Cavalcade of America NBC/CBS · 1940s

Cavalcadeofamerica 625 Thislittleplotofground

· GHOST OF RADIO ·
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As the familiar Cavalcade of America theme swells across your radio speaker, you're transported to the windswept plains of 1862, where a widow faces an impossible choice. Her small homestead—just a humble plot of ground carved from the American frontier—represents everything: her husband's memory, her children's future, and her own stubborn will to survive. But when soldiers arrive with orders to commandeer her land for a military supply route during the Civil War, she must decide whether to fight or surrender. This episode crackles with quiet dignity and genuine tension, the kind of intimate human drama that made Cavalcade of America essential listening for millions of Americans tuning in during their evening hours.

What made Cavalcade of America truly special was its ambitious vision: to dramatize the forgotten stories that built the nation, the everyday Americans whose sacrifices rarely made the headlines but shaped the country's soul. Produced by the DuPont Corporation and guided by creator and host de Wolfe Hopper, the series commanded some of radio's finest talent and writers, presenting carefully researched historical episodes that ranged from the Revolutionary War to the industrial age. By the 1940s, when this episode aired, the show had become a cultural institution, offering listeners a patriotic mirror held up to American character during uncertain times. "This Little Plot of Ground" exemplifies the show's philosophy—that history isn't merely the province of kings and generals, but of resolute mothers protecting their homesteads.

Settle in this evening and experience why a nation once stopped to listen to Cavalcade of America. You'll find yourself moved by a story that speaks to something timeless in the American experience.