Some traditions are held onto a bit more tightly than others—both literally and figuratively.
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. The British Royal family sure does love it's ceremonies. For example, the late Queen Elizabeth birthday has been marked each year by something called the Trooping of the Color. Every June, four hundred soldiers, four hundred musicians and two hundred horses marched through the streets from Buckingham Palace to horse Guards Parade. The Royal Air Force even makes an appearance as their planes fly overhead. It's a massive spectacle. Much like Garter Day, Guard Day honors those who have gained entry into the most noble Order of the Garter, an order of knighthood founded in thirteen forty eight by King Edward the Third. For the modern day ceremony, the monarch and knights, all decked out in velvet robes and plumed hats, marched from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel, a service is held and new night companions are inducted into the order. The ceremonies are part of England's long and storied history, dating back hundreds of years, but there's one annual activity that does more than honor those within the royal family's inner circle. In fact, it serves a very specific and much needed purpose. It all started eight hundred years ago during the Middle Ages. Swans were considered a versatile bird in England. Not only did ownership of them signify a person's status in society, but they were also really tasty. They were often served around Christmas time as part of the royal feasts. Henry the Third fed his guests forty swans during his holiday parties in twelve The swan, specifically the mute swan, was first brought to Britain by Richard the First during the Crusades. At least that's how the story goes. Ornithologists, however, believed the swan is indigenous to the region. Swans were the livestock of the rich, and the government went to great lengths to protect both the animals and the status they signified. In fourteen eighty two, the Crown introduced the swan mark, a series of nicks carved into the beaks to denote ownership. According to the law at the time, only the truly wealthy were allowed to own these majestic birds, and were required to purchase swan marks at a steep price. Any swan lacking a swan mark on its beak, regardless of ownership, officially belonged to the crown. The courts grew packed with ownership disputes, as well as people defending themselves against accusations of defacing property. Anyone who tried to carve or scratch away at a swan mark or counterfeit their own could face serious jail time. Unsurprisingly, the rich didn't buy the birds because they enjoyed looking at them or even eating them. To own a swan, especially more than one, meant a person was of a higher status than everyone else. But swans were only valuable if they were healthy, and the royal family, the Windsors, have taken the health of their swans seriously for hundreds of years. They began an annual tradition called swan upping, which one member of the family joins a team of people called swan uppers to row canoes up and down the Thames, collecting swans and checking up on their well being. A swan upping is still practiced to this day too, usually at the end of July each year. The swan uppers, clad in scarlet rowing shirts and white slacks, row along the Thames for five days. Upon spotting a female swan and her signets or baby swans, a cry of all up is heard and the boat's head to their position. The uppers then weigh the bird and notes any maladies or injuries, especially among the signets. Signets are of course more vulnerable than the adults and often need greater care. Signats are tagged with I D numbers that track their ownership based on parentage. But any swans owned by the crown are left alone, and just as was the rule hundreds of years ago, the Queen or king has the right to claim ownership of any unmarked mute swans found in open waters. Today, the swan upping ritual isn't about social status or even the royal family exercising their control over the local animal population. It's about conservation and education. Swan upping protects the lives of Britain's wild swans. School children are invited to participate each year as a way to introduce them to the importance of environmental conservation. Sure, some of the Crown ceremonies may look like ostentageous pageantry, but swan upping has evolved into something more than that. It's a tool for protecting the future of England's wildlife and teaching children to do the same, because not saving the planet, well that's for the birds. When you get right down to it, Almost all important life decisions are centered around money. Where you go to college, what kind of car you drive, what kind of town you live in, and what kind of house you move into are all predicated on the amount you have to spend. After the stock market crash of nineteen nine, everyone started pinching pennies. Breadlines formed around corners and down city blocks. People lost their homes and jobs, companies shut down, and the country entered a tailspin. Certain administrative projects, even relatively inexpensive ones, were canceled, such as the maintenance and upkeep of small cemeteries around the country. But one enterprising homeowner knew just how to keep the tombstones of an important Civil War cemetery shining for all to see. And inject some much needed stimulus money into the government in the process. It all started on June fifteenth, eighteen sixty four, in the city of Petersburg, Virginia. Only months earlier, Ulysses S. Grant had been promoted to lieutenant General of the Union Army. His goal was to attack the south from several different angles in an effort to capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. Grants was facing troubles as the various armies under his command were being led by generals that had been appointed to him for political reasons. These men were not experienced in the art of war, and so they lost often, but Grant pushed on, never surrendering, never retreating. He continued to advance his position against Robert E. Lee's forces as he worked his way towards Richmond. The city of Petersburg was essential to his plan as it was home to a junction point where five different railroads met. Capturing Petersburg meant cutting off supply and communication routes for the Confederates, forcing Lee to surrender Richmond or fight Grant out in the open. From June fift until the eighteenth, the troops under General p. G. T. Beauregard of the seuth fended off the Federal Army of the North. Union forces were unable to capture Petersburg as attended, but that didn't stop them from trying. The Siege of Petersburg, as it was called, lasted until March of the following year, just over nine months. In the end, the Confederates could not endure. Lee's forces were decimated, and the North captured Petersburg on the two weeks before Lee would officially surrender, bringing an end to the war on April nine of eighteen sixty five. Thousands died on each side, though the siege cost the Union a far greater number of casualties than it did the Confederacy. The Northern soldiers were buried in Poplar Grove Cemetery in Petersburg, their graves identified by wooden markers. Over time, however, those wooden grave markers disappeared. Constant exposure to the elements caused them to rot and fall away, leaving behind no trace of who was interred six ft below. Eventually, though, the government stepped in and had all the wooden grave markers replaced with marble headstones, much sturdier than would As the years passed, the cemetery continued to be maintained with the help of government funding, keeping each headstone cleaned of dirt and standing perfectly upright. And then the market crashed in twenty nine people lost everything. Belts needed to be tightened. That meant places like Poplar Grove Cemetery where suddenly left to decline. To save money and cut down on mowing, the city modified the gravestones one more time. Each one was cut in half, with the top halves the pieces engraved with the names of each soldier placed flat on the ground. But what to do with the blank bottom halves. Well, one man had an idea. His name was Oswald Young, and in nineteen thirty four he wanted to build a house in Petersburg, Virginia. He purchased two thousand, two hundred discarded headstones for forty five dollars a piece that was d dollars in nineteen thirty five, which balloons to roughly one point two million in today's money. The exterior walls, the walkway, and the chimney were all built using the headstones, each a slightly different color from the other. The patchwork construction gives the home a stitch together Frankenstein's monster kind of look. If these walls could talk, they would probably have a lot to say about what happened during the Siege of Petersburg. With two thousand, two hundred Union soldier gravestones used to build a civilians house. I wouldn't be surprised if there has been a ghost or two spotted shambling across the lawn from time to time. After all, the tombstone House of Petersburg would make a perfect haunted house at Halloween, don't you think. 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.