Author: Ms. R.

The best Atlas Obscura stories don’t simply transport you to unexpected places. They introduce you to people you have not had the opportunity to meet before, cultures that are at once new and surprisingly familiar. This year, we traveled from Western Sahara, where the Sahrawi people have found kinship with Cubans, 4,580 miles away, to the disappearing marshes of Iraq, home of the Marsh Arabs of Hawizeh persevere. We sampled kiviaq in Greeland and water from the 1,500-year-old fountains……

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In 1981, the Colorado State University Department of Art created three giant Campbell’s Soup Cans for the opening of the “Warhol at Colorado State University” exhibit. They followed specifications provided by Warhol himself, including purchasing a soup can from a local store and copying it exactly, barcode included. In September of that year, Warhol arrived in Fort Collins with much fanfare and signed the artwork in front of an audience of thousands. Out of the three original giant soup……

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Many aspiring travelers love to start their road trips with a bang. However, if you’d rather start your vacation with a Bing, you’ll need to head to the Siouxland to visit the home of Palmer Candy Company. For more than a hundred years, Palmer Candy has been making Bings, a regional chocolate, nougat, cherry, and roasted peanut treat. Like a phoenix, or a very gooey chocolate, the history of the Bing was birthed in flame. Family patriarch Edward Cook……

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Among the Art Deco skyscrapers of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, you can find a massive golden angel painted onto the side of a parking lot, part of a mural known as The Majestic. But that’s only one piece of the reality–from the right angle, and with the right technology, the mural comes alive. The impetus for The Majestic, like so many downtown revitalization projects across the country, came from the city’s economic development arm, Partner Tulsa. Connecting public art and……

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The small community of Hay-On-Wye (Or simply Hay, for short) is located in the middle of the Welsh countryside, it’s a beautiful location on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park with a castle and tall green hills. Its history is nearly a century old, but it’s only within the last few decades this place has made a name for itself. In 1962, a local man by the name of Richard Booth, who was intrigued by books and……

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In the early days of flight, pilots had to follow landmarks on the ground, as radio was primitive and radar non-existent. And flying at night, as might be expected, was extremely hazardous and avoided if at all possible. The rise of airmail service in the 1920s motivated improvements in the official airmail routes by building easy-to-recognize landmarks that would also allow night flying. Officially named Beacon Stations, these were large concrete arrows, originally painted yellow, that always pointed easterly……

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Cascadia State Park (recently acquired by Linn County Parks Dept) is located at the confluence of Soda Creek and the South Santiam River. This was a stage stop on the old wagon road heading east over to Sisters, Oregon. Parts of this wagon road are still in use within the current Highway 20 route. Soda Creek was a natural source of mineral spring water and in the late 1800s, George Geisendorfin built a resort around the “healing powers” of……

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Throughout the 19th century, cartography was often used to promote sobriety. Here’s a counter-example: a map that celebrates alcohol, in various guises—published two years before the end of Prohibition. The Temperance movement, which from the early 1800s sought to reduce the consumption of alcohol in the U.S., had a curious affinity for cartography. It produced numerous ‘Temperance maps’, so called because they used fictional topographies to warn against the wickedness of drinking and promote the benefits of sobriety. Why……

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On a cold and sunny morning on January 6 on the island of Kalymnos, Greece, a priest in full regalia stands on a dock of the harbor and throws a cross into the sea. A group of locals had been standing by, watching, but this is the moment everyone had been waiting for. Springing to life, a dozen young men dive into the chilly Mediterranean waters. Swimming frantically, they all swirl and squint underwater, trying to catch the crucifix…….

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