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First United Presbyterian Church and Manse

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Pennsylvania, Cumberland County, Newville
In June of 1762 a representative from the Big Spring Associate Presbyterian congregation was "craving support of sermon" from Presbytery. This congregation first worshiped on the east side of the Big Spring. Known as the "the tent," their house of worship was a board roof without siding. In 1772 a log church was built here, followed by a stone church in 1790 and a brick church in 1826. A 2-story brick church with pastor's study, lecture room, and prayer meeting room on the first floor and sanctuary on the second followed in 1868.

Part of the present structure was completed in 1883. It included a Sabbath School room, sanctuary with spectacular stained glass windows, and a 1011 pound bell donated by the citizens of Newville. Additions were in 1930, 1964 and 1989.

The 1859 manse was first occupied by Rev. W.I. Wallace who is remembered for his prayers for the success of the Union army. Southern sympathizers in his congregation warned him not to do that again! The first bathroom in Newville was installed here for the family of Rev. George Reed, Mrs. Reed was the first person to call the parsonage the "Manse."

The graveyard behind the church was closed in 1922 and the bodies re-interred elsewhere.

(Churches, Etc. • Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Shippensburg

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Pennsylvania, Cumberland County, Shippensburg
Settled about 1733
Laid out by and named for Edward Shippen
•1703-1781•
Merchant
Mayor of Philadelphia
Later a resident of Lancaster
Paymaster in the Forbes Expedition
A founder and trustee of Princeton University
Grandson of Edward Shippen
•1639-1712•
Who was the host of William Penn
Mayor and Merchant of Philadelphia
Speaker of the Assembly
President of the Provincial council
And Chief Justice of Pennsylvania

(Settlements & Settlers • Politics) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Joseph Armstrong

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Pennsylvania, Franklin County, near Saint Thomas
Settled here on land applied for in 1737 and warranted 1752. Member of the Assembly 1750-55. Captain of militia 1755 and in Pennsylvania Regiment 1756-57. Died 1761. Home used in 1757 as a ranging station for troops in the French and Indian War and during Pontiac's War in 1763-64.

(Settlements & Settlers • War, French and Indian • Politics) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Chambersburg

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Pennsylvania, Franklin County, Chambersburg
Settled 1734 by Benjamin Chambers, who laid out "Chambers Town" in 1764. Seat of Franklin County since 1784. Scene of Civil War events: Raided by "Jeb" Stuart, 1862; occupied by Confederates in 1863; and burned by them in 1864.

(Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Amite County Courthouse

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Mississippi, Amite County, Liberty
The State's oldest courthouse, built in 1839-41, replaced the building located on this historic square. Seat of Amite County, formed Feb. 24, 1809. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Liberty

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Mississippi, Amite County, Liberty
Founded 1809 and chartered 1828. Site of first Confederate monument in state, 1871. Here Gail Borden conducted condensed milk experiments. Dr. Tichenor's antiseptic was also originated here.

(Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil • Science & Medicine) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Liberty Missionary Baptist Church

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Mississippi, Amite County, Liberty
Founded as the Liberty Colored Church in March 1870 after fifteen black members requested letters of dismissal from Liberty Baptist Church to organize their own congregation. Under the leadership of their first pastor, Rev. Fred Stirling, these citizens held services under a brush arbor until 1873 when they purchased an acre of land and constructed the first sanctuary. Liberty Missionary Baptist Church was the first African American Baptist church founded by former slaves in the town of Liberty.

(Churches, Etc. • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

New Hartford

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Connecticut, Litchfield County, Pine Meadow
In 1732 the Connecticut General Assembly gave Hartford and Windsor permission to establish seven towns in the colony’s Western Lands. New Hartford was given to 182 Hartford taxpayers who became the new town’s proprietors. They organized and hired surveyors to lay out suitable home lots and highways. Settlement began in 1734 on Town Hill and West Hill. A meetinghouse was completed by 1749 at the town’s center on Town Hill
While farming was the main occupation, grist and saw mills soon thrived on the Windsor (now Farmington) and Nepash (or Nepaug) Rivers. In the early 1800’s, economic interest shifted from agricultural to industrial and population centers moved from the hilltops to the river valleys.
Major industries sprang up in New Hartford Centre (now Nepaug), Bakerville, Satan’s Kingdom, Kelloggsville (Pine Meadow), and North Village (now New Hartford Center).

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The Greenwoods Company produced cotton duck for the United States military and for the sails of the Vigilant, defender in the America’s Cup races. Others included the Chapin-Stevens Company, which made planes, levels, and rules; and D. B. Smith Company. Two railroads had lines in town. In 1901 the Greenwoods Company cotton mills moved to the South. By the time of the Great Depression, most industries had collapsed and people moved elsewhere, leaving only small, family run businesses. The town changed rapidly: the railroads were removed; several major floods caused serious damage; two dams with reservoirs and three major highways were built. Today, new industries have located here, including Waring, Ovation Instruments, and Hitchcock Chair Company. Marcus H. Holcomb, Governor of Connecticut 1915-1921, was born here. Elias Howe built the first practical general purpose sewing machine here, patented in 1846.

(Colonial Era • Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Joseph Turner House

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New Jersey, , Hunterdon, Union Twp
The nearby Union Ironworks built this house in 1760 as the residence of the superintentent . Enlarged in the 1830s, it was purchased by the State of NJ in the 1960s , when the reservoir was being built. It is now open as a historical museum.

(Agriculture • Colonial Era • Industry & Commerce • Patriots & Patriotism) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

The Plaza of the Priests

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Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo

La llamada Plazoleta de los Curas es el recinto abierto de la antigua Claustra o claustro de la misma Catedral, trazada en 1541 por el Reverendísimo Licenciado Don Alonso de Fuenmayor, obispo de esta Diócesis Primada, Presidente a la vez de nuestra Real Audiencia y Chancillería, y luego primer arzobispo del Arzobispado de Santo Domingo.
En su entorno fueron construidas algunas viviendas para uso de los ilustres Miembros del Excelentísimo Cabildo Eclesiástico. Fue utilizada como cementerio y restaurado en el año de 1969.
Tres Arquillos tenía la Plazoleta de los Curas, cuyas rejas respectivas se abrian cada mañana, al amanecer, y se cerraban al atardecer del crepúsculo de cada día.
Uno daba hacia la calle de la fortaleza que, desdichadamente, desapareció no ha mucho tiempo. De los dos que aún Subsisten, abrían el camino para ir los canónigos y racioneros que habitaban en dicha Plazoleta a ocupar sus cátedras en el Colegio Mayor de Hernando de Gorjón o a refrescarse en un paseo vespertino por la Alameda cercana al mar.

English translation:
The so-called Plaza of the Priests is the open grounds of the old cloister of the nearby Cathedral, laid out in 1541 by the Reverend Alonso de Fuenmayor, bishop of the Primatial Diocese and President of our Royal Court and Chancery, and later the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo.
In the same area houses were built that were used by the distinguished members of the Ecclesiastical Council. It was also used as a cemetery and renovated in 1969.
The Plaza of the Priests originally had three small arched entryways, whose respective gates were opened each morning at sunrise and closed at sunset daily.
The arch facing the street to the fortress, unfortunately, has disappeared not long ago. Of the two that still remain, they were used by the priests who lived in the small square to take their places at the University of Hernando de Gorjón or to cool off on an afternoon walk along the road near the sea.

(Churches, Etc. • Colonial Era) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Black Prairie Blues

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Mississippi, Noxubee County, Macon

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The roots of blues and gospel music run deep in the African American culture of the Black Prairie region. Among the performers born near Macon here in Noxubee County, Eddy Clearwater, Carey Bell, and Jesse Fortune went on to achieve renown in Chicago blues, while Brother Joe May moved to East St. Louis and starred as a gospel singer. In Prairie Point near the Mississippi-Alabama state line, Willie King kindled a new blues movement as the political prophet of the juke joints.

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African American music in Noxubee County dates back to antebellum days when slaves sang spirituals and work songs on local cotton plantations. Slaves who learned banjo or fiddle also served as entertainers at white social affairs. This musical legacy carried over into the 20th century, when African American family string bands featuring fiddle, guitar, and mandolin performed for both white and black audiences. Such bands included the Duck Brothers (Charlie, Albert, and Vandy Duck), the Salt and Pepper Shakers (Perie, Doc, and Preston Spiller), and the Nickersons (featuring fiddler Booger Nickerson).

Another Macon fiddler, Houston H. Harrington (1924 -1972), guided his family, including sons Joe and Vernon Harrington and nephew Eddy “Clearwater” Harrington, towards careers in the blues after they relocated to Chicago in the early 1950s. Harrington, a part-time preacher and inventor, used a portable disc-cutting machine to make recordings in Macon. In Chicago he produced records by Clearwater and others for his Atomic-H label. Clearwater, born east of Macon in 1935, went on to entertain audiences around the world with a flamboyant blues and rock 'n' roll act.

Harmonica virtuoso Carey Bell, a Macon native whose real surname was also Harrington, likewise attained worldwide fame after moving to Chicago. Bell (1936 -2007) played with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon, among others, and fathered a brood of blues musicians, including renowned guitarist Lurrie Bell and harmonica protege Steve Bell. Vocalist Jesse Fortune, born near Macon in 1930, also embarked on a lengthy blues career in Chicago in the 1950s. In the gospel field, Brother Joe May (1912 -1972) and Robert Blair (1927 -2001) built successful careers after leaving Macon.

Although professional musical opportunities were scant, blues singers continued to play house parties and juke joints around Macon, Brooksville, Shuqualak, Mashulaville, and Prairie Point. Big Joe Williams (1903 -1982), one of the most prominent blues artists from the Black Prairies, came from Crawford to perform in Noxubee County at times. Williams and fellow bluesman John Wesley “Mr. Shortstuff” Macon (c. 1923 -1973) died in Macon, and guitarist Elijah Brown, another friend of Williams, was born here. Willie King (born in the Grass Hill area in 1943) later led a revival of the local blues tradition and drew widespread acclaim for his political “struggling songs,” an outgrowth of his civil rights activities in Alabama. In Brooksville, performers active on the local music scene have included Robert Earl Greathree and Brown Sugar.

(Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Año Nuevo Island

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California, San Mateo County, near Pescadero
Año Nuevo Island wasn't always an island! The first Spanish explorers to sail past this place named it Punto Año Nuevo or New Year's Point. The long jutting point has eroded since the 1600s. It is now an island separated from the mainland by a rough and dangerous channel.

Historic Lighthouse Station Lighthouse stations were essential for protecting life and property along treacherous coastlines.
The run-down buildings you see are the last remains of the lighthouse station. Living quarters for two families were built with picket fences around the yards to keep out the seals. A rain water basin, cistern, and tank supplied fresh water The families lived on the island year round.
After protecting the coast for 76 years, the station was decommissioned in 1948 when the lighthouse's functions were automated offshore. Seals, sea lions, and birds quickly took over the place. The weather-beaten structures, as well as the island and its wildlife, are protected as a part of the Reserve.

(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Steele Ranch

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California, San Mateo County, near Pescadero
Today the cow barn is the visitor center for the Marine Education Center, the horse barn serves as a theater and classroom, and the smaller, two-story creamery building is the volunteer headquarters and park office.

Coastal Dairy
The historic buildings you see here were once part of a successful coastal dairy empire.
The extended Steele family operated numerous dairies along the coast, beginning in the 1860s. They called their land "cow heaven."
During the Civil War, the Steele brothers auctioned a giant 20-foot round of cheese to benefit the Union war effort. President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant received slices.
Effie Steele and her husband, Edwin Dickerman, built their farm house and outbuildings here in the 1880s. They constructed the cow barn with timber salvaged from a storm wrecked local wharf.

(Agriculture) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Dickerman-Steele House

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California, San Mateo County, near Pescadero
This house was built in 1878, by Edwin Dickerman for his bride Effie Steele. This plaque is in memory of their daughter, Flora, who married Jake Frank Steele. Flora lived in the house from 1881 to 1963.

(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Monument to Water

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California, San Mateo County, Woodside
Here on October 28, 1934, an eager audience celebrated the roar of Hetch Hetchy water as it rushed to the Peninsula for the first time. An adequate supply of high-quality drinking water was finally a reality for the Bay Area.

(Waterways & Vessels • Charity & Public Work) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Aliceville Prisoner of War Camp

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Alabama, Pickens County, Aliceville
During World War II, the United States Army interned 6,000 German prisoners of war here on a 400 acre site, employing 1,000 American military and civilian personnel. Major Karl H. Shriver commanded Corps of Engineers forces which began construction in August, 1942. Activated Dec. 12, 1942. First prisoners, from Gen. Erwin Rommel's Africa Korps, arrived by Frisco Railroad June 2, 1943. Camp first commanded by Col. F. A. Prince, later by Col. R. S. Grier. 400 frame buildings: barracks, hospital, bakeries, chapels, greenhouse, theaters; water and sewer systems, fire department, amphitheater, sports fields, gardens. Barbed wire compound with guard towers. 2 prisoners killed attempting to escape. Deactivated Sept. 30, 1945.

(War, World II) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railroad Depot

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Alabama, Pickens County, Aliceville
The Carrollton Short Line Railroad, authorized by the legislature in 1897, connected the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at Reform with the Pickens County seat. John Taylor Cochrane of Tuscaloosa, working with Carrollton citizens, completed that line in 1902, then extended it southward toward the Tombigbee River with the encouragement of south Pickens County landowners. Purchasing 36 acres between the villages of Franconia and Bridgeville, Cochrane founded “Aliceville,” named for his wife, Alyce Searcy. By 1903, tracks reached the new town’s depot here at the south end of Broad Street and in February 1907, Aliceville was incorporated.

As Cochrane’s railroad line continued on toward Mobile, it was rechristened the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railroad. The line operated in Pickens County until June 29, 1976, when the last train made its run.

(Settlements & Settlers • Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

R. J. Kirksey High School

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Alabama, Pickens County, Aliceville
Summerville Industrial High School, the first high school for African Americans in the southern part of Pickens County, was moved to this site in 1958, becoming Robert Jackson Kirksey High School. The new name honored a long-term member of the school board and donor of the land. Otis James Brooks, principal of the Summerville Industrial High School since its 1937 beginning, continued in that role at Kirksey High School, remaining there until 1971. Pickens County schools were integrated in that year and the school was designated to serve as a middle school, becoming Aliceville Middle School.

(Education • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

George Downer Field

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Alabama, Pickens County, near Aliceville
Named in honor of George Noonan Downer, Sr. who rendered exemplary community service for more than 50 years. Gov. John Patterson was dedicatory speaker on Nov. 7, 1961. Mr. Downer was born at Cooksville, Miss., July 31, 1888. Served 30 years as Pickens County Commissioner, 12 years as Aliceville City Councilman. School trustee, leader in Methodist Church, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Red Cross and public health. Married Lillie Mae Windham. They reared 6 children. She died Nov, 23, 1958. Second marriage to Anne Mae Wimberley Jacob. Mr. Downer died October 30, 1970, and is buried at Franconia Cemetery.

(Notable Persons • Politics • Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church

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Alabama, Greene County, Pleasant Ridge
By appointment of Tuscaloosa Presbytery, November 18, 1848 Rev. J. L. Kirkpatrick and Rev. C. A. Stillman organized a Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Ridge, Alabama.
There were thirteen charter members. Services were held in a home near site of present church. The first pastor, Rev. J. P. McMullen, served from 1855 until he was killed while serving the Confederacy at Resaca, Ga. 1864.
The church building was erected in 1859, and has been a blessing to all who have worshipped here through the years.

(Churches, Etc. • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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