50 episodes listed below
Civil War history from the battlefield table.
Chalkboard History treats the American Civil War as living public memory, not a sealed chapter. From Ripavilla and Franklin, its conversations move between battlefield events, books, speeches, Reconstruction, civil rights, and the stories museums choose to tell.
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Chalkboard History is the Battle of Franklin Trust's conversational history show about the American Civil War, Franklin, and the afterlives of the conflict in American memory. It is rooted in place. Ripavilla, Franklin, Spring Hill, cemeteries, bookstores, tour work, and preservation all shape the way the show thinks. The format is loose but serious. A discussion can open with holiday music banter or a joke about television, then settle into Lincoln's rhetoric, secession, Reconstruction, or how a novel changed visitor expectations. The show returns often to the gap between what people remember and what the record actually supports. That tension gives it energy. Episodes on The Widow of the South distinguish between the real impact of the Battle of Franklin on Carrie and the fictional yarns built around her. The Gettysburg Address episode treats Lincoln's speech as more than a schoolroom artifact, paying attention to how it speaks to national purpose and the dead at Gettysburg. Civil War to Civil Rights pushes the timeline forward, linking Reconstruction, World War II, Black veterans, Confederate memory, and modern discomfort with political history. Tour Guide Talk brings in the perspective of people who spend their days answering public questions. The result feels like a working history table rather than a polished lecture hall. There is humor, but it rarely softens the subject for long. Books matter here. Primary documents matter too. So do visitor reactions, museum practice, and the small misunderstandings that become large public myths. Chalkboard History is best for listeners who like their Civil War history grounded in places, texts, and honest argument, with enough conversational friction to keep the past from feeling settled.
Made for: For Civil War readers, battlefield visitors, museum-minded history fans, and anyone interested in how Franklin, Reconstruction, and public memory connect. It especially suits listeners who enjoy informed conversation with a casual pace.
What sets it apart: The show blends battlefield interpretation, source discussion, and public-history experience from the Battle of Franklin Trust. Its strongest moments come when familiar Civil War stories are tested against documents, visitor questions, and the complicated legacy of memory.
A history podcast brought to you by the Battle of Franklin Trust. It is how mission to tell the stories of the Battle of Franklin and the American Civil War- a War that Redefined America.
A Civil War novel says Carrie dug up the bodies; you get the burial-team correction.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A direct look at how Civil War memory runs through Reconstruction, civil rights, Confederate symbols, and political silence.
"Civil War to Civil Rights" pushes past the neat stopping point that lets Civil War history end when the fighting does. The conversation follows the causes of the war into Reconstruction, the Lost Cause, and the lives of Black veterans who came home to violence after serving a…
Ripavilla banter gives way to Lincoln's warning and the rush toward Fort Sumter.
The episode starts with a secession-versus-succession joke at Ripavilla, then moves into Lincoln, his inaugural warnings, and the drift toward Fort Sumter.
A Civil War book chat that opens lightly and closes with practical reading picks.
The segment opens lightly and then settles into a Civil War book discussion that sets up a clear contrast: broad surveys on one side, and books that stay closer to the individual soldier and to Reconstruction on the other.
A return episode that presents Jacob Cox as a standout Civil War volunteer officer.
The Dispatch Podcast returns with Tour Guide Talk and stays with Joseph Ricci through the show's hiatus and rebranding before settling on Jacob Cox.
Outnumbered units, remembered under fire.
Battle maps, war films, and patient context.
War news, tested against military reality.
Antique European history, read aloud.
Robert Hicks's 2005 novel "The Widow of the South" drove major increases in visitation to Carnton and Franklin.
Chalkboard History's Part 1 on "Why Don't Young People Care About the Civil War?" features a host and Bella, a Gen Z interpreter at Rippavilla and Carnton, who says young people care about history but engage through activism, protest and social media.
Chalkboard History examines the period from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on why Americans resist discussing Reconstruction and the 99 years from 1865 to 1964.
A casual discussion about the contrasting July 4th experiences of Jefferson Davis and Thomas Jefferson, with personal anecdotes about writing under pressure.
The hosts of the Chalkboard History podcast, recorded at Ripavilla plantation in Tennessee, trace the Secession Crisis from John C.
Joseph Ricci, Bill Clark, and David from the Battle of Franklin Trust discuss nine Civil War books they recommend for different levels of knowledge and different interests, spanning social history, military history, pre-war politics, and Civil War memory.
Joseph Ricci and Bill Clark of the Battle of Franklin Trust discuss Union General Jacob Cox, arguing that his extraordinary breadth of accomplishments — theologian, abolitionist, Civil War general, Secretary of the Interior, university president, and historian — makes him one of the most relatable yet underappreciated figures in the Battle of Franklin.