Author: Ms. R.

Old Ben didn’t grow up to become the world’s largest steer—he was born that way. From the moment his hooves hit the ground in 1902, Ben was an “object of wonder,” according to a sign in front of his now-stuffed carcass. Weighing 125 pounds at birth (the normal range is 60 to 80 pounds) Old Ben tipped the scales at between 4,585 and 4,720 pounds upon his death in 1910. Born on a farm near Kokomo, Indiana, local legend……

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This two-story historic brick rowhouse was designed by architect R.E. Crump and built in 1894 in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. In 1904, singer Lillian Evans Tibbs moved into the house and built her career as one of the first Black opera singers to achieve international fame. After studying at Miner Teacher’s College to be an educator, she went on to graduate from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in music. She was a polyglot, fluent in French……

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Christy Buchanan is a renaissance woman. She’s an architect and a professor as well as an artist and a folk art enthusiast. Many years ago, after visiting the famed Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens, Buchanan was inspired to create her own folk art environment. She wanted her space to reflect life’s beauty—the familiar beauty found in nature and the more nuanced beauty of everyday found objects. It’s a whimsical and delightful space, overflowing with flower and herb gardens and quirky……

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Constructed in 1985, this striking monument depicts scenes from the 3,000-year history of Georgia and was designed and created by Zurab Tserteli, a Georgian sculptor who later served as the President at the Russian Academy of Arts. It sits on the outskirts of Tbilisi and its prominence in the middle of a small wooded area allows it to be seen from afar.  Sometimes referred to as “The Georgian Stonehenge,” the “Chronicle of Georgia” consists of 16 large columns that……

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Not very far from Chefchaouen, Morocco‘s so-called “Blue City,” curious travelers who love challenging hiking will be taken aback by the natural beauty of The God’s Bridge. This rare rock formation unites the extremes of two mounts that at first glance resemble the color of clay.  It is not a bridge that visitors can walk across, but instead, it can be admired from below where the pristine waters of a waterfall collide creating a beautiful spring that runs a……

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This small building was the only school that served Black children in Boyds and the surrounding areas from the turn of the 20th-century through the mid-1930s. The school served grades first-eighth. Many children who attended the school walked for miles to get to and from the building.  The school was heated by a wood stove and had no indoor plumbing. There is a replica of the original outhouse a few hundred feet behind the school building on the edge……

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For much of her life, Inez Cook knew nothing about her biological family. Though her birth certificate identified her as adopted, she had no idea that she was born a member of the Nuxalk Nation, one of the First Nations of Canada, until she reached adulthood. At the age of one, she was forcibly taken from her parents in Bella Coola by the Canadian government and given to a white family to raise. “I didn’t know anything about it……

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In the 16th century, the construction of a warning marker for risky and shallow waters around the island of Hiiumaa was ordered by the Hanseatic League in order to secure the important trade routes along the Baltic Sea. The structure was built about 40 years after the request and the lighthouse was completed in 1531. Initially, the building was just a stone tower without any rooms and was used as a daymark. For more than 100 years the tower was……

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In Interlaken, New York‘s Lakeview Cemetery you can find the surprisingly ordinary gravesite of Rod Serling, famed creator and narrator of the anthology television series The Twilight Zone, which ran for five seasons from 1959 to 1964. Serling joined the U.S. Army after graduating high school and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He eventually earned the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Philippine Liberation Medal. After being discharged from the Army in 1946 Serling enrolled in……

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