Author: Ms. R.

Located in beautiful Marblehead, Herreshoff Castle is a hidden Gothic structure embellishing the town. Inspired by Erik the Red’s Viking property located in Greenland, Waldo Ballard built the castle in 1920. It was later sold to Francis Herreshoff in 1945. The castle’s external facades are made of stone walls covered by climbing plants. It also features Gothic arched windows, wooden doors, and several turrets. The structure was formerly known as Brattahlid Castle, but was later renamed to honor its……

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Antwerp is home to several symbols and stories involving hands. Such as the severed hand of a giant named Druon Antigoon. Hands have been one of the city’s symbols for several centuries, and visitors can find them in many forms anywhere, including this one hiding in plain sight.  This sculpture can be found tucked away in corner of a community square called Ruckersplaats, in the historic Vleeshuiswijk district (which surrounds the Vleeshuis building). Although it’s extremely obscure—seldom talked about even on……

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Many Australians have uttered the phrase “Beyond the Black Stump,” but few know where it started. The exact origin of the expression meaning “the middle of nowhere” or “beyond civilization,” is hotly debated. The New South Wales town of Coolah has a pretty convincing backstory to their claim on the original charcoal tree remains. It’s said that the local Aboriginal Gamilaraay people called this area “Weetalibah-Wallangan,” translating to “Place where the fire went out and left a burnt stump.”……

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Few people that pass through Portslade, even locals, notice this important piece of local history located alongside a busy road.  On the corner of Church Road and Wellington Road is a small, run-down wooden “gassie” boat covered in weeds. During the 20th-century, gas works were constructed across the canal, now Shoreham Harbour, to supply the increasing local population with their demand for gas. By 1926, the site occupied some 40 acres and provided work for local residents. These residents were……

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Like in many parts of the world, 2020 has been an atrocious year for America: pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and more. “But then Kīlauea erupts, and we’re all like: ‘Yes!’” says Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and volcanologist at the Western Washington University. On December 20, 2020, at 9:36 p.m. local time, Kīlauea—the crowning volcanic jewel of the Hawaiian archipelago—woke up from a surprisingly brief slumber and began gushing again. Waterfalls of lava began pouring into Halemaʻumaʻu, the pit……

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This December, Martin Lersch, a Norwegian chemist and a passionate cook, rolled out his homemade gingerbread dough and got to work. He flipped his cookie cutter to and fro repeatedly, creating a quilt of cookies in the shape of Christmas trees. But Lersch’s main goal wasn’t simply a batch of delicious holiday cookies. He wanted to bake mathematically perfect ones. For the last few years, Lersch has attempted to solve a problem that often bedevils cookie bakers. “You want……

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The traditional public Christmas tree in Lismore, the largest town in the northeast of Australia’s New South Wales, used to be pretty ho-ho-hum. Before 2015, a Cook pine in the middle of a roundabout was dressed up each holiday season as a tannenbaum. But, like all Cook pines, the tree leans toward the equator, so the effect of decorating it was underwhelming. “Everyone said ‘Oh, that’s a bit sad, it can’t even stand straight,’” says Neil Marks, acting mayor……

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Al Wathba fossil dunes are a little-known attraction on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. With the huge sun setting in the distance, the vast desert feels like a scene from any of the “Star Wars” films. These petrified fossil dunes are smaller than they appear in pictures. A few million years ago, when the area was covered by water, eroded sediments settled at the bottom of these bodies of water. Over time, the fine-grained sand was covered by other layers……

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