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 →
At the eastern tip of Dauphin Island, Ala., a barrier island stretching 14 miles east to west but measuring only 1 3/4 miles at its widest point, lies Fort Gaines, a rugged piece of centuries-old history. Construction on the fort, … Continue reading →
Thousands of ships have averted disaster on the treacherous shores of Block Island, R.I., thanks to the two lighthouses that bookend the Atlantic tourist haven a dozen miles south of the mainland. The historic nautical siblings, simply dubbed the North … Continue reading →
Atop one of the scenic rolling hills of Williamstown, Ky., population 3,931, rests a boat — a really big boat. Hailed as the world’s largest timber-frame building, the life-size replica of Noah’s ark towers seven stories above the ground and … Continue reading →
The most endearing American love story of World War II started out as a mistake. On a cold winter evening days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a group of townsfolk laden with food, homebaked goodies and Christmas gifts gathered on … Continue reading →
Dorothy Hustead was hot, tired and trying to stave off the discouragement of a failed career experiment. In December 1931, she and her husband, Ted, had rolled into Wall, S.D., with their 4-year-old son, Ted’s $3,000 inheritance from his father … Continue reading →
