Did You Know? The fictional James Bond preferred Sea Island cotton for his shirts. When Englishman William Hilton landed at the Island (1663), he found Spanish-speaking Indians (Florida transplants). Hilton Head was the scene of the largest naval battle fought in American waters (1861). Hilton Head Island first got electricity
Did You Know? West Hartford-born Noah Webster learned 26 languages doing research for his dictionaries. The first American-authored cookbook (“American Cookery” by Amelia Simmons) was published in Hartford (1796). America’s first accident insurance policy, sold in Hartford (1864), covered the buyer for a two-block walk. In 1836, Hartford native Samuel
Did You Know? To protect the town’s trees in the 1830s, Greenville fined citizens who even tied their horses to the trees. Civil rights advocate Jesse Jackson was born in Greenville in 1941. Of the 11 medals awarded to Revolutionary War veterans, three were for the 1781 Battle of Cowpens.
Did You Know ... ? Before the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant clerked in his father’s leather goods store in Galena, for $600 a year. More than 85% of Galena is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Galena’s DeSoto House Hotel is Illinois’ oldest operating hotel (1855). Nine
Did You Know? John Greenleaf Whittier celebrated the wrong woman in “The Ballad of Barbara Fritchie;” the flag waver was Mary Quantrell. Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star-Spangled Banner” lyrics, was born on a farm near Frederick (1779). Lew Wallace, commander of Union forces at the Battle of Monocacy,
Did You Know? The 1960 movie, “Where the Boys Are,” set in Fort Lauderdale, turned the resort into spring break central. Palm Beach got its palms — and later its name — because a ship loaded with coconuts ran aground there (1878). The Seminoles of Florida are the only tribe
Did You Know? Flagstaff was the highest-altitude city on the historic Route 66 (6,900-plus feet). Astronomers at Lowell Observatory discovered Pluto, the on-again, off-again planet, in 1930. The meteor that created Meteor Crater hit Earth with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT. More than 250 people
Did You Know? When ice sculpting was revived in Fairbanks (1988), sculptors used commercial ice from Seattle. The 1,523-mile Alaska Highway, ending in Fairbanks, was built in eight months as a World War II supply route. North America’s largest gold mill, Fort Knox Gold Mine, grinds 40,000 tons of ore
Did You Know? Ford Motor Company sold 15 million-plus Model Ts worldwide (1908 to 1927). Windsor in Ontario, Canada, is south of Detroit. The Ambassador Bridge on the Detroit River is the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing. One mile of Detroit’s Woodward Avenue was the world’s first paved road (1908). Berry
Did You Know? The McCaughey septuplets, born in Des Moines (1997), were the world’s first set to survive infancy. “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995) was filmed in nearby Winterset and Adel. Ronald Reagan was the first sports director for Des Moines’ WHO radio station (1930s). The 600 pounds of
