthouse, there would be up to 30 homes, a school house, a general store, oil works, and there was even a baseball team that would row across from Billingsgate Island and play teams that were on the mainland Cape Cod. It really was like an Atlantis like a storybook Utopian village that was real and right off the coast. But as great as a society and the island was there was a big problem and it's still a problem to this day and that's erosion. As early as 1850 the lighthouse keeper Francis Krugman, he noted that the island was washing away, and a storm in 1854 actually damaged the lighthouse so badly that $14,000 was appropriated for the construction of a new lighthouse on higher ground that was completed in 1858. This continued erosion due to the location of the island. Among the flats that are and if anyone's familiar with Cape Cod Bay, there's really large tidal flats and essentially, the erosion of Billingsgate Island the sand would wash away but it wouldn't just vanish. It created dangerous shoals in and around the island. Several ships ran aground there. There was one the S&E Corson from Philadelphia it sunk in 1879 with this cargo of coal, so word got out about the island washing away, and 1000 foot sea wall and bulkhead was constructed to try to buy some time. Unfortunately, these sea walls jetties bulkheads, they can have the opposite effect. You can see some of that on the Cape and on shorelines today where they protect the area right in front of where they're constructed, but the areas surrounding kind of get depleted of their sand. Basically what happened was they created this bulkhead to try to save the island, and it ended up chipping away at other areas of the island. So the writing was on the wall around the turn of the 20th century, fishermen the fishing industry started to slow down so fishermen and their families would start leaving Billingsgate Island. They would float their homes across the bay, and some of these homes actually still stand in Wellfleet. 

Ironically, even though the regular residents of the island were leaving one last man, Dr. Maurice Richardson of Boston, in 1897, he bought two large plots of land on the island and built a summer home there. That did not last very long because the erosion It couldn't be stopped. They built another breakwater in 1905 that didn't do anything to help. The Billingsgate lighthouse collapsed the day after Christmas in 1915. There was still a little bit of the island left so they put a little skeleton tower up there. Right after that later in 1915, the home of Dr. Richardson that he had built was taken down. There was one last lighthouse keeper, Henry Daniels. He spent three nearly uninterrupted years out on the island 1917 to 1920. He was a lighthouse keeper, but he was also guarding the oyster beds, because shellfishing was still big out there. And people will go out there and day trips to do shellfishing. By the early 1920s the island that had been 60 acres was now barely five acres, and the erosion just never stopped.

The skeleton tower that they had used for lighthouse fell into the ocean in December 1932. It was replaced by a lighted bell buoy, and the breakwater, the second one that they had built that didn't work that was dismantled. They brought that over to the Wellfleet harbor to use that for some repair work. And in 1942 erosion finally got its way and Billingsgate island was officially submerged for the first time ever. And it ended its time as an island and it created this new life as Billingsgate Shoal, which still exists to this day. So it is possible, even right now in 2020 to take a boat and go out and dock on Billingsgate Shoal at low tide. And people go out there they'll do you know, shell fishing, but they'll also go for picnics. It's also, so even though the lighthouse got taken down or collapsed, it is possible if you go out there for a scavenger hunt to possibly find a brick from the lighthouse. And I'll admit that's one of my big last things that I want to do on Cape Cod. I've seen pretty much everything you can see on Cape Cod. That's why I'm doing this podcast because I like to share these little hidden gems. But finding a brick from Billingsgate Island lighthouse is a big, big selling point for me. The only problem is that it's three miles off the coast of Eastham. So that's the story of Billingsgate Island. There's plenty more you can look up. I have a an article about it at my blog, 

Christopher Setterlund.blogspot.com that has a little more detail and some photos of the island in the lighthouse. But that is Cape Cod's Atlantis, one of those places that you wouldn't think actually existed, but it did.

14:23 Sponsor - Barb's Bike Shop 

So before we go on just a little sidetrack. Did you know that there's 114 miles of bike trails on Cape Cod alone? There's hundreds and hundreds of more miles of bike trails throughout Massachusetts in the rest of New England. So for those of you that enjoy being outdoors and enjoy bike trails, you need a bike. If you've got one if you don't have one if you want to rent one by one is one place that you really have to check out. That's Barb's bike shop at 430 Route 134 South Dennis they've been open since 1989 with high service high quality, they've got all kinds of bikes, road bikes, hybrid bikes, street bikes, they got the Fat Tire bikes that you can go on the beach with. 

They've even got electric bikes, they got sales, rentals, repairs, they do tuneups. They've even got an air pump, you can pull up and pump up your tires. So, if you're looking for great service, great quality of bikes, check out a place has been open for over 30 years. Barb's Bike Shop Route 134, South Dennis, call them at 508-760-4723. Visit their website at Barb's Bike Shop.com and you'll be pleasantly surprised. A little spot out of the way but they've had high quality for a long time. So go and check them out Barb's bike shop. Make sure to say hi to Mike when you're in there and mention that the In My Footsteps Podcast directed you towards their business. I'm sure that will make his day. Barb's bike shop, go check them out.

16:05 Road Trip - Newport, RI

All right, it's time for another road trip. So after the last time we went out to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and visited the charming little mountain town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. This time we're going to take a different trek, we're going down to the southern part of New England, and one of the crown jewels of the tiny state of Rhode Island, the town of Newport.

Located 75 miles south of Boston, and 180 miles east of New York City Newport is a highly popular tourist destination for sightseeing shopping, and even festivals. most famous of the festivals is the Newport Jazz Festival. This takes place on the grounds of Fort Adams. Fort Adams is the largest coastal fortification in the United States. It took decades to build and it was finished in 1857. And it was actually still active up until World War II. The grounds can still be toured there's a walking loop that goes around the perimeter of the property that's over two miles long, and give some great views of the harbor and the Newport bridge. But the Newport Jazz Festival started in 1954. It was a two day event held at the Newport casino and included performances by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. It was such a success that came back the next year. It moved to Freebody Park on Freebody Street for the next year. Eventually the festival moved to the grounds of Fort Adams. Ironically, the Newport Jazz Festival actually moved to New York through the 1970s because they started having rock bands come and play and the crowds kind of got rowdy. So the festival moved to New York until 1981, which was when they put it at Fort Adams Park. It's still active today. It's been organized by George Wein since the beginning. He's still going strong today at the age of 95. 

Besides the Newport Jazz Festival in Fort Adams, there's so much more to see. There's great shopping in Newport at the historic wharves, with shops like Bannister's Wharf and Bowen's Wharf, and it actually has recently been named the best walking city by Conde Nast Traveler. There's cobblestone streets, and even the lesser known sites like a place called King Park on Wellington Avenue. It's at the south end of Newport harbor. There's a neat pavilion there and it's got these great ocean views. And in a town that's full of attractions, it's neat to find a place that's lesser known but yet, you could spend a lot of time there just enjoying the scenery. It's the hidden gems that kind of tie Newport together. But it's the bigger known attractions that really are what bring you there. One of those if you're looking for a place to stay at doubles as an attraction is the Castle Hill in which is a 40 acre property that's popular for weddings. It sits at the end of Ocean Avenue and was built in 1875.  Obviously it's a high rated luxury resort. Also on the grounds is Castle Hill lighthouse. It's built of stone, it's white and kind of an off white color. It looks like a teapot sitting in the rocks. That was built in 1890. And that's a great sunset spot. I'm naturally biased towards lighthouses. So anytime I go to Newport, I try to make it a point to go over to Castle Hill lighthouse and get some pictures of it. 

Of course, anyone that goes to Newport has to go and visit the Newport mansions. That's basically the biggest thing that the town is known for. The easiest way to see the mansions is to go along the cliff walk, which begins at Memorial Boulevard, but you can basically jump on and off at any point, it's kind of like a bike trail would be. The trail itself is in total, it's three and a half miles long. You've got the ocean on one side of you and a line of I said at least 11 mansions big, big mansions that sit on the other side. And they all are unique in their architecture. Even Salve Regina University, which is along the cliff walk looks like it belongs as a mansion. In 1975 that was designated a National Recreation trail. It's pretty easy to walk. It's not really paved a lot of it's rocky, it's like a dirt road. But it's easy to navigate. Anyone can go down it and it's worth it. Some of these mansions they've got majestic names like Rosecliff that was completed in 1902. It was designed for Herman and Teresa Oelrichs, and was meant to be a theatrical setting for parties and entertainment. As I said it was finished in 1902 and back then it costs two and a half million dollars. And adjusted that would be like $75.6 million for 2020. It's got 30 rooms and it's 28,000 square feet. And just seeing it it's very impressive. If you don't have time to walk or drive the entirety of the cliff walk. The one that most people go to see is The Breakers. That's probably the most famous one. It was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895. It cost $7 million back then to build so it's the equivalent of $217 million. today. The Vanderbilt family was one of the most powerful and rich in the country. In the 19th century. Their fortune was incredible Cornelius Vanderbilt I, also known as the Commodore, when he died in 1877. his fortune was valued at $95 million. That would be about $2.3 billion today. And most of that was left to Cornelius Vanderbilt the second which kind of explains how he could afford to build a 70 room mansion that's valued at $217 million today. 

Besides the mansions and the shopping, the outdoor recreation is great. There's plenty of beaches. You can go biking along Ocean Avenue. And there's Brenton Point State Park, which is a neat place to go. There's actually an old broken down mansion in there called The Bells. It's a story that's going to be shared on a future podcast because it's, it takes too long to do and I want to keep these road trip ones kind of focused as best I can. It's so close by and it's so well known but Newport, Rhode Island always lives up to the hype and the praise that it gets. If you like shopping, mansions, cycling, lighthouses, luxury resorts, all of that stuff, I highly recommend that you don't have to go and stay overnight. I mean, that helps. But it's an easy day trip from almost anywhere in New England and beyond. You know, New York, New Jersey, it's a few hours. So definitely check out Newport. Discover Newport.org is a great website to kind of sum up all the attractions and stuff that I might have missed while trying to keep this at a manageable clip. There's also City of Newport.com. And if any of you go and check out Newport, definitely let me know what you thought of it. If you've never been it's worth it first time, Second Time, 100th Time, just go check it out. See you next time for another road trip on In My Footsteps.

24:27 This Week In History

So as I was saying at the top of the show, I wanted to start a new segment just called this week in history. So we will cover four different topics. That's going to be one local one national one world in one kind of pop culture funny one. These topics will always be things that I've researched and that I think you would be interested in hearing about but enough about explaining it. Let's just jump in and get started. 

So we'll start more locally, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This Week in history. 91 years ago on November 19, 1929, there was an inquiry into a suspicious accident that caused the death of Milton Baxter. He was a clerk of the Barnstable first district court, and a very popular man on the Cape and Southeastern Massachusetts. So November 19, was the inquiry in court into his death. What exactly happened? On October the 13th, Baxter was returning from a trip to Boston, when his car skidded off the Bourne Bridge and plunged down into the Cape Cod Canal. The thing is, back then the Bourne Bridge, it wasn't the one that we have now, even though that one's old as well. This was the original Bourne Bridge that was a drawbridge. And I can only assume that it was easier for an automobile to go, crashing through the side guardrails of the drawbridge. So the car plunged off the bridge into the water. And it was actually found the next day, they found Milton Baxter's car, but they didn't find his body. They didn't find his body until November 4th, and that was near Cleveland Ledge off of Marion close to where the Cleveland Ledge lighthouse is today. Basically, after they found his body and the automobile, there was immediately suspicion as to what happened, because the weather, I guess, was fine. So they weren't sure if there had been any foul play. So there was a long inquiry into his death with six witnesses called, including the people that found his body and the people that found his car off the side of the bridge. Baxter was only 38 years old. So it was kind of confusing as to why his car would just suddenly skid off a bridge, they weren't sure if there was suicide, foul play just an accident. After about a month, on December 14, 1929, the court found that there was no foul play. It was just an accident. And ironically, Baxter upon his death, he had his estate, he had money saved, and he had no family except for his mother. So his estate was going to be left to her. But then that was in litigation for years because of his death. You know, it was like not wrongful death, but something like that. So that was in litigation until 1937. Eventually there was a settlement like a court settlement. So they wanted $10,000. And then it was like, No, no, no, we'll mark it down to $7,500. And they finally got it down to $2,500 was going to be kind of the award to the family for the untimely death of Milton Baxter. And sadly, by the time that got decided his mother had also died. And doing my research, I couldn't find what happened to that money. I don't know who got it. But that was 91 years ago this week in the Cape Cod , Massachusetts area.

On a national scale. 58 years ago this week on November 20, 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended. So kind of a quick summation of Cuban Missile Crisis was kind of the boiling point of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Essentially, Cuba had aligned with the Soviets after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. And figuring that the US wouldn't really react. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stashed some medium and intermediate ballistic missiles on Cuba. And it was so close to the US they could have struck the East Coast of the US with these missiles. On October 22, there was a US blockade of Cuba. It led to a really tense standoff, but eventually cooler heads prevailed. And there were talks, Khrushchev removed the missiles. President John F. Kennedy promised to never invade Cuba. And I guess in secret he agreed to remove missiles that the US had in Turkey. But judging from what my parents have said, and things that I've researched, this was basically as close as the world came to a nuclear war. I remember as a kid in the 1980s when the Cold War ended, and the Berlin Wall came down in the fall of communism. But as a kid, then it didn't seem like it was a big deal. It was just too powerful nations that just didn't like each other. But when you read about and research about the Cuban Missile Crisis, you realize just how close the world came to annihilation. I mean, hopefully that never gets escalated to that point again, but you never know. There's so many countries these days that have nuclear weapons all it would take, I guess is one miscommunication. 58 years ago this week was as close as the world came to a nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On the world stage 231 years ago this week, November 18, 1789, Louie Daguerre was born in Cormeilles, France. Now, who was Louie Daguerre? Most people would know him as basically the father of photography. He was the inventor of the daguerreotype. It was the first permanent photograph process. He invented it in 1834, it was unveiled to the world in 1839. Essentially, it was a way to capture an image on a silver coated copper plate. It was very fragile essentially instead of having photo paper, you had these copper plates that had the image on it. So they were fragile. I don't know how many exist to this day, but you would think they would be something that could be dropped and cracked pretty easily. The daguerreotype was an advancement of the camera obscura, which was popularized by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502. Camera Obscura it's a box that had a small hole on one side that would let light in and it would project an image say onto a wall project an image that was inverted in reverse. So Daguerre just continued the process and advanced that. The daguerreotype was only really popular for 20 years, in 1860 it was all but forgotten about when more permanent photographic processes were coming along. That's when, especially for those that are familiar with it, they had Civil War photography and in the 1850s and 60s was when photography really took off.

To end on a lighter note. This Week in history and pop culture 82 years ago this week on November 16, 1938 lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD, or acid, was invented by Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman. He was looking for compounds he could make with lysergic acid and kind of stumbled upon this hallucinogenic drug. It was named LSD 25 because it was his 25th attempt at creating different compounds from the acid. LSD became quite popular especially in the 1960s in Southern California, as an hallucinogenic drug that alters your thoughts and feelings. It became the backbone of the psychedelic music scene of Southern California.  Bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company. They all were kind of creating music off the backs of LSD use. Even bands like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, they all used LSD as well. So Hoffman had discovered the LSD in 1938. But he basically he set it aside for five years. And when he came back to it in 1943, and was messing around with it, he accidentally ingested a little bit of it, and that's where he discovered the psychedelic properties of it. He described it as being pleasantly intoxicated, like a dreamlike state with an extremely stimulated imagination. He said it lasted about two hours and then slowly faded away. But yes, the very first acid trip took place in 1943. And on this week in history, 82 years ago, LSD was discovered synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman. And that was a look at the local national world and a little bit of the weird and wacky. Which was your favorite? I like the LSD one, for me growing up on Cape Cod and knowing the Bourne Bridge, I also like the Milton Baxter one, although it's sad, it's interesting to think about. So I'm hoping to keep this as a part of the podcast going forward. Like I said, at the top, I also want to keep this as a manageable length. Kind of a nice, full plate but not overflowing. So we'll see how that goes. Hopefully you enjoyed this first look this week in history.

34:43 Back in the Day - Making Mixtapes 

So it's time for another trip way, way back in the day. After last weekend talking about the Nintendo, another thing popped into my head that I thought folks in my age in my generation would remember and appreciate. So today with music, there's streaming, and we got Spotify and Pandora, shout out to anyone who's listening to this podcast on either of those formats. I really appreciate it. However, not that long ago before streaming there. I mean, we still have mp3, and mp4 's and those type things. But even the old iPod, the little shuffle that looks like a stick of gum, even that is now passé compared to streaming, but you go back a generation before then you had mix CDs that you would make for friends. But if you want to go back, way, way back in the day, you got to think about mixtapes. 

So for a little history lesson, the first real audio cassettes that were used for recording, they were released in the mid 1960s. In fact, the 1964 was when the first home stereo and stereo recorders that had cassette technology were widely available in the US. The invention of the Walkman by Sony really made the cassette take off in popularity when it came out in 1979. 

And even though the Compact Disc became publicly available in the early 80s, it was the cassette that dominated the generation of the 80s. You had brands like Maxell and Memorex, Scotch, BASF. For anyone out there that remember they had the little labels, you could write your own label on it. Mixtapes were something you made either for yourself or you could make them for friends. If you had someone you're interested in at school, he might make them a mixtape that had songs that kind of explained how you felt without having to say it. It was neat, though, I remember having the double cassette recorder. I don't know if anyone remembers that where you could actually make tapes from other tapes. We had the time it perfectly, because it wasn't like a CD where you could press the button and go to track four and just start this was a masterclass in science of having to pause it at the right time. The only thing that was worse than that was when you were trying to record songs off the radio, what I would do sometimes pick a station from back in the day, maybe Cape 104, for those that grew up on Cape Cod. And you put a blank tape in there, and you just hit record and let it go. And then when it was full, if it was an hour of blank tape on each side, you go through and fast forward and you would find songs that you liked and then you would transfer those to other other tapes and other blank tape that would kind of become the mixtape. 

Of course, all of us that grew up in that era remember the big problem with making mixtapes. Well, one of the big problems was that if you requested a song on the radio, or if you found a song you were interested in recording the problem was the DJ on the radio, and they still do it today. They love to talk over the music until the words actually start. And that was terrible if you were trying to make yourself a mixtape when the song had, you know, a 15 second intro, but you got a DJ talking about upcoming songs and weather and all this stuff. And so you had the time and so you'd have the song. Yeah, but it would just start with the words. And I know I had plenty of those that were just, 'yeah, yeah, well here's a song,' but it's it doesn't have the whole thing. Or you'd even have where a song would be ready to end and it would just seamlessly flow into the next song or would have the bumper for the station. So you'd have a song ending and fading out and all of a sudden this loud noise would come up. Alright, here's the next station and then the next song. Yeah, making mixtapes was a blast. It was fun to kind of put your own spin on the music. It's no different than the playlist that you do today with Spotify and Pandora except back then it took a lot longer to complete your playlist. I think if I looked in my mom's basement, I would probably be able to find some of my mixed tapes that go back about 30 years. I don't know if they would still work if I played them the tape would probably shred. 

And speaking of shredding tape, I'm sure everyone that had cassettes back in the day. They can remember the tape getting wrapped up. When you would take it out you would either have to you know if you snap the tape and it was over, but you had to grab a pencil and put it in little teeth there and spin the tape back in to make sure it played. They were surprisingly durable, cassettes, I've got CDs that are 30 years old that...have any of you out there had the CDs with the CD rot? It looks like someone has scraped some of the shine off of them. I actually have a couple of CDs that I also have the cassettes of and I bet that cassette sound better, you know, 25-30 years later than the CDs do, which is ironic. It's sort of the same thing with how vinyl has made such a big comeback. So blank audio cassettes were the best way to record and share music with people and CD started catching on in the late 80s. Like I was saying, I think it was 1991 when I started actually buying CDs, but I think I kept kind of the mix was even between CDs and cassettes up until probably 1993 or 94 because cassettes were cheaper. Especially if you wanted just one song, you got those Cassingles, and used those to help make your mixtape.

By 2001 CDs had officially passed cassettes by and they started to fade away. And CDs took over for the next few years, even though they'd already had a big share of the market for you know about a decade. But ironically, I think cassettes may have had a longer reign at the top than CDs because it wasn't too long. After that mp3 started to get big. Wasn't it 2004/2005, that Apple and the iTunes and the iPod came out? I think I got my first iPod Shuffle in 2005 so yes, CDs run at the top weren't as long as the cassette was. So there's a little trip down memory lane with making mixtapes does anyone out there remember making mixtapes given them to someone that you liked at school? Or do you still have some from 30-35 years ago? I'm sure because vinyl has come back in style. Maybe there'll be some time that cassettes will be back in style. I think you can still buy them. I don't think they're collector's items yet. I think they're useful technology. But who knows? Maybe things come full circle. cassettes will be back in style and then I can make some new mixtapes.

42:46 Closing

 That's about all the time we got this week on the In My Footsteps Podcast want to give a special thank you to all of you that turned into this second episode. Like I said if you have any questions comments shoot me an email Christopher Setterlund@gmail.com. you can also find me on Twitter Christopher Setterlund, Instagram. I have a personal page I also have one that is now dedicated to this podcast so it'll feature clips and photos about things we've talked about maybe things we will talk about there's also author page on Facebook Christopher Setterlund In My Footsteps if you want to check it out there I post a lot of content on these and I don't feel quite as bad shamelessly plugging myself on these pages that are set up for that you can also become a subscriber on YouTube that's a great thing over there I do a lot of 4K videos showcasing places around New England I've got some old videos, some of the road trip that I did last year that I'll cover those at some point on this podcast also go to Blogger.com check out the original In My Footsteps travel and lifestyle blog I've been working on for over 10 years.  It kind of was the genesis for all of this stuff enjoy me again next time for episode 3 where we'll be talking about where the tastiest clams were on Cape Cod, will take a bite out of York in Maine and we'll also get some laughs at my expense when I tell you when I first found out that movies weren't real anyone is out there listening make sure to have a happy and safe Thanksgiving a happy birthday to my Mom Laurie Sullivan she just had her birthday few days ago on the 14th and looking forward to shout out a special happy birthday to my sister Kate will be having her birthday on the 23rd she may end up being a sponsor on here at some point she's got a really exciting business opportunity coming up but I will not spoil that I'm going to let that unfold as it will. Like I said join me again next time for episode 3 if you're listening on Buzzsprout and you feel like supporting the podcast there's that link right below you can see otherwise this podcast is available all over the place Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, Stitcher, check them all out well if you don't to check them all out your hearing it once you've heard it it'll be the same on all of those. Remember in life create your own path, enjoy every moment you can on this journey and thank you for taking the walk In My Footsteps take care and I'll see you next time.