Bryant Pond Telephone Switch

No Man’s Land

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (Wikipedia) was signed in 1842 and its purpose was to end all border disputes between US and Canada. This time the plan didn’t yield perfect result. When two groups of experts (one from US and one from Canada) met at the only New Hampshire international border there was an 18-inch discrepancy in their calculations… not bad considering the amount of work and territory they had to cover. Still, it is 18 inches of territory that neither country could claim, but neither would give up.

After attempting to agree many times, they finally set two markers which have remained in place for more than 150 years. Theoretically speaking, you could stand between markers 483 and 484 and be in no country in the world, certainly not in the US or Canada. Border officials would never say it was “no man’s land”, you always have to be in one country or another, but they could not agree in which country you really were.

The two monuments have recently been reset in a single concrete base and assigned a single number: 484.

King Philip’s Throne

This is where the English captured Wampanoag Chief Metacomet (Wikipedia), known as King Philip, in 1676, thus ending the King Philip’s War, likely the bloodiest Indian – colonial conflict in New England history. As a matter of fact, at this rocky ledge, overlooking Narragansett Bay, Chief Metacomet held his war meetings. He also used the place as a lookout for enemy ships and soldiers.

When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.

Hunted by a group of rangers led by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, in the Miery Swamp near Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island. After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades. His body was cut into quarters and hung in trees. Alderman was given one of the hands as a reward.

Maine’s Tiniest Town

Some of the houses in Stonington (Wikipedia), Maine are so close together that it’s not easy to tell where one ends and another begins. Whether the citizens of this town chose to build houses that way to make themselves feel warmer during long Maine winters or for some other reason we don’t know. As if to underscore their need for small, intimate, and compact, the residents built an even smaller replica of their own town in one of ts parks – a miniature replica of their dwellings. There you can see a barn half-full of hay, an inn with tiny cups on saucers on the tabletop, a bride and groom in a white-steepled church during their wedding, and numerous other houses, some occupied, some not, most packed with microscopic paraphernalia. Read more ->

Eartha, the Largest Earth Replica

Eartha (Wikipedia) is a 3-dimensional scale model of our earth with mountains and landforms in full 3D, that rotates and revolves, simulating the earth’s real movements. Eartha was given the title of “World’s Largest Revolving/Rotating Globe” by the editors of the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999, and still holds that record today. It measures 41.5 ft in diameter. Unveiled July 23, 1998 Eartha took two years to build and represents earth as it is seen from space. It rotates and revolves on a specially designed and built mechanized, cantilever arm.

Housed in a three-story glass atrium at the company’s headquarters in Yarmouth, Maine, Eartha took two years to build and represents earth as it is seen from space. Every continent is beautifully detailed, with vivid colors illustrating all levels of vegetation, major roadways and cities. Ocean depths are also completely represented.

“Eartha is the largest image of earth ever created,” says DeLorme. “Eartha will instill a sense of wonder in people when they first see it and we hope they walk away from it with a better appreciation and knowledge of the world around them.”