Homer, Alaska

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HOMER— It’s a humble name for a little town that is anything but ordinary. Named for Homer Pennock, a con man who arrived in 1896 and lured others to the Homer area with promises of gold, the community of Homer evolved from a coal mining town to a center for fishing, farming, ranching, and homesteading and finally to the vibrant regional economic center we see today.

Located near the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, Homer is variously described as “where the land ends and the sea begins,” “the cosmic hamlet by the sea,” an arts community, and a fishing community. Common to almost any description is an acknowledgement that Homer is situated in one of the most beautiful places in the world, with spectacular views of Kachemak Bay, the Kenai Mountains, and several volcanic peaks across Cook Inlet including Mt. Augustine, Mt. Iliamna, and Mt. Redoubt.

Read more on Homer’s official website

St. John’s, Newfoundland

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A real-life Infinity Pool, at the Battery in St. John’s. Click and drag inside the photo: you’re going to want to explore this one.

Newfoundland and Labrador [1] is one of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Newfoundland is an island that was a separate British colony until 1949 when it joined confederation with Canada. Labrador is an adjoining mainland coastal region which abuts Quebec.

There are many extraordinary things about Newfoundland: the rugged natural beauty of the place, the extraordinary friendliness and humour of the local people, the traditional culture, and the unique dialect.

The beauty of Newfoundland can be found on the rocky coasts of the island and the relatively new, and stunningly beautiful East Coast Trail, but this is a truly coast-to-coast kind of place. There’s much to see in the Tundra of Labrador (often called “the Big Land”), the “mini-Rockies” of the West Coast’s Long Range Mountains and Lewis Hills, the historic Avalon Peninsula, home to the capital of St. John’s. Also don’t underestimate the power of the largely uninhabited Newfoundland interior. There is a raw, untouched quality to the entire place, especially where water meets rocks. Adventure racer Mats Andersson has described it as a mix of “Patagonia, Sweden, New Zealand and other countries from all around the world.”

As for the people, everyone talks to everyone; indeed, everyone helps everyone, and everyone knows everyone (people often can tell what part of the island someone is from by their last name).

Two “traditions” persist with a visit to Newfoundland—kissing the cod and the “screech-in.” (Both were actually enacted by Ben Mulroney in the Canadian Idol television show while he visited Newfoundland, demonstrating how widespread these activities are thought to be). These “traditions” are little more than tourist activities originally invented by locals for a laugh. The tourists found them enjoyable, and now they are becoming extremely common. Commercial tours will often include these activities, concluding them with a certificate proclaiming the participant an honorary Newfoundlander.

• the “Screech-in”- The most famous of newcomer traditions, mainlanders and visitors to the isle must drink a shot or glass of Screech (a brand of Jamaican Rum famous to Newfoundland). Take this all in good humour, but don’t be surprised if you don’t like the taste; the name has good meaning.

• Kissing the Cod- As well as being “Screeched in”, occasionally visitors will be coaxed into “Kissing the Cod”. The visitor must kiss a codfish, emblem of the historic fishing industry, after arrival. While this does happen occasionally, it is usually a humorous part of a guided tour or similar event. The use of an actual fish is rare, though, especially since the introduction of the cod moritorum. Kissing a real codfish is discouraged by many, not to mention possibly unhygienic, so an imitation cod, made of wood, plastic, or rubber is used.

Genuine traditions practiced in Newfoundland include celebrations of: “Bonfire Night”, with roots in the English “Guy Fawkes Night”; and “Old Christmas Day” which is the twelfth night of the Christmas season. The latter of these is also associated with the tradition of “Mummering” or “Janneying” which is still practiced in several other parts of the world as well.

And finally, the “Newfie” (also “Newf”) stereotype: in Canada, this figure is similar to the Hillbilly stereotype or the rural Hick stereotype. As with both of those cases, it is rooted in discrimination. While some Newfoundlanders may call themselves “Newfies”, it may be wise to refrain from calling the province’s residents as such yourself, as many see this as a slur or putdown when it comes from a non-native. Not unlike “Canuck”, originally a slur against Canadians, the word “Newfie” is acceptable to some, but err on the side of caution and use Newfoundlander instead.

Source: Wikitravel

Springfield, Missouri

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Certainly not an out-of-the-way place, although some might call it backwoods. (Many natives call it Springpatch.) It’s been my home since 1997, and this is a Street View photo of the very heart and source of the city: Park Central Square. Several historic things have happened on this spot. All are worthy of note, but not all are worthy of pride.

As I will do with most of the posts on this blog, I have pasted an excerpt below, from Wikipedia’s article about the city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield,_MO. This excerpt relates specifically to the history of Park Central Square. Enjoy!

Wild Bill Hickok shootout

On July 21, 1865, Springfield helped give birth to the Wild West era when the town square was the site of the Wild Bill Hickok–Davis Tutt shootout, a “quick draw” duel between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt. Two small brass plaques inlaid into the pavement on Park Central Square mark the locations of both Hickok and Tutt during the famous shootout.

Lynching

On April 14, 1906, a mob broke into the town jail, then lynched two black men: Horace Duncan and Fred Coker, for allegedly sexually assaulting Mina Edwards, a white woman. Later they returned to the jail and lynched another black man, Will Allen, accused of murder. The victims were hanged and burned by a mob more than 2,000 strong in the town square. The men were hanged on the town square from the Gottfried Tower which held a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Judge Azariah W. Lincoln called for a grand jury. The proceedings were covered in both the New York and Los Angeles Times. In the immediate aftermath, two commemorative coins were reportedly issued. Evidence suggests that all three men were innocent, including testimony from Duncan’s and Coker’s employer. The lynching sparked a mass exodus of African-Americans from the area, who still remain a small minority demographic in Springfield. A plaque on the southeast corner of the square serves as reminder.

Birthplace of Route 66

Recognized by convention as the birthplace of US Route 66, it was in Springfield on April 30, 1926 that officials first proposed the name of the new Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway.^[10]

John T. Woodruff of Springfield was elected as the first president of the U.S. Highway 66 Association, organized in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1927. Its purpose was to get U.S. Highway 66 paved from end to end and to promote tourism on the highway. In 1938, Route 66 became the first completely paved United States Numbered Highways in America — the “Mother Road” — stretching from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Coast.

A placard in Park Central Square was dedicated to the city by the Route 66 Association of Missouri, and traces of the Mother Road are still visible in downtown Springfield along Kearney Street, Glenstone Avenue, College and St. Louis streets and on Missouri 266 to Halltown. The red booths and gleaming chrome in mom-and-pop diners, the stone cottages of tourist courts and the many service stations along this route saw America fall in love with the automobile. Red’s Giant Hamburg, said to be the birthplace of the drive-up order window, was located on the route.