Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with RetroPod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Every year, freshmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis take part in an annual tradition

where they must climb a 21-foot-high obelisk covered in vegetable shortening and place a hat at the very top.

What do you see happening right here is that the Pleaves have made their initial run at the monument?

Yes, you heard that right.

For the freshman class, also known as the Plebes,

the Herndon Monument Climb is the ultimate test of the teamwork and perseverance taught during the first year.

So, what's the history here?

Well, it's not about vegetable shortening.

It's not really about patriotism.

It's not even really about climbing.

It's about romance. The plebe's connection to the Herndon Monument can be traced to the late 1800s in the days after the Civil War.

According to James Cheever's, the retired senior curator of the Naval Academy Museum,

back then the freshmen, who were all white males, were not allowed to socialize with women.

But older students quartered young ladies on Sundays by taking them for walks down the campus's Love Lane,

a path where the Herndon Monument has stood since 1860.

In 1907, Plebes began a tradition of swooping around the monument at the start of the summer

to celebrate both surviving their freshman year and finally being able to take a date around Love Lane.

And then, in 1940, the plebs suddenly decided to climb the monument,

creating the kooky ritual that now unfolds during the Academy's commencement week

every spring.

Call it a, well, call it a very strange mating call.

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