Going Medieval

Published Jul 14, 2022, 9:00 AM

Sometimes curiosities are built, as today's tour will show.

Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Let's be honest. Homeownership can be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's a huge milestone in one's life, often feeling like a defining moment of becoming an adult. On the other hand, owning a home means no longer relying on a landlord to fix common issues. Are your cabinets old and chipped? Need your hot water heat replaced? It's all on you now, and it can get expensive. It sounds painful, for sure, But remember the word mortgage is old French and it literally means death pledge. But homeownership comes with freedom too, especially the freedom to change what you don't like about where you live. And Russ knew that he hailed from Lexington, Massachusetts, and got his start as a cameraman for Boston Public Television back in the nineteen sixties. While working on Julia Child's series The French Chef. Russ master the art of doing more with less. He used a small studio and spare equipment to shoot their episodes in a single take, with no room for error. It gave the show an authentic feel, and it paved the way for others like it to come from there, Russ climbed the corporate letter, going from cameraman to director and then to producer. He was always looking for the next French Chef, some educational program with a charismatic host showing the audience how to do everyday things, and he found such a person in Norman. Born in Rhode Island in ninety nine but raised in Massachusetts, Norman had gotten a taste of a carpenter's life when he was only nine years old. You see, his father was also a carpenter and taught his son everything he knew. On Christmas Eve of nineteen fifty eight, he invited Norman to join him on a job installing hardwood floors in a client's home. They placed a skill saw upside down on an old milk crate to slice the boards, and used cut nails or squared off nails with blunt heads to hold them in place. It was a little old fashioned, but it made for a sturdy floor that would last a lifetime. From then on, Norman was never seen without a hammer or a saw in his hand. He spent his weekends and summers off from school apprenticing under his father and learning the trade. He took shop safety very seriously and adhered religiously to that philosophy of measured twice cut once. Eventually, Norman struck out on his own doing jobs all around Massachusetts, including one four television producer Russ. He had wanted a barn built on his property, and so he reached out to Norman to construct it. When the job was finally done, Russ was gobsmacked by the craftsmanship. It was the finest barn he had ever seen, so he knew that Norman would be the perfect person for the project that he had been planning. The station he worked for had recently purchased a dilapidated home built in eighteen sixty in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It only cost seventeen thousand dollars, but the planned renovations would be extensive and expensive. His idea was to film the restoration over the course of thirteen episodes to be aired on w g b H in Boston. Norman, though had no television background, but Russ had one more ace up his sleeve. He recruited another expert named Robert to act as host for the program. The series debuted on w g b H in nineteen seventy nine and became an immediate hit, with Robert and Norman showing the audience a real behind the scenes look at what it took to restore a one hundred year old house. Years before homeowners would love it or list it, or travel the world in search of the perfect time me home. They could watch a couple of regular d I wires on TV and learned straight from the kinds of people who might fix up their homes one day. And Russell Morash placed that responsibility on Roberts and Norman, otherwise known as Bob Vila and Norm Abram, who would become synonymous with their little program called This Old House. Over the years, other tradesmen and women would join the cast, but the heart and soul of the show would always be Norm Abram, clad in his trademark plaid shirt. It was announced this year that Norm is leaving This Old House after forty three years and more than a thousand episodes. He taught homeowners and television audiences how to do everything from framing a deck to replacing a staircase. Home improvement television just won't be the same without him, but we'll always have reruns for decades worth. In fact, all courtesy of the house that norm built. There's a reason people say they don't make them like they used to, and our culture of mass produced and disposable goods, it can be difficult to find something made today that's as strong and long lasting as its equivalent made decades ago. From clothing and appliances to cookware and tools, the things from the past are still used today because they were made to last, and the sentiment extends beyond what we consume. Certain architecture has withstood the test of time as well, such as the Colisseum in Rome and Notre Dame in France, and if you tour Great Britain you'll find numerous medieval castles dotted throughout. Many of these structures were built during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, such as Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. The techniques used by the Irish there were adopted from the Normans who built these castles in Ireland using smooth cut stones rather than the more commonly used wood. This, of course made them more impervious to enemy attacks. The stones were all chiseled by hand into the shapes needed for construction, with wooden scaffolding erected to allow workers to build upward, much like they used today. Some castles were built using a dry stone method, meaning that the rocks were simply stacked on top of one another in an interlocking pattern until the different walls and sections were complete. Unfortunately, that also meant that they were more susceptible to attacks as well as damage from the elements. Castles built with mortar between the bricks, however, allowed for a better seal and stronger walls regardless of the techniques used. Though, these castles were constructed by teams of mason's working together for years at a time, but one castle eschewed all of that. It was built by just two men, standing today as a testament to their passion and maybe their obsession. They had originally tried building the castle in secret, away from the prying eyes of village elders. Unfortunately, the higher it grew, the more attention it received. The village wanted to know more about the structure and how tall the men planned to build it. For one, this castle was developed with more cutting edge techniques than others had been. They utilized steel rods embedded inside concrete blocks to reinforce the structure. They also carved out eighty eight windows around its perimeter, all of which were left open to the environment. The goal was to increase air circulation and let various weather phenomena blow in and out. By the time the castle shell was complete, the two men had poured about seven million pounds of concrete and built a castle roughly fifty feet tall. As for the inside, they hired a carpenter to outfit the interior with all sorts of intricate woodwork, such as staircases and pews. It took him three years to complete, and those who walked its halls afterward said it didn't feel like they were inside a castle at all. The castle is still around two by the way, but visiting this strange hybrid building doesn't require a trip to Ireland to see it. The builders, Rusty Ikes and Otis Sadler, broke ground back in ninety four in a little town called St. Augustine, Florida. Castle Otis, and that's with three tas mind you, was created as a landscape sculpture, not as a dwelling place. They had no intention of living inside the castle, which the town designated as a garage anyway. They simply wanted to construct an homage to Christianity, going so far as to consult with historians at the Catholic Diocese of Northeast Florida for the interior would work. Today, Castle Otis stands tall, overlooking the floor to landscape. It was even granted an award by the American Institute of Architects in which called it a new landmark. Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the interior can come to Castle Otis on the last Sunday of each month for a special service. All are welcome, regardless of their faith, and those lucky enough to get inside can see the handiwork done by the carpenter that Ikes and Sadler had hired. Oh and about that carpenter, his name was, in fact carpenter Lee Carpenter. To be precise and to be onst I feel like they really nailed that choice. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

From the creator of the hit podcast Lore comes a new, bite-sized storytelling experience. Each twice 
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