Historic sights in North America
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Coolidge Homestead
The 30th president of the USA was born in Plymouth, Vermont, and attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. He opened a law practice in 1898, in Northampton, Maine, and then ran for local office. Following election, Coolidge served as state senator, lieutenant governor and governor of Massachusetts. Elected vice-president on the Warren Harding ticket in 1920, he assumed the presidency upon Harding’s death in 1923. Vice-president Coolidge was visiting his boyhood home in Plymouth when word came of Harding’s death. His father, the local justice of the peace, administered the presidential oath of office by kerosene lamp at 2:47am on August 3, 1923. Known for his simple,…
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Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast
Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one. This children’s rhyme is just one of many inconsistencies in the account of what happened in Fall River in 1892. Actually, Abby Borden was assaulted with 18 blows to the head with a hatchet, while Andrew Borden received 11. Ouch. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted of this crime, her story was rife with contradictions. That nobody else was ever accused was enough indication for Lizzie Borden to go down in popular history as America’s most famous murderess. Today, the Greek Revival Borden House in Fall River is the Lizzie Borden Bed &…
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Château Dufresne
Brothers Oscar and Marius Dufresne commissioned this beautiful beaux-arts mansion, along the lines of the Versailles Palace in France, in 1916 and moved in with their families – Oscar on one side and Marius on the other. The interiors are stunning – tiled marble floors, coffered ceilings in Italian Renaissance style, stained-glass windows –and are open for the public to explore. Italian artist Guido Nincheri was in charge of interior decoration and painted many murals, including one of dainty nymphs in the Petit Salon. Marius’ side of the building is furnished in a more masculine style, with a smoking room fitted to look like a Turkish lounge with hookah pipes. The…
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The Arcade
Designed in 1828, the Arcade, America’s first enclosed shopping center, uses a form developed in Paris and London. Greek Revival in design, the airy, tile-floored passage, its marble steps worn into bows by the passage of bygone feet, has shops and cafés on three floors. It looks like a temple from the outside, while inside it is much like a street – a straight corridor leads to a second entry on Washington St. Bounding the sides of this corridor are ornamented, parallel facades three stories tall, today containing the inexpensive eateries and clothing boutiques that attract a bustling lunchtime crowd from the surrounding business district. Roofed in glass, the interior…
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Château Ramezay
A home of French governors in the early 18th century, this mansion is one of the finest examples from the ancien régime. It was built for the 11th governor, Claude de Ramezay, and includes 15 interconnecting rooms with a ballroom of mirrors and mahogany galore. Ramezay went broke trying to maintain it. American generals used it as a headquarters during the revolution, and Benjamin Franklin stayed here attempting (and failing) to convince the Canadians to join the cause. In 1903 turrets were added to give the ‘château’ its fanciful French look. The building is a repository of Québec history with a collection of 20,000 objects, including valuable Canadian art and furniture.…
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Rhode Island State House
Designed by McKim, Mead and White in 1904, the Rhode Island State House rises above the Providence skyline, easily visible from the highways that pass through the city. Modeled in part on St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, this very white building not only has the world’s fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome, it also houses one of Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of George Washington, which you might want to compare to a dollar bill from your wallet. Inside the public halls are the battle flags of Rhode Island military units and a curious Civil War cannon, which sat here for a century loaded and ready to shoot until someone thought to check whether it was disarmed. The…
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Maspero’s Exchange
Now Original Pierre Maspero’s (a fairly middling restaurant), this was once La Bourse de Maspero: a cafe-cum-slave-auctioneering house where the city’s elite sipped au lait while human chattel were traded in Exchange Alley (now Exchange Place). Note the entresol (a mezzanine floor with a low ceiling visible from the exterior through the arched windows); this cramped little room was only reached through a ceiling door from the bottom floor, and is where slaves are said to have been imprisoned while awaiting their sale. This room now serves as a dining room. In 1814, the building was the headquarters for the local Committee of Public Safety, charged with marshaling citizens…
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Templo Mayor
Before the Spaniards demolished it, the Teocalli of Tenochtitlán covered the site where the cathedral now stands and the blocks to its north and east. It wasn’t until 1978, after electricity workers happened on an eight-ton stone-disc carving of the Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui, that the decision was taken to demolish colonial buildings and excavate the Templo Mayor. The temple is thought to be on the exact spot where the Aztecs saw their symbolic eagle, perching on a cactus with a snake in its beak – the symbol of Mexico today. In Aztec belief this was, literally, the center of the universe.
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Appleton Farms
One of the country’s oldest continuously operating farms, Appleton Farms is now maintained and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. Four miles of trails wind along old carriageways, past ancient stonewall property markers and through acres of beautiful grasslands. The store sells fresh, organically grown produce, not to mention tantalizing jams, spreads and sauces made with said produce. From MA 128 take MA 1A north. Turn left on Cutler Rd and drive 2 miles to the intersection with Highland Rd, where parking is available.
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Tomb
The Tomb is not open to the public. This is the home of Yale’s most notorious secret society, the Skull & Bones Club, founded in 1832, and its list of members reads like a ‘who’s who’ of high-powered judges, financiers, politicians, publishers and intelligence officers. Stories of bizarre initiation rites and claims that the Tomb is full of stolen booty like Hitler’s silverware and the skulls of Apache warrior Geronimo and Mexican general Pancho Villa further fuel popular curiosity.
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Gunston Hall
Southwest of Mount Vernon, on a bend in the Potomac River, is the 1775 brick mansion Gunston Hall, which belonged to a statesman and contemporary of George Washington, George Mason. Mason penned the lines ‘all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights’ – words adapted by Thomas Jefferson for the Declaration of Independence. Dating from 1755, the mansion is an architectural masterpiece, with elegantly carved wooden interiors and meticulously kept formal gardens.
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Maison Smith
Constructed in 1858 by a merchant who wanted to get away from the pollution and overpopulation of the rest of Montréal, this house was one of 16 private properties on the mountain that were expropriated by the government in 1869 once the land was officially designated for a park. The building houses a small permanent exhibition on the history of the park, a visitors center and a café selling soups and sandwiches. There’s also a gift shop selling bird-watching paraphernalia, maps of the park and souvenirs.
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Montague Bookmill
On an unassuming road in the sleepy town of Montague you’ll find the Montague Bookmill, a converted cedar gristmill from 1842 whose multiple rooms contain plenty of used books (many academic and esoteric) and couches on which to read them. Its westward-facing walls are punctuated by large windows that overlook the beautiful sight of the roiling Sawmill River and its waterfall. There are also some outside decks over the water where you can take your coffee.
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Desert of Maine
William Tuttle came to Freeport in 1797 to farm potatoes, but his deadly combination of clear-cutting and overgrazing caused enough erosion to expose the glacial desert hidden beneath the topsoil. The shifting dunes, which are 70ft deep in some areas, cover entire trees and the old farm’s buildings. Admission includes a 30-minute tram tour and lots of kiddy activities. To reach the farm, take I-95 exit 19 and head west of the highway for 2 miles.
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Molly Brown House Museum
This outstandingly preserved house, designed by the well-known architect William Lang, was built in 1889 and belonged to the most famous survivor of the Titanic disaster. Having survived the ill-fated voyage she became active in progressive politics and women’s organizations, and was a keen theater performer. She died in 1922, a woman ahead of her time.
Molly Brown House offers educational workshops, residencies and scholarships.
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Great Elm Site
The trees that occupy this site are probably descendents of the Old Elm that stood here for more than 200 years. History has it that Ann Hibbens was hanged on the branch of the elm tree for witchery in 1656, and Mary Dyer for religious heresy in 1660. Boston’s ‘oldest inhabitant’ was damaged in 1869 in a brutal storm that reportedly took down the spires of many churches, and destroyed for good by another storm in 1876.
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Lesbian Herstory Archives
This Brooklyn brownstone is filled to the brim with books, periodicals, videos, audiotapes, photographs and various ephemera that tell a long and storied lesbian tale. You can visit by appointment only or during several annual open houses – check the website for events. Founded by Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel in 1974, this is the oldest lesbian archive in the world. Be prepared to get lost among its fascinating holdings for hours.
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Plaza de las Tres Culturas
So named because it symbolizes the fusion of pre-Hispanic and Spanish roots into the Mexican mestizo identity, this plaza displays the architectural legacy of three cultural facets: the Aztec pyramids of Tlatelolco, the 17th-century Spanish Templo de Santiago and the modern tower that now houses the Centro Cultural Universitario.
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Holzwarth Historic Site
When prohibition was enacted in 1916, John Holzwarth Sr, a Denver saloonkeeper, started a new life as a subsistence rancher. This site houses several buildings kept in their original condition, and hosts historical reenactments and ranger-led programs. The Heritage Days celebration happens in late July.
The site lies at the end of a graded ½-mile path, easily accessible with strollers.
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Folsom Tavern
Exeter’s early history is still widely celebrated, thanks in part to the American Independence Museum, which maintains the town’s collections inside the historic Ladd-Gilman House. The museum also maintains Folsom Tavern, which was once an important meeting place for George Washington and his revolutionary officers.
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Rotary Snowplow Park
Not much of a park but notable for its display of a vintage narrow-gauge rotary plow and the locomotives that powered it up the famed, rugged, gut-wrenching Boreas Pass railroad (that track is one of the last remaining swatches) to keep gold-mining production open. This rail was a lifeline to miners, indie and corporate alike. Kids will dig it here.
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Maria Mitchell Birthplace House
At the Maria Mitchell Birthplace House, docents tell the inspiring story of Maria (pronounced 'Mariah') Mitchell (1818-89), who was America's first female astronomer. Maria is revered for discovering a comet in the 1840s, beating some of the world's leading scientists. The house (1790) is interesting in its own right.
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Jethro Coffin House
Built in 1686 the Jethro Coffin House is the town’s oldest building still on its original foundation. It’s in a traditional ‘salt box’ style, with south-facing windows to catch the winter sun and a long, sloping roof to protect the home from harsh north winds.
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Black Gay & Lesbian Archive
Part of the Schomburg Center in Harlem, these holdings include books, photographs and other writings that reflect a black gay experience. It’s the brainchild of local publisher and writer Steven G Fullwood, and its documents go back to the mid 1970s.
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Maison Fréchette
Louis Fréchette, a 19th-century poet, journalist and member of parliament, lived in this striking Second Empire residence just off Rue St-Denis. The French actress (and one-time courtesan) Sarah Bernhardt stayed here during her North American tours in the 1890s.
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