what history is at your place

Saskatoon Saskatchewan...

'fraid I don't know a lot about our history, but I do know that only an hours drive north (at Batoche) is where Louis Riel held his 1885 rebellion against Canada to try and gain more rights for Metis and the Natives.

 

John Steinbeck, Monterey Pop Festival, Marilyn Monroe becoming the artichoke queen of Castroville.

 

New Zealand...

legend has it that the South Island is Maui's canoe, stuart island is the anchor and the North island is a giant fish that he caught, and that his brothers hacked up, creating mountains etc...

in reality, I think it was the Maori Ori that were first here, followed by the Maori. They came from the Pacific by canoe (no snow there obviously) and when they saw the Southern Alps covered with snow they thought it was cloud -hence Aoetearoa (the other name for NZ) basaically means Land of the Long White Cloud.

and yeah, then along came the British, there was the treaty of Waitangi, lots of land wars.

we were the first country to give women the vote (1893)

and, oh yeah, the historical event that is being stressed about at the moment is the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior ( a Greenpeace ship) in 1985. It's been 20 years since some French guys bombed it because of nuclear protests.

 

ah, vermont is a pretty cool place.

was the first place in the US(and as far as i can see, the world) to do the following

1) abolish slavery
2) grant universal male suffrage
3) promote public education

bennington is a few hours down the road from where i live...it was an important battle in the eartly stages of the revolution.

 

Nanaimo, B.C..... birthplace of the Nanaimo bar and home of the bathtub races....and there used to be coal mines....such an exciting place lol

 

Cumming, Georgia... really nothing much to say.

There are 2 mountains in the middle of the county called Sawnee Mountain and Coal Mountain, and supposedly during the Trail of Tears period, a chief for a local tribe hid on Sawnee Mountain and put all his treasure in a cave. No one has been able to find the cave though. There are also carvings on trees made by the tribes here hundreds of years ago, but a developer decided that they weren't important and knocked many of them down to build more houses to fuel our already overcrowded schools >.<

On one road in town, there's a tree where several slaves were hung in the 1800s. Supposedly if you put your car in neutral, something will "push" you up the hill. I've never tried it though because it's a really busy road.

In 1987, KKK members from all the northern, more redneck (although you can't get much more redneck than here) counties came and claimed on the county courthouse steps that no black people will ever live in Forsyth County. Oprah even led a march here. Almost 10 years later, there are still tops 40 black families here.

And Cumming's water tower is posted all over the internet because it says Cumming. Oh ha ha.. I haven't heard that one 5000 times. It's also on a bunch of lists for "most provacative town name".

 

I saw that on TV. They surveyed the sight, and found that it's actually a downhill road, but because of an optical illusion, seems uphill.

Though the one I saw might have been in Texas, can't remember. If it was, it's probably the same deal with yours.

 

The rich history of Virginia Beach dates back nearly 400 years, when the first English colonists ventured to the New World. On April 26, 1607, the vessels Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery stopped at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The colonists spent three days at the site of their first landing, erecting a cross and naming the spot Cape Henry. From Cape Henry they sailed across the bay and up the river, ultimately settling the colony of Jamestown. Later colonists settled around Cape Henry and the lands beyond. Princess Anne County was formed from the eastern section of Lower Norfolk County in 1691 and was named in honor of the youngest daughter of King James.
As the population of Princess Anne County grew, trade flourished. Fifty years after the first settlers set foot on Cape Henry, the waters in the area became so congested with merchant ships that bonfires were used to guide vessels safely through the Chesapeake Bay. Plans and contract discussions were ongoing for nearly forty years before the Cape Henry Lighthouse was built and first shone its beacon in the fall of 1792.

After the Civil War, lifesaving efforts were stepped up to cope with the inevitable maritime mishaps along the coastline. Between 1874 and 1915, more than 185 shipwrecks occurred along Princess Anne County's shores, and five lifesaving stations were constructed to serve the region. These lifesaving stations were an integral part of seafaring life in the area and were the primary source of assistance for ships in distress until 1915 when the U.S. Coast Guard was formed.

Virginia Beach has been a popular resort destination since 1880s. Railroad service to the beach began in 1883, transporting visitors from Norfolk to the oceanfront. In 1888, the "in place" was the modernized Princess Anne Hotel, described in a local newspaper as "a magnificent hotel, with electric lights, bath houses with a veranda, and a good ballroom.

The most luxurious of all were the accommodations offered by the Cavalier Hotel. Called "the Queen of the Beach," the Cavalier opened its doors to guests in 1927. Vacationers and tourists are still a vital part of life in Virginia Beach, even after 120 years!

Since the merger of Princess Anne County and the resort town of Virginia Beach in 1963, the City of Virginia Beach has enjoyed a steady rate of growth in population as well as visitors. The 2000 Census indicates a Virginia Beach population of 425,257.

Four military installations in Virginia Beach--Oceana Naval Air Station, Little Creek, Fort Story, and Dam Neck - make the city a vital presence on the national and international map. With local museums, sports and entertainment arenas, and a thriving economic base, the City of Virginia Beach attracts vacationers and future residents alike.

 

Riverside County was formed in 1893 by carving out a small portion of San Bernardino County and a larger part of San Diego County.

Long before the arrival of the white man in what is now Riverside County, the area was inhabited by a number of Native American people, including the Serranos, the Luisenos, the Cupenos, the Chemehuevi, and the Cahuillas.
When Spain claimed California for it's own, the Spaniards began putting a series of missions in what was then called Alta California. While no missions were ever built in what would become Riverside County, the Riverside County area played a vital role during the mission period. The San Gabriel mission claimed lands in what is now Jurupa, Riverside, San Jacinto, and the San Gorgonio Pass, while the San Luis Rey mission claimed land in what is now Lake Elsinore, Temecula, and Murrieta. These lands were used for grazing of the large herds of cattle and sheep that belonged to the missions. In 1776, and again in 1778, Juan Bautista de Anza, an army captain charged with discovering an overland route from the Mexican state of Sonora to San Gabriel and Los Angeles, passed through much of Riverside County and described fertile valleys, lakes and sub-desert areas.

The Mission Period lasted until 1832, when Mexico, having taken over California from Spain 10 years earlier, desecularized the missions, and began doling out the vast mission holdings to political favorites, wealthy people, and cronies of the governors of California. The "grants" were called ranchos, and many of the ranchos in Riverside County have lent their names to modern-day locales - Jurupa, San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, Temecula, and La Laguna (Lake Elsinore).

With the advent of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, land speculators, developers, and colonists began to swarm to Southern California. The first colony in what would become Riverside County was Riverside itself. Judge John Wesley North, a staunch temperance-minded abolitionist from Tennessee who was ostracized back home after he talked a crowd out of lynching a black man, brought a group of associates and co-investors out to Southern California, and founded Riverside on part of the Jurupa Rancho. A few years after, the navel orange was planted and found to be such a success that full-scale planting started. By the time of Riverside County's formation, Riverside had grown to become the wealthiest city per capita in the country, due to the riches of the navel orange.

In the mean time, developments at Lake Elsinore, San Jacinto, and South Riverside (present-day Corona) were gaining in popularity and population.

However, by the late 1880's and early 1890's, there was growing discontent between Riverside and San Bernardino, its neighbor 10 miles to the north. To begin with, there were many political, spiritual, and economic differences between the two towns. San Bernardino was predominantly Democratic in nature, allowed saloons, and had been a hot-bed of secessionist sympathy during the Civil War. Riverside was temperance minded (few saloons if any were allowed in Riverside proper), and Republican. In addition, both towns were competing for settlers in an era in which many towns were languishing or dying because of a lack of inhabitants. After a series of instances in which charges were claimed about unfair use of tax monies to the benefit of the City of San Bernardino only, several people from Riverside decided to investigate the possibility of a new county. Joined by San Diego County residents in the Temecula and San Jacinto Valleys and the desert region who were tired of living so far from their county seat, they petitioned the State legislature, held an election, and on May 9, 1893 formed Riverside County.

Further developments in Riverside County included Banning and Beaumont in the San Gorgonio Pass; Hemet south of San Jacinto; Moreno Valley east of Riverside; Perris, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula along the California Southern Railroad; Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio and Coachella along the Southern Pacific route to Yuma; and Blythe on the Colorado River.

Today, Riverside County encompasses an area of nearly 7,200 square miles, and boasts a population of 1.3 million people. Over the last decade, it has consistently been one of the, if not the, fastest growing areas in the country.

 

hmm. I only live in a lil' village at the mo'.....Coxhoe just outsida Durham City...

The romantic poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning was born about a mile away from where I am sitting (Coxhoe Hall, later used as a prisoner of war camp, which means a lotta italians settled here)...sadly her home is ruined now, but it's a pretty cool campsite and picnic area (if you don't mind ghosts)

Some battle or other was fought here during the civil war.....but people knocking the bejesus outa each other ain't ever really interested me, so that's as much as I know....

I think that's about it.....we got Bush travelling through here, blair meanders around the place a lot (he lives three miles up the road).....just a nice quiet lil' village where nowt much happens

 

i live in richmond, va, which has a shit ton of confederate history...all sorts of fun things...

but i am originally from farmville, va, which had a school walk out during the civil rights movement which was one of the cases included in brown vs. the board of education supreme court case

lady of rage was also from farmville she says in one of her songs "i'm straight outta farmville, V-A so whatchu gotta say?" she sang afro puffs in the 90's

we are pretty close to appomotax where the civil war ended

and roy clark is from prince edward county

yay farmvegas!

 

Ok, the immediate town:
there was at least one killing a week through some sort of knife fight or gun brawl. the local community grew tulips and cotton (on their own because they weren't wealthy plantation owners, no black slaves but maybe black friends) My grandfather brought 'law' to the town and they named him 'judge' because that's what he did, from what I understand from several ol' timer tales they were scared shitless of him, later they opened a restaurant/bar built on moonshine and speakeasy and ultimately got shut down but they bought oil wells in a very desolate Texas town. from the profits. 'Lucy' my grandma carried a 12 on her hip , loved dogs, and used them both against any wannabe tresspassers upon her fine home. She absolutely forbid any 'fightin' on the property and if you did, you got buckshot in your ass, which could warp a mans or womans ass for life. I love my grandma lucy because she didn't just carry a 12 she also fed the homeless drifters who came through looking for black gold. (Just be a peaceful bunch), and the refugees from the dust bowl looking for more fertile grounds to grow crops. The Caddo regurarly traded between the ghost and others and everything was based on a real sense of trust and strength in character. We had a natural spring that flowed in three different colors(minerals) until a big hotel bought it and raped it to nothing but a dinky well in a park (that's now only a pump from a stream because they contained the rest in an olympic sized chlorinated pool for fat little...ah hell). Then they started to show up in demand to that unique thing and turned it from an agrictultural town into a commercial one. Lo and behold many moons later we have 'country club phase three' (that's what it says on the sign) and they are tearing down trees, flowers, fields left and rigtht for clusters of houses that practically hump each other so close. I only wish my grandma lucy was still up because she'd sure as hell put a bullet in their ass just for being assholes. My family founded this dumb town on moonshine, oil, pretty flowers, and a true feeling of comradery not blinded. Now it's going to shit because a bunch of 'look at me' assholes have bought up what they never owned in the first place. But boy oh boy are they stupid, why? Because my family has the maps for where they're plopping their heavy brick homes, it's on top of a quicksand pit. Even right now, the houses are breaking up and those little golfers are having keneption fits over par 3. Ha ha , my gramdma would be laughing her ass of at them and wondering why they built their house on swamp.

 

No uphill road gone sideways backwards but a true all childrens grave. For some mysterious reason all the kids died between 2 and 4 and they're all buried there. Trust me. It's no fun hanging out there.

 

The Wyoming Valley:

Oddly enough in Pennsylvania
The earliest notable white man's history is the Yankee-Pennamite wars, in which settlers moving west from Conneticut to the fertile valley were met with violent opposition from Pennsylvanians to the south. The wars were fought intermittently from the 1760s until the 1790s with a hiatus during the Revolution. Finally the Pennsylvanians agreed to let the Yankees stay if they swore loyalty to Pennsylvania.

During the Revolution the settlers of Forty Fort clashed with the Seneca allies of the British, losing badly. Almost all of the settlers were tortured to death that night or carried off.

Later the region became the center of the anthracite (hard, clean burning coal) mining industry. Civil War draft riots presaged the spectacular immigrant miner's strike immortalized in the movie "The Molly Maguires" starring Sean Connery. The hardships of these miners, and the degree to which they and their families were abused by mine owners is tough to describe. 8 year old boys for example worked in coal breakers, picking out pieces of slag for 12 hours then coming home to their mothers, fingers bleeding from the sulphur burns. Their sisters however combed through slag piles (massive mounds which are still quite visible) looking for good coal for personal use and sale. The adult men were in constant danger in the mines of course from explosions and the shoddy support timbers the mine owners used to keep costs down often lead to tunnel collapses. Oddly, the miners actually were technically freelancers allowed to use the mines by the owners and then paid for the coal they mined. Typically, the owners required the miners 'top off' to coal cars so a two ton car would actually be made to hold 3-4 tons while the miners were only paid for two. And all of the mining implements were of course bought from the company store at inflated prices. If a woman's husband was killed in the mine she had best have a son who was still working, else she would be turned from the modest shacks owned by the companies out to the street.

Since then the demand for coal has waned and technological improvements have made it much less labor intensive and what mining still does go on is conducted in the larger veins a bit to the south.

Interesting Mining anecdote: Every now and then a coal vein would catch fire. Most went out after a few years, but some are still burning and can be seen on cold days. The most famous of these is the Centralia mine fire, renown because people actually live right in the midst of these toxic fumes. The government has tried to buy their homes for more than they are worth several times, but a few stubborn die hards just refuse to leave their old neighborhood despite the severe and seemingly obvious health dangers.

Now its pretty much your typical rustbelt small metro area, though the hostility inherent in the immigrant laborer mentality can still be noticed. Though we are quite close to New York and Philadelphia its pretty provincial. Really, if you go west from New York it is the first patch of middle America you hit.

 

I've heard about the Centralia fire, a strange thing there.