Author: Ms. R.

In 2001, a group of dedicated hobbyists from Upper Cumberland Railroad Society started this club to preserve and honor the people and equipment who helped build Tennessee and America to revive the memory of the glory days, when massive iron horses climbed mountains and ran through valleys. Beautiful hand-created model trains are on display in various settings, including circus, military base, airport, cable cars, and many more. When lights are turned off there is a beautiful nighttime display as……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE JANUARY 29, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. Editor’s note: On February 1, 2022, the sun, moon, and Earth will align, meaning both a new moon and a new year according to the traditional Chinese calendar. As the moon slowly returns to visibility over the next few weeks, families will come together to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This time of year, you or your neighbors……

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On the north bank of the ancient Fleischbrücke bridge in Nuremberg stands a curious ornate arched doorway topped with a statue of a burly ox. It marks the site that was once the entrance to the city’s medieval meat market.  From the early Middle Ages to the mid-20th century, meats of all kinds (including beef, mutton, pork, venison, horse, rabbit, hare, chicken, duck, and goose) could be purchased here by those citizens with enough money to afford them. Animals……

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After his death in 1902, Brigadier General Egbert Ludovicus Viele was interred in this pyramid-shaped mausoleum in West Point Cemetery. Viele was born in 1825 in Waterford, New York, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1847. Following service in the Mexican-American War, Viele became a civilian engineer, eventually becoming the chief engineer for the construction of Central Park. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Viele was given a commission as a Brigadier General……

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In the countryside of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, a colorful mosaic monument pays tribute to the 1867 murder of Ruggero Pascoli, father of the celebrated poet Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912). Created in 2017 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the assassination, the monument sits at the exact spot where the crime took place. Ruggero’s brutal murder—when Giovanni was just 11 years old—remains unsolved. Various civic and private institutions pooled their resources to make the monument a reality. Giovanni Pascoli’s hometown of……

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An aged-old relic of a time gone by has been dusted off and reinstated with a new life. On the far western end of Princes Street, a main artery of retail shops and restaurants in Edinburgh, is a timepiece that appears to have been presiding here for decades. In fact, the Binn’s Clock, named after the department store that once resided in this locale, owes its new refurbishment to the new Johnnie Walker Experience. The 200-year-old whiskey company that……

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The Dresden Elbe Valley, with its distinct architecture and natural landscape, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. A few years later, a bridge crossing the Elbe river was proposed to ease the traffic congestion in the nearby city of Dresden. UNESCO opposed the move and put Dresden Elbe Valley on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2006 and stated that the valley’s status as a World Heritage Site would be removed if the bridge……

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Changuu Island lies just off the coast of Zanzibar, about 25 minutes from Stone Town by a small-engined boat. Though it only measures about 800 meters long and 230 meters wide, this narrow spit of land holds a lot of history. The tiny island was uninhabited until the mid-1860s, when Majid bin Salid, the first Sultan of Zanzibar, sold it to several Arab slave traders using it to hold enslaved people in transit to Stone Town or beyond. After Zanzibar……

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This story was originally published on SAPIENS and appears here with permission. Once upon a time, people near the valley of Nemea in southern Greece lived in mortal fear of a lion lurking in the surrounding hills and preying on the populace. Only mighty Hercules, challenged by the king of nearby Tiryns, could slay the beast. The son of Zeus cornered the powerful carnivore in a cave and choked it to death with his bare arms. Thereafter, the people……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit Boston’s Old North Church, which was cemented in American history by Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride. But now the ringers who play these bells in a centuries-old style are adding a twist. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site,……

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Growing up, many of my most memorable moments of the Lunar New Year weren’t just the celebrations themselves, but rather the bustling times spent preparing with loved ones—in particular making and eating copious amounts of food laden with symbolism. For families around the world who celebrate the holiday, which is marked by the second new moon after the winter solstice, it is one of the most important times of the year to be together. The prepwork for all those……

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Scrap Park is a unique outdoor gallery located in city woods near Devínska Nová Ves, a borough of Bratislava. In this open-air gallery designed by artist Branislav Pokorný, you can admire figures of life-size animals or fairy-tale creatures. All of them are made from old scrap metal, nuts, screws, valves, and more. Pokorný started creating these scrap sculptures for his own pleasure. Many of them are animals native to Slovakia, but some are more exotic even fantastical. The park opened in……

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