Is there anything interesting about where you live?

[thearabianmage]

Outside my bedroom window, which is the 3rd level of a pub that is over 160 years old and located in a tiny village called Draycott, which is Old English for 'House on the Hill' (because over the thousand years that this small village has been in existence, it has slowly shifted from the top of a hill down to it's valley). . .beyond all of this I can see the steeple of a 14th or 15th century church in the neighboring village of Rodney Stoke (another medieval village). And just to the right of that, almost in the distance, is the tower on a hill: Glastonbury Tor (pronounced: Glass-ton-bree). The Glastonbury Tor is thought to have been built around 800AD by a bunch of monks (the same monks who built ditches around Somerset, effectively draining the sea from the land in order for it to be lived upon and cultivated). It is meant to mark the location of Vale of Avalon (or 'Valley of Avalon') which is where King Arthur, the Excalibur, and the Holy Grail are thought, by legends and myths, to be buried.

There are many other strange stories about Glastonbury, but I'll move on. . .

Back to the left, behind the hills beyond the church of Rodney Stoke, is the medieval city of Wells (named after grooves either side of the streets that have been there for centuries. These grooves hold water to this day, but 300-400 years ago, having running water in your city was a uncommon commodity.) Wells Cathedral, one of the largest churches in Britain, is located just 6 miles from where I am sitting. One of the oldest working clocks is located in this cathedral (apparently it has not been repaired for hundreds of years (the question begs to be asked: does the clock run on the power of God?), or so say the priests who so desperately require your money for running the cathedral) the stairs behind this clock have been trodden on so many times over the hundreds of years that they have been around (they were added in a 15th century extension, I believe) that they are worn smooth in the center resulting in a dip of several inches from their original height. At the top of these stairs is a large circular room with a very high, domed ceiling designed for acoustics. In stone seats built into the walls all around the room, monks used to sit and discuss theological matters. This room can turn even the most silent of farts into low-flying-ducks that can be heard a mile off.

Stonehenge is only a couple hours (maybe less) away.

I can go on and on about the (very interesting) area I live in (I haven't even started on Cheddar) but I'm wondering if there is anyone else who has something of interest around them. A few people here live in Waco, which is famously located near the ranch of a sex-cult, as well as being the hometown of Ted Nugent. That's pretty sweet.

[just strum]

Edit: after reading your post again, you seem to be looking for historical facts about where we live, that I can't provide.From a music point of view, the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame is located about 35 minutes from my house.

We have plenty of museums and the medical community is renowned internationally, having cared for some of the leaders of various countries around the world.

After living here all my life (with the exception of a short stint in LA), I take most things as common place. If I think further away, Niagara Falls is about 3.5 hours away and one of the Great Lakes is 35 minutes away.

Our house borders a State Park so we have plenty of wildlife and no fear of a shopping center being built on top of us. On the other side of the development as you exit there is a large horse community where people live and most own horses. It's cool leaving for work and seeing them running across the field with their morning energy.

[thearabianmage]

Hey dude, I'm looking for any sort of facts, so long as they are interesting.

I'm sure seeing horses run around large American-sized fields is cool, but here we have a bunch of posh gits riding horses in the middle of road and stuff. There is horse poo everywhere you go around these parts. Everywhere! Horseriding has long been a favorite pastime of the affluent country folk of Britain. In fact, (and I swear I'm not just making this stuff up) out my other window is the small private field of a master saddler who travels the country teaching people how to make horse saddles. Apparently he threads needles through leather quicker than you can keep track. I used to teach his grandson guitar.

Sometimes I like to watch my (entirely black) cat get chased around by the horses in his field. I'm sorry, but it's funny.

[Spudman***]

I live next to a Superfund site. Is that interesting? It's interesting to me that it's not being cleaned up. I wonder why that is?

Historically there isn't much interesting about where I live in Idaho except that I am right where the ancient Lake Bonneville (inland ocean) broke through the mountains and released all its water westward across Idaho millions of years ago.

[markb]

I live here, who needs history?

[player***]

OK I'll jump in.where I live is not far from The Mammoth Caves which have not been entirely explored.in fact about 20miles Northeast of me there is another set of caves but they're alive not dead like Mammoth.I believe the town I live in is built on caves.reason being I have a neighbor that is also a local historian who remembers long ago before indoor plumbing everything drained into a cave not 200 ft. from my house.aside from that there is a ton of Civil War history in these parts along with a yearlly Civil war days bash with re inactments and all every September.
om my property itself there is an unmarked grave said to have three buried in it.from when no one knows.omly reason I found out about it was from someone doing a survey to locate pipes,wires and the like.their machine(x -ray I assume) picked up on the gravesite.I live atop a hill so if it ever did flood the town I live in would be under water.no pics on /in my machine or even taken or they would be included.last year Civil war days did have the first American(confederate) submarine The Hunley on display recently found off the Carolina coast it's nothing more than a long huge boiler with an interesting story that goes with it.

[Gil Janus]

Anything interesting? :

I live within a 1/4 a mile of 4 Wooden Covered Bridges - 3 of them on the same road.

Slaughter House, unknown builder, c1872, Queenpost, 59' spanning the Dog River on Bailey Street in Northfield Falls.

Station, unknown builder, c1872, Town Lattice, 137', spanning the Dog River on Cox Brook Road, off Route 12 in Northfield Falls.

Second (a/k/a Newell, Lower Cox Brook), unknown builder, c1872, Queenpost, 56', spanning Cox Brook on Cox Brook Road, west of Route 12 in Northfield Falls.

Third (a/k/a Upper Cox Brook), unknown builder, c1872, Queenpost, 51', spanning Cox Brook on Cox Brook Road, west of Route 12 in Northfield Falls. Four steel beams added in 1966.

And there are 2 more covered bridges in Northfield.

Chamberlin (Privately Owned), Mahlon Chamberlin, 1956, Kingpost, 22' span of unnamed tributary of Stony Brook southwest of Northfield Center.

Moseley, John Moseley, 1899, Kingpost, 80', spanning Stony Brook on Stony Brook Road, approximately a mile west of Route 12A.

Northfield is the home of Norwich University. The University was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy.

It is the oldest private military college in the United States and recognized by the United States Department of Defense as the "Birthplace of ROTC" (Reserve Officers' Training Corps). It is one of the six Senior Military Colleges.

Northfield was the headquarters of the railroad that became the Central Vermont Railroad. The HQ was moved in 1896. The old station still stands and is a bank now - but it looks just a working railroad station - no trains stop nowadays - 2 Amtrak trains pass each day and many freight trains of the New England Central Railroad.

Other than that, not much - Northfield is a older, smaller town just to the south of Montpelier, the State Capital of Vermont.

Gil

[warren0728]

not interesting to me but i'm about 40 minutes north of disney world, sea world and other various tourist hell destinations.... :

now 30 minutes north of me is blue springs where hundreds of manatees hang out during the winter because the spring water is a constant 72 degrees and the river water gets a lot colder than that during the winter...

ww

[player***]

not interesting to me but i'm about 40 minutes north of disney world, sea world and other various tourist hell destinations.... :

now 30 minutes north of me is blue springs where hundreds of manatees hang out during the winter because the spring water is a constant 72 degrees and the river water gets a lot colder than that during the winter...

ww

has to be a nuke plant nearby I'd think.when I lived there they liked hanging there too for that reason.the water used to cool is warmer after all the time.

[Bloozcat]

Not really...

Lots of beachfront where you can pick a spot and not see many people. But, for most of us who've lived here for any length of time, the beach doesn't hold much interest.

Mel Fisher's had a lot of success pulling Spanish galleon treasure off the bottom along the coast here. That's why they call this The Treasure Coast.

I can watch the space shuttle take off from the Cape while sitting on my back porch.

We have the occasional, exiting hurricane blow through. That kind of excitement I can do without.

And if The Fountain of Youth that Ponce DeLeon searched so feverently for, really was here in Florida as he thought, I'm sure there wouldn't be so many shrivelled old retirees cluttering up the roadways (I know, I should be kinder. I'm headed there myself in a couple of decades).

Ah, but the winter weather is the envy of the country...

[thearabianmage]

. . .I can watch the space shuttle take off from the Cape while sitting on my back porch.

Amazing! Have you ever seen any of the disasters?

[player***]

If I get my way and Probably will I'll be back in South Florida in the near future when the housing market improves. Big mistake moving from there in PBC:

[warren0728]

has to be a nuke plant nearby I'd think.when I lived there they liked hanging there too for that reason.the water used to cool is warmer after all the time.

actually no....it is a spring fed stream that dumps into the st. john river....since it is a spring, the water stays a constant 72 degrees so all the manatees come there to stay warm.

I can watch the space shuttle take off from the Cape while sitting on my back porch.

oh yeah...i forgot about that....i can watch the shuttle take off from my front door and sometimes if the landing pattern is right....i can see it streak across the sky on it's approach to land too!

ww

[ZMAN]

I live about 11 minutes from Niagara falls, I am 26 mins from Lake Erie, and 5 from Lake Ontario. We have the Welland Canal running through our city.
It Brings ocean going vessels from the St. Lawrence seaway to the upper Great lakes.
There are 8 locks over 27 miles that raises the boats 327 feet from
lake Ontario to Lake Erie. Each lock is 766 feet long and raises each vessel about 40 feet at a time. Amazing to watch.
I also live about 2 mins from the Henley Rowing Course where they hold world championship rowing events.
Our area also has one of the worlds leading wine areas in award winning wines. Our climate and topography is exactly like the wine regions of France.
We have one of the orginal General Motors plants in our town that was originally called McKinnon industries it was founded in 1878 and was aquired by General Motors in 1929.
Our area is called the golden horseshoe and goes from Niagara Falls to Toronto. and area of about 6 or 7 million people.

[warren0728]

i went to niagra falls as a kid on vacation with my parents....how awesome....one thing i remember is that standing there watching the water go over the falls you could see the fish going over the falls too....i had never thought about the fact that the fish went over the falls too...

ww

[Bloozcat]

Amazing! Have you ever seen any of the disasters?

Yes, I saw the Challenger disaster. As I was watching it, I thought something looked wrong about it. I could clearly see the explosion. It appeared from my vantage point as a large ball of smoke that shouldn't have been. Then the main engine sections seperated and started spiraling around and I was sure something was seriously wrong.

I ran to the radio which was several feet away, but the announcer had not yet said anything about the problem. It seemed like several more minutes before conformation of the problem came accross.

I went up to the Cape to see another shuttle launch after the Challenger disaster had occurred. Because of the new safety protocols put into place after Challenger, the closest they would allow us to get was miles away from the launch pad. And I was with a VIP group from Grumman Aerospace too. Seeing a launch at the Cape isn't like it used to be.

[thearabianmage]

. . .Seeing a launch at the Cape isn't like it used to be.

It's still cool to be able to see one, though, isn't it? Not many people can kick back, open a beer, and watch a space shuttle take off.

[warren0728]

It's still cool to be able to see one, though, isn't it? Not many people can kick back, open a beer, and watch a space shuttle take off.

there's nothing like it...i watch every one....i'm 40 or so miles from the launch site inland and northwest.....on night launches when everything is really quiet a few minutes after launch you can hear and feel the sound/shock wave created at launch....sends chills up your spine! :

ww

[thearabianmage]

I can imagine. Soon, though, we will all be able to go up in space. It really isn't that far off in the future, either. Maybe at the end of our lifetimes or during the next generation's lifetime. That would be sick.