Author: Ms. R.

In 1865 a group of conspirators set out to kill the president and vice president of the United States. The president, Abraham Lincoln, was killed by John Wilkes Booth, but one of Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirators, George Atzerodt, failed to kill vice president Andrew Johnson. Atzerodt fled Washington to a property owned by his family in Germantown and, on his way, spent one night at Clopper Mill—unwittingly thrusting this structure into the pages of national history. The beginnings of Clopper……

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St. Hilary’s Chapel was built in the early 14th-century as the garrison chapel for nearby Denbigh Castle. The official parish church was actually St. Marcella’s, but St. Hilary’s was closer to the center of the town and eventually took over many of the functions of a parish church. The chapel consisted of a five-bay nave, north aisle and chancel, as well as the still surviving west tower. Many of the original windows were replaced by larger openings and the……

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Constructed in the early 1800s, this small building was the shoe shop of Henry Wilson, a senator from Massachusetts and later 18th Vice President under the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Wilson was originally from New Hampshire and his birth name was Jeremiah Colbath until he settled in the Natick area and changed his name in 1833. At the time, shoemaking was very much a cottage industry with production taking place in “ten footer” shops, in reference to the……

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This piece was originally published in Canada’s National Observer and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. There’s a mysterious killer whale that prowls deeper waters and specializes in hunting big game, research by a Canadian scientist suggests. West Coast residents are familiar with the iconic and endangered, chinook salmon-eating resident killer whales in the Salish Sea, and the more numerous Bigg’s killer whales, or transient orcas, that ply the shallower waters of British Columbia’s coast and……

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Missouri is famous for its numerous caves, many of which are open to the public. A popular state park in the central Ozark region much visited for its fishing opportunities, also boasts a natural tunnel born from the same steady forces of water erosion. A trail just over three miles in length traversing over rugged woodlands and creek beds ultimately leads to a gaping, dark hole in the rock bluffs. As visitors approach closer and enter into the cool……

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Twilight falls on the City of David in East Jerusalem, while a film about Jerusalem’s past plays in a set of virtual reality goggles. In it, the kings of Judea are preparing for the Babylonian siege inside an ancient, virtual palace, the ruins of which are today, in the real world, underfoot. As the virtual soldiers close in on the virtual city, a scent fills the air—a real one, an invader from the modern world: marijuana. Then another real……

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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 join host Dylan Thuras and producer Harry Huggins as they visit the unruly architecture of The House on the Rock—one of the inspirations for Atlas Obscura. 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 some……

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Travellers at Munich Airport might be forgiven for mistaking Smokey Joe’s for an airplane. The currywurst stand, which sits in between two terminals, is actually made from real airplane parts. Known as the “sausage plane,” the cart serves up red or white curry sausages in Munich, Berlin, or Ruhr styles, along with soft drinks and beers. The base of the stand is an old aluminum caravan with airplane wings and an engine attached to it. Various tubes and even……

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