Tagged: history

Can the Taj Mahal Be Saved? New Measures To Preserve India's Wonder

The Taj Mahal remains the most convincing argument that Agra, the northern Indian city where the marble mausoleum stands, was once something like a paradise.Gazing at Shah Jahan's…

Pints with a Past: Must-See Historic Bars Across the United States

More than one bar lays claim to being the oldest in the United States. But we’re not here to settle the matter, mostly because that would involve hairsplitting, nitpicky decisions…

Floating Hotel Debuts in Edinburgh, Near the Queen's Old Yacht

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has been a yachtless monarch since the 1997 decommissioning of Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, which was eventually sent to the Port of Leith in Edinburgh…

Historic Delta Queen to Resume Cruising U.S. Rivers

The Delta Queen riverboat will once again cruise American waterways. A floating National Historic Landmark, the 1920s-era vessel has been docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee, since 2008…

What to Do in Aruba When You're Tired of Sunbathing

For many, the allure of a vacation in Aruba has to do with sun, slot machines, and shrimp dinners. If that’s you, we get it. Life is hard; sand is soft. Still, some of us prefer to…

National Veterans Memorial and Museum Opens in Columbus, Ohio

More than 40 million people have served in the U.S. armed forces. They've been honored with monuments, memorials, and museums in Washington, D.C., across the country, and even around…

Oldest Building on D.C.'s National Mall Reopens After Restoration

You've probably never heard of the Lockkeeper's House in Washington, D.C.There's a good reason for that. It's been closed for decades. But this unassuming stone building at the corner…

Ultra-Rare Images of Early Disneyland

When Walt Disney pitched his idea for an amusement park on his ABC TV show in 1954 (pictured), he could never have predicted that his Disneyland would one day be one of the most…

Walt Whitman's Brooklyn: In the Footsteps of the Borough's Bard

Walt Whitman was Brooklyn’s original bearded bohemian. Though the poet was born on Long Island and spent significant portions of his life in Manhattan, Washington, D.C., and Camden,…

WW2 Tower Converted to Vacation Rental in Channel Islands

During World War II, the Nazis occupied the Channel Islands, a string of isolated spots floating between England and France. Using forced labor, the Germans built concrete…

Explore Latino L.A.'s Food and Culture, from Olvera Street to Boyle Heights

In a way, Los Angeles is the capital of rural Latin America. According to the Census Bureau, almost half of L.A.’s population is Latino, and many of those residents came from (or…

A Temporary Museum of the 1980s Opens in Seattle

There's nothing like seeing cultural artifacts from your childhood in a historical exhibit to make you feel like an ancient relic.Those of us with memories of the 1980s can have that…

10 Storied Libraries Worth Checking Out

We don’t often think of libraries as tourist destinations. Most are neighborhood, not international, treasures. But there are libraries whose buildings, histories, artwork, and of…

This Midwest American Town Is Turning 350 Years Old

You might have heard that New Orleans and San Antonio are each celebrating a 300th birthday this year. Both cities made our list of the Best Places to Go in 2018 for that very…

Route 66 and Puerto Rico Among USA's Most Endangered Historic Sites

Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Route 66 all appear on 2018's "Most Endangered Places" list, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual roundup of important…

A Makeover and New Museum at Gateway Arch in St. Louis

A multiyear, multimillion-dollar project to gussy up the grounds of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis culminates this summer in the July 3 opening of an expanded museum that tells the tale…

Touring Eva Perón's Buenos Aires

Eva María Duarte moved to Buenos Aires as a dirt-poor, 15-year-old aspiring actress, and by the time she died 18 years later—killed by cancer at 33—she had transformed not just the…

Things to Do in Munich, Germany

To pick up the buzz and beat of Munich, the first thing you want to do when you get to town is to wander through Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square) in the heart of the Altstadt (Old…

Skip Versailles and Go to These Amazing Castles Near Paris Instead

When Louis XIV summoned the French court to his sumptuous new palace at Versailles in 1682, he certainly didn’t foresee that three centuries later this call would be answered by 10…

New Alabama Memorial Honors America's Lynching Victims

A memorial to the nation's victims of racist terror lynchings opens in Montgomery, Alabama this week. Located on a 6-acre site overlooking the state capital, the National Memorial for…

Play the Casanova at New Museum in Venice

Giacomo Casanova belongs to the rare class of historical figures whose names became common nouns. Traitorous World War II-era Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling and France's lecherous…

Things to Do on Catalina Island, L.A.'s Island Getaway

Just about everything about Catalina is incongruous. Found 22 miles into the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, this rugged isle is a bastion of laid-back calm within sight (on a…

How to See the Drawings of France's Niaux Cave for Yourself

The Grotte de Niaux (Niaux Cave) is one of the few caves with prehistoric art that's still open to the public in France. A guided tour through Niaux feels like an adventure from…

The Notorious B 'n' B: Infamous Historic Buildings That Are Now Hotels

You can’t blame a building for whatever shady, salacious, or downright gruesome dealings go down there. So why let a little mayhem scratch places off travel itineraries? The opposite…

A Walking Tour Into Los Angeles' Abandoned Speakeasy Tunnels

Unknown to most tourists, there's a network of tunnels underneath the city of Los Angeles. By some estimates, 11 miles of them. One growing walking tour company is taking visitors into…