Author: Ms. R.

The Battle of Verdun was a brutal battle that lasted from February 21 to December 18, 1916. Each foot around the city of Verdun was fought over by hundreds of thousands of French and German soldiers, and more from the farthest reaches of the European empires. That’s 302 days of bloodshed, and historians still argue over how many actually died, with some estimates putting the combined total from both sides near a million.  Even after the battle, technically won……

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Leather sofa seats, Mod bubble lights, elderly patrons smoking at the bar, and thick slices of pizza toast: These are the elements of a typical Japanese kissaten, or kissa coffee shop. Part bar, part restaurant, and part community center, these humble, Shōwa-era cafés serve tea, coffee, alcohol, and delightfully hybrid dishes such as pizza toast. Made of inch and a half thick slices of white bread topped with tomato sauce or ketchup, processed cheese, and whatever toppings the chef……

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The Russian city of Saint Petersburg was named after its founder, Peter I the Great. So it’s no coincidence that several statues featuring Peter can be found throughout the city, although this one may be the most unique.  Designed by Russian sculptor Mikhail Chemiakin in the 1980s and cast in bronze in the United States, the “Monument to Peter I” was donated to the city by Chemiakin. Its body is much larger than the statues’ head, somewhat resembling the “Henry……

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Visitors to this museum will get an up-close look at 17th-century Pilgrim culture. Exhibits are housed inside a grand Greek Revival building, where architecture and artwork reflect successive periods of patriotic fervor in the United States. Among the artifacts on display are William Bradford’s Bible, a 1651 depiction of Edward Winslow, a cradle from England that belonged to Mayflower-born Peregrine White, and numerous tankards, teapots, porringers, and other household items from the 1600s. The Pilgrim Society, incorporated in 1820……

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The Mannings were typical of many families living in Holly Springs, Mississippi during the late 19th-century. Van Manning was a lawyer and former Confederate who arrived in Reconstruction Mississippi in the 1860s. His wife Mary was a local Holly Springs girl from a well-to-do family. Van built a successful legal career and later served in the United States House of Representatives from 1877 to 1883. However, his life was filled with personal tragedies.  In 1861, the Mannings lost their……

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In the summer of 1846, a party of 89 emigrants was making its way westward along the 2,170-mile-long Oregon Trail. Tired, hungry, and trailing behind schedule, they decided at Fort Bridger, Wyoming to travel to their final destination of California by shortcut. The “Hastings Cutoff” they chose was an alternative route that its namesake, Lansford Hastings, claimed would shave at least 300 miles off the journey. The party believed this detour could save more than a month’s time. They……

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This piece was originally published in Wired and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. In 2014, the remaining staff of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA, fled their beloved gene bank in Tel Hadia, 20 miles south of Aleppo. Syria’s civil war, which had broken out three years earlier, had finally made the staffing of the facility untenable. But the scientists had already shipped off a resource of incalculable value:……

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Valle Crucis was founded by Prince Madog ap Gruffydd and the “White Monks” of the Cistercian order in 1201. The name Valley Crucis derives from Latin and means Valley of the Cross. The name is thought to refer to the nearby 9th-century Pillar of Eliseg. The Cistercians were known for constructing their monasteries in remote locations, which allowed them to combine an austere religious life with the farming duties needed to ensure they were self-sufficient. Like other Cistercian settlements,……

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Nestled in the hills of Brown County, Indiana, just off of State Road 46,  sits a peculiar green barn, covered in dirty socks. It’s a well known stop for hikers on the Tecumseh Trail.  A few years ago, the young couple who own the property put a stop sign on the side of their barn—not an uncommon practice in small towns—but with small black stickers on it that read, “Take a Rock, Leave a Sock.” Beneath the sign sits a……

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The Trinity Apse was founded in 1462 by the Queen Mary of Gueldres, after the death of her husband King James II. An apse is the portion of a church, usually with an arched or domed roof and containing an altar. This gothic chapel was originally located in what was then known as Waverly Valley, the area between Calton Hill and the Old Town.  However, with the advent of the locomotive in the 1800s, the collegiate church was smack……

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