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

[Pax]

I laughed out loud when I read the thread title, I live in the middle of nowhere Illinois so as far as historical goes...not so much.

We do have the Morrow Plots if agriculture is your thing.

[snapdragen]

The Winchester Mystery House is down the block from my office.

http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

[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!

[eclectic]

Everyone has such interesting sites! I want to go visit them all

I have ridden by and canoed from Fort Mandan where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter, met Sacajawea and that is where she had her baby, Pomp. It is a full scale replica of the fort. And down river (Missouri/Knife) is a rebuilt Mandan village with fully equipped earth lodges.

If you go the other direction from here you end up at the geographical center of North America - Equal distance to all beaches

Ride north from there and we have the International Peace Garden - you can take your picture standing in the US and Canada at the same time.

For the non faint of heart we have the Maah-Daah-Hey mountain bike trail. Vitals: 110.00 miles (176.99 KM) miles Steep At Times
This trail takes you through Teddy Roosevelt's old stomping grounds in the ND badlands
I have NOT ridden that.

[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.

[texas_emily]

If you are into mass destruction, I live near the Hanford Nuclear Site.
http://www.fws.gov/hanfordreach/

Continuing with the nuclear legacy, I used to live in Oak Ridge, TN. One of my favorite rides used to take me past the gates to Oak Ridge National Lab, the Y-12 weapons facility, and the former K-25 plant (where uranium was processed for the Manhattan Project). The gates and ultra-industrial infrastructure were pretty wild.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-25

[Tuckervill]

Not too much historical in Oklahoma City (would love to live in Boston, tho- oh the history). There are a lot of neat places that date back to early statehood (early 1900's- I know you east coasters and Europeans are thinking- whoop dee doo- but it's all we have ).
If this counts as historical (can 12 years ago be "historical?"). I live near the Murrah Bombing Memorial. Beautiful, peaceful place. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/

Well, that is definitely historic. I visited it last year, but I couldn't describe it as beautiful, so much. It's too sad. Refined and elegant and respectful. I really don't feel a sense of peace there, either. It just reminds me of pain and suffering. It is very touching, though.

Karen

[Tuckervill]

I live on the edge of former "Indian territory" (Oklahoma), right next to the Cherokee Nation, whose headquarters is located in Talequah, OK, about 40 miles southwest. (There are many other nations nearby.) My town was once on the edge of the frontier, but didn't exist before the Trail of Tears. A link to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas' entry on the founder of our town: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.ne...=1&entryID=353

My two older sons are directly related to Chief John Ross, who led the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. One of his wives and children died in Little Rock and their graves are in Evergreen Cemetary.

Also, I live about 30 miles from each of two Civil War battlefields, Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge. http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/pr...vebattlefield/

Pea Ridge: http://www.nps.gov/peri/

Both of these parks have paved trails which you could ride, but they're not very long.
Karen

[Fredwina]

a bit more modern, perhaps
Rancho Cucamonga is where Frank Zappa record his first album:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal_Recording_Studio
Riverside is home to first navel orange in the US and the Mission inn
San Bernardino is where the site of the first McDonalds
http://www.route-66.com/mcdonalds/history.htm
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.js...81474977006745
and I only live a block from Route 66:
http://www.wigwammotel.com/
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-InlandEmpire.html

[TsPoet]

Continuing with the nuclear legacy, I used to live in Oak Ridge, TN. One of my favorite rides used to take me past the gates to Oak Ridge National Lab, the Y-12 weapons facility, and the former K-25 plant (where uranium was processed for the Manhattan Project). The gates and ultra-industrial infrastructure were pretty wild.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-25

Actually, uranium was mined in Oak Ridge and processed in Hanford, then sent on to Los Alamos where it was put into the bomb.
No one knows about Hanford - but all three labs were necessary to build the darned thing.
I ride my bike out to the gates, which are still access with government clearance only. Hot, brown terrain with a giant river running through it.

[TsPoet]

a bit more modern, perhaps
Rancho Cucamonga is where Frank Zappa record his first album:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal_Recording_Studio
Riverside is home to first navel orange in the US and the Mission inn
San Bernardino is where the site of the first McDonalds
http://www.route-66.com/mcdonalds/history.htm
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.js...81474977006745
and I only live a block from Route 66:
http://www.wigwammotel.com/
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-InlandEmpire.html

I love this list. Especially the site of the first McDonalds! Truly an American list.