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Dueling grounds.
Colmar Manor, Maryland

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds

Politicians, bureaucrats, and military officers gathered in this field near the Capitol to settle their disputes with blood.
New York, New York

The Hidden Art Deco Tunnel Underneath the New Yorker Hotel

The beautiful tunnel that ran from the lobby to Penn Station is still hidden underneath 34th Street.
Permanently Closed
The 300-year-old tree.
Arbutus, Maryland

The Arbutus Oak

The 320-year-old tree that greeted General Lafayette and rerouted an interstate highway.
A helmet from the 1961 Mercury spacesuit. The space helmet wouldn't be the same had it not been for Alice King Chatham's contributions.
nasa

The Female Space Sculptor Who Designed the Earliest Space and Aviation Helmets

Alice King Chatham's name is attached to some of the world's most pivotal aviation and space experiments.
Lauren Young January 18, 2017
Martin Luther King with President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.
history

Peek Inside the 1977 Report Detailing FBI Misconduct While Surveilling Martin Luther King Jr.

A review of the Bureau’s assassination investigation uncovered the extent of an illegal counterintelligence program.
JPat Brown January 18, 2017
Bell at Mission Santa Inez
San Luis Obispo, California

The Bells of El Camino Real

A chain of bells connect the California Missions and honor the legend of the "King’s Highway."
Trading room circa 1894
Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room

Once at the center of U.S. finance, the historic Trading Room was meticulously recreated piece by piece and rebuilt in the Art Institute.
The Carnegie Hall archives now contains around 300,000 artifacts.
New York, New York

Carnegie Hall Archives

More than 300,000 historical artifacts from the famous music venue, from Duke Ellington's handwritten score to The Beatles' booking slip.
People place pennies on the blank headstone.
Baltimore, Maryland

Grave of John Wilkes Booth

A blank headstone topped with a pile of pennies marks the final resting place of the infamous assassin.
Washington, D.C.

Frederick Douglass’s House, Cedar Hill

The famous abolitionist’s preserved estate is one of Washington's finest monuments to its great Black citizens.
Golden Boy of Pye Corner
London, England

The Golden Boy at Pye Corner

A portly statue of a golden boy commemorates an unusual cause of the Great Fire of London: the sin of gluttony.
Lime kilns.
Washington, D.C.

Godey Lime Kilns

A historic ruin just 20 feet away from a busy highway onramp.
Strategic Air Command headquarters in the 1960s.
nuclear

In the 1960s, Telegraph Poles Were Equipped With Nuclear Bomb Alarms

They were simple-looking white canisters.
Sarah Laskow January 11, 2017
Hamilton's Grange, November 2016
New York, New York

Hamilton Grange

The only home that Alexander Hamilton ever owned has a history almost as troubled as his own.
Financial Tart.
food

The Meatless, Wheatless Meals of World War I America

Recipes got a lot more creative during the days of food rationing.
Lauren Young January 10, 2017
Old Dragon's Head
Qinhuangdao Shi, China

Old Dragon's Head

Where the Great Wall of China meets the sea.
A "Bird's Eye View" map of New Hampshire's White Mountains, centering the summit of Mount Washington.
maps

The 'Balloon Maps' That Aided Exploration, War, And Tourism

See the world from the basket of a hot air balloon.
Cara Giaimo January 9, 2017
Wilson Avenue crib.
Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Water Cribs

These chunky stone towers out in Lake Michigan are the key to Chicago’s drinking water.