Once part of the Cherokee Nation, the city of Asheville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains where the Swannanoa river and the French Broad river converge. Asheville is the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, and home to the world's largest active archive of weather data (the U.S. National Climatic Data Center).
The history of Citizens Hose Company NO. 1, Inc. began on January 6, 1886 when thirty residents of Smyrna voted to “go into permanent organization” to serve the firefighting needs of the community. Their charter was approved by the Delaware Legislature on January 19, 1886. The Smyrna Opera House was expanded to accommodate the company in 1887. On February 24, 1921, delegates from Citizens Hose joined with representatives of eight other fire companies to establish the Delaware Volunteer Firemen’s Association. In 1924 the members purchased this site then known as the McDowell property.
On June 30, 1864 the United States granted the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California to "be held for public use, resort, and recreation ... inalienable for all time."
This Act, signed by president Abraham Lincoln, was the first federal authorization to preserve scenic and scientific values for public benefit. It was the basis for the later concept of state and national park systems. In 1906 the state of California returned the land, considered the first state park in the country, so that it could become part of Yosemite National Park.
Designed in honor of Andrew Jackson Downing by Calvert Vaux, Downing’s architectural partner, 1856. Carrara marble urn - American marble base and pedestal.
In 1850, Andrew Jackson Downing transformed the Mall into the nation’s first landscaped public park using informal, romantic arrangements of circular carriage drives and plantings of rare American trees. Downing’s design endured until 1934, when the Mall was restored to Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plan. Downing (1815-52), the father of American landscape architecture, also designed the White House and Capitol grounds.
One of the world's largest and most impressive stratovolcanoes, Mount Shasta was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1976. Located within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, it is the second highest of the 15 main volcanoes in the Cascade range (only Mount Rainier is higher).
Rancho La Brea was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1964. It is the site of the world-famous La Brea tar pits - recognized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world.
Located within Cathedral Caverns State Park, Cathedral Caverns was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1972.
The Alabama Historical Association (AHA) began sponsoring historical markers as early as 1950. The AHA is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. Their mission is "to discover, procure, preserve, and diffuse whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary, cultural, economic, ecclesiastical, and political history of the state of Alabama."
Famous Health Resort
1843-1914
Here fashionable ladies and gentlemen of the South vacationed with their families.
Alabama Historical Association
Built 1772–1779
Capitol of the United States
November 26, 1783 – August 13, 1784
In this state house, oldest in the nation still in legislative use, General George Washington resigned his commission before the Continental Congress December 23, 1783. Here, January 14, 1784, Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary war and May 7, 1784 appointed Thomas Jefferson plenipotentiary. From here, September 14, 1786, the Annapolis convention issued the call to the states that led to the Constitutional Convention.