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Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
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Slaughter Beach protects a creature older than its alarming name
The Delaware shore is associated with horseshoe crabs, which come ashore to spawn along the bay. Their eggs feed migrating birds. Behind the ominous name is a…
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Blue Ball inherited its name from an inn's sign
An eighteenth-century inn displayed a blue ball outside; the Pennsylvania settlement took its name from that landmark. A tavern sign outlasted the tavern.
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Why Dildo, Newfoundland, keeps its name
Residents of Dildo, Newfoundland, have embraced the town’s name rather than changing it, turning an awkward namesake into a point of pride.
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This library has an international border across its floor
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles Vermont and Quebec. A marked line inside makes the boundary visible, turning an ordinary visit into a…
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Intercourse, Pennsylvania, has a sign-theft problem
The village's name makes its road signs irresistible souvenirs to some visitors. Local accounts describe repeated thefts, even though a postcard could…
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How Odd, West Virginia got its name
The founders asked the postal service for a name, and it suggested “Odd”—which stuck.
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Frankenstein, Missouri, once got parachuting Frankensteins
In 1999, a publicity event for a rerelease of Young Frankenstein brought 25 costumed skydivers to the town's ballfield. The community's unusual name supplied…
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Louisville has a giant bat leaning against a building
The oversized wooden bat dwarfs the building, making it an unmistakable landmark.
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Skull Valley is much quieter than its name suggests
Despite its ominous name, Skull Valley is a quiet farming community—not the outlaw-filled mountain pass its name might suggest.
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Casey, Illinois has a giant wind chime
Casey’s giant wind chime scales the familiar porch decoration up to industrial proportions. In a strong breeze, its clanging could sound like pipes crashing…
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Martinsville Illinois forged a ridiculously heavy horseshoe
The town's oversized metal horseshoe is a novelty built for a contest of giant objects, not for a horse.
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Kansas City Missouri scattered giant shuttlecocks on grass
The oversized shuttlecocks make the lawn look like a badminton game paused mid-rally.
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Slab City grew on a military camp's abandoned foundations
The California desert settlement takes its name from the concrete slabs left by Camp Dunlap. Residents and visitors live without ordinary municipal water or…
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Deadhorse, Alaska, is a town built for industry
Deadhorse is a remote Alaskan settlement built to support the oil industry, with heavy equipment and few permanent residents.
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The California town with far more dead than living
Colma became a cemetery town after San Francisco treated burial grounds as a waste of valuable real estate. It has about 1,000 dead people for every living…
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Normal, Illinois, was named for a school—not for being ordinary
The town took its name from Illinois State Normal University, a teacher-training institution. “Normal school” comes from a French term connected to training…
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Oblong, Illinois, borrowed its shape from a prairie name
The town's name refers to the oblong prairie where it developed, rather than a rule requiring every street to fit a rectangle. Place names can preserve the…
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Climax Michigan offers absolutely zero excitement
Despite its name, Climax is simply a place in Michigan, not a promise of a spectacular finale.
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Bland, Virginia, is named after a person
The county and its seat take their name from Richard Bland, a Virginia political figure. On a map, the word looks like a review of the place. In local…
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Part of Manhattan is physically attached to the Bronx
Engineers cut the Harlem River Ship Canal south of Marble Hill in 1895, separating the neighborhood from Manhattan island. Later filling of the old waterway…
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An Arkansas town put its school district number on the map
Fifty-Six took its unusual name from the local school district after another proposed community name failed to win approval. What sounds like an unfinished…
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You really can find yourself in Nowhere, Oklahoma
Nowhere is an unincorporated community near Fort Cobb Lake, associated with a general store and road traffic heading toward the recreation area. Its name…
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Ding Dong, Texas, owes its name to the Bells
The community's naming story centers on a store run by Bert and Zulis Bell. A painted sign used two bells as a visual pun on the surname, with Ding and Dong…
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Lasers revealed an ancient urban landscape beneath Bolivia's greenery
A 2022 lidar study mapped Casarabe settlements with raised platforms, pyramids and connecting causeways in the southwest Amazon. Airborne measurements helped…
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