Welcome to AirNenky's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

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 Curiosity's.

James was born in London, but as an adult he lived just outside of Berkeley Springs, West

Virginia.

Although it wasn't called that back then.

In fact, the whole region was just part of the Virginia colony, the first successful

and lasting British foothold in North America.

So when you think of him as growing up near the Potomac River, just be sure to imagine

him in colonial attire.

And the river was a major part of his life, too.

Although not in the way anyone could have guessed, they might have assumed he would be

a fisherman, or maybe run a ferry to the other side for travelers passing through.

But James was more mechanically minded than that.

It was a family interest, really.

Earlier in life he had lived in Maryland, where he helped a cousin named Benjamin to run

a water-powered mill.

And while that might seem primitive by the technological standards of our day and age,

these were complex machines back then, and they required specific skills to design and

...