Author: Ms. R.

Located inside South Germantown Recreational Park, this museum boasts a broad and diverse collection of dairy farm-related memorabilia, interesting exhibits, and even interactive model milking cows to educate and entertain visitors. Located on what was once a 350-acre farm, the King Barn Dairy MOOseum is housed in a cement block, 72-stanchion dairy barn that dates back to 1930. It was built by James and Macie King after 13 of the original buildings they had purchased in 1913 had been……

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Select any day in the life of Étienne-Gaspard Robertson (1763-1837) and you might find the Liège-born artist and scientist conducting experiments in electricity, floating through the sky in a hot air balloon, or conjuring demons and the ghosts of French luminaries such as Marat and Rousseau. But it’s these necromantic arts that most distinguish his towering tomb in Cimitière du Père Lachaise. Robertson spent his young adulthood in Paris during the height of the Terror. He was a talented painter……

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“Slovenia has a strong connection with beekeeping,” says Peter Kozmus, one of the country’s—and the world’s—leading experts on bees. “Historically, every village had at least one beekeeper who produced honey for himself, his relatives, and neighbors.” This tradition continues today, with approximately one in every 200 Slovenians keeping and tending to bee colonies. Kozmus has been a beekeeper since he was 14 years old. Today, he runs a honey farm in Pilštanj in eastern Slovenia, where he tends to……

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The now-faded mining town of Butte, Montana, was once known as the “Richest Hill on Earth.” The copper mining industry enticed tens of thousands of people to Butte to work under harsh conditions, including many immigrants from around the world. Thousands of Chinese workers moved to Butte beginning in 1868, establishing a thriving business district in the world’s largest mining camp, all while facing increased hostility and distrust. While Butte remains the home of the oldest continuously operating Chinese……

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Wonder is everywhere. That’s why, every other week, Atlas Obscura drags you down some of the rabbit holes we encounter as we search for our unusual stories. We highlight surprising finds, great writing, and inspiring stories from some of our favorite publications. Why Was Abraham Lincoln’s Bowtie Always Crooked? by Harry R. Rubenstein, National Museum of American History In many of his most iconic images, President Abraham Lincoln’s bowtie is askew. Staff at the National Museum of American History……

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Thousands pass through the United Nations Plaza, a pedestrian mall adjacent to San Francisco’s commanding Beaux-Arts City Hall, each day. It’s a gateway to the city’s Civic Center and an access point for multiple forms of public transportation. For over 40 years, it even hosted one of the city’s largest farmers markets. But beneath the paving stones lies a secret. Beginning in 1850, when this now central corridor was then at the city’s westernmost edge, an estimated 7,000 to……

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The Helsinki Metro’s Kamppi metro station bears more than a passing resemblance to an enormous cave. This similarity is only bolstered by a prominent art installation that has been located on the station platform since 2013, featuring hundreds of signs pointing to the birthplaces of current Helsinki residents, which loom from above and form crystal-like stalactite structures. The signs are the creation of artist Otto Karvonen, who was commissioned by the Helsinki Art Museum to create the piece. Spanning six continents and……

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In the first half of the 19th century, French naturalist (and contemporary of Charles Darwin) Alcide D’Orbigny traveled throughout South America collecting specimens. One of the places he stopped in was Cochabamba, Bolivia. In a quiet, walled-off compound on the city’s arterial Avenida América stands the Natural History Museum Alcide D’Orbigny, which houses a collection of remains both recent and ancient from across the country. Past the fossils and taxidermied fauna, is a living resident who represents a remarkable……

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The Kennedy Gold Mine is a reminder of how the discovery of this precious metal transformed the American Wet. It also happens to be one of the deepest mines in the world. There are surface tours, so visitors can see the old building, the big wheels from the tailings, and the huge head frame. Like so much of the area, the mine is allegedly haunted and there are paranormal tours done through out the year.  …

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“In Dietzenbach, a devil sits under a roof” is a local saying that stemmed from a carving of a devil in an old wooden house. After a bombing in 1941, the carving was destroyed, but the saying remained, which led to the creation of this controversial statue in its honor….

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Approximately 40 kilometers north of the city of León, the course of the Torío River leads to Vegacervera, a small and beautiful village. At the exit of the village, we find Las Hoces, where fluvial erosion of the limestone rock has given rise to a gorge with large vertical walls, some of which are over 100 meters high. Las Hoces de Vegacervera makes up one of the most remarkable natural spaces in Spain, the result of the patient fight……

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The town of Sag Harbor, New York, located on Long Island’s South Fork, may at first glance seem like a natural fit for arthouse theaters to thrive. However, its only independent cinema was preserved not only from the economic downturn facing movie theaters, but also from the effects of a devastating fire. A former whaling village, Sag Harbor has always had a more bohemian reputation than the nearby Hamptons, with more year-round residents including writers, artists, and movie-makers, and……

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