OT: What historical place(s) do you bike/live near?

[Deborajen]

We live along the Chisholm Trail. There isn't much left to see anymore - the wagon ruts are pretty much washed away or covered by buildings, and there are a few monuments & museums. In the country, though, it's wide open and you can get a sense of the huge prairie crossed during the old cattle drives. No mountains, but impressive in its own way.

Deb

[enzed]

Since, I'm still awake, I thought I would show some photos of my adopted city - Sydney, Australia.


The Opera House
http://www.answers.com/topic/sydney-...ouse-sails-jpg

The Harbour Bridge
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...1_gobeirne.jpg

Town Hall
http://content.answers.com/main/cont...l_gobeirne.jpg

[Popoki_Nui]

Hmmm...Victoria itself is 'historical' in that it was the main British outpost and Hudson's Bay trading center in the 1800's, when this are was being eyed by the Brits as a future colony. Ft Victoria was the centre of the British sphere of influence from the Yukon down to the Columbia River (hence the name British Columbia), until the international boundary was decided at 49 degrees. It was also the chief staging point for the Cariboo gold rush.
The observatory where I worked was the largest in the world back in 1918, and the original 72" telescope is still in operation today. There is a pretty cool museum up there with many of the original instruments on display.

[trekin']

I live on the north end of Mount Hope Bay on the Mass./RI border, very near the sight where the King Phillip Indian Wars started in the mid 1600's. From my house can see the hill where King Phillip (Metacomet) was captured and killed.

Lizzie Borden's summer home is just down the street from my house.

Dighton Rock is on one of my bike routes...it has ancient hyroglyphics (sp.?) etched into it, and nobody knows if it was cave men, Indians, or Vikings who did it.

I like to ride around in Little Compton, RI, where the Rhode Island Red chicken came into being (there's a bit of a feud between 2 families as to who owns the bragging rights!).

I also like to ride in Newport, RI where the America's Cup USED to be! It's fun to ride by the summer "cottages" of the Vanderbilts and other "robber barons"...oh, and that's where Sunny Von Bulow O.D.'d on insulin and where socialite Doris Duke kept her llamas...and former RI governor Sundelin once shot at racoons out the back window of his mansion...it's a quiet town...

Nearby Bristol, RI has the oldest continuously held 4th of July Parade in the Country...and is the start/end of the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to East Providence...14 miles...very pretty and flat...

Nearby New Bedford...that's where Herman Melville wrote Moby ****...now it's the fishing capital of the country...and where you can get the fast ferry to beautiful Martha's Vineyard, where John Belushi is buried...

And you thought New England was all about Boston and Plymouth Rock!

[Deanna]

We've got quite a few in my area, most of them are related to regional or state history.

Luther Burbank Home & Gardens
http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/default.aspx?PageId=708

Jack London State Historic Park
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=478

Fort Ross
http://www.fortrossstatepark.org/

The town of Sonoma was the location of the Bear Flag Revolt:
http://www.californiahistory.net/5_P...war_revolt.htm

There are quite a few smaller sites, many of the wineries in the area have historic buildings.

[RolliePollie]

I live near the Marshall Gold Discovery Site in Coloma, CA. This is where the Gold Rush began when James Marshall found gold there in 1848.

http://www.coloma.com/gold/

The old Gold Rush town of Placerville, also known as Hangtown, has a neat old downtown with lots of history, including Hangman's Tree Tavern, which, if you look closely at the picture, has a man hanging from a noose out front (Tacky? Perhaps. Unique? Definitely!):

http://www.brightbill.net/cgi-bin/su...e-site?site=43

Lake Tahoe has some interesting historical sites as well. Vikingsholm is a neat old stone "castle" on Emerald Bay. Have not been there yet, but I hear the old Thunderbird Lodge is pretty neat as well.

The Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority even has a cycling section on their web site:

http://www.bluelaketahoe.com/visitor...on.php?s=5&l=2

[margo49]

About 7 km from home is an tiny archeological museum with finds from a neolithic civilisation which flourished in the area in the 6th millenium BCE. It was "discovered" and excavated in the 1940's.
They were an interesting lot with a fertility type religion involving those clay woman figure sculptures like you find all over with the huge t*ts and tummies and spread legs.