Author: Ms. R.

In the 1980s, a curious tree native to Mexico was declared endangered. It was discovered that a specimen was kept alive in the city of Toluca and the city council declared it an emblem of the city. It is called Árbol de Manitas (“tree of the little hands”) for its unusual flowers, which resemble small hands. In 1803, explorers Alexander Von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland traveled to Mexico, where they first came across this curious tree. Bonpland classified it……

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Excerpted and adapted with permission from Aquanaut: The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue, by Rick Stanton with Karen Dealy, published January 2022 by Pegasus Books. Copyright © 2022 In June 2018, 12 young members of a junior football team and one of their coaches became stranded by flooding deep in Northern Thailand’s Tham Luang cave system. The international rescue effort that unfolded over the next three weeks had the world holding its breath. Veteran British cave divers……

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Most of Adolphus Buel Stanley is buried with his wife, Froney, at Macedonia Church of Christ. His good arm, however, met a premature end after he tried using dynamite to catch fish en masse in the Toccoa River. The deceased appendage finds eternal rest a few miles down the road from Buel himself. Nestled in the mountains of rural northern Georgia, the Stanley Settlement cemetery holds a treasure trove of Fannin County history. It spills down the hill from……

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My host pours freshly brewed coffee and, with the charisma of an actor, regales me with tales of his travels, celebrity encounters (Liz Taylor, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Marceau), and high-fashion photo shoots in Paris. Light from the open fire bounces off the gold leaf wall frescos and polished wooden table. It feels like a film set, but it’s an 11th-century monastery in the Cévennes, Southern France, and my host is an orthodox monk. Many of us change careers in……

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Until 1898, Brooklyn was a separate city from New York and tried to remain as independent as possible. That included where it got its water; while the City of New York had access to the excellent Croton Aqueduct, Brooklyn had to look elsewhere. The Bronx River was too hard to reach and streams on Long Island were insufficient, so instead the city turned inward, linking various Brooklyn streams and wells and sending the water to a newly built elevated……

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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 learn about John Milkovisch, who spent 18 years covering his Houston home in beer cans. The house has been preserved for visitors since John’s death in 1988. 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, and along the way you’ll meet……

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The menu of the cheerful restaurant located inside the Machanents Center lists samples of Armenian cuisine: nettle soup, ailazan (a vegetable dish that they serve fried with Ararat brandy), Marash (lentils, chicken, onions, and lavash). But it’s the Sunny Meals section that has become a hit with diners. After they choose from options such as beef, chicken, eggplants, or trout—which comes from the famous Lake Sevan—the order goes to the kitchen. But the chefs don’t fire up a stove……

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For as long as there have been pirates lurking on the waves, there have been women among their feared, loathed, revered ranks. There was the Persian Queen Artemisia I of Halicarnassus, who faced off against the Greeks in 480 B.C. There was 14th-century Jeanne de Clisson, who preyed on French ships after the French king executed her husband. There was the American pirate Rachel Wall, who plundered alongside her husband in the late 18th century. These women did just……

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Amsterdam has 14 tram lines traversing the city, all numbered for easy identification. But though there are tram numbered 1 through 5, the number “8” is unlikely to ever be used against due to its involvement with the Holocaust. The line was first established in 1905 and ran between Central Station and Weesperzijde, traversing many Jewish neighborhoods in the process. It actually became known among locals as the “Jodentram.” In 1942, the Nazi regime banned Jews from traveling via……

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These days, St Catherine’s Hill, which overlooks the ancient city of Winchester, is a peaceful place to hike. But over the last 2,000 years it has seen a lot of action. During the Iron Age a fort was built atop the hill, allowing Winchester’s settlers an outstanding position for defense and observation. In the 12th century the site was occupied by St. Catherine’s Chapel. This chapel was destroyed in 1537, but its remains form the hill’s iconic “Clump,” a……

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On the cold snowy day of March 16, 1926, Dr. Robert H. Goddard stood in the vast open field of then Asa Ward Farm and made the final preparations. A large metal frame housing a 10-foot (three-meter) rocket and ready for launch. Rockets were hardly a new invention and have been around for centuries. However, the rocket Goddard was launching was different as it was not propelled by gunpowder, but by liquid fuel and the first of its kind…….

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