Author: Ms. R.

Just south of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, an impressive structure rises from the shores of the Pasquotank River. The large, silvery dome measures 20 stories tall and nearly a thousand feet wide. While it might look like a futuristic laboratory, this building is actually one of the few remaining structures that were built during World War II to manufacture, house, and service the U.S Navy’s blimps. Yes, you read that right. Though fighter planes and aircraft-carrying ships tend to……

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Olympic Sculpture Park located in Seattle‘s Belltown is not far from the famous Space Needle, and a short drive from the famous Pike’s Place Public Market. Sculpture Park is nine acres filled with monumental artworks, amazing views of Eliot Bay, and a monolithic work entitled “Wake.” Located down a short embankment towards Western Ave sits ten plates each standing 14 feet that gently create an “S” pattern that forms a wake. The structure is composed of acid-washed, weather-proof steel……

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The Atlas Obscura Podcast is finally here! Join me, Dylan Thuras, cofounder of Atlas Obscura, and our incredible team of reporters and editors, on a daily (Monday-Thursday) exploration and celebration of some of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places. With each episode, The Atlas Obscura Podcast is a daily escape, in 15 minutes or less. Listen to the trailer above for a sense of what we have in store. After this past year, I know I am……

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In 1909, archaeologists excavating the city of Pompeii uncovered a Roman villa that still contained painted frescoes on the walls of one of its rooms. The artwork depicted the mystery rites of a religious cult associated with Dionysus. Images included scenes of women cavorting with fauns and winged figures, and undergoing ritual ecstasies, dancing, and flagellation. Researchers dubbed this dwelling the “Villa of the Mysteries.” In 1924, archaeologist Francis Kelsey commissioned Italian artist Maria Barosso to create a replica……

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Once they reach adulthood, great capricorn beetles, Cerambyx cerdo, have only a brief time left on Earth. The bulk of their lives, which can span several years, is spent as larvae and pupae, boring through wood and nibbling as they go, then hunkering down beneath the bark of sun-warmed oaks until the weather invites them back out. As grownups, the beetles—a longhorn species slightly longer than a human thumb—have a month or so, which they fill with the drive……

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Boris Behncke was growing impatient. The sun was setting, twilight was soaking the soil, and the sky was not yet on fire. For the past few days, Mount Etna’s almost preternatural displays of liquid hot rage had come along like clockwork, spaced roughly 30 hours apart on the 16th, 18th, and 19th of February 2021. It was unusual for one of the world’s most active volcanoes to be so punctual. But suddenly, on the 20th, it seemed to have……

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At first glance, Pastelaria Alcôa, a bakery in the charming little town of Alcobaça, Portugal, looks thoroughly modern. Behind a gleaming glass counter are colorful, award-winning pastries that have made the pâtisserie one of the most celebrated in the country. On warm days, customers sit outside at tables shadowed by large umbrellas and enjoy the view: a sumptuous Gothic monastery. Alcôa’s specialities are made inside the bakery, but their roots are in buildings like the nearly 1,000-year-old religious institution……

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Standing like ancient, tortured sentries in the yard of Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg, Virginia, are two venerable Southern Catalpa trees (Catalpa bignonioides). Their gnarled branches and twisted, misshapen trunks appear to be manifestations of the horrors of war they witnessed in 1862, during the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg. Believed to be over 180-years-old, the Catalpas are dying. One tree remains upright only with the assistance of a massive metal brace installed by the U.S. National Park Service……

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The Nansen Ski Jump was constructed in 1937 and was used as the location for the first United States Olympic Ski Jumping Trials. The jump is around 260 feet in length and was known as The Sleeping Giant.  During its time in use, the Nansen Ski Jump was noted as the largest ski jump tower in the world. The jump hosted various major local and national competitions until it was eventually retired during the 1980s.  Reconstruction on the Nansen Ski……

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