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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 4h

The foundation of the Gordon Hirabayashi prison in Arizona is visible bsky.app/profile/hist...

Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 4h

Decades after his legal battle with the U.S. government, Gordon Hirabayashi has a campground named after him that sits by the Tucson, Arizona, prison where he served time, along the road up to Mount Lemmon those prisoners built bsky.app/profile/hist...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 4h

That’s why Peshtigo’s winery took the name Forgotten Fire www.forgottenfirewinery.com

forgottenfirewinery.com

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 5h

I don’t know if you saw this but a historical marker about the 1926 lynchings just went up in Aiken bsky.app/profile/blac...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 6h

As Hawk Harrelson would say, they’ve put a big crooked number on the board. Also, dagnabbit.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 7h

The phone booth turned defibrillator on Killarney’s Main Street is across from the TKMaxx full of tourists buying extra baggage after realizing they’re not gonna fit everything for the way home. Guess how I know.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 10h

This marker is in South Carolina. We’re getting well into the triple digits on historical markers placed on lynching sites. And that’s still well short of covering them all.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 10h

Here are details on the historical marker @janetdeguerre.bsky.social spotted in front of the Roosevelt, Texas, post office. You might see it if you zoom in on the photo in the post below. www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=128103 @hmdb.org

hmdb.org

Roosevelt Historical Marker

The community of Roosevelt began with the establishment of a post office in 1898. (A historical marker located in Roosevelt in Kimble County, Texas.)

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 12h

Meanwhile, the oldest establishment in which I’ve ever thrown back a pint was the Brazen Head in Dublin, established 1198.

Front, castle-looking entry to the Brazen Head, Dublin, Ireland

Sign on the side of the Brazen Head noting it as Ireland’s oldest pub, established 1198. It’s a true public house, with a bar and rooms to let.

Outdoors at the Brazen Head in Dublin. The building is in the rear. A knight’s armor is near the front. There’s arrows pointing location and distance to worldwide cities.

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Summit County Libraries @summitlibraries.bsky.social · 14h

Please disturb the librarians. You are never a bother. ❤️

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 14h

It’s forgotten now but the youth sports investment boom was a response to the Great Recession. While everything else was going down the toilet parents were willing to stretch for their kids’ futures. I wrote this in 2009 from Elkhart, Ind., Great Recession ground zero www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31192...

nbcnews.com

Amid downturn, a rally to save youth sports

The people of Elkhart, and everywhere else, are giving up on a lot of niceties and necessities in this recession. But one of the last to go is activities for their kids.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 14h

The plaques are in the George and Vulture in London. The chop house opened in 1175. That’s not a typo. Charles Dickens mentioned the place frequently in “The Pickwick Papers.” Plaque honoree Cedric Charles Dickens was his great grandson, and he was longtime official flame keeper for his pop-pop.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 15h

Fun fact about Grand Park: the original developer (Estridge) wanted houses and apartments around it as the big moneymaker. The Great Recession killed that plan. Now developing around the park is back: www.indystar.com/story/news/l...

indystar.com

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 16h

I’ve made plenty of Menominee-Marinette posts! I go through the area often on my way to see relatives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I should note Menominee High’s edge over Marinette High in their storied football rivalry is now 53-50-7 after a 60-6 shellacking Aug. 29. bsky.app/profile/hist...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 16h

I shared this in a previous thread about the Nebraska I-80 Bicentennial Sculpture project, but the paper below is an interesting look at how it, and other Spirit of 76, projects, got federal funding. One bucket was for future-facing projects, like the sculptures. bsky.app/profile/hist...

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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 17h

I've been saying for a few years and am now more convinced than ever that the 250th was, in a lot of ways, a "reverse Bicentennial." In '76, we had an early attempt at politicizing the anniversary, which fell apart and led to grassroots celebration. 250 saw last minute takeover. A (possibly long) 🧵:

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 17h

The Menominee area (along the Michigan-Wiaconsin border) was the source of most of the timber used in rebuilding Chicago after the 1871 fire bsky.app/profile/hist...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 18h

Certainly Clark is in a comfortable enough position financially to stay on her current deal. I’d guess her decision hinges on if she can recruit certain free agents (including Mitchell) to join her next year, then waitv to take advantage of Hull and Billings’ money falling off.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 19h

Got you covered bsky.app/profile/hist...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 20h

Today is the anniversary of the infamous 1871 Chicago fire, as many as 300 dead. But it’s also the anniversary of the less famous Peshtigo, Wisc., fire, also in 1871, with as many as 2,500 dead. People jumped into the Peshtigo River to try to survive the 3-day fire that covered 1,875 square miles.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 20h

Late last night when we were all in bed, Mrs. O'Leary left her lantern in the shed Well, the cow kicked it over, and this is what they said: "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!"

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 20h

Great piece. In my youth sports blogging days I always advised if the family and kid are having fun in travel sports, knock yourself out. I was intrigued with the idea small colleges adding flag to boost enrollment. I have firsthand knowledge of football used this way www.wbur.org/onlyagame/20...

wbur.org

Division III Colleges Recruiting High School Benchwarmers

In order to fill rosters -- and get more tuition dollars -- some Division III colleges are recruiting less-than-heralded high school athletes. Bob Cook, who writes about youth sports for Forbes and is...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Sign crime: someone stole the entry sign to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in western Upper Michigan. I didn’t get a pic of the sign but got others in my visits there. I even had an easy chance to take a sign but I was a good boy. www.myupnow.com/news/porcupi...

Welcome to Ontonagon sign in Ontonagon, Michigan. It notes:

Harbor Town
Gateway to the Porcupine Mountains •
HISTORIC BUSINESS DISTRICT
TURN RIGHT AT US 45
SHOPPING • DINING• GAS • LODGING
LIBRARY THEATER MUSEUM PARKS
LAKE SUPERIOR BEACH ACCESS
ANNUAL LABOR DAY FESTIVAL

Me in 2023 holding a directional sign that had fallen off its post on the Lake Superior Trail in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park near Ontonagon, Michigan. The sign has arrows pointing in the direction of:

Buckshot Cabin 0.5 mile
Lone Rock 2.5 miles
Lake Superior Access 0.25 mile

Lake of the Clouds scenic area sign in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park near Ontonagon, Michigan. It reads, in part:

"A remarkable gorge... lies about two miles south of Lake Superior, and in that distance the ground rises about a thousand feet. Suddenly the traveler finds himself on the brink of a precipice five hundred feet deep, at the base of which lies a small lake, so sheltered and hemmed in by the surrounding mountains that the winds barely ruffle its surface."
J. W. Foster, 1851
Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District

The establishment of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in 1945 ensured public access to the Lake of the Clouds lookout, one of Michigan's most memorable scenic views. P.J. Hoffmaster, then director of the Department of Conservation and father of Michigan's state park system, was a strong supporter of preserving the Porcupine Mountains area as a park.

The community of plants and animals living on the escarpment summit must endure the extremes of winter winds and summer heat. Survival of this specially-adapted community depends on the thin layer of soil that caps the mountains. Erosion and loss of plant cover, due to excessive foot traffic, is a threat to this unique natural community.

Gotta give you some scent from the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan. This is Lake of the Clouds. It is a mountain lake surrounded by forests and cliffs. It’s at 1,076 feet elevation, 450 feet higher than Lake Superior, only a few miles away. The overlook from which I took this picture is at a little more than 1,500 feet of elevation, about 400 feet higher than the lake.

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Brian Eno News @dark-shark.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Talking Heads' album Remain In Light was released on October 8, 1980 Produced by Brian Eno

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Alas, while my youth watching TV trained me to be careful and fearful of quicksand, it was just marshy ground.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Some behind-the-scenes director’s commentary: I wanted to get a shot of what it would look like taking the old McHie Ferry across the Kankakee River in Aroma Park, IL. The foliage was fierce, and as I got toward the river I sank into the ground. So I took a shot down the street. Riveting, I know.

Historical marker

McHie Ferry
Established 1910, Discontinued 1920.

Kankakee County’s first ferry
Made by William and James McHie

Posted by Friends of Aroma Township

The view of the route across the fast-flowing Kankakee River of the old McHie Ferry. The foliage was in the way. A lot of the river marsh was drained for agriculture but I started sinking into it as I got closer to get a clear view.

A safer view of the width of the Kankakee River near the old McHie Ferry in Aroma Park, Illinois.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Man, what sort of loser comes at you with that?

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My favorite part of the Hoover library was all the impressive detail on everything that happened in his life until 1929 and the quick summary of everything thereafter bsky.app/profile/hist...

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Geez, man, this hit my inbox before the players left the floor, did you even take time to assess the Rienk Mast-Keba Keita combo?

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

If this game taught us anything it’s that Jay Huff is not giving away his starting job

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

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Tim Pierce @unchi.org · 07/10/2026

While we were in Fredericksburg (this is a great story) I was looking at a historical marker for the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, when a gentleman standing outside the church struck up a conversation with me.

Photo of a historical plaque and statue on a green lawn. Behind the plaque and statue is a white church building with a large spreading tree beside it. The plaque says "CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH" at the top. The statue holds bronze busts of two people, a man wearing a shirt and tie and an old fashoned fedora hat, and a woman wearing a blouse and eyeglasses.

Photograph of a full-color informational plaque saying "CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH - Established in 1887" at the top, and with a detailed historical timeline labeled "LATE 1800s" "1865" "1877" "1974" "TODAY". There are photographs on the plaque of the church at different times in its history, and at one point a color photograph of two people who resemble the people on the statue next to the plaque.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The marker below for the site of the Ouija Board’s invention is in a 7-11 in Baltimore. Inventor Elijah Jefferson Bond’s gravestone in Baltimore is perfect. @hmdb.org www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=101874

hmdb.org

Ouija Board Historical Marker

(A historical marker located in Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland.)

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Drafting the Past @draftingthepast.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Obviously, when we learned that there was a book festival dedicated to history, Kate had to go check it out. The hardest part was choosing which panels to attend. Read her report here: www.draftingthepast.com/wait-theres-... #booksky #skystorians 🗃️

draftingthepast.com

Wait, there's a book festival just for history?

Kate reports from the tenth annual History Book Festival

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

“(The sculptor’s] staff wear identical tan suspenders, billowy shirts, and unkempt facial hair, and … spent much of the first half of the 2020s producing bronze and clay busts of such figures as (of course) Napoleon, Nietzsche, and Jordan Peterson.”

Jordan Peterson bust by some right-wing French company

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I love when an artist turns a song in its ear. Like Billy “Me and Mrs. Jones” Paul’s 1977 version of Paul McCartney’s paper-thin “Let ‘Em In.” He replaces the names in the song with those of Civil Rights figures. Paul’s version also has speeches from Malcolm X and MLK Jr’s youtu.be/E66FIkV24Ro?...

youtu.be

Billy Paul - Let 'Em In (Official Audio)

YouTube video by BillyPaulVEVO

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Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I continue to be annoyed that data scraping has basically ruined my ability to access any Commonwealth War Graves Commission resources. I posted that little video from Fromelles the other day and wanted to double-check something on the CWGC site, but the whole site is just completely blocked.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A historical marker went up over the weekend to note North Carolina’s first gay rights march, April 12, 1981 in Durham. The march was in response to a fatal homophobic attack. www.wunc.org/race-class-c...

wunc.org

Durham to receive N.C.'s first gay pride march historical marker

North Carolina's first LGBTQ+ Highway historical marker will be unveiled in Durham to commemorate 'Our Day Out,' the first ever gay rights march in the state.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

When I did Your Kid’s Not Going Pro from 2009-19 a frequent part of the youth sports beat was male athletes committing sexual assault, very often on their own teammates in the name of hazing. There was doc from the period called “Roll Red Roll” about a rape case in Ohio. youtu.be/_m-pN-Vx0zo?...

youtu.be

Official Trailer | Roll Red Roll | POV | PBS

YouTube video by PBS

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

You had Marty Feldman, Andy Kaufman as preacher Armageddon T. Thunderbird, Richard Pryor as his computer G.O.D., and a a satire source that in 1980 hadn’t been mined much. Yet In God We Tru$t was an incredibly wretched movie. Gideon Gleeful from Gravity Falls looks like Kaufman so that’s cool.

Andy Kaufman as Armageddon T. Thunderbird in In God We Trust (1980)

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And one more thing to add: there are many cases where children cut off parents for reasons other than the parents were awful, and the parents do their best to reconnect without barking orders and with understanding! But that’s not the bulk of the conversation, or the parents, out there.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

“JAMES DOBSON, 89, died this week after a long battle with children.” That is an incredible opening sentence.

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