Plattsmouth Bridge 1930

October 21, 2014, 1:18 pm

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Nebraska, Cass County, Plattsmouth
This Property
is listed in the
National Register
of Historic Places
By the United States
Department of the Interior
Plattsmouth Bridge 1930
The bridge was built to replace the ferry service that had started in 1848. It was a reinforced concrete structure with seven steel cantilevered spans. The Omaha Steel Works Company were the engineers of the project. In 2008 it was extensively rebuilt and reproductions of the original ornamental lights were installed. It is 140 feet above the water.

(Bridges & Viaducts) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Hitching Posts

October 21, 2014, 1:24 pm

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New York, Orleans County, Albion
Hitching posts were the parking spaces of the pre-automobile era, and Albion and the 14411 zip code still has many of them, perhaps more of these historic relics from the horse-and-buggy era than anywhere else.
We have about 40 of the hitching posts in Albion and Gaines. Many are by the side of the road in front of cobblestone and other historic homes in the community.
We also have an impressive collection of carriage steps and mounting blocks that were used to climb in and out of the horse-drawn carriages and sleighs. Many of these blocks bear the names of prominent families from the 1800s.

Albion and Gaines benefitted from a superior building material Medina Sandstone. The stone was an abundant resource locally, and skilled stone cutters turned many of these hitching posts into works of art.
The Albion community grew quickly after the Erie Canal opened in 1825. The downtown district emerged and livery stables, blacksmith shops, hitching posts and watering troughs lined Main Street.

[picture captions]
A hitching post stands in front of a cobblestone home on Zig Zag Road in Albion.
The mounting block 1878 was moved from a torn-down house on East State Street next to the Free Methodist Church to this spot. The hitching posts are former property markers. Residents donated money to have rings made and attached to four hitching posts that were added to the downtown in 2014.
There are several hitching posts at the Cobblestone Society Museum, including this one in front of the harness shop just south of the intersection of routes 98 and 104.
A carriage step remains on East State Street in front of one of the many historic homes in the community.
Panel design by Lake Country Pennysaver. Photos and text by Tom Rivers. C.W. Lattin, consultant.

(Animals • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Erie Canal 1825

October 21, 2014, 1:28 pm

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New York, Orleans County, Albion
Main passage to the west
Became NYS Barge Canal 1903
Newport (now Albion) grew
at planned canal and Oak
Orchard Road after 1821

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

Calamity Sept. 28, 1859

October 21, 2014, 1:30 pm

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New York, Orleans County, Albion
250 people & 5 horses
gathered here on a wooden
bridge to watch a tightrope
walker cross the canal. It
collapsed killing 15 people

(Disasters • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Union Cemetery

October 21, 2014, 1:33 pm

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New York, Orleans County, Albion
This land, bought from Moses
and Sarah Bacon in April 1835
served as a "burying ground"
until Jan. 8, 1853 when the
Cemetery Assoc. was formed.
Lot 22 was for strangers.
Last burial 1910

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

Undaunted In Battle

October 21, 2014, 1:47 pm

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Maryland, Prince Georges County, Bladensburg
Undaunted
War of 1812
This Monument Stands as
A Tribute to the American
Soldiers, Sailors, and
Marines who fought and
Died here defending their
Nation's Capital
This monument depicts Commodore Joshua Barney of the U.S. Navy a moment after being wounded by approaching British troops. Barney is assisted by Charles Ball, former slave and flotillaman of the U.S. Navy, and by a U.S. Marine, part of a force of nearly 500 troops who refused to retreat until ordered to by their commander, and stood "Undaunted in Battle" in defense of Washington, D.C.

On August 19, 1814, Approximately 4500 British troops under the command of Major General Robert Ross landed in Southern Maryland and marched to Upper Marlboro. The British convened a council of war and marched toward Washington, intent on attacking the capital. They arrived in Bladensburg on August 24, 1814.

The American force, numbering nearly 6000 and composed largely of militia units together with U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine regulars, occupied the ground across the river from Bladensburg. The British troops, who arrived at noon, crossed the bridge and engaged the American forces on the far bank. The British fired Congreve Rockets whose sound and "red glare" distracted and confused the Americans. The screeching rockets were new but relatively harmless weapon that left billowing smoke trails and caused panic in the ranks of U.S. troops.

American riflemen and artillery inflicted significant causalities as the British soldiers crossed the bridge. A separate British contingent forded the river to the north and outflanked a militia artillery regiment from Baltimore. U.S. Army General William Winder, commander of the American forces, ordered the troops to fall back, which led to confusion and a full-fledged retreat of the untrained militia.

Although the battle was lost and nearly over, an epic moment is still remembered with pride — Commodore Barney's final stand. Armed with muskets, boarding pikes, and cutlasses, with support from heavy cannon, Barney's men engaged the British troops with vigor and made several counter-attacks. Barney's courageous an undaunted efforts delayed the British and provided valuable time for the evacuation of the Nation's Capital.

While rallying his troops and directing cannon fire at the British, Barney was severely wounded in his right thigh by a musket ball. Beset on all sides by overwhelming number, Barney, unable to stand, ordered his troops to withdraw without him. Barney was captured soon thereafter.

The victorious British commander General Ross recognized the valor and resolute spirit of Commodore Barney and his Marines and flotillamen. He received Commodore Barney's surrender with respect and magnanimity, and immediately paroled him.

Accompanied by Rear Admiral George Cockburn, the British forces marched into Washington, then torched and burned many government buildings, including the Capitol and the White House.

While marching back to their ships, the British arrested Dr. William Beanes of Upper Marlboro. Beanes had angered the British by capturing and jailing British stragglers. Beanes was held on board as a prisoner while the British sailed toward Baltimore.

Francis Scott Key, a Maryland-born Georgetown attorney, came aboard the British ship, seeking the release of Dr. Beanes. On the night of September 13, 1814, after returning to an American flag of truce ship in Baltimore harbor. Key witnessed the unsuccessful naval bombardment of Fort McHenry. He was inspired to pen the "The Star-Spangled Banner" which later became the National Anthem.

Prior to the bombardment of Fort McHenry, the British had landed at North Point, near Baltimore. During a skirmish, General Ross, the victor at Bladensburg, was killed in action.

Unable to take Fort McHenry or advance on Baltimore, the British withdrew their forces and eventually left the Chesapeake Bay.

This interpretive panel has been financed in part with State funds from the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission.

(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 13 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Weary Warriors

October 21, 2014, 1:53 pm

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Maryland, Prince Georges County, Bowie
Exhausted from marching, battling at Bladensburg, and invading Washington, British soldiers stopped to rest. Many slept on Northampton Plantation property on August 26, 1814, before resuming their march to Upper Marlboro.

By August 30, after the successful campaign for Washington, they reboarded their ships at Benedict. They had traveled about 113 miles over 12 days.

“It was...absolutely necessary to pause... (T)hrowing ourselves on the ground...in less than five minutes there was not a single unclosed eye throughout the whole brigade.” — British Lt. George Robert Gleig

(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Jacques Marquette, S.J.

October 21, 2014, 6:34 pm

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Quebec, Longueuil MRC, Boucherville

(French text appears above English text)
Né en France le 10 Juin, 1637.
Découvrit le Missippi, avec
Louis Jolliet, le 17 Juin 1673.
Mourut dans l'Etat du Michigan
le 18 mai 1675. Visita cette
seigneurie en mai 1668.

Born in France, 10th June, 1637.
Discovered the Mississippi River
with Louis Jolliet, 17th June, 1673.
Died in Michigan, 18th May, 1675.
Visited this seigniory, May, 1668.

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

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Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen Memorial Bridge

October 21, 2014, 7:24 pm

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Kansas, Linn County, near Pleasanton


Dedicated to the memory of those who served to preserve the Union during the Civil War, 1861-1865

This bridge was donated and installed to provide access to the main ford of Mine Creek

April 2005

(Bridges & Viaducts • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations • Patriots & Patriotism • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Archaeology

October 21, 2014, 7:26 pm

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Minnesota, Nicollet County, near St. Peter
Archaeology is the recovery and study of material evidence, such as remainders of pottery, to help us learn about people and places of the past.

In 1994 the Minnesota Historical Society conducted a survey to map and excavate the archaeological resources of Traverse des Sioux. Most of the material found came from the site of the short-lived town that settlers built in the mid-1800s. Broken glass, strips of cut metal, ceramics, and pipe fragments were among the 10,000 pieces unearthed.

What Was Found Here

The oldest object uncovered here is a large spear point about 9,000 years old — almost as old as the Minnesota River valley itself. Made from a kind of sandstone found only in central Wisconsin, points like this one were used in hunting now-extinct large animals, such as mastodons and giant beavers. This type of point, unique to the central region of the North American continent, has been found at archaeological sites from Minnesota to Texas.

Minnesota Historical Society
Traverse des Sioux

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

Saint John's Abbey and University

October 21, 2014, 8:22 pm

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Minnesota, Stearns County, Collegeville


Saint John's Abbey was founded in 1856 on the west bank of the Mississippi river in St. Cloud and was permanently located in the Indianbush, now Collegeville, on the shore of Lake Sagatagan in 1866 as the first Benedictine monastery in the Upper Midwest. From the beginning its monks were educators, missionaries, pastors and artisans. Their first ministry was among the settlers and Native Americans throughout Minnesota and North Dakota during the frontier era. Subsequently abbeys and priories were founded in Washington, Saskatchewan, Kentucky, the Bahamas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Japan.

Saint John's University, chartered by the territorial legislature of Minnesota on March 6, 1857, includes the College of Arts and Sciences, Seminary, and the Graduate School of Theology. The campus is also the site of Saint John's Preparatory School, The Liturgical Press, the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, KSJR-FM (founding station of Minnesota Public Radio), KNSR-FM, and the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library. Several campus buildings, including the renowned Abbey Church, were designed by architect Marcel Breuer.

Consistent with Benedictine tradition, Saint John's is committed to the fine arts and craftsmanship in using local materials. Much of the woodwork and furniture in residence halls, classrooms and offices is built from lumber harvested from Saint John's woodland and crafted in the Abbey's Woodworking Shop.

The teachers, learners, and skilled laborers who worship and work together here value these buildings and grounds and are committed to responsible stewardship.
————————
All guests who present themselves are to be received as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims.
Rule of Saint Benedict 53:1-2

(Churches, Etc. • Education • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Oglethorpe County Confederate Monument

October 21, 2014, 8:24 pm

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Georgia, Oglethorpe County, Lexington
In Memory of the Confederate Soldiers of Oglethorpe County
1861-1854

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

Tenant Farmer House

October 21, 2014, 9:11 pm

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Minnesota, Morrison County, Little Falls


This is the original Lindbergh Farm tenant farmer house, built about the same time as the Charles A. Lindbergh home, across the road to the east.

Some of these farm workers brought playmates for young Charles. Somewhat isolated on the farm, Charles was able to play in the barn and hayloft with the children who resided here.

Help on the Farm
When Lindbergh was about 16 years old, Daniel Thompson came to live at the tenant farmer house. Lindbergh later described him as a "lanky pipe-smoking Norwegian about seventy years of age." Thompson wanted to retire to a place where he could live on his "slender income."

Thompson helped with the sheep and cattle and repaired fences. He was also the handyman who aided Lindbergh with building the infamous bridge across Pike Creek with barbed wire and poles.

Every spring, the tenant farmer would prepare the garden before the Lindberghs arrived for the summer. Charles and his mother would plant quick-sprouting seeds such as radish and lettuce. They enjoyed the garden and working the soil.

[Inset image captions, from left to right, read]
Woman and children working in garden ca. 1910.
Minnesota Historical Society

W. Altee Burpee & Co. 1910 Seed Catalog
Smithsonian Institution Libraries

The Lindbergh barn.
Art by Wes Sod. Described by Alex Johnson.

(Agriculture • Man-Made Features • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Lindbergh House

October 21, 2014, 9:44 pm

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Minnesota, Morrison County, Little Falls


"I never deserted the farm as the ultimate goal of my return - and there is my home when I am home, for the farm unquestionably is the best of all places to live, and it affords the most independence." Thus wrote Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., about his home here on the bank of the Mississippi River.

C.A. Lindbergh was born in Sweden in 1859. One year later, his father, August Lindbergh, a former member of the Swedish Parliament, brought his wife and infant son to a farm near Melrose, Minnesota, where C.A. grew up. He came to Little Falls as a young lawyer, became a prominent member of the community, and served five terms as a United States Congressman from 1907 until 1917.

Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., who became world famous in 1927 when he flew nonstop and alone from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis, spent his boyhood summers here in this house built by his father in 1907. In the years following his landmark achievement in aviation he had an active career in exploration, scientific research, writing, and conservation.

In 1931, the Lindbergh family gave this house and 110 acres of land to the state of Minnesota as a memorial to Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr.

(Agriculture • Air & Space • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Lindbergh State Park

October 21, 2014, 10:07 pm

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Minnesota, Morrison County, Little Falls


After Charles Lindbergh took off on his motorcycle in 1920, headed for the University of Wisconsin, he rarely came back to Little Falls. He made one visit by airplane in 1923, landing his "Jenny" - the first plane he owned - in a field near here. By that time the farm had been neglected for several years. In 1927, amid the frenzied aftermath of Lindbergh's historic flight, souvenir-seekers badly damaged his boyhood home.

In 1931 the Lindbergh family donated the original farm property to the state of Minnesota. A state park was established in memory of Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. Later, teams from two New Deal work-relief programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), cleared trails and erected buildings in the park. Several of these buildings are still standing near the parking lot across the highway. Another WPA shelter stood several yards below the bluff where you are now. Only a few remnants of this shelter are visible today.

[Photos] Clockwise from far left:
Charles Lindbergh in his Jenny in Little Falls, 1923;
WPA workers restore furniture in the boyhood home, 1936;
A newly constructed WPA shelter, about 1936.

Far-left photo courtesy of the Lindbergh Picture Collection, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

(Air & Space • Charity & Public Work • Environment • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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First Slate Quarry in Western Vermont

October 22, 2014, 11:38 am

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Vermont, Rutland County, Fair Haven

This area of Vermont is known for its high quality slate; the first quarry was opened on Scotch Hill in 1839 by Alonson Allen & Caleb Ranney. Allen began the first manufacture of roofing slate in Vermont in 1848. By 1869 there were seventeen quarries in Fair haven of which eleven were on Scotch Hill. Quarrying of slate was important to the economy of the area and brought in many skilled Welsh immigrants who were familiar with the quarrying of slate in their native Wales.

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

Lummus Park Historic District

October 22, 2014, 1:14 pm

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Florida, Miami-Dade County, Miami
This land on the north side of the Miami River was developed as a residential area soon after the City Park opened in 1909. Along NW 3rd and NW 4th Streets a mixture of single-family and multi-family structures were built that were made of strong Dade County pine. They were designed in architectural styles popular at that time, i.e., Frame or Masonry Vernacular using native elements, and Mediterranean Revival.

One of the first houses was that of Frank Gallat, a Miami jeweler. His Masonry Vernacular style home was built in 1913 at 453 NW 3rd Street. A year later he built the three-story Gallat Court Apartments at 431 NW 3rd Street. A four-story annex was added in 1918. The Gallat buildings became the Temple Court Apartments after the Scottish Rite Temple opened nearby.

The imposing three-story structure that introduces the area on NW North River Drive is the Scottish Rite Temple. The temple was built to house all the Masonic organizations in Miami. It is of Egyptian design (undoubtedly inspired by the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb) with elements of early art deco, and was created by the architectural firm of Kiehnel and Elliot. John B. Orr, a pioneer Miami contractor who donated his services, built it over two years. The Scottish Rite Temple was dedicated with much fanfare on March 12, 1924. During World War II the US Army used it as an air raid shelter. It was completely restored after being damaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In 2004 it joined Lummus Park and the houses and apartments along NW 3rd and NW 4th Streets to become the Lummus Park Historic District.

North of the historic district, near NW 5th Street, African Americans would board a ferry that went to Bear's Cut (today Viginia Key Beach). During Segregation, this was the only beach accessible to South Florida's African American community.

(cations)
Figure 1 Gallat Court Apartments, ca. 1919
Figure 2 The Scottisch Rite Temple, ca. 1920s

(African Americans • Churches, Etc. • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Wagner Homestead

October 22, 2014, 1:26 pm

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Florida, Miami-Dade County, Miami
This 1850s structure is the oldest standing house in Miami-Dade County. It was built by William Wagner, a German immigrant and U.S. Army veteran. After being wounded in the Mexican-American War in 1847, Wagner returned to Fort Moultrie, Georgia to recuperate and married Eveline Aimar, a French Creole.

In 1855, Wagner's former Army unit was assigned from Fort Moultrie to Fort Dallas along the north shore of the Miami River. There, Wagner joined forces with Captain Sinclair, a sea captain with two schooners, and established a sutter's store to serve troops during the Third Seminole War (1855-1858). With help from Captain Sinclair, Wagner built a steam-powered coontie mill on Wagner Creek. The production of starch from the native coontie plant (Zamia pumila) which grew profusely in the pine woods became a means by which Miami's early settlers could earn cash. In the late 1850s, Wagner built a house nearly 50 yards from the creek that would come to bear his name. The Dade County pine house is a hand-hewn, peg-fastened and wood shingled example of 19th century shelters.

In 1875, acting on a suggestion by the Reverend Bishop Verot of St. Augustine, Wagner built a small Catholic chapel known as the "Little Church in the Pine Woods," which burned down in 1892. The "Little Church in the Pine Woods" was regarded as the earliest house of worship in the Miami area since the Spanish missions.

Wagner sold his property to Julia Tuttle in 1893, then bought it back from the probate court in 1899. He died on the land in 1901 at the age of 76. William Wagner was regarded as a true pioneer who lived to see the incorporation of Miami in 1896.

Development in 1920-1970 prompted the Wagner Homes donation to the Dade Heritage Trust, a non-profit preservation group who undertood the Wagner Homes' restoration and relocation to Lummus Park, named after Miami's third mayor (1900-1903) John "J.E." Lummus. The Miami City Commission designated the Wagner Homestead a historic site in 1984.

(caption)
Catholic chapel circa 1890 Historical Museum of South Florida

(Agriculture • Settlements & Settlers • War, Mexican-American • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Labrador Whaler Anderson Bros.

October 22, 2014, 1:40 pm

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Nova Scotia, Lunenburg County, Lunenburg
The Labrador whaler Anderson Bros. is the type of boat that was used extensively in the Labrador fishery of the 19th century. Lunenburg County had a large fleet of 40 to 60 ton schooners known as “Labradormen” that went to the bays of the Labrador coast to fish in the summer months. Each schooner carried four to six of these two-man whalers on deck. The whalers set out each morning to handling for cod and returned throughout the day with their catch which was cleaned and salted in the hold.

Alexander Anderson won at the International Exhibition in London a medal and diploma for a full rigged dory and whaleboat, and later, was awarded a medal and diploma at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 for a full rigged whaleboat. He worked as a boatbuilder for 50 years, 30 of them in partnership with his brother Michael.

In 1883 Messrs. M. & A. Anderson built: 40 Labrador whalers, 12 vessel boats, 10 skiff boats, 3 shore whalers, 70 dories, and 1 whale boat of 14 tons. The Anderson boats were always painted white with a red inch bead around the upper boards.

(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

John James Audubon

October 22, 2014, 1:48 pm

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Kentucky, Kenton, Covington
“Nature must be seen first alive, and well studied, before attempts are made at representing her.”

Best known as a painter of birds and most notably for his series called the Birds of America. Audubon came to the northern Kentucky area in 1819, and made many drawings near this place. it was the force of circumstances prior to and during his stay in the Cincinnati- Kentucky area which converted him from an amateur to professional artist. He left Cincinnati in October of 1829 and embarked on his mammoth project to record the birds of North America which was first published in 1826. While in Cincinnati Audubon worked for a time at the Western Museum, which became the Cincinnati Natural History Museum. He frequently made drawings of local birds such as the Cliff Swallow which appears in the folio Birds of America.

This sculpture made possible by:
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Goering, - the R. A. Jones Company

Sculptors: Studio Eis Elliot and Ivan Schwartz



Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.