Behind the Scenes Minis: Coffee, 'Pirats' and Sea Robbers

Summary

---

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Behind the Scenes Minis: Coffee, 'Pirats' and Sea Robbers (Feb 27, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this behind-the-scenes minisode, hosts Holly Frey and Tracy V. Wilson dive deeper into their recent episodes on the invention of coffee filters and the history of Fort Mose. They share personal anecdotes about coffee habits, discuss the evolution of coffee culture and technology, reflect on historical research quirks, and explore the complexities of historical accuracy—particularly regarding company legacies and the impact of broader historical forces like war and climate change. The hosts also touch on the significance of Gullah Geechee culinary traditions and highlight quirky moments from archival research, including typographical oddities in old documents.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Coffee: Habits, Equipment, and Anecdotes

Personal Coffee Journeys

• Both Tracy and Holly recount their long relationships with coffee and how their habits have evolved over time.

  • Tracy describes drinking coffee all day in college and after, until deliberately scaling back:
    “I used to drink so much coffee… all day long… and then at, like, one o’clock in the morning, we would go to Waffle House and I would have some Waffle House coffee at one o’clock in the morning.” (04:01)
  • Cutting back had an unintended consequence:
    “It ruined my ability to have caffeine later in the day.” (04:44)

• Holly shares a humorous restaurant interaction about her caffeine intake:
  “I burned out my adrenal gland when I was 7, so if I don’t get it constantly, I’ll die—being sarcastic.” (05:11)

Preparation Preferences

• Tracy recounts a journey through drip coffee makers, an espresso machine, cold brew, French Press, and finally settling on an AeroPress for its practicality and resilience:
  “Now the two coffee setups in my home are a cold brew setup and an AeroPress. And the AeroPress is what the hot coffee gets made in most mornings.” (07:33)

• Holly uses a French Press (notably an R2D2-themed one), and a Keurig with refillable pods for certain drinks like espresso martinis. She confesses:
  “I would say I’m a junkie, I’m not a connoisseur … if somebody’s like, well, this coffee was filtered through a sock … I’m like, that’s okay. Do you have creamer to put in it? I’m good. I just need the coffee.” (10:00)

Coffee and Hospitality

• Holly describes her love for bartending, making drinks, and hosting with a formal bar menu and drinks like espresso martinis for themed gatherings:
  “I love making drinks. I love inventing drinks … sometimes people want ‘Man for Janue’ … we did three specialty drinks that day and one was a pumpkin spice donut espresso martini … just stupidly good.” (09:05, 09:42)

Coffee Culture and Climate

• Holly connects coffee’s popularity in the U.S. to historical shifts during WWI when British controls on trade rerouted coffee supplies:
  “The US got a lot of coffee trade because it just came north … I really think that’s probably the beginning of this concept … of like, coffee lifestyle.” (16:54)

• Tracy highlights an existential threat:
  “Our coffee love is very seriously jeopardized by climate change. Coffee requires very specific conditions … those conditions are in peril.” (17:32)

---

Clarifying Historical Details: The Melitta Company and Its Legacy

Using and Understanding Historical Coffee Technology

• Holly admits confusion over how the original Melitta coffee filter worked after seeing pictures and watching a demonstration:
  “I had a lot of confusion looking at pictures regarding how the Melitta coffee filter, the metal coffee filter, worked initially.” (17:50)

• Both hosts marvel at how early adopters needed instruction for new coffee technology, noting historical documentation can often be ambiguous or lost due to fires, robberies, or translation issues:
  “There are just facts. We can’t always validate anymore.” (21:34)

Company History and WWII

• Holly relays researching discrepancies in Melitta’s own company history claims, like awards at expos, which don’t match the official event records.

• She draws broader lessons about corporate complicity during the Nazi era, using Coca-Cola’s invention of Fanta for Nazi Germany as another example:
  “Coca-Cola invented Fanta for Nazi Germany.” (22:25)
  “We would have to literally live in a cave … if we wanted to avoid every possible corporate entity that has dirty things in their past.” (23:03)

• Tracy stresses that nearly all companies operating in Germany at that time were involved on some level:
  “Virtually any company … had to do something. So it’s a scale of sort of tacitly allowing things to actively collaborating.” (23:24)

---

Fort Mose, Gullah Geechee Culture, and Oddities of Historical Research

Research Inspiration and Fort Mose

• Tracy explains how the episode topic arose from a winding listener suggestion that led to the Fort Mose story—an underrepresented narrative in American history:
  “So much of the things that happen in the history of Florida … I also didn’t know about. … Patriot War? Never heard of it.” (29:24)

Gullah Geechee Traditions and Culinary Recognition

• Holly celebrates the increased recognition of Gullah Geechee cuisine in southern restaurants, particularly the prominence of shrimp and grits:
  “It’s often a very grain-based [cuisine]. … If you love shrimp and grits the way I love shrimp and grits, that’s Gullah Geechee. ... I’m excited to see that more and more restaurants are now doing that [callouts].” (32:55)

Quirks in Historical Records

• Both hosts delight in odd spellings and phrasings from period documents, such as “pirats and sea robbers,” and Tracy’s struggle with old typography:
  “The phrase ‘pirates and other sea robbers’ just delighted me. … And then all of this has some extra letters … several has two L’s.” (34:14)
• Tracy wonders about the double-f typography in “Florida”—“Looks like it is spelled lowercase f, lowercase f, l, o, r, i, d, a. … Maybe a listener who knows about fonts and typography … will send us the answer.” (36:27)

Evolving Sites and Public History

• They note that while some articles made Fort Mose Historic State Park sound underwhelming, more recent improvements have made it more visitor-friendly.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On cutting back coffee:
  “It ruined my ability to have caffeine later in the day.” — Tracy V. Wilson (04:44)
• On hospitality:
  “I do have a bar menu and I feel that this is something other people should know.” — Holly Frey (08:51)
• On company history and WWII:
  “Coca Cola invented Fanta for Nazi Germany.” — Holly Frey (22:25) “If we wanted to avoid every possible corporate entity that has dirty things in their past … we would have to literally live in a cave and make our own food and cook it on rocks.” — Holly Frey (23:03)
• On classifying pirates:
  “You are to let the governor of Florida know that … there have been no pirats or nor other sea robbers admitted, nor had any reception in this province without being brought to condign punishment.” — Tracy V. Wilson, quoting a historic letter (34:15)
• On Gullah Geechee cuisine:
  “That’s Gullah Geechee. I mean, that’s the origin point. … I’m excited to see that more and more restaurants are now doing that.” — Holly Frey (33:20)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Coffee and personal caffeine habits: 03:14 – 10:23
• Coffee prep and equipment discussion: 06:03 – 10:23
• Bartending, espresso martinis, and hosting: 08:36 – 10:23
• WWI, coffee culture, and climate change: 16:30 – 17:50
• Melitta company history and historian struggles: 18:04 – 22:05
• Corporate WWII legacies: 22:05 – 24:22
• Fort Mose research and Gullah Geechee cuisine: 28:44 – 33:32
• Quote about ‘pirats and sea robbers’: 34:14 – 36:27

---

Tone & Style

The episode is warm, conversational, occasionally irreverent, and rich with personal reminiscence. Holly and Tracy balance genuine scholarly curiosity with relatable humor, never shying from difficult or quirky aspects of history.

---

For Listeners

This episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at historical research, the intersections of personal and public history, and the persistent, interconnected natures of seemingly simple things like coffee and local cuisine. You’ll come away not just learning about inventions and historical events—but appreciating how the past, the present, and even a good cup of coffee are always entwined.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an I Heart Podcast, Guaranteed human brought to you in part by Vital Farms. I love eggs. I turn to them all the time as a quick and easy way to start a meal. And Vital Farms eggs are brought to you by hens that have access to fresh air and sunshine and you can actually look up on the carton and see the farm that those eggs came from. Vital Farms is also a certified bee corporation with a purpose to improve the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. We look for the black egg carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Good Eggs no shortcuts Life gets

[Anabe Sponsor Voice]

messy spills, stains, head accidents and kid chaos. But with Anabe, cleaning up is easy. Our sofas are fully machine washable inside and out so you never have to stress about messes again. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, our sofas feature changeable fabric covers allowing you to refresh your style anytime. Need flexibility? Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa effortlessly. Perfect for cozy apartments or spacious homes. Plus they're earth friendly and built to last. That's why over 200,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Sofas start at just $699. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello, Malcolm Glabel here.

[Holly Frey]

We're here in New York City with T Mobile for Business recording another episode of Revisionist history about how 5G network slicing strengthens trust and connections across worldwide and industries.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Slicing can be used for so many different things. We're here with our friends from CNN from Siemens Energy. The ways that it can be used, frankly, are limitless and are really, really built to think through. How can T Mobile understand the pain points that our customers have? Smash those pain points and help you deliver very specific outcomes.

[Holly Frey]

This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture Resource with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, so what if you could boost the WI fi to one of your devices when you need it most? Because Xfinity wifi can. And what if your wifi could fix itself before there's even really a problem? Xfinity is so reliable. It does that too. What if your wifi had parental instincts? Xfinity wifi is part nanny, part ninja, protecting your kids while they're online. And finally, what if your wifi was like the smartest wifi? Yeah, it's wifi that is so smart it makes everything work better together. Bott Xfinity is smart and reliable. You deserve the peace of mind of having WI fi that's got your back. Xfinity. Imagine that. Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Frey]

We talked about the invention of coffee filters and the Melita company this week.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yes.

[Holly Frey]

Some of which got dark in a way I was not anticipating when I started this.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

No.

[Holly Frey]

Sorry. But you don't want to ignore that stuff because it's important. No, it's an important part of the story. So we got to acknowledge it. I have a number of notes, but first I want to start with the conversational. I know you are a coffee drinker.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Uh huh.

[Holly Frey]

I'm a coffee hound, as I said at the first thing. And I know we both have cut back on what we used to drink.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I used to drink so much coffee all day long. All day. I drank coffee all day. And then after work, this was when I was just out of college. When I was in college, I would drink coffee all day.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And then at like one o' clock in the morning, we would go to Waffle House and I would have some Waffle House coffee at one o' clock in the morning. Yeah. Come back to my dorm room and be able to go to sleep after that. I don't understand how this worked for me. Because then after graduating from college, I would drink coffee at work all day. And then after work, I had a coffee shop that I hung out at all the time. And I would drink more coffee at the coffee shop. Yeah. And then I decided that I was drinking too much coffee and that I should cut back. And it was. This was like something I was challenging myself to do, thinking it was gonna be a limited amount of time that I was gonna cut back to just a couple cups of coffee in the morning. And it ruined my ability to have caffeine later in the day.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Just really destroyed it. So now if I have caffeinated stuff, if it's more than just like one cup of tea, if I have caffeinated things, after about three or four in the afternoon, I have trouble sleeping. It's very sad.

[Holly Frey]

I can still chug it.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

I always joke with people and sometimes they believe me, this is not true. Cause it's happened. There was one time it happened and it was so funny. And I felt bad. Cause I don't want to laugh at somebody who's being earnest. But it was very funny. I was at lunch with a friend of mine and I asked for a water, a Diet Coke, and a coffee. And the server said, so much caffeine. And I said, well, I burned out my adrenal gland when I was 7, so if I don't get it constantly, I'll die being sarcastic. And she was so earning, she's like, I'll make sure you always have some on the table. And I was like, oh, no, no. I'm just being a jerk. But I do appreciate it and would like the caffeine to keep coming. But I was like, that's not a thing. I didn't do that.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah,

[Holly Frey]

I still drink it all day long. I have cut back from about probably 10 to 12 cups a day to like 4 to 5.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Only because my doctor climbed on my tail about it. And some days that's hard. Okay, here's the real question that I want to know.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

What is your preparation preference?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay. So for a long time at home, I had a regular drip coffee maker and also a very inexpensive espresso machine. Yeah, like, what is the cheapest espresso machine that a person without a lot of money could buy? That is what I had. And then time went by. I think I broke the pot on the espresso machine. It wasn't getting a lot of use. So I got rid of the espresso machine. And then I moved to Massachusetts, and we were living in an apartment that was on the third floor of a triple decker. It had no shade, it had no air conditioning, and it got so hot in the summertime that I could not tolerate the idea of drinking hot coffee.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So I got a cold brew set up. We also had no room. So I got rid of the regular drip coffee pot at that point. So we just had the cold brew set up. This is a whole coffee journey.

[Holly Frey]

It's great.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Eventually I was like, now I want hot coffee again, though. And heating up cold brew is not as satisfying. So I got a French press. And so I still have the cold brew set up in the French press. And that lasted until the day I was making my coffee in the morning and I knocked, knocked the French press off of the counter and shattered it before I had made my coffee for the day. That day, I made coffee in a tea infuser.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, listen, desperate times, desperate measures.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It worked. Okay, so now the two coffee setups in my home are a Cold brew setup and an aeropress. And the Aeropress is what the hot coffee gets made in most mornings.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, yeah. I used to drip for a long, long, long time. You know, I was that person that like oh no, the coffee pot's almost empty. Time to make another pot. It just was constantly kind of doing the thing in recent years. I say recent, it's been quite a while. I switched over to French press and I have a very adorable R2D2 French press that I got from ThinkGeek. Remember ThinkGeek?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I miss you.

[Holly Frey]

ThinkGeek. That I will cry if it ever becomes damaged in a way I cannot use it. Another company has started making them recently, but they are not quite as good. But here's the thing. And I love a French press. I also have a Keurig that I do the refillable cups for that I keep in my cantina in case people order an espresso martini when they're over or I want an espresso martini when I'm just hanging out.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I want listeners to understand something which you that you just said, which is that when guests come to your home, you have a bar menu. And I love this. I do have a bar menu and I feel that this is something other people should know.

[Holly Frey]

I do, I have a bar menu. It got updated recently. I mean I have a bar. Like we built a cantina onto our house. Cause I like making drinks and I like Star Wars. So people come over and it's like going to a restaurant. You don't pay yet.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's crazy. Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

And I literally act like I'm working a shift. Like I'm usually not drinking. I'm only bartending and making sure everybody has snacks. And I love it. I don't know, I just love it. I love making drinks. I love inventing drinks. Anyway. Yeah, sometimes people want man for janue. Cause this year I'm trying to have people over every month that has a 31 in it for the oween of that month.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

So for Januine I did an espresso martini. We did three specialty drinks that day and one of them is a pumpkin spice donut espresso martini.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

And that was just stupidly good.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That sounds really good.

[Holly Frey]

And not as sweet as you might be thinking. But anyway, yeah, so we love and I do love an espresso martini. I know that's a little basic lady drink, but woo. I love it. And a good one is worth its weight in gold. But yeah. Here's the other thing about me though. As much as I love my French press and that is my preferred method. I would say I'm a junkie. I'm not a connoisseur.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

I just want coffee. If somebody's like, well, this coffee was filtered through a sock. The sock was clean, but it's, you know, and the grounds are really bad. There might be pencil shavings. I'm like, that's okay. Do you have creamer to put in it? I'm good. I just need the coffee.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. The reason that we got the aeropress was number one, shatterproof. They do make glass ones, but the one that we have is plastic. So I would never again have the situation of preparing to make my coffee and I shatter the thing. Used to do that. That is.

[Holly Frey]

I would. I think I would cry. I would actually cry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Cried. But then the other thing is that we have a friend named Dan. And Dan makes his coffee in an Aeropress, but then also has a little hand cranked coffee bean grinder that he travels with. Oh yeah, yeah. And so it's a whole like a ritual. It's way more quality focused than ours, which for me is just having something warm that tastes like coffee first thing in the morning. Especially right now when it's freezing cold outside. But yeah, Dan is like way more like there's a whole precise ritual and I'm just like, grind the beans, dump it in there, dump the boil, dump the water in there. Right. Dump the thing in there, stir, go.

[Holly Frey]

Do you remember this is some years ago when we were still. Still just how stuff works, I think. And we would do sometimes like guest lectures and we had a dude come in to talk about coffee.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I don't know if I remember that part, but I do remember doing guest lectures.

[Holly Frey]

It was pretty fun because, you know, he very much waxed rhapsodic about coffee, which is understandable, you know, and was. It's one of those things where there are always people who are so attuned to a specific thing that they can really talk about like a consumable good, like a coffee, a wine, et cetera, where they could talk about all of the notes and everything and blah, blah, blah, beers. Like when I hear people talk about beers in the notes. I'm not a beer drinker. Everything tastes like Rolling Rock to me. I know that's anathema to people, but it was just so funny because he was noticing the same thing that like he had friends that would talk about like wine the same way he would talk about coffee. And I literally like asked him something about like, is it anathema to you when people put stuff in their coffee and he looked kind of dejected and sad and was like, I mean no. And I'm just like because I'm dumping in my sweetener and my, yeah, my creamer. Now I usually use protein shake in my coffee so I feel like I'm at least getting something worthwhile like oh, I just want all the coffee. I just want the coffee. I love it. Unlike the people we normally talk about on the show, we are living in a time when Internet connectivity is a standard part of life for most people and there is literally no way we could research and prepare our podcast without the Internet. If connectivity goes down for me, it can be really hard to make up that lost time. And for businesses, Internet connectivity is even more of a necessity. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes connected seamlessly with fast and reliable Internet, advanced Wi, Fi, phone, TV and mobile services. Spectrum business offers 100% US based customer support and they do it 24 7. That means you can always stay up and running no matter what hours your business keeps. Spectrum Business also will tailor connectivity solutions just for you. They will put a package together that is built for your business budget. Millions of business owners rely on Spectrum Business to keep them connected, so visit spectrum.combusiness to learn more. Restrictions apply. Service is not available in all areas.

[Alienware Sponsor Voice]

Hey gamers, if you've been waiting for the perfect time to give your setup the ultimate boost, I've got some great news. Alienware is having their annual Tech Days event and that means you can score some pretty crazy deals right now. Save big on new Alienware PCs like Aurora laptops and the Area 51, their most powerful desktop. They both take performance to the next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. There's also some pretty serious deals on Alienware displays, accessories and more. Check it all [e-mail] deals the whole reason for this annual Tech Days event is to celebrate you, so I'd take a good look at these prices and exclusive benefits before it ends. It's easy to save. Just visit alienware.comdeals and snag yourself some great gear at very upgrade friendly prices. That's a L I e n w a r-e.com deals

[Anabe Sponsor Voice]

sink into affordable luxury. Anabe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out with stain resistant slipcovers and a cloud like frame duvet. Everything goes right in the wash. Plus the modular design lets you change the look of your space anytime. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home shop up to 60% off site wide with sofas starting at just $699 and a 30 day money back guarantee. Shop [e-mail] offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Brought to you in part by Vital Farms. One of my very favorite easy meals to make is to fry up an egg in some chili oil, throw that over rice, maybe wilt a little spinach and garlic. So I have some greens in there. Delicious. So fast, so easy. You can make it with Vital Farms pasture raised eggs. These hens have access to open pastures, fresh air and sunshine. And you can actually trace your eggs back to the farm they came from. There's a little thing on the side of the carton. You can find the farm name and look it up, see pictures. Plus Vital Farms is a certified bee, which I always appreciate. That means they are committed to improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. So farmers who care, hens that get to roam and eggs that you can feel good about. Next time you are in the store, look for the black carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Good eggs. No shortcut.

[Holly Frey]

There were a few interesting things that came up in the research for this. They're on the lighter side of things. This isn't really the lighter side, but it is interesting to me because that whole World War I situation where Britain was really kind of controlling who did and did not have access to coffee trade.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Or had limited access to coffee trade. What ended up kind of happening in the midst of all of that is that the US got a lot of coffee trade because like it just came north instead of turning the Atlantic to. And I'm like, oh, this is where like the whole seed of. It's not as though people weren't drinking coffee before that. But I really think that's probably the beginning of this concept that we all live now of like coffee lifestyle. Right? Like coffee achievers, the coffee generation, all of that stuff that we got marketed when we were kids and it just made me chuckle to think about the ways that history is impacting us that

[Tracy V. Wilson]

we don't always think about our coffee love is very seriously jeopardized by climate change. Requires coffee requires very specific conditions to grow in and those conditions are in peril.

[Holly Frey]

Very much so. I am going to confess to you that I had a lot of confusion looking at pictures regarding how the Melita coffee filter, the metal coffee filter worked initially.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh yeah, uh huh.

[Holly Frey]

Because we described that it has that little set in Basket at the top. And I was like, is that where the coffee goes and the filter? Cause it is indented like a little basin. But then I watched a video of I think her like great grandson who is now one of the executives in the company went out, pull that off and put the paper inside. And I was like, oh, this looks

[Tracy V. Wilson]

different than I thought. Huh.

[Holly Frey]

Like I don't, I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. I just was like, okay. I felt very foolish. But it's similar to the way that we couldn't be confident about the way the, the device that maybe prevented boil over.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Or maybe prevented overcooking, depending on.

[Holly Frey]

Right. Because translations offer alternate concepts when you look at a thing. And then it really though was very in line with some of the stuff we talked about in the episode because they did have to teach people how these things work.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

You know, like when they, if they had just handed them to a consumer, they wouldn't have been able to be like, okay, the coffee goes here. I guess because the paper could have sat inside that little shallow basin as well.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right. Right.

[Holly Frey]

We don't know. I do kind of now want to get one of these pour over cups just for the entertainment of it to say that I used one. Yeah. They're little, they're not going to take up much space. There's gotta be a cocktail I could make that makes use of it. I just had such an idea. Look out people, come into my house cause there's gonna be a hot coffee drink coming. Oh my goodness. I just had such a good idea. Okay, there is another thing that. Listen, this happens all the time where the way a history even of a company or an entity is reported by that company or entity that doesn't line up with other facts that we know or that you can't corroborate. And I don't even think that's like necessarily nefarious. What I'm about to say is a very benign thing. But I just was like, huh, I don't know what's going on here. Like I'm not even talking about any of the World War II Nazi stuff. Literally the Melita Company's website that has their history that I got to sort of through a back door mentions that they won gold and silver medals at the 1911 International Hygiene Expo in Dresden and the 1910 one. But when I looked up the International Hygiene Expo, there is no evidence that there was one in Dresden in 1910. So I'm like, what is going on here? There was one in 1910, but it was in Buenos Aires, and I don't think they sent anybody to it. So I'm not sure what the scoop is there. But on the certificate that you can find, if you really root around on their site, the certificate for the 1911 awards has pictures of the 1910 award coins, like the medallions, okay, that are labeled 1910. So I don't know if that is the source of some confusion or if there was an event that is just not documented. I mean, that's the other thing that I. In that paper that's originally in German that I was doing translation comparisons on at the beginning of that paper, that researcher mentions that there were some issues getting a hold of documents because of a couple of different events that happened. One was that there have been fires, I believe, that have destroyed things. Two is that there have been robberies at, like, the company, at the corporate headquarters where some things vanished. So it's like, there are just facts. We can't always validate anymore. Now, if you're a conspiracy theorist, you would say, did those things really happen? Or is that what this researcher got told?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I don't.

[Holly Frey]

I don't know. I'm. I'm not really a conspiracy theorist. So, yeah, I don't. I don't know. But I did learn as I was researching and looking at other companies who also did Nazi collaboration, I learned a factoid that I didn't know, that maybe some of our listeners knew, but I was not aware of.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

Did you know that Coca Cola invented Fanta for Nazi Germany?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I don't think I knew that.

[Holly Frey]

Now, I wish I had had the presence of mind to bring up to have the website here handy, but it was like one of those things where many products were blockaded or forbidden to be shipped in various ways, but there was still a desire for a yummy, delicious carbonated beverage. And Coca Cola was like, we could get around these rules and restriction if we invent a new thing, okay, that is different from the things we've been making.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

All right, then.

[Holly Frey]

So just remember, like, there. I don't want anybody's takeaway to be like, that company's bad because, like, we would have to literally live in a cave and make our own food and cook it on rocks. If we wanted to avoid every possible corporate entity that has dirty things in their past.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Well, and really, virtually any company that was operating in Germany during that era had to do something. And so it's a scale of sort of tacitly allowing things to actively collaborating. Like, those are Sort of the extremes. Yeah. And there's. Especially if we're talking about space in the middle. Yeah. If we're talking about a company big enough to be doing international business, incredibly unlikely for them to have somehow had no Nazi involvement at all. Not saying that. Excuses.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah. There was no way to sidestep it.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yes. The reality of what we're talking about.

[Holly Frey]

Every car company.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Including us. Car companies have problematic links to Nazi Germany. It just is what it is. But what I do like is coffee.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Coffee.

[Holly Frey]

And for that I do like it. I am grateful.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Thank you, Melita. Because I don't like grounds in my coffee either.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

No.

[Holly Frey]

Although I realize now I'm not using any of her filters. I'm really thinking about this drink, though. Now. This got exciting for me. Really did.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is what we're gonna do for now. Like now our show is gonna be a cocktail show from now on.

[Holly Frey]

That's fine by me. Let's do it. Let's rock and roll. I'm not making Criminalia anymore. So I don't have a good place

[Tracy V. Wilson]

to get a cocktail outlet.

[Holly Frey]

I don't have. I mean, the outlet is my cantina, but even so, I need the prompt each week for anyone. And now I haven't a new idea. More. More at all times. Which is now reminding me of bartending school. But that's a story for another day. Unlike the people we normally talk about on the show, we are living in a time when Internet connectivity is a standard part of life for most people. And there is literally no way we could research and prepare our podcast without the Internet. If connectivity goes down for me, it can be really hard to make up that lost time. And for businesses, Internet connectivity is even more of a necessity. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all sizes connected seamlessly with fast and reliable Internet, advanced Wi Fi, phone, TV and mobile services. Spectrum business offers 100% US based customer support and they do it 24. 7. That means you can always stay up and running no matter what hours your business keeps. Spectrum Business also will tailor connectivity solutions just for you. They will put a package together that is built for your business budget. Millions of business owners rely on Spectrum Business to keep them connected. So visit spectrum.combusiness to learn more. Restrictions apply. Service is not available in all areas.

[Alienware Sponsor Voice]

Hey gamers. If you've been waiting for the perfect time to give your setup the ultimate boost, I've got some great news. Alienware is having their annual Tech Days event. And that means you can score some pretty crazy deals right now. Save big on new Alienware PCs like Aurora laptops and the Area 51, their most powerful desktop. They both take performance to the next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. There's also some pretty serious deals on Alienware, displays, accessories and more. Check it all [e-mail] deals the whole reason for this annual Tech Days event is to celebrate you, so I'd take a good look at these prices and exclusive benefits before it ends. It's easy to save. Just visit alienware.comdeals and snag yourself some great gear at very upgrade friendly prices. That's a L I e n W A R E.com deals

[Anabe Sponsor Voice]

kids pets life. Your sofa sees it all. But with a washable sofa, stains don't stand a chance. All of our sofa collections come with fully machine washable covers and cushions, making cleanup effortless. Liquid and stain resistant fabrics provide extra protection against everyday messes. Plus with modular designs, you can rearrange your sofa however you like. Perfect for growing families and changing spaces. Starting at just $699, it's time to upgrade to a stress free mess proof sofa. Visit washablesofas.com today and save offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Brought to you in part by Vital Farms One of my very favorite easy meals to make is to find fry up an egg in some chili oil, throw that over rice, maybe wilt a little spinach and garlic so I have some greens in there. Delicious. So fast. So easy. You can make it with Vital Farms pasture raised eggs. These hens have access to open pastures, fresh air and sunshine and you can actually trace your eggs back to the farm that they came from. There's a little thing on the side of the carton. You can find the farm name and look it up. See pictures plus Vital Farms is a certified B corporation, which I always appreciate. That means they are improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. So farmers who care, hens that get to roam and eggs that you can feel good about. Next time you are in the store, look for the black carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Farms Good eggs, no shortcuts. We talked about Fort Mose.

[Holly Frey]

Sure did.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Last week on the show. This came about because of like a slightly winding listener suggestion, which was that we had gotten a listener mail asking for an episode on a particular place and when I started looking into it I was like this, this place. The story becomes a bummer and I I didn't want to get into the bummer right now and I'M not saying the name of the place because I don't want this person to feel bad for their suggestion in any way. And it may become an episode at some point in the future later.

[Holly Frey]

Right.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But I was like, okay, what are some other places that we might talk about, though? Like, what are some other potential locations? Cause I feel like I haven't done one of those in a while. Yeah. And I then, from this wandering. From this listener suggestion, wound up on Fort Mose, which I had not ever heard of before. And so much of the things that happen in the history of Florida during, you know, parallel with the history of Fort Mose, I also didn't know about. I obviously did know about St. Augustine being a city and being the oldest European established city. Yeah. In what's now the United States. Like, I knew those kinds of things. Patriot war. Never heard of it until doing the research on this.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, I don't think that I did.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I had kind of a vague understanding

[Holly Frey]

about Oglethorpe that I knew a little more about. Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Like, I knew that sort of. That that had happened, but not a lot of details. And then I just did not fully think through all of the wars, mostly between European powers, sometimes with indigenous allies, sometimes also with and against indigenous people. But, like, all of those things that really started in the 18th century and how many of them that there were. Yeah, that all just affected Florida. And how many times Florida got passed back and forth between different European powers.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, I definitely got lots of St. Augustine. I lived in Florida from when I was 9 to when I was 18. So, yeah, kind of those key history, time, years. But also during an era of our country's history where it was totally cool to really give only the most complimentary version of a history regarding the place you may be talking about. You know, there was not a lot of.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh.

[Holly Frey]

And they treated people, really. It was like they were the first ones and everything was amazing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right.

[Holly Frey]

You know?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Having grown up in North Carolina, I had a sense of Carolina being established as one colony, not north and South. That north and south came later. I did not really have a sense of how far the southern border was under the Royal charter expected to go like that. It not only did it go way into Florida, but, like, it included St. Augustine. I did not really have a big sense of that part of it.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I had thought of something else that I was gonna say, and now I have.

[Holly Frey]

Do you wanna talk about food while you try to think of it?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Let's do talk about food.

[Holly Frey]

Because I was very, very glad that you included mention of the Gullah Geechee corridor at the end.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Because I don't know if you've noticed it might be something that's happening more in the south, but I have noticed more and more. One, restaurants just popping up. Like as this is a Gullah restaurant, like we're using old Gullah recipes.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Uh huh.

[Holly Frey]

And two, like the restaurant that I go to all the time, that's like my favorite neighborhood joint, they have started including notes on their menu about this is an old Gullah recipe. Like that's where we. And like calling it out, which is kind of cool. Cause there are some really incredible food traditions. Right. Like it's often a very grain based, like listen, if you love shrimp and grits the way I love shrimp and grits.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Uh huh.

[Holly Frey]

That's Gullah Geechee. I mean that's. Yeah, that's the origin point. So it's just cool because it's an interesting time in terms of like the gastronome zone of people recognizing the cultural contributions of the Gullah Geechee and like how much we have. I mean, we've seen shrimp and grits on, you know, menus everywhere for a long time and nobody ever calls it out and goes, hey, do you actually know where this came from?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right.

[Holly Frey]

So I'm excited to see that more and more restaurants are now doing that.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Holly Frey]

And also now I want shrimp and grits.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I do too. You said it. And now it's in my head.

[Holly Frey]

I mean, it's hard for me to find a day when I don't want shrimp and grits because it is one of my favorite things on the planet. I like to order it any restaurant I walk into. If it has it on the menu, I will almost always order it just to see how they make it. Because there are lots of different variations in terms of the sauces and whatnot and whether they put things in the grits.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Living in New England now, I. When I order shrimp and grits at a restaurant, there's an aspect of like morbid curiosity there at this point because it's so far removed from like where I grew up and where I learned to eat grits that I'm always like, okay, what are, what is this that you are going to serve to me?

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Anyway, one of the things that I read while I was researching this was the correspondence between James Culleton and Dunlop when Dunlop was on this mission to St. Augustine. And this was part of the instructions that the governor gave Dunlop before the part about like, and you need to get these people back. He said, quote, you are to let the governor of Florida know that since I came to the government, there have been no pirates or nor other sea robbers admitted, nor had any reception in this province without being brought to condign punishment. And I have several at this time in prison who are speedily to be brought to their trials. And that I will at times vigorously endeavor in my station in government to extirpate, abolish and destroy that sort of people who are so much enemies and destructive to all mankind. So first, the phrase pirates and other sea robbers just delighted me. Having pirates without an E, where we would put it. And also sea robbers. Yeah, pirates and sea robbers. And then all of this has some extra letters that we would not have in these words in standard English today, which is very fun. Several has two L's on it.

[Holly Frey]

I love anything prior to standardized spelling. It's just a fun puzzle and usually delightful.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

If I'm having to read a ton of it for an episode and I'm on a deadline, I can get a little frustrated because I'm like, okay, this is harder and taking longer. But Culliton spelling trials, T, R, Y, A L, L s also very excited about that. And then trials throughout I. So the thing that I am most familiar with in terms of typography and old documents is the long S's that look like F's. Right. We've talked about those a number of times. But the way that the word Florida looks in this document.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Looks like it is spelled lowercase F. Lowercase F, L, O, R, I, D, A. So two Fs, both of them lowercase Florida. And I had to just stop myself from going to figure out why Florida was set with what appears to be two Fs. Maybe a listener who knows about fonts and typography and 16th and 17th century printing.

[Holly Frey]

Right.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Will send us the answer. But I loved every single time the word Florida was in this series of letters, always apparently with two Fs.

[Holly Frey]

Florida.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Or as I like to say, Florida.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. I never remembered the thing that I was trying to think of that I thought I was gonna say earlier. The article in Bitter Southerner detailing sort of the progress of this park and the discovery of the forts and the archaeological work and all of that stuff. It did not have a date on it in terms of when it was published, so I'm not sure when it came out, but it seems like it was some years ago, long enough in the past that things like the fort that has been rebuilt at the or the replica fort that has been built at the park, like, that's not there. If you go read that article, which, if you want to know the whole story of the fort's rediscovery in the park and all of that, like, that, it lays it out and it is kind of messy, but it also makes the park sound kind of. Mediocre.

[Holly Frey]

I was gonna say quaint.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I think quaint would be more generous than the tone of the article. And. But then when I, you know, was looking at pictures of these reenactments and stuff, I was like, I think. I think they must have done some work to make this park more visitor friendly with more amenities in the time since this article was written.

[Holly Frey]

Gotcha.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So if you're reading this article and you're like, I don't know, this park is a place that I would want to visit, like, I. I think there is more at the park and more facilities at the park than when it was written. At least that's my impression.

[Holly Frey]

Gotcha. Yeah. I don't know. I know nothing about it now. I'm literally like, what else do I want to talk about in Florida? And I'm like, golden Girls. But that's not really germane to anything. Just any excuse to talk about Bea Arthur is great.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I love that.

[Holly Frey]

I love that.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I have many fond thoughts about the Golden Girls.

[Holly Frey]

So many, so many.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We can just leave on that note, I think whatever is coming up on your weekend, if you're getting to take a little time to watch some Golden Girls streaming somewhere, maybe you have Golden Girls on DVD or Blu Ray. I don't know. I hope you get to do that. I hope it's fun and great. If you're gonna go outside. If you're living somewhere where the outside is tolerable right now and you can do some stuff outside, I hope that's great. My latest outside thing was a protest. It was in a snowstorm. The wind chill was 11.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So I hope you have more favorable weather happening right now. And I know there's so much going on in the world. I hope everybody's doing as well as possible. Try to take care of each other and be kind to each other. And we will be back with a Saturday classic tomorrow. We will have something brand new on Monday. Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Alienware Sponsor Voice]

Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plan plus the

[Tracy V. Wilson]

cost of optional benefits, plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.

[Anabe Sponsor Voice]

Kids Pets Life. Your sofa sees it all. But with a washable sofa, stains don't stand a chance. All of our sofa collections come with fully machine washable covers and cushions, making cleanup effortless. Liquid and stain resistant fabrics provide extra protection against everyday messes. Plus with modular designs, you can rearrange your sofa however you like. Perfect for growing families and changing spaces. Starting at just $699, it's time to upgrade to a stress free mess proof sofa. Visit washablesofas.com today and save offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Brought to you in part by Vital Farms I love eggs. I turn to them all the time as a quick and easy way to start a meal. And Vital Farm's eggs are brought to you by hens that have access to fresh air and sunshine and you can actually look up on the carton and see the farm that those eggs came from. Vital Farms is also a certified bee corporation with a purpose to improve the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. Look for the black egg carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. VitalFarms Good Eggs no shortcuts Wouldn't it

[Holly Frey]

be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's a super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn [e-mail] this is an iHeart podcast.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Guaranteed human.