Here’s the whole story of the Cardiff Giant from the Museum of Hoaxes:

The Cardiff Giant, a gigantic ten-foot tall stone man, emerged out of the ground and into American life on October 16, 1869, when he was discovered by some workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. “Stub” Newell in Cardiff, New York. Word of his presence quickly spread, and soon thousands of people were making the journey out to Stub Newell’s farm to see the colossus. Even when Newell began charging fifty cents a head to have a look at it, people still kept coming.

Speculation ran rampant over what the giant might be. The central debate was between those who thought it was a petrified man and those who believed it to be an ancient statue. The ‘petrifactionists’ theorized that it was one of the giants mentioned in the Bible, Genesis 6:4, where it says, “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Those who promoted the statue theory followed the lead of Dr. John F. Boynton, who speculated that a Jesuit missionary had carved it sometime during the seventeenth century to impress the local indians.

The truth was somewhat more prosaic. It was actually the creation of an enterprising New York tobacconist named George Hull. The idea of burying a stone giant in the ground occurred to him after he got into an argument with a methodist Reverend about whether the Bible should be taken literally. Hull, an atheist, didn’t think it should. But the Reverend disagreed. The Reverend insisted that even the passage where it says ‘there were giants in the earth in those days’ should be read as a literal fact. According to Hull, after this discussion he immediately “thought of making a stone, and passing it off as a petrified man.” He figured he could not only use the fake giant to poke fun at Biblical literalists, but also make some money.

Read the rest if you don’t know it. The story is awesome.

1. Best site.

2. Best presenter.

3. Most interesting historical fact.

4. Craziest teacher.

5. Best meal.

Or any other category you feel like creating! Do your nominating in the comments below.

PS Buses with wifi are really quite amazing.

Really big books (over a thousand pages a piece):

1. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, by Edwin G. Borroughs and Mike Wallace. Matt calls it “his Bible,” which might tell you more about Matt than it does about the book. The sequel is coming out very soon and I’ll probably pre-order it.

2. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert A. Caro. Over thirty years old and still as fresh as today’s headlines. I borrowed my copy from my mother when I went to grad school and never gave it back.

Sleazy stuff:

1. Five Points, by Tyler Anbinder. The history of New York’s most notorious slum is every bit as fun as you’d expect it to be.

2. Low Life, by Luc Sante. Kind of like Gangs of New York, but none of it is made up.

Novels:

1. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. E.Y.’s right, this one is very, very good.

2. The Waterworks, by E.L. Doctorow. Actually, I prefer Ragtime, but that book doesn’t really fit on this list.

People we know:

1. Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum, by Ed O’Donnell. I bought this book long before I met Ed after I saw a print of the disaster in the men’s room of a Cleveland bar. It’s better than you’d ever imagine, but then again so is Ed.

Added bonus T.R. Books (in honor of our visit earlier today):

1. Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough. I almost assigned this instead of the Brooklyn Bridge book. Most biographies drag at the beginning until the people become famous, but it is a credit to both McCullough and Roosevelt that this one is absolutely riveting and its ends when he’s like 24 or something. As an added bonus, it’s set almost entirely in Manhattan.

2. River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, by Candice Millard. The definitive account of the trip to Brazil that almost killed him.

Hey Colorado Adventurers!

I hope all continues to go well on your tour of the Northeast. I really enjoyed our three days together and now that I’m home (until Monday when I head for So. Dakota for more TAH) I’ve had a chance to read through a lot of your blogs. Great stuff! I know it might seem like a chore at times but the blogging requirement provides a great opportunity to reflect on what you’re experiencing and how it connects with your classroom and your understanding of US history, politics, culture, etc. The TAH group I led around the Lower East Side on Friday had no note-taking or blogging requirements at all and I wondered the whole time just how much of the experience they’d remember. So keep up the good work!

Feel free to email with follow-up questions. And send any photos you think I might enjoy.

All best,
Ed

He made singing look so easy.