Author: Ms. R.

When Yon Shimizu heard the news that Japanese forces had bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was on his hands and knees, scrubbing his family’s linoleum floor. Living in a rented house in Victoria, British Columbia, with his sister, two brothers, and their widowed mother, he was listening to the radio while completing his chores. He raced from the room to tell the rest of his family. “I was frightened and dismayed,” he recounts in the prologue to……

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As drivers near the corner of Mountain Road and Emerald Valley Lane in Bernards Township, they’ll come upon a tree that rises from the brush. At sunset, it becomes a dark silhouette against the field that stretches behind it. Known as the Devil’s Tree, the oak is believed to have sinister powers, cursing anyone who harms or simply touches it. The tree is a popular spot for teens to test their courage and, unfortunately, bears the scars to prove……

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Thanks to its long history, the city of Rome is full of archaeological remains from many different eras. While the most famous ones, like the Colosseum or the Pantheon date back to the golden age of the Roman Empire, the city dates back many centuries. The traditional date of the foundation of Rome is 753 BC, but the area was inhabited for centuries prior. However, some parts of a city wall were constructed much earlier, revealing that a city……

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Churches are usually filled with decades and possibly centuries-old items and decorations. Typically these depict biblical scenes and saints. However, at the St. Petri Cathedral in Malmo, a pair of stained glass windows have a very modern appeal.  The project was a collaborative effort between the church, local organizations, and the Malmo Museum to give children of various cultures a taste of different religions. The children visited several churches and learned about their history, along with the stories depicted……

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The first utility poles in America weren’t really supposed to be there. It was 1843, and telegraph inventor Samuel Morse was granted $30,000 by the U.S. Congress to construct a line that could send messages more quickly than had ever been possible before. Morse started by trying to bury the cable to carry the messages underground, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, about 40 miles away—but it didn’t work. Running short of time and money, Morse and his team desperately……

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The Nanhai One, (South China  Sea No. 1) is a Chinese merchant ship that sank during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 CE), possibly due to a storm. It was found in the South Sea in 1987 by a British maritime exploration team while searching for the wreck of the 18th-century ship, Rhynsburg. Not only is it the largest ship of its kind ever discovered, but was also the first to be uncovered on the Maritime Silk Road. Reportedly there are still over 80,000……

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On a warm day in February 2018, a nimble 63-year-old named Oumarou Alim leads the way through the dramatic stone caves of Mount Djim, a rocky peak in the Central African nation of Cameroon. Holding up an arm with a flourish, he declares that this cave “holds the traces of those who came before us.” Mount Djim is said to be the place where Alim’s ancestors—members of the Nizà’à people, one of more than 200 ethnic groups that live……

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At the Gold Mining Camp Museum in Goldvein are two enormous relics from Virginia’s gold mining past. Few realize that Virginia was one of the first states in which gold was discovered. In 1782, Thomas Jefferson discovered a four-pound rock containing gold ore along the Rappahannock riverbank. His find caught the attention of local farmers and landowners, and by 1804, gold prospectors and small-scale mining operations were at work in the state. Most Virginia gold mining enterprises were concentrated……

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