Did You Know? Rock Island gangster John Looney was inspiration for the John Rooney character in “The Road to Perdition” (2002). Alton resident and U.S. Sen. Lyman Trumbull wrote the 13th Amendment, ending slavery. Due to a devastating 1856 fire, it’s forbidden to build with wood in downtown Galena. Alton’s
Did You Know? Pass Christian Yacht Club was the South’s first yacht club (1849). The Biloxi Lighthouse stands in the middle of a four-lane highway. The world’s longest manmade sand beach stretches for 26 miles along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Ship Island was cut in two by Hurricane Camille (1969)
Did You Know? The Ancestral Puebloans occupied cliff dwellings for only 100 years of their 700-plus years at Mesa Verde. Great Sand Dunes National Park has North America’s tallest dunes (the highest, 750 feet). The Painted Wall in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is 1,000 feet taller than
Did You Know? Boonville has had a locally invented dialect, called Boontling, now dying out, since the late 19th century. Philo Ridge Vineyards (Mendocino County) is the world’s first off‐the‐grid winery, relying only on solar energy. When Eureka obtained its charter (1856), its sawmills were producing 2 million board feet
Did You Know? Hawaii’s last sugar plantation, on Maui, was set to cease operations in 2016. Bats are Hawaii’s only native warm-blooded land animals. Maui’s Puu Kukui mountain holds the U.S. record for the most rain in 12 months, 739 inches, December 1981-December 1982. Lahaina was the capital of Hawaii
Did You Know? The Revolutionary War monument in Lexington is America’s oldest war memorial (July 4, 1799). Female mill workers in Lowell struck in 1845 and won a workday reduction from 14 to 11 hours. In the 1850s, more whaling voyages originated at New Bedford than from all of the
Did You Know? The red maple, which can grow to 120 feet, is America’s most common tree. About 400 of North America’s 1,000 cranberry farms are in Massachusetts. The Topsfield Fair, first called the Cattle Show, is America’s oldest agricultural fair (1820). The colors in autumn leaves are brightest when
Did You Know? Approximately 63% of the Island’s housing stock is second homes for seasonal residents. The first Bible printed in the U.S. was written in the language of the Wampanoag Indians on Martha’s Vineyard. Martha’s Vineyard was part of the New York colony before being transferred to Massachusetts (1692).
Did You Know? Acadia National Park was the first U.S. national park east of the Mississippi (1919). Quoddy Head State Park is the country’s easternmost point. Maine has more than 1 million acres of state parks, nature preserves and public lands. In 1607/1608, English settlers built North America’s first ocean-going
Did You Know? Grammar school dropout Chester Greenwood of Farmington invented earmuffs at age 15 (1873). The L.L. Bean flagship store, open 24/7, has no locks on the doors. A Freeport business, Sea Bags, has kept more than 500 tons of sails out of landfills in 15 years. The original
