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Neat!

A Brit I know is travelling in the US at the moment and keeps posting back pictures of historical markers. They have information signs here, of course, but not in this very particular style and not in such profusion. Anyway, he seems to find them amusing.

I went looking for some of my favorites to share back and found the Historic Marker Database.

Fun! I visited some of my favorites from back home.

You can also use the topic list, series list or geographic list but honestly – the funnest thing is to click the star at the top of each page to be whisked away to a random marker.

Will 100% pull over the car to read a historic marker.

The Bell Witch, by the way, is one of my favorite quirky Tennessee stories. It was an early 19th Century poltergeist tale which, looking back, wasn’t all that exciting. But I grew up on stories from the little red book and it was edgy stuff to a six-year-old.

Comments


Comment from Armybrat
Time: May 24, 2022, 11:34 pm

As an armybrat back in the day, we moved every 6-18 months. Some of those moves were to Europe, then back and forth across the US. When we lived in the US the folks relished a move (actually they relished EVERY move) They bought an Airstream trailer and towed us kids across damn near every state in the union. And they made sure to stop at every roadside marker.

We were semi-homeschooled…50 years ago. We frequently moved in the middle of a school year so the folks made sure to make the best of every move. That meant stopping at every road marker and researching every bit of history…before the age of the Internet. We had a full Encyclopedia Britannica in that airstream.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 25, 2022, 2:40 am

That’s fun! They even have the one in my home town… it’s next to the statue of George Washington wearing a British uniform…


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 25, 2022, 1:23 pm

Okay… I guess my reputation here precedes me, and y’all thought I was joking.

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM58GK


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 25, 2022, 1:37 pm

As to the Bell Witch, I know what you’re thinking: Jeez, if that happened today that family woulda just plain cashed in on that story.

Well, there is nothing new in this universe apparently, cause:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Family-Trouble-Story-Tennessee/dp/1482349701/ref=pd_sbs_sccl_1_2/257-4714895-4472962?pd_rd_w=Y4nsq&pf_rd_p=0b2f9572-34c5-41a4-9aef-ddde079c4608&pf_rd_r=5TJ54VEBKNY1FJ16PS16&pd_rd_r=4a3f37bf-2399-410b-9dde-fb5c5447bcb7&pd_rd_wg=IcMjl&pd_rd_i=1482349701&psc=1


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 25, 2022, 6:07 pm

They’ve made a number of movies loosely or not loosely based on the Bell Witch. One of them was even kind of good.


Comment from blake
Time: May 25, 2022, 10:02 pm

Well, they’ve made 71 “Amityville” movies, so you know at least one has to be good, right?

Right?!

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