A well-known lateral thinking puzzle posits a wealthy book collector who purchases a rare edition for a quite princely sum. To maximize his investment, he takes the book home and immediately throws it in his fireplace. The question is, … Continue reading →
Regardless of weather or calendar, there is only one season in Santa Claus, Ind. The town of 2,410, located in the southwest corner of the state, would likely not be welcoming more than a million visitors a year today had … Continue reading →
In 1951 Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) opened his boyhood home to the public. Today Winterthur, pronounced “winter-tour,” stands as the premier museum campus of American decorative arts and naturalistic specimen plantings. Winterthur is situated about a mile and a … Continue reading →
To turn a phrase commonly associated with the Old West, the folks of Dodge City, Kan., “live with their boots on.” The southwestern Kansas city of 27,340, historically known as the Queen of the Cowtowns, centers its tourism industry efforts … Continue reading →
It is the rare and special dreamer who can scan the choppy waters of a mile-long strait in San Francisco and say, “We can build a bridge over that.” Or to peer at a mountain range and envision an asphalt … Continue reading →
Some municipalities pride themselves in looking far into the future. Mystic, Conn., etched its place on the map by ushering visitors way into the past. The town of 4,205 residents is ideally situated to have served as a thriving seaport … Continue reading →
Route 66, that iconic 2,448-mile asphalt ribbon of quintessential Americana, was known by several names, including the Main Street of America, the Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway. Stretching from Chicago to the Pacific shore in Santa Monica, Calif., … Continue reading →
Meet a town catapulted into global fame by an iconic namesake event that never came within 60 miles of the place. Woodstock, N.Y., a scenic hamlet of 2,088 residents nestled in the Catskill Mountains, was the intended beneficiary of “An … Continue reading →
Dismantling an entire village piece by piece and relocating it more than 300 miles away is no easy task — especially by oxcart, railroad and horse and wagon. Yet Virginia McClurg, a local resident of the Manitou Springs, Colo., area, … Continue reading →
With apologies to Plato and Frank Zappa, sometimes necessity is the mother of reinvention. In the 1930s, Leavenworth, a picturesque hamlet of 2,000 residents nestled in the Cascade Mountains, began to die. The tracks of Great Northern Railway Company, the … Continue reading →
The place is big — really big. The main building of the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa, encompasses more square footage than a pair of football fields. The complex includes eight restaurants; a convenience store; gift shop; 30,000-square-foot “Super … Continue reading →
