In this bonus episode of How We Got Here - we go behind the sounds with Host Rachel DePompa, Executive Producer Colten Weekley and Digital Director Kate Albright to dive deep into how we made this season. You’ll hear about some of our favorite guests and which segments really stuck with us. 

In this episode of How We Got Here - the early days of Thomas Jefferson. While much of the focus on Jefferson’s life turns to his later years, we dive into what is known about juvenile Jefferson and how experiences as a boy molded him into the man he became. Plus, a tribute to the lives lost in the Virginia Tech mass shooting.

In this episode of How We Got Here - Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. What you don’t know about the 90-minute meeting that signaled the end of the Civil War. Plus – born enslaved in Virginia, Booker T. Washington used his experience to shine an early light on civil rights and lay the groundwork for those who followed. And the legacy of Pocahontas in Virginia, whose story was enshrined by white colonists and corporations.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the burning of Richmond. Confederates fleeing the city aimed to set fire to warehouses, but Mother Nature had different plans that April day in 1865. Plus – how the 10th President of the United States rose up through the political sphere in Virginia before becoming known as “His Accidency” in the Oval Office. Finally, how women in Virginia fought inflation and food prices as their families starved. How the “Bread Riots” of the Civil War came raging into...

In this episode of How We Got Here - the famous plea for independence that Patrick Henry gave from a pew inside a church that still stands today. Plus, how an enslaved man in Richmond hid as cargo to try and find freedom, earning him the nickname Henry ‘Box’ Brown. Finally, we take you back 400 years to an attack on colonists in Virginia on Good Friday. How the Powhatan Indians could have ended Britain’s North American experiment once and for all. 

In this episode of How We Got Here - The birth of James Madison. Learn how the father of the Constitution was shaped by his early years at Montpelier and his contemporaries that included fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson. Plus, the privileged, youthful Frenchman who sailed to the defense of a fledgling nation – only to play a crucial role in the bloodshed on Virginia soil. Why the Marquis de Lafayette was out for revenge against the British.

In this episode of How We Got Here - the birth of the ironclad. From the depths of the Chesapeake Bay rose a former Union warship that the Confederacy would craft into a juggernaut, unlike anything the world had seen. Plus, the rise and fall of Circuit City, the electronics retail giant that got its start along West Broad Street in Richmond.

Season 6 launches on Monday, March 7. How We Got Here, presented by NBC12 in Richmond, Virginia, is a podcast highlighting Virginia’s rich history, one week at a time.

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here - we go behind the sounds with Host Rachel DePompa, Executive Producer Colten Weekley and Digital Director Kate Albright to dive deep into how we made this season. You’ll hear about some of our favorite guests and which segments really stuck with us. 

In this episode of How We Got Here - the day English settlers raid the Powhatan town of Paspahegh, slaughtering two dozen including the chief’s wife and children. Plus, we use our archives to take you back to Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally, remembering those who died in the skies and below during this notorious day in Virginia history.  

In this episode of How We Got Here - the day a tornado touched down in the Tri-Cities, shearing storefronts in half and claiming lives along the way. Plus, a detective story 200 years in the making. Why the British may be to blame for Virginia’s missing census records. And, the story behind the resignation letter from the commander of the Confederates after the shattering loss at Gettysburg. 

In this episode of How We Got Here - The ethical seesaw surrounding Henrietta Lacks, and how her story changed medical discoveries for generations. Plus, meet the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy. The mystique of John Mosby during the Civil War. And we’ll take you inside the ‘room where it happened.’ How two Virginians and a New Yorker moved the U.S. capital. Finally, hundreds were killed in an explosive instant outside of Petersburg after the Union decided to tunnel underneath their rebel foes.

In this episode of How We Got Here - how the bounties of the Caribbean island of Bermuda helped save Jamestown – in a story that inspired William Shakespeare. Plus, Virginia soil was stained with blood from the first major battle of the Civil War. How the First Battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, would shape years of conflict between the Union and Confederacy.

In this episode of How We Got Here - years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Alabama, Irene Morgan in Virginia did the same thing, leading to a landmark Supreme Court decision that became the starting point for dismantling segregation in the United States. Plus, the story of the man known as the father of the U.S. Navy. How Scottish-born John Paul Jones would rise to fame during the American Revolution. And the moment that humankind first touched foot on the moon.

In this episode of How We Got Here - A look at the final execution in Virginia before the first state in the South abolished the death penalty. Plus, the most ‘animated’ of the Confederate statues comes down along Monument Avenue. Then, the decades-long tale of the Norfolk Four, from their wrongful convictions to their freedom. And revealing the identity of Virginia’s most famous sorceress, the Witch of Pungo.

Season 5 launches on Monday, July 5. How We Got Here, presented by NBC12 in Richmond, Virginia, is a podcast highlighting Virginia’s rich history, one week at a time.

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here, we go behind the sounds with Host Rachel DePompa and Executive Producer Colten Weekley to dive deep into how we made this season. You’ll hear about some of our favorite guests and which segments really stuck with us.

In this episode of How We Got Here – The fight in Virginia to give women the right to vote; a three-generation, 72-year battle that came down to one vote. Plus, the day the angel of the Confederacy was born. Why the title she was given is still debated to this day. And we look at the founding of the Virginia Military Institute, including its fight to survive the Civil War and the social battles it faces today.

In this episode of How We Got Here – Tales from the Lewis and Clark expedition that you didn’t learn in school. Plus, the political process to elect the first – and only – President of the Confederate States of America. And one of the worst plane crashes in Virginia history is a little-known story that changed the way the United States Army transported troops around the country.

In this episode of How We Got Here – the history of one of Richmond’s most glamorous and ritzy places to stay, the Jefferson Hotel. What you didn’t learn about Bacon’s rebellion in history class. We’ll take you inside a catastrophic disaster at NASA’s Wallops Island facility as a rocket headed for the International Space Station explodes seconds after liftoff. Finally, the day British General Charles Cornwallis is suddenly paroled and allowed to sail back to Britain after his surrender at Yorkto

In this episode of How We Got Here - the extraordinary life of a naval aviator and explorer from Virginia. The incredible journeys to both ends of the earth by Adm. Richard Byrd. Plus—a deadly delivery in the mail as anthrax is found in envelopes in the aftermath of 9/11. We take you inside the moment human speech first crossed the Atlantic Ocean, going from Virginia to Paris. And—one of NASCAR’s darkest days, as news of a tragedy in the skies finally reaches the half-mile of mayhem.

In this episode of How We Got Here – the search for a serial rapist and murderer in Charlottesville. Plus, the birth of a woman who would go on to lead a Union spy ring in the heart of the Confederate Capital. We delve deeper into the death of an American household staple—the phone book. One monument in Richmond that isn’t causing controversy on Capitol grounds. And we look back at one of the top five worst hurricanes to hit Virginia.

In this episode of How We Got Here – the death of founding father George Mason. How his extraordinary life was full of both contributions and contradictions. Plus, the day another revolutionary is hanged after working to break the bonds of slavery. Gabriel’s conspiracy in the context of today. We take a look back at a hurricane in Belize that claimed the lives of 17 Virginians. And the day the United States Supreme Court ruled love wins.  

In this bonus episode of How We Got Here, we take a look back at the infamous collapse of the Church Hill tunnel in Richmond. On Oct. 2, 1925, the train tunnel gave way during construction work, killing at least four men and entombing at least two people whose bodies remain there today. A steam locomotive and ten flatcars are still buried beneath Church Hill as well. We talk to the son of two survivors of that fateful day, as he visits the now-sealed tunnel entrance for the very first time