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William J. Klauer

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New Mexico, Taos County, near Rancho de Taos
The Klauer family of Dubuque, Iowa, stewards of the Taba Valley Overlook since 1920, transfered ownership of this property to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on March 31, 2001, with the help of the Trust for Public Land and the Taos Land Trust. All those who travel this route and cherish this vista are deeply grateful to the Klauer family for preserving this viewshed for future generations. The residents of Taos are blessed by W. J. Klauer’s dream to save this land—his view of “heaven on earth”—as he receives his eternal reward in heaven above.

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

Israelite House of David / Mary's City of David

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Michigan, Berrien County, near Benton Harbor

(Side 1)
Israelite House of David
Based on the teachings of the Christian Israelite tradition begun by Joanna Southcott in England in 1792. Benjamin and Mary Purnell founded the House of David communal religious community in Benton Harbor in 1903. At its peak the colony had one thousand members, including artists, businessmen, and inventors. During the 1920s the colony used Michigan's growing auto tourism industry to fund its development. One of the largest landowners in southwest Michigan, it operated prize-winning farms, an amusement park with miniature trains, an ice cream parlor, and a zoo. The House of David baseball teams, with their long hair and beards, were popular fixtures on the national barnstorming circuit in the 1920s and 1930s.

(Side 2)
Mary's City of David
After the death of Benjamin Purnell in 1927, the Israelite House of David religious community split over spiritual direction and accumulation of assets. Purnell's wife, Mary, left, and founded Mary's City of David on this adjacent site in 1930. She retained control of four large farms and a ninety-room hotel next to Benton Harbor's expansive fruit market, which provided income for the colony. Between 1930 and 1950, members designed and constructed this complex of vernacular buildings. At a time when resorts were restricted by race and ethnicity, the colony welcomed Jewish visitors by building cabins and a synagogue to accommodate them and opening vegetarian restaurants that attracted Orthodox Jewish Vacationers from Chicago.

(Churches, Etc. • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Fruit Belt

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Michigan, Berrien County, near Benton Harbor
Because of Lake Michigan's moderating effect, a narrow coastal strip from Indiana to Grand Traverse Bay, 300 miles north, is blessed by a climate uniquely suited to fruit growing. This fact was observed by the 1840's when peaches already were being shipped from Berrien County to Chicago. Apples, cherries, berries, grapes, pears, and plums added to the fame of the "fruit belt." One of the world's great fruit markets has developed here in Benton Harbor to provide an outlet for these bountiful crops.

(Agriculture • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Gordon Beach Inn

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Michigan, Berrien County, Union Pier
Built in 1924 by Louis and Lena Gordon, and expanded four years later, Gordon Beach Inn was the centerpiece of the Jewish resort subdivision of the same name. The Gordons operated the inn for a decade before losing it during the Great Depression. Robert Miller, an African American and a former Chicago alderman, purchased the property in the 1960s as Gordon Beach was integrating. The inn was restored in 1991 to its 1920s appearance.

(African Americans • Churches, Etc. • Entertainment) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Lakeside Inn

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Michigan, Berrien County, Lakeside
Known as Ames Grove, this property served as a picnic ground and recreation area beginning in the 1880s. John Aylesworth purchased the property in 1901 and opened the Lakeside Inn in this building as early as 1915. The hotel once had its own zoo and extensive gardens. During the 1930s and 1940s Chicago orchestras played at the inn. The Lakeside Center for the Arts occupied the premises from 1968 to 1994 and hosted artists from around the world. In 1995 the inn was restored to its 1920s appearance.

(Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Portage Prairie United Methodist Church

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Michigan, Berrien County, near Buchanan

(Side 1)
Persuaded by reports of good land from the Reverend John Seybert, Bishop of the Ohio Conference, the Jacob and David Rough families came to Portage Prairie from Pennsylvania in the spring of 1849. In 1851 they organized the Zion Evangelical Church. The denomination merged with the United Evangelical Church in 1922 and with the United Brethren Church in 1946. This church was renamed the Portage Prairie United Methodist Church in 1968.

(Side 2)
In 1887 the Reverend J.A. Frye sparked a religious revival that inspired the construction of this Gothic Revival Church. Embellished with oak details, the church cost $7,200 and was debt-free upon its dedication. Its 100-foot steeple was removed in 1919 due to severe electrical storms. Evangelical pioneers had worshipped in a log schoolhouse until 1859, when they built a yellow brick church. That structure was replaced by the present church.

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Burnett's Post

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Michigan, Berrien County, St. Joseph
William Burnett, an American patriot from New Jersey, established a trading post on the bank of the St. Joseph River immediately east of this point between 1775 and 1782. He was the first permanent white resident of this area. He married Kakima, daughter of Chief Aniquiba and sister of Topenebee, principal chief of the Potawatomi nation. Burnett built a warehouse at the mouth of the St. Joseph on the site of the old Fort Miami, another at the site of Chicago, and a third on the Kankakee River. In 1785, the British charged Burnett with "exciting sedition" among the Indians. He was arrested, sent to Montreal and Quebec, but not under guard, and at last released without trial. During the War of 1812 he disappeared, but his son, James, continued to manage the post until 1833.

(Colonial Era • Exploration • Industry & Commerce • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Old St. Joseph Neighborhood

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Michigan, Berrien County, St. Joseph
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, local river captains, mill owners, merchants and other professionals built homes in this neighborhood. Over one hundred of their homes remain. They exemplify popular architectural styles ranging from Spanish Colonial Revival to American Foursquare. Of particular interest are the elegant Queen Anne style homes. The Old St. Joseph Neighborhood is recognized as a state historic district.

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

The Hogue House

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Michigan, Berrien County, Sodus Township
In 1854 Robert Hogue (1846-1905) migrated from Pennsylvania to Pipestone Township with his family. At age seventeen, he began teaching in a local school. He attended Adrian College, later graduating from the University of Michigan before he resumed teaching in Berrien County. Soon after purchasing 170 acres of land in 1874, Hogue married Mary Rector. The Hogues built this house in the late nineteenth century. Modernized around 1940, the house retains many Victorian details. Robert Hogue held several township offices and served as postmaster and justice of the peace.

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

Peck Chevrolet

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Virginia, Arlington County, Arlington
Bob Peck opened his first Chevrolet dealership in 1939 on Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon. In 1964, he moved the dealership west to Ballston to the very prominent corner of North Glebe Road and Wilson Boulevard, 300 feet south of this marker. Taking advantage of the site’s unique location and visibility, local architect Anthony Musolino designed a transparent circular showroom of glass and chrome, with a butterfly roofline whose frieze of diamond-shaped blue panels spelled out “Chevrolet.” The building was an excellent example of Googie architecture, reflecting the era’s prevailing interest in the future — space travel, nuclear energy, rockets — through the use of upward slanting and cantilevered roofs, geometric patterns, acute angles and large sheets of glass.

Musolino’s design evoked thoughts of flight and movement, with its walls of transparent glass and a roof that appeared to float skyward. The transparent showroom was a living billboard. Motorists could see the chrome-trimmed vehicles from the street. Peck Chevrolet became a community icon and a landmark for motorists traveling to and through Arlington. The showroom’s design is represented in the new diamond-shaped frieze of the office building now located at the former Bob Peck site.

(Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Oildale Waits Drilling Company

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California, Kern County, Oildale
In May 1899, Thomas A. Means owned the land where James and Jonathan Elwood discovered oil on the North Bank of the Kern River. They used a hand auger under the edge of the cliff checking for oil, and later moved to the top to drill. Oil surfaced from 256 feet, on July 26, 1899.

You can see the Discovery Well, capped in red, behind the dedication plaque. The Kern River Field has been the longest producing in the nation - over 100 Years.

As the Standard Oil Company grew in Kern County, a pipeline was constructed between here and the Pt. Richmond Refinery across from San Francisco.

Standard Oil Company of California later changed its name to Chevron USA, Inc. The exploration department was located at 2401 N. Chester Avenue (see below) and can still be seen at 3311 Manor Street.

(Natural Resources) Includes location, directions, 11 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Fr. Fidelis Wieland, O.F.M

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California, San Luis Obispo County, San Miguel
This Bell Tower is erected
In memory of
Fr. Fidelis Wieland, O.F.M.
Former Superior of
Old Mission San Miguel
United States Navy Chaplain
Killed in Action
World War II

(War, World II) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mission Cemetery

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California, San Luis Obispo County, San Miguel
The first burial of a Christian Indian took place in this mission cemetery on March 17, 1798, as appears from the records still preserved at the mission. In the following years over two thousand Indians were laid to rest here and in adjoining plots.

(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Southern-Shreve Cemetery

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Virginia, Arlington County, Arlington
Five generations of the Southern, Shreve, and related families are interred in this burial plot. The Shreve family in Arlington dates from the arrival of Samuel Shreve from New Jersey about 1780. Shreve purchased a tract of land near Ballston in 1791. The earliest grave (1832) is that of John Redin (Sixth Continental Line), a veteran of the American Revolution. Redin’s daughter married Richard Southern.

(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Lacey Car Barn

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Virginia, Arlington County, Arlington
In 1896, the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway began running electric trolleys from Rosslyn to Falls Church on the present routes of Fairfax Drive and I-66. By 1907, the line linked downtown Washington to Ballston, Vienna, and the Town of Fairfax. In 1910, the railway built at this location a car barn, rail yard, workshop, electrical substation, and general office. In 1912, the rival Washington & Old Dominion Railway began crossing the tracks on a bridge 200 yards west of here, traveling the present route of I-66 from Rosslyn. The line to Fairfax closed in 1939, but Metrorail’s Orange Line follows its route through Arlington.

(Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Gate House

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California, Marin County, San Rafael
The Gate House, the Boyd's guest house, was completed in 1880 by Ira B. Cook, the great grandfather of Miss Louise A. Boyd. With the adjoining park, it was donated to the City of San Rafael in 1905 and has been Marin County Historical Society's Museum since 1959.
This plaque commemorates the fiftieth year of the Marin County Historical Society.

(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

356th Fighter Group

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Georgia, Chatham County, Pooler

359th, 360th, 361st
Hqtrs & Support Sqdns

413 Missions Flown - 278 Enemy Aircraft
Destroyed With Loss of 72 Personnel...
Operated From Martlesham Heath,
Ipswich, England From October 1943
To May 1945. This Memorial is a
Reminder of the Supreme Sacrifices Made
To Preserve Freedom in the World.
365th Fighter Group Association - October 1997

(War, World II) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The City-Gate

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Israel, Haifa District, near Megiddo
[Text on the Left Side of the Marker]:

Megiddo became an Israelite city sometime between the 10th and 9th centuries B.C., and functioned as an administrative center for he fertile Jezreel Valley. Some time later, a massive wall (1) and a monumental city-gate (2-4) were built. According to one opinion, the gate dates to the reign of Solomon (10th c. B.C.). Other scholars postdate the gate to the reign of either Ahab (9th c.) or Jeroboam II (8th c. B.C.).

[Text across the Bottom of the Marker]:

"and this is the account of the forced labour which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord and his own house and the millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer." ( I Kings 9: 15)

(Anthropology • Forts, Castles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Marianne Gaillard Faulkner

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Vermont, Windsor County, Woodstock
Marker Front:
Born September 19, 1859, in Mobile, Alabama, Marianne Gaillard married Edward Daniels Faulkner in 1885. Edward owned Johnson & Faulkner, a very successful and prosperous upholstery firm in New York City
The couple bought the former Woodward mansion on Mountain Avenue prior to WWI and spent many summers here. After Edward’s death in 1926, Marianne Faulkner spent increasingly more time in Woodstock.
Mrs. Faulkner was generous benefactor to the town. Among her gifts are the Woodstock Recreation Center, the Homestead, Faulkner Park and Trails, and contributions to many local
(Continued on other side)
Marker Reverse:
(Continued from other side)
churches and charities. Her Faulkner Trust is still used to help Woodstock individuals in need.
She also funded the Faulkner House at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH, and gifted an endowment that continues to benefit the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
Because of her generosity, she is the only person to receive a Life Membership at the Woodstock Country Club.
Mrs. Faulkner was described as a woman with a powerful spirit and unshakeable will, an extraordinarily interesting human being with compassion for others.
She passed away on January 6, 1958, at her home in Woodstock, yet her legacy endures.

(Charity & Public Work) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Stone Fences

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Kansas, Wabaunsee County, near Alma


The 1867 law abolishing the open range provided for payment of 40 cents per rod (16½ ft.) to landowners to build and maintain a 4½ ft. stone fence. Stone was plentiful and our pioneers built miles of fences.

(Animals • Charity & Public Work • Environment • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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