History in the United States

Discover 826 places to experience unusual history in the United States.

Italian POW Chapel

Franklin, Indiana

Camp Atterbury Prisoner of War Chapel

A chapel built by Italian POWs during World War II tells a forgotten tale of the war on the home front.

The school was designed and built by two local carpenters

Mountain View, Arkansas

Turkey Creek Schoolhouse

This one-room schoolhouse in rural Arkansas dates to the 1920s, but looks like it could be the 1820s.

Temple and home exterior

Chicago, Illinois

Stan Mansion

Built to house a chapter of the Knights Templar, this grandiose building is a relic of Freemasonry in Chicago a century ago.

Grande Derangement Memorial

Grand Derangement Memorial

Plaque remembering the 18th century forced relocation of Acadians.

Hangman's Elm

New York, New York

The Hangman's Elm

The oldest living tree in Manhattan comes shrouded in sinister legend.

The Joel Lane House in downtown Raleigh

Raleigh, North Carolina

Joel Lane House Museum

Eighteenth century house of the mysterious "Father of Raleigh."

The front of 1520 Sedgwick Ave, Kool Herc's one-time home

Bronx, New York

Kool Herc's Block

This Bronx apartment building is officially recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop.

Colorado River at Holzwarth Historic Site

Grand Lake, Colorado

Holzwarth Trout Lodge

The remains of an early 1900s dude ranch that operated until the 1970s.

Springfield-Des Arc Bridge

Damascus, Arkansas

Springfield-Des Arc Bridge

This historic bridge has weathered fires and floods and still stands, now abandoned, where it has stood since 1874.

Hewlett and Packard started working in the garage in 1938

Palo Alto, California

Birthplace of Silicon Valley

A humble garage, world-famous for being the epicenter of a technology revolution.

Historian Bill Lebovich at 2016 Obscura Day tour of the Stones.

Washington, D.C.

The Capitol Stones

Enormous piles of historically significant stones, dumped by Congress in a forest, and abandoned for 60 years.

William Blaxton's House with the Tri-Mount in the background

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston History Dioramas

Painstakingly built dioramas sit unnoticed in a Boston office building.

Conewago Chapel, June 2016

Hanover, Pennsylvania

Conewago Chapel

One of the oldest Catholic churches in the U.S., situated just east of Gettysburg.

Point Roberts.

Point Roberts, Washington

Point Roberts

An American city stranded at the tip of a Canadian peninsula where strict adherence to the "49th parallel rule" became problematic.

Permanently Closed

The center of 19th-century camp life was this octagon-frame building, now turned into the present museum

Scarbro, West Virginia

Whipple Company Store

Smack in the midst of coal country, this collection provides a peoples' history of Appalachian miners' heritage.

First Arthur County Courthouse

Arthur, Nebraska

First Arthur County Courthouse and Jail

This Nebraska museum was once the smallest courthouse in America.