Category: History
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 8 (Museums & More)
With an area as small as Bermuda — just over 20 square miles (53 square kilometres) — one might conclude it wouldn’t need a lot of museums. Well, as it turned out, a lot of history happened there. Plus the tourists needed something to do. Maybe they couldn’t golf or lounge at the beach the…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 6 (Forts )
Longtime readers of Twelve Mile Circle know that I love my forts, fortresses and fortifications. So I really loved Bermuda, a place practically custom-designed by Great Britain to be one giant fort. Its strategic placement and and heavy militarization led to its nickname the “Gibraltar of the West.” Maybe I should have included it in…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 5 (St. George )
We spent our first three days in and around the Town of St. George and the surrounding parish of the same name. Bermuda didn’t have many actual towns per se. Hamilton seemed more like a small city. On the other hand, St. George actually felt like a town. Everywhere else just sort of sprawled across…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 4 (Bermuda Railway Trail )
The Bermuda Railway Trail surprised me in a pleasing way. I saw it on a map before I arrived and I thought it sounded interesting. Actually, it far exceeded my expectations, becoming one of the most memorable parts of my visit. A Little Context Residents and tourists alike used horsepower or their own feet to…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 3 (The Outsider )
As a complete outsider, I didn’t know exactly what to expect when we landed at L. F. Wade Airport on the far eastern end of the archipelago. Sure, I’d thumbed through the guides and scoured the Intertubes although that never truly compares to being there on the ground. I tried to avoid being overly touristy.…
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Effigy Mounds National Monument
Harpers Ferry, Iowa (June 2009) Few people seem to know much about Effigy Mounds National Monument except for those who happen to live along these magnificent stretches of the Upper Mississippi River (map). It is practically unrivaled for its amazing combination of natural beauty and historical importance, with its scenic vistas above the river and…
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Stone Mountain
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA (April 2010) Stone Mountain rises above the plain just a few miles northeast of Atlanta, a solid monolith standing alone like nothing else around it anywhere east of the Appalachians. It started out millions of years ago as magma that hardened below the earth’s surface. Slowly, over time, the surrounding landscape…
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Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial
Washington, DC (2007 & 2009) Few things are nicer than a walk on Theodore Roosevelt island on a beautiful day. The Setting We visited Theodore Roosevelt Island, often referred to by its shorter name “Roosevelt Island” an 88 acre nature preserve set amid the Potomac River and the surrounding urban landscape (map). The National Park…
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Washington, DC Boundary Stones
Located in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia (Visited 2000-2010) Beginning in 1791, a survey party placed stones marking the boundary of the District of Columbia, one mile apart in a diamond pattern, ten miles on a side. Two thirds of the land came from Maryland and one third from Virginia. This land formed the new capital…
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Mesa Verde National Park
Montezuma County, Colorado, USA (May 1992) Mesa Verde National Park, the “green table” of Colorado’s contribution to the Four Corners region contains some of the most spectacular and largest cliff dwellings ever constructed. Precolumbian native Americans, sometimes referred to as the Ancient Pueblo People or the Anasazi after the Navajo word for “ancient ones,” inhabited…