Quantcast
Channel: The Historical Marker Database - New Entries
Viewing all 103121 articles
Browse latest View live

Luke Jordan, Blues Pioneer

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
Singer-guitarist Luke Jordan (1892-1952) was a familiar presence on the streets of Lynchburg from the 1920s until World War II. Jordan and other African American musicians in the Southeast merged blues with an existing repertoire of ballads, ragtime, and tent-show songs, creating a syncopated and upbeat style now called Piedmont or East Coast Blues. The Victor Record Company, seeking blues artists to satisfy popular demand, recorded Jordan in 1927 and 1929, issuing classics such as "Church Bell Blues" and "Pick Poor Robin Clean." The Great Depression hurt sales and ended Jordan's career, but he remained an important and widely imitated Virginia blues musician.

(African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Miller-Claytor House

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
This building formerly stood at Eighth and Church streets. It now stands one block north. It was built by John Miller about 1791. Thomas Wiatt bought the house, long known as the “Mansion House.” Samuel Claytor purchased it in 1825. For many years doctors' offices were here. For ninety years the house was owned by the Page family. The Lynchburg Historical Society moved and restored it.

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

Randolph-Macon Woman's College

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
Founded by Dr. William Waugh Smith in 1891 and opened in 1893 as a member of the Randolph-Macon System of Educational Institutions, this liberal arts college has been recognized from its opening year for its high standards of scholarship. The scenic campus of 100 acres extends to the James River.

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

New York Yankees vs. Hometown Sluggers

0
0
New Jersey, Monmouth County, Sandy Hook

On Monday, April 5, 1943, the New York Yankees played the Fort Hancock baseball team on this very field. While future Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto were serving their country in the Armed Forces, others, including Joe Gordon and Bill Dickey, played for the Yankees and helped boost the nation’s morale. The Fort Hancock team was comprised of soldiers. The Yankees, led by manager Joe McCarthy, competed against some of the fort’s finest athletes. Despite the best efforts of the hometown sluggers, the visiting Yankees won the game 7 to 2. The Yankees went on to win the World Series six months later. Maybe, this pre-season exhibition game at Fort Hancock made all the difference for both teams.

The only remaining artifacts from this game are the scorecard (pictured, right) and the original backstop standing before you.

(Forts, Castles • Sports) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Joseph T. Musetti Jr. Veterans Memorial Park

0
0
Maine, Hancock County, Northeast Harbor


Honor Roll

W.W. I

Lester J. Lurvey • Ralph W. Reynolds

W.W. II
Leslie D. Wright • Julian G. Smith • Donald F. Graves
Joseph P. Chase Jr. • Francis G. Kelley
Kenneth F. Grindle • George M. Chilles

Korean War
Robert H. Parker

Vietnam War
Joseph T. Musetti Jr.

U.S. Navy River Patrol Boat
Combat Command Insignia
awarded to
Petty Officer Musetti
Killed in Action September 28, 1969
Republic of Vietnam

In Memory of All Veterans

(War, Korean • War, Vietnam • War, World I • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pearl S. Buck

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
Internationally known author and humanitarian Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973) graduated in 1914 from Randolph-Macon Women’s College, where she wrote for the college’s literary magazine. She was the author of more than 70 books, many of which were best sellers. In 1932, Buck received the Pulitzer Prize for the widely read novel The Good Earth. In 1938 she became the first United States woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. At the time of Buck’s death, she was one of the most widely translated United States writers. In 1941, Buck was a founder of the East and West Association, dedicated to cultural exchange between the United States and Asia.

(Arts, Letters, Music) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Safe Haven in Lynchburg: Project Y

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
In 1951, the National Gallery of Art established a secret emergency repository (Code named Project Y) for its distinguished collection of art on the campus of Randolph-Macon Woman's College. The specially designed reinforced concrete building, situated at the end of Quinlan Street, was built for use in the event of national crisis during the Cold War. In exchange for ownership and use of the facility, the college made it available to the National Gallery for 50 years for emergency purposes. The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust financed its construction. The building is now the home of the college's Maier Museum of Art.

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

Abram Frederick Biggers and Biggers School

0
0
Virginia, Lynchburg
Abram Frederick Biggers (1838 - 1879), a lawyer by profession, was appointed the first superintendent of the Lynchburg and Campbell County schools in 1870. As a part of his effort to build a strong system, Biggers toured northern states to study their schools. He is credited with building one of the best school systems in the state. The Lynchburg schools opened to more than 700 students segregated by race in nine rented buildings. Biggers School, designed by August Forsburg, was the largest in Lynchburg when it opened in 1881 with a capacity for 305 students. The school served the community until its demolition in the autumn of 1967.

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

Lock’em Up!

0
0
New Jersey, Monmouth County, Sandy Hook

Like any small town, Fort Hancock had a jail. Military life was strict and a soldier could be punished for an offense as minor as being outside his barracks after lights-out. Military penalties could include loss of rank, heavy fines, assignment to a work detail, or imprisonment for a few days in one of the cells in the Post Guardhouse.

Fort Hancock was in operation from 1895 to 1974.

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

Sergeants’ Row

0
0
New Jersey, Monmouth County, Sandy Hook

Noncommissioned Officers and their families lived in this row of houses. Single NCOs lived in the barracks with their men. Today, these homes are residences for National Park Service staff. Please respect their privacy.

Fort Hancock was in operation from 1895 to 1974.

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

Nine College Way

0
0
South Carolina, Charleston County, Charleston
  For ninety-five years, five generations for the Follin family, including John A. Zeigler, Jr. the last member of the family to own the house, lived at Nine College Way. Mr Zeigler and Edwin Peacock operated The Book Basement, Charleston's only bookstore for many years, on the ground floor from 1946 until 1971. The College of Charleston acquired the home in 1971.

This plaque is installed on this house in grateful recognition for the contributions of the Follin family and in particular, Mr. John A. Zeigler, Jr., to the College of Charleston. Mr. Zeigler's steadfast support of the School of Arts, its students, and its programs continues to ensure that orchestras and opera feature College of Charleston alumni around the world.

September 27, 2005

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

Billy The Kid

0
0
New Mexico, Santa Fe County, Santa Fe
The notorious New Mexico outlaw, also known as William Bonney, was captured and sucessfully imprisoned for the last time in the downstairs jail housed in this, the Cornell Building, at 208 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe, from December 27, 1880 to April 3, 1881. On that date he was moved to Mesilla, New Mexico, for trial. He was found guilty, sentenced to hang, and moved to Lincoln County jail, from which he escaped. He was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico on July 14, 1881.

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

Post Exchange

0
0
New Jersey, Monmouth County, Sandy Hook

This building was Fort Hancock’s original gymnasium and in 1941 became the Post Exchange or PX. Soldiers could buy personal items here or go bowling at the four-lane alley located in the basement. The cost for a game in 1942 was 15 cents.

Fort Hancock was in operation from 1895 to 1974.

(Forts, Castles • Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Final Clash: With Fate Against Them

0
0
Virginia, Amelia County, Rice

"There goes a chivalrous fellow. Let's give him three cheers."

Near this site were positioned Confederate forces commanded by General Joseph B. Kershaw. They were mainly from Mississippi and Georgia and were slightly dug in behind hastily built rail brestworks. In the final moments of the battle, Union cavalry, led by Colonel Peter Stagg, and Wheaton's infantry attacked Kershaw's right and rear. Retiring some 400 yards from this point to the rear, General Kershaw was eventually forced to surrender his command.

Taken prisoner and eventually turned over to Union cavalry General George A. Custer's headquarters, the next morning the Northern cavalryman would serenade his "guests" with tunes like "Dixie." General Kershaw remarked as Custer left the next morning, "There goes a chivalrous fellow. Let's give him three cheers." The Federal band responded now with "Bonnie Blue Flag" which was followed by a chorus of "Rebel Yells."

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Assaulting the Confederate Battle Line

0
0
Virginia, Amelia County, Rice

"The men pressed forward, holding their fire with wonderful self control till they were in plain site of the enemy almost face to face."

As the Federal troops realigned themselves after the creek crossing, and because of the shorter distance General Frank Wheaton’s 1st Division had to cover in doing so, they would be the first to make contact with General Richard S. Ewell’s entrenched Confederate forces along the ridge above you. As the Union soldiers neared their opponents, they were told not to “open fire until within two hundred yards or less of the enemy.”

When Wheaton’s men were within 100 yards, the nearing Federals began “showing handkerchiefs as an invitation to the men to surrender.” To this a Confederate officer responded by calling out, “Ready!...the men rose, all together, like a piece of mechanism, kneeling on their right knees and their faces set with an expression that meant everything Aim!’ The musket barrels fell to an almost perfect horizontal line leveled about the knees of the advancing line. “Fire!”

The first Confederate volley “swallowed up” the advance Federal line, with the second line wavering and finally breaking by the repeating volleys” Two Union regiments, the 2nd Rhode Island and 49th Pennsylvania, were involved in this retreat to the creek.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Crossing Little Sailor's Creek

0
0
Virginia, Amelia County, Rice

"We found a stream of muddy water a dozen feet wide..."

“The colonel’s clear voice sounded ‘ATTENTION’....Descending the hill; ‘Prepare to cross a marsh!’ was passed along the line....Three or four minutes later we found ourselves confronted by a hedge so high and so dense, it was impossible to see what was beyond. There was an involuntary pause-but only for an instant. Glancing around to find some available opening, I discovered the colors, some twenty paces on the left, had advanced about a yard and a half beyond the obstruction, and that every one was in their neighborhood had clustered around the breach thus made....Thinking I could clear a passage for my own men, I thrust my hands into and through the hedge, spread them apart and found a stream of muddy water a dozen feet wide…so with the exclamation ‘Company G, this way,’ I boldly jumped for the middle of the stream expecting to land knee-deep in water. I went through the hedge and struck where I expected, but immersed above the sword belt, and with feet firmly imbedded it was impossible to stir them in the least.

Thoroughly startled at the idea that perchance I had jumped into a Virginia quicksand, I seized hold of the further bank and held on tightly. Finding I did not sink, I began working my feet gently to the right and left, soon extricated them from the mud and then clambered out...."

(sidebar)
Around 6:00 pm…the Union army began its forward movement from the high ground around the Hillsman farm house. Being formed into two lines of battle, they soon reached Little Sailor’s Creek, now flooded to the depth of two to four feet. Placing their weapons and ammunition boxes over their shoulders, they crossed over and, as General J. Warren Keifer noted “many fell on the plains and in the water, and those who reached the west bank were in more or less disorder.”

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Victory or Death

0
0
Virginia, Amelia County, Rice
The 18th Georgia Battalion, acting as a heavy artillery unit was originally formed in 1802 and served at the coastal defenses around Charleston, South Carolina. Moved to Virginia in May of 1864, it guarded the Richmond & Danville Railroad Bridge over the Appomattox River.

Commanded by Major William S. Basinger at Sailor’s Creek, the unit mustered eighty-five men who would serve in General George Washington Custis Lee’s division. Placed on the right of his battle line and next to the Rice-Deatonville Road, their uniforms bore the scarlet markings of artillery and their silk battle flag had embroidered around the center “Victory or Death.” As the Federal infantry reached the crest of the ridge in their assault, Sergeants Richard Millen and Simeon Morton tried to rally the Guards around the battalion flag; both men were shot down.

Soldiers of the 121st New York Infantry were those who came in contact with the Guards. Private Warren C. Dockum of Company H, is credited with capturing their flag. The unit lost 30 men killed, 22 wounded, with a loss of 61% of men engaged. In the 1870’s the Guards flag was returned to the surviving men, a member writing, “it was lost without dishonor and recovered without humiliation”. At Appomattox, 1 officer and 1 6 men surrendered, 8 of which were black musicians and cooks.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Berkeley Veterans Memorial Grove

0
0
California, Alameda County, Berkeley

[Marker #1] In Memory of Those Who
Made the
Supreme Sacrifice
in the World War
C T Vinther • J T Gimbel • A H Ohman Berkeley Parlor No 210
Native Sons of the Golden West
[Marker #2]
This Tree Dedicated
to the Memory of the
Grand Army of the Republic
by Lookout Mountain
Relief Corp No 35
April, 6, 1924
[Marker #3]
In Memory of
Cadet Chester F.M. Buchanan
United States Army Air Corps
1910-1934 Erected 9-56 Erected 9-56

(War, US Civil • War, World I) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Edward A. Brakenridge House

0
0
California, Alameda County, Berkeley
City of Berkeley Landmark
designated in 2008 Arriving in Berkeley from Massachusetts, Edward Brakenridge bought property that extended to Rose Street for this large Queen Anne-style residence, a stable, and a carriage house. Ira Boynton, like many late nineteenth-century East Bay builders who lacked formal architectural training, created vigorous, sturdy structures without refined ornamentation that followed a “carpenters esthetic.” Parts of the estate were subsequently sold, but Brakenridge family members resided in the house until 1924.

In 1936, the residence was converted and used as a health-related institution for elderly individuals. In 1971, Bonita House purchased the property and established the first rehabilitation facility of its kind in Alameda County for mental health care services.

(Notable Buildings • Science & Medicine) Includes location, directions, GPS coordinates, map.

History House

0
0
New Jersey, Monmouth County, Sandy Hook

This officer’s home, designed for a lieutenant and his family, was a testament to the rank and privilege of officers in the small peacetime army of the late 19th century.

Fort Hancock was in operation from 1895 to 1974.

(Forts, Castles • Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Viewing all 103121 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images