All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082, part 4

Script by Russell Dodge, narration by Joe Lex

Thomas Hewson Bache co-founded CHOP, the first children’s hospital in the United States. He also served as a Major in the Medical Corps, where he was involved in the Gettysburg Campaign and remained with wounded soldiers even as a prisoner of war. Bache also served as curator of the Mütter Museum from 1866 to 1885 and oversaw signif...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill stories #082 for January, 2026

Happy 200th Birthday!

Daniel Pabst

Daniel Pabst was a prominent 19th-century Philadelphia cabinetmaker known for his exceptional craftsmanship and distinctive designs, blending traditional Victorian styles with emerging artistic movements. His work served affluent clients and reflected evolving furniture styles from Renaissance revival to Modern Gothic...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082, Part 2

Happy 200th Birthday!

Henry Hagert: Prosecuting Catto's Accused Killer

Octavius Valentine Catto was a pioneering African American leader and activist in Philadelphia during the Reconstruction era, advocating for civil rights, voting rights, and racial integration. His assassination in 1871 during violent election-day riots marked a significant and tragic moment...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082 for January 2026 - Happy 200th Birthday! 

Part 1 - Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare

Martha Coston significantly advanced maritime communication by developing pyrotechnic signal flares that could be seen day and night, improving naval operations and safety at sea. Ships originally used signal flags and lanterns to communicate, but these were limited by visibility and weather condi...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082 for January 1, 2026

It's January! Time for our annual 200th Birthday Bash for people born in 1826.

After Martha Coston was widowed at age 21, she used her husbands notes and reputation to invent airborne signal flares that saved hundreds of lives.

Henry Hagert was assistant District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia when he prosecuted a man for the murder of Civil Rights Activist O...

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, Part 4

James "Jimmy" Bland is NOT buried at Laurel Hill, but he serves as a logical link between minstrelsy and mummery. Many people called him the "Black Stephen Foster," and songs he wrote like "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "Hand me down My Walking Cane" have become standards. One of his more popular tunes, "Oh Dem Golden Slippers" became the theme song for Phil...

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 3

Born in 1848 in New York to French immigrant parents, Frank Dumont became a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began to perform as a boy and joined Christy’s Minstrels by 1862, a troupe that set the enduring standard format for minstrel shows: a semicircle stage arrangement with an interlocutor (emcee) in the center and end men characters Mr. ...

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 2

E.F. Dixey & John Carncross were the bedrock of Philadelphia minstrelsy for more than 20 years. Many people did not feel a trip to the Quaker City was complete if they didn't make a stop at the 11th Street Burnt Cork Opera House. The podcast also discusses pigmentocracy, historical nonracial uses of blackface, scientific racism, Black Philadelphia society in th...

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, Part 1

Human performance has ancient roots in ritual, storytelling, music, and dance, evolving from prehistoric communal activities to formalized theater in ancient civilizations.

Mumming originated in pre-Christian seasonal rites involving masked performances symbolizing death and rebirth, later becoming popular folk dramas in medieval ...

Biographical Bytes from Bala #051

Philadelphia has been the home of Mummers for centuries and you can still see their antics every New Year's Day. For the latter part of the 19th century, Philadelphia was also the place to see a minstrel show. The Carncross & Dixey company made both of its owners rich men and provided entertainment for thousands of Philadelphians for mere pennies. Frank Dumont literally wrote the book on how to...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #041, part 4

Benjamin Wood Richards' tenure as mayor coincided with challenges such as public health crises, infrastructure needs, and social tensions in Philadelphia. In 1819, Richards co-founded a large commission house in Philadelphia, a business acting as an intermediary for securities and commodities transactions, earning income through commissions.  He served in the Pennsylvania leg...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081, part 3

Nathan Dunn was born to Quaker parents in New Jersey. After early financial difficulties and disownment by the Philadelphia Quaker Meeting, he sailed to China around 1818 to rebuild his fortunes. In Canton, he gained respect by avoiding the opium trade and engaged in commerce involving tea, silks, porcelain, and other goods. In 1835 he joined with John Jay Smith and others to f...

From All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081, part 2 - released December 3, 2025.

When Laurel Hill Cemetery co-founder John Jay Smith died in 1881 at age 83, he left behind a significant legacy in Philadelphia’s cultural and civic institutions. His obituary highlighted his diverse roles as librarian, editor, cemetery founder, and member of the Society of Friends, as well as his family lineage connected to o...

Part 1 of All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081: Laurel Hill - In the Beginning

Inspired by the allegory of Old Mortality, Laurel Hill was founded in 1836 by John Jay Smith and other reform-minded citizens as a response to overcrowded urban graveyards and changing attitudes toward death and memorialization. Modeled after rural cemeteries like Paris’s Père Lachaise, Laurel Hill emphasized scenic landscaping, remembrance, ...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081 for December 1, 2025

Laurel Hill Cemetery was founded in 1835 and opened in 1836 by four men with strikingly different backgrounds, but with a common cause - to give the people of Philadelphia a final resting place worthy of the "Athens of America." 

John Jay Smith was a polymath librarian / horticulturalist who had a rather unpleasant experience in seeking the grave of a recently dece...

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #050

The sport basket ball started on the day James Naismith nailed 13 rules to a gymnasium door in Springfield Massachusetts. The game spread quickly, especially among college men (and women). University of Pennsylvania was an early adapter, and four Penn grads made their names in basketball.

Ellwood Rutschman was a decent player but found his niche as the first professional...