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Venice, Italy

Ponte delle Tette

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.
Birdsboro, Pennsylvania

Daniel Boone Homestead

Where the famed frontiersman was born, raised, and survived Quaker intrigue
A "glorious, Monet-style chaos" has taken root at the University of Cambridge's King's College Chapel.
nature

A Stately English Lawn Is Going Wild In the Name of Biodiversity

"If there are ways to manage our landscapes that can make them more exciting for all the insects and mammals, then why not do it?”
Luna Shyr June 15, 2020
This 2008 stamp celebrated the 130-year anniversary of the arbitration by President Hayes.
museums

Rutherford B. Hayes Is More Famous in Paraguay Than in the U.S.

The 19th U.S. President lends his name to a city, region, school, and annual festival.
Mark Johanson June 11, 2020
Fort Douglas Post Cemetery, in Salt Lake City, holds the graves of 20 German prisoners of war from World War II.
cemeteries

Three Headstones in American Military Cemeteries Bear Swastikas

But not for much longer.
Matthew Taub June 10, 2020
John Muir's Giant Sequoia.
Martinez, California

John Muir's Giant Sequoia

A sparse, solitary sequoia still stands as a living tribute to the famous conservationist who planted it—but it's dying.
Cities such as San Francisco are full of history—but there's opportunities for discovery everywhere.
architecture

How to Dig Into the History of Your City, Town, or Neighborhood

Even a short local walk can hold countless stories.
Lauren Vespoli June 9, 2020
Meet the Jackson Town Council of 1920-23, aka the "petticoat rulers": (from left) Mae Deloney, Rose Crabtree, Mayor Grace Miller, Faustina Haight, Genevieve Van Vleck.
wild west

Remembering When Women Ruled a Wild West Town

In 1920 the "bad-man rendezvous" of Jackson, Wyoming, elected an all-female government. Will it be another hundred years till that happens again?
Amelia Mularz June 5, 2020
Theresa McCulla of the American Brewing History Initiative with a collection of historic beer-advertisement posters at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2018.
museums

How a Beer Historian Is Documenting COVID-19's Impact on Brewing

The biggest blow to beer since Prohibition.
Courtney Iseman June 5, 2020
The metal-clad men of the Middle Ages would scale ladders, among other exercises, to stay fit.
medieval

To Work Out Like a Knight, Try Donning Armor and Extolling Virtue

Being fit and chivalric is as much a mental state as a physical one.
Isaac Schultz June 5, 2020
The monument, pictured here in August 2017, was once partly covered by wood. It has since been dismantled altogether.
monuments

How an Infamous Confederate Obelisk Finally Came Down

The monument in Birmingham, Alabama, became a flashpoint in the fight for racial justice.
Jessica Leigh Hester June 5, 2020
<em>Karakuri</em> dolls have been an ornate element of Japanese craftsmanship since the Edo period.
automata

What It’s Like to Build a Traditional Japanese Automaton From Scratch

All you need is a good imagination. And a whole lot of patience.
Isaac Schultz June 4, 2020
Ingredients that underpin the cuisine include pitseed goosefoot (left), a type of physalis known as ground cherries, among other names (center), and sunflowers pressed into oil (right).
restaurants

The Cherokee Chefs Bringing Back North America’s Lost Cuisine

Researching traditional foods led them to the revelations of an archaeological dig in Kentucky.
Eric J. Wallace June 4, 2020
New Orleans, Louisiana

Dooky Chase's Restaurant

Parts of the civil rights movement unfolded in this historic eatery, helmed by the "Queen of Creole Cuisine."
The Congress's wall and ceiling murals.
Chetumal, Mexico

Murales del Congreso (Congress Murals)

A bright, colorful telling of the history of Mexico's youngest state.
Plane tree next to the streambed.
Athens, Greece

Parilissia Iera

An often overlooked ancient site in downtown Athens with substantial history (and nature).
Smoke billows over Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
archaeology

Unearthing the True Toll of the Tulsa Race Massacre

99 years later, a community works with archaeologists to answer longstanding questions about a brutal tragedy.
Megan Gannon June 1, 2020
Este, Italy

Castello Carrarese di Este

The origins of a large, medieval castle are shrouded in mystery, but now it's a delightful garden.