The technique to Recreate 1,300-365 days-Extinct Cookies
If cookies go a few weeks without getting eaten, they turn weirdly soft or dissolve into fine dust. If cookies go 1,300 years without getting eaten, they get carefully preserved in a case at the British Museum. In the winter…
This Connecticut Inn Has Hosted Sea Chantey Singalongs for Half of a Century
On 8:30 p.m. on any given Monday before the pandemic, The Griswold Inn would be packed. A stately colonial building in the sleepy, coastal New England town of Essex, Connecticut, the Griswold Inn sits just steps from the water. Flying…
Crypt of Dr. William Edward Minahan in Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin
To any passersby along the age-old Riverside Drive in the village of Allouez, Wisconsin, the image of this monument may seem like just another average crypt. It is certainly not striking upon first glance—but the history and backstory of this…
Podcast: President Heads
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit a field in Virginia where giant busts of U.S. presidents are slowly crumbling away. Our podcast is…
Zinc Smelter in Spelter, West Virginia
The word Spelter means commercial or smelted zinc. Beginning in 1910, workers from Spain were brought to this company town in West Virginia to operate a new zinc smelter. Over the next 90 years, some four billion pounds of slab…
Moorten Botanical Backyard and Cactarium in Palm Springs, California
The Moorten Family Botanical Gardens was created to share the beauty and extraordinary varieties of desert plants with everyone who visits. It was established in 1938 by Chester “Cactus Slim” Moorten and his wife, Patricia, and features desert trees, plants, and…
