Author: Ms. R.

Bridges are commonplace, so what makes the Richmond Bridge in Tasmania such a unique destination? It has the distinction of being Australia‘s oldest existing stone arch bridge. Bigge’s Bridge was named after Royal Commissioner John Thomas Bigge, who suggested the bridge’s construction in 1820. It was constructed by incarcerated laborers, men imprisoned in the nearby Richmond Gaol, which was a regular practice at the time for big construction and road projects. These incarcerated workers were forced to mine sandstone from……

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Excerpted and adapted from Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, by Mary Roach, available September 14, 2021, from W.W. Norton. The Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun is a thrown-down cluster of concrete buildings connected by outdoor walkways. Because these corridors have no walls, rhesus monkeys from the neighboring forest can occasionally be seen walking along behind or beside the humans. Neither species pays the other much mind, as if the monkeys, too, have meetings to get to and……

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Tino Sana Carpenter Museum (Museo del Falegname) is a personal collection of carpenters’ workshops and tools, musical instruments, puppets, sleighs, boats, motorbikes, bicycles, and much, much more. Each and every thematic section of the museum is special and unique in its own way, but the peddler bicycle section is definitely the shining star. Peddler bicycles are bicycles that were equipped by an artisan for a specific work-related purpose. These bicycles were made from the end of the 1800s to……

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Ek’ Balam, the archaeological site whose name means “Black Jaguar” and comes from a legendary, unverified founder of the same name, has many distinctive characteristics that make it notable. Its taller pyramidal structure which, as is the case with many similar structures in Mexico, is commonly known as the Acropolis nowadays, can still be climbed freely (unlike El Castillo at Chichén Itzá, for example). At a maximum height of 31 meters, it offers an impressive sight over the rest of……

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This incredible vantage point is named after Thomas Jefferson after it inspired him to write an impassioned description of his experience when visiting this location in his 1785 book, Notes on the State of Virginia.  The following portion of his description appears on a historical marker located a short distance from the formation: “On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac……

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In 1855, pioneer Isaac Riddle discovered Pine Valley while driving cattle from Santa Clara to cooler valleys in the north. He immediately recognized the value of the lumber in the area and opened the first lumber mill. Soon, others followed and a community developed around the lumber mills.  As the community grew, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settlers wanted to build a new place to worship. Many of them had come from New England and wanted……

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On property now home to the Northern Virginia 4H Educational and Conference Center are the well-worn remnants of an organization created to fulfill the U.S. Army’s unabated need for horses and mules that continued through the Second World War. By the early 1900s, the popularity of the automobile made it increasingly difficult to procure substantial quantities of quality military horses on the private market. To ensure an adequate equine supply for cavalry, artillery, and pack units, the Army’s Quartermaster……

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