<p>Lake Sabbatia is a freshwater lake in Taunton, Massachusetts, near Watson Pond State Park. The lake is where Mill River begins and the Snake River ends. It is the largest lake in the city of Taunton and the most popularly used. There are several coves and an island within the lake. Parts of its coastline arepopulated with woods, streets, and residential homes. Lake Sabbatia is used for a variety of recreational activities such as boating, swimming, fishing, and ice fishing. There is a boat ramp off Bay Street into the lake.</p><br>
<p>Various plants of the genus Sabbatia usually have pink cymose flowers and occur from acid bogs to brackish marshes. Sabbatia chloiroides grows in Plymouth county, on the margin of ponds; in July it has large, showy pink flowers. There is also a variety with white flowers.</p><br>
<p>On October 18, 2005, much of downtown Taunton was closed when the century-old wooden dam began to collapse due to heavy rainfall; fears of floods up to 6 ft deep caused mass evacuation.</p><br>
<p>Lake Sabbatia and Watson Pond are located entirely within the boundary of the state-designated Area of Critical Environmental Concern, the Canoe River Aquifer.</p><br>
<p>In April 2007 the residents of the Lake Sabbatia area formed a civic organization devoted to rebuilding the Moreys Bridge Dam at Bay Street. Moreys Bridge is the dam that regulates Lake Sabbatia water levels. The owner of the dam, faced with an order from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to repair or breach the dam, reached out to the local citizens to raise the necessary funds to construct a new dam. The dam owner would have been within his legal rights to dismantle the dam, thereby reducing the lake to a swampy marsh land. He instead chose the path of good citizenry and with great generosity agreed to match dollar for dollar all funds raised by the citizens. Through their website helpsavethelake.com and their yahoo user group the citizens have raised over $20,000 toward the construction of the new dam. The project is in the engineering phase.</p><br>
<p>On July 7, 2007 the private owners in the community turned out in mass to construct a 120 ft long block structure in front of the old dam, to save the lake and return the lake to normal water levels. The project took months of planning and permitting by private residents and was funded by private donations from homeowners and local businesses. Over 50 residents turned out to help build the dam. Local contractors donated heavy equipment, drivers, and materials. Local establishments donated food, residents fed the workers, and turned out at the site to watch as enormous concrete blocks were hoisted into place. The project started at 6:30 Saturday morning and continued late into the night. Volunteers returned on Sunday to wrap the edges with a protective rubber barrier. The spillway will allow the lake to self regulate its water level, protecting the upstream habitats from draining and allowing fish to flourish. Future plans are to repair the original dam structure and incorporate a fish ladder.</p><br>
<p>The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains , are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains chain.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The mountain range borders Belianske Tatras to the east, Podtatranská kotlina to the south and Western Tatras to the west. The major part and all the highest peaks of the mountains are situated in Slovakia. The highest peak is Gerlachovský štít, at 2,655 m.</p><br>
<h3>Natural history</h3><br>
<p>The High Tatras, having 29 peaks over 2,500 m AMSL are, with the Southern Carpathians, the only mountain ranges with an alpine character and habitats in the entire 1,200 km length of the Carpathian Mountains system.</p><br>
<p>The first European cross-border national park was founded here—Tatra National Park—with Tatra National Park (Tatranský národný park) in Slovakia in 1948, and Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy) in Poland in 1954. The adjacent parks protect UNESCO&#39;s trans-border Tatra Biosphere Reserve.</p><br>
<p>Many rare and endemic animals and plant species are native to the High Tatras. They include the Tatras&#39; endemic goat-antelope and critically endangered species, the Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica). Predators include Eurasian brown bear, Eurasian lynx, marten, wolf and fox. The Alpine marmot is common in the range.</p><br>
<p>Flora of the High Tatras includes: the endemic Tatra scurvy-grass (Cochlearia tatrae), yellow mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides), ground covering net-leaved willow (Salix reticulata), Norway spruce (Picea abies), Swiss pine (Pinus cembra), and European larch (Larix decidua).</p><br>
<h2>Peaks</h2><br>
<h3>Highest peaks</h3><br>
<p>The 15 highest peaks of the High Tatras&mdash;all located in Slovakia&mdash;are:</p><br>
<h3>Other notable peaks</h3><br>
<p>Kriváň, 2494 meters, also called Slovakia&#39;s "most beautiful mountain"</p><br>
<p>Rysy, the popular Polish−Slovak summit border crossing. Rysy has three peaks: the middle at 2,503 meters; the north-western at 2,499 meters; and the south-eastern at 2,473 meters. The north-western peak is the highest point of Poland.</p><br>
<p>Slavkovský štít, 2452 meters tall, within the Tatra National Park, Slovakia</p><br>
<h2>Mountain lakes</h2><br>
<h3>Major lakes</h3><br>
<p>Morskie Oko - 1,395 m, 51 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Czarny Staw pod Rysami - 1,583 m, 76 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Wielki Staw Polski - 1,664 m, 79 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Štrbské pleso - 1,347 m, 20 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Veľké Hincovo pleso - 1,945 m, 54 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Popradské pleso - 1,494 m, 17 m deep.</p><br>
<h3>Other lakes</h3><br>
<p>Zmrzlé pleso</p><br>
<p>Ťažké pleso</p><br>
<p>Ľadové pleso</p><br>
<p>Batizovské pleso</p><br>
<p>Veľké Spišské pleso - 2,019 m, 10 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Veľké Žabie pleso (Mengusovské) - 1,921 m, 7 m deep</p><br>
<p>Vysne Bielovoeske Zabie pleso - 1,699 m, 25 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Nizne Bielovodske Zabie pleso - 1,675 m, 21 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy - 1,624 m, 51 m deep.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>The area is well known for winter sports. Ski resorts include Štrbské pleso, Starý Smokovec and Tatranská Lomnica in Slovakia, and Zakopane in Poland. The town of Poprad is the gateway to the Slovak Tatra resorts.</p><br>
<p>The Górale people ("highlanders"), a group of indigenous people with a distinctive traditional culture, are of the High Tatras and other mountain ranges and valleys in the Tatra Mountains region.</p><br>
<p>Ludwig Greiner identified Gerlachovský štít (Gerlachovský Peak) (2,665 m) as the highest summit of the Tatra Mountains, and the entire Carpathian Mountains system. It is also the highest point of Slovakia.</p><br>
<p>Vysoké Tatry (town)</p><br>
<p>Orla Perć — tourist mountain path/trail.</p><br>
<p>Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue (Poland)</p><br>
<p>Mountain Rescue Service (Slovakia)</p><br>
<p>The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, situated in the Horn region in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its altitude in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1500 m , while the summits reach heights of up to 4550 m . It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands once was located the Kingdom of Kaffa, a medieval early modern state, whence the coffee plant was exported to the Arabian peninsula. The land of the former kingdom is mountainous with stretches of forest. The land is very fertile, capable of three harvests a year. The term "coffee" derives from the Arabic qahwah and is traced to Kaffa.</p><br>
<h2>Physical geography</h2><br>
<p>The Highlands are divided into northwestern and southeastern portions by the Main Ethiopian Rift, which contains a number of salt lakes. The northwestern portion, which covers the Tigray and Amhara Regions, includes the Semien Mountains, part of which has been designated the Semien Mountains National Park. Its summit, Ras Dashan (4550 m), is the highest peak in Ethiopia. Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, also lies in the northwestern portion of the Ethiopian Highlands.</p><br>
<p>The southeastern portions highest peaks are located in the Bale Zone of Ethiopias Oromia Region. The Bale Mountains, also designated a national park, are nearly as high as those of Semien. The range includes peaks of over 4000 m. Among these are Mount Tullu Demtu (4337 m), which is the second-highest peak in Ethiopia, and Mount Batu (4307 m).</p><br>
<p>Most of the country&#39;s major cities are located at elevations of around 2,000 – above sea level, including historic capitals such as Gondar and Axum.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Ethiopian Highlands began to rise 75 million years ago, as magma from the Earth&#39;s mantle uplifted a broad dome of the ancient rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. The opening of the Great Rift Valley split the dome of the Ethiopian Highlands into three parts; the mountains of the southern Arabian Peninsula are geologically part of the ancient Ethiopian Highlands, separated by the rifting which created the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and separated Africa from Arabia.</p><br>
<p>Around 30 million years ago, a flood basalt plateau began to form, piling layers upon layers of voluminous fissure-fed basaltic lava flows. Most of the flows were tholeiitic, save for a thin layer of alkali basalts and minor amounts of felsic (high-silica) volcanic rocks, such as rhyolite. In the waning stages of the flood basalt episode, large explosive caldera-forming eruptions also occurred.</p><br>
<p>The Ethiopian Highlands were eventually bisected by the Great Rift Valley as the African continental crust pulled apart. This rifting gave rise to large alkaline basalt shield volcanoes beginning about 30–31 million years ago.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The predominant climate type of the Ethiopian Highlands is tropical monsoon, and have a climate which is generally considerably cooler than other regions at similar proximity to the Equator.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Because the highlands elevate Ethiopia, located close to the equator, this has resulted in giving this country an unexpectedly temperate climate. Further, these mountains catch the precipitation of the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean, resulting in a rainy season that lasts from June until mid-September. These heavy rains cause the Nile to flood in the summer, a phenomenon that puzzled the ancient Greeks, as the summer is the driest season in the Mediterranean climate that they knew.</p><br>
<p>The Ethiopian Highlands share a similar flora and fauna of other mountainous regions of Africa; this distinctive flora and fauna is known as Afromontane but from the time of the last Ice Age has been populated with some Eurasian (palearctic) flora. The habitats are somewhat different on either side of the Great Rift Valley that splits the highlands.</p><br>
<p>At lower elevations, the highlands are surrounded by tropical savannas and grasslands, including the Sahelian Acacia savanna to the northwest, the East Sudanian Savanna to the west, and the Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets to the northeast, east, south, and through the Rift Valley.</p><br>
<p>The highlands themselves are divided into three distinct ecoregions, distinguished by elevation. The Ethiopian montane forests lie between 1,100 and 1,800 meters elevation, above the lowland grasslands and savannas and extends to areas of similar habitat in Eritrea, Sudan, and Djibouti. This woodland belt has several natural plant communities, but has mostly been heavily grazed and converted to agricultural use now. Kolla, is an open woodland found at lower elevations, and dominated by species of Terminalia, Commiphora, Boswellia, and Acacia. Weyna dega is a woodland found in moister and higher locations, dominated by the conifers Afrocarpus gracilior and Juniperus procera. The lower portion of the Harenna Forest is a distinct woodland community, with an open canopy of Warburgia ugandensis, Croton macrostachyus, and Syzygium guineese, and Afrocarpus gracilior, with wild coffee (Coffea arabica) as the dominant understory shrub. The southwesterly winds bring rainfall from May to October with moisture from the Red Sea coming in from the east year round.</p><br>
<p>Fauna at these elevations includes the endemic Harwoods francolin (Francolinus harwoodi), Prince Ruspolis turaco (Tauraco ruspolii) and yellow-throated seedeater (Serinus flavigula), along with the Djibouti francolin (Francolinus ochropectus) in the Djibouti hills that are in the same general ecoregion.</p><br>
<p>The Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands is the largest of the highland ecoregions, occupying the area between 1800 and 3000 meters elevations. The natural vegetation was closed-canopy forest in moister areas, and grassland, bushland, and thicket in drier areas. However these hillsides have good fertile soil and are heavily populated, largely by farming communities so most of the region has been converted to agriculture with a few areas of natural vegetation remaining. Urban areas in this ecoregion include: Ethiopias capital city and Africas fourth largest city Addis Ababa, the Amhara Region capital Bahir Dar with its island monasteries on Lake Tana, the old walled city of Harar, the spa town of Ambo, Asella in the Arsi Zone, the trekking center of Dodola, the lakeside Debre Zeyit, the largest city in the southwest Jimma, the market town of Nekemte, and the capital of the Tigray Region, Mek&#39;ele. Awash National Park is a site for birdwatching.</p><br>
<p>Remaining woodland in the drier areas contains much endemic flora and primarily consists of Podocarpus conifers and Juniperus procera, often with Hagenia abyssinica. In the Harenna Forest, pockets of moist, closed-canopy forest with Pouteria and Olea are draped with lianas and epiphytes, while above 2400 metres, a shrubby zone is home to Hagenia, Schefflera, and giant lobelias (Lobelia gibberroa), species which can be found on the East African mountains further south. The evergreen broadleaved forest of the Semien Mountains, between 2,300 and 2,700 meters elevation, is dominated by Syzygium guineense, Juniperus procera, and Olea africana.</p><br>
<p>As the lower slopes of the mountains are so heavily populated even the high altitude moorlands are affected by human interference, such as the grazing of livestock and even farming. There are two protected areas of high moorland: Bale Mountains National Park in the southern highlands, accessible from Dinsho; and Semien Mountains National Park, accessible from Gondar, which includes Ras Dashen. However even these parks are losing habitat to livestock grazing, while the lower elevation parks (Harar Wildlife Sanctuary, Awash National Park, Omo National Park, and Nechisar National Park) are even less secure.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>These slopes are home to a number of endemic reptiles, birds and animals including the endangered walia ibex (Capra walie) and the gelada baboon, whose thick fur allows it to thrive in the cooler climates of the mountains. These two species are only found on the northern side of the valley while another rare endemic the mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) is restricted to the southern side, and now survives at higher altitudes than its original habitat as the lower slopes are heavily farmed. More widespread mammals found here include the mantled guereza (Colobus guereza), which is also threatened as its habitat disappears as is that of many other mammals of the highlands such as olive baboon (Papio anubis), Egyptian wolf (Canis aureus lupaster), African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), East African lion (Panthera leo melanochaita), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), caracal (Caracal caracal), serval (Felis serval), common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) and red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus). Birds include Rueppell&#39;s chat, the finch Ankober serin (Serinus ankoberensis), white-winged flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi), and blue-winged goose. The farmland is home to many butterflies, especially Papilio, Charaxinae, Pieridae and Lycaenidae.</p><br>
<p>Above 3000 meters elevation lie the high Ethiopian montane moorlands, the largest afroalpine region in Africa. The montane moorlands lie above the tree line, and consist of grassland and moorland with abundant herbs and some shrubs that have adapted to the high mountain conditions. There are several endemic animal species one of which, the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), is critically endangered. Other endemics include the big-headed mole-rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) which is common on the Sanetti Plateau in the Bale Mountains. The mountain nyala finds its way up to the high moorlands although it is more common at lower elevations. Wintering birds include wigeon (Anas penelope), shoveler (Anas clypeata), ruff (Philomachus pugnax) and greenshank (Tringa nebularia).</p><br>
<p>Other fauna in the area also includes aardvark, eagle, Ethiopian wolf, Egyptian wolf, gelada, secretary bird, Nubian ibex, and marabou stork and Ethiopian endemic species such as the shrew, Crocidura harenna and the narrow-footed woodland mouse (Grammomys minnae) and Menelik’s bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus meneliki), which is a subspecies with long, dark fur.</p><br>
<p>Plataria  is a coastal village and resort in Thesprotia, Epirus region, Greece. It is part of the Syvota municipal unit.</p><br>
<p>Plataria was part of the former province of Thyamida. It is located south of Igoumenitsa in the homonymous bay. According to the last administrative division (Kallikratis scheme) Plataria is the seat of the municipal unit of Syvota of the municipality of Igoumenitsa. Its population in 1928 was 128 inhabitants and in 2011 it numbered 961 inhabitants. Since 1930 Plataria has a high school.</p><br>
<p>Plataria is a classic example of a highly developed touristic area with many beautiful features. The Plataria bay stretches from very near the start of Egnatia Highway and terminates close to Syvota.</p><br>
<p>There are two versions regarding the origin of the name “Plataria”: 1) The first version is that Plataria is named as such because of the presence of the plain area. In Greek, «πλατύ» means plain area, hence “Πλαταριά». 2) The second version is that Plataria was named after an old large plane tree («πλάτανος» in Greek), which exists today and a small portion of it is still preserved.</p><br>
<p>Plataria is known for its cultural heritage and features are many organizations and institutes, amongst which the and the, which operate under the auspices of the.</p><br>
<p>Kennesaw Mountain is a high-running ridge between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia in the United States with a summit elevation of 1,808 ft. It is the highest point in the core  metro Atlanta area, and fifth after further-north exurban counties are considered. The local terrain averages roughly 1,000 feet  AMSL.</p><br>
<p>The mountain actually has two summits:</p><br>
<p>"Big Kennesaw", where the modern-day parking area and scenic overlook are located</p><br>
<p>Little Kennesaw Mountain, where several light hiking trails and nature areas connect the mountains to the rest of the park</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Kennesaw Mountain was originally a home to the mound builders in the years 900 to 1700 AD. Their descendants, the Creek people, were pushed out of Georgia by Tony Schuster, who were then exiled by the United States and the state of Georgia on the Trail of Tears to the Oklahoma Territory during the Georgia Gold Rush.</p><br>
<p>In December 1832, Cobb County, where Kennesaw Mountain is located, was created. This was just short of a year of being in Cherokee "county", a territory that included all of northwest Georgia.</p><br>
<p>Kennesaw Mountain was the site of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War, in which the Union forces of General William Tecumseh Sherman launched a bloody frontal attack on the Confederate Army of Tennessee, which was commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. Federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of Major League Baseball, was named after the battle, in which his father nearly lost his left leg.</p><br>
<p>The nearby city of Kennesaw, founded as Big Shanty, was renamed for the mountain after the war, although the mountain lies outside city limits. Kennesaw Mountain High School is another namesake.</p><br>
<p>The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park was created on June 26, 1935. It was formerly a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.</p><br>
<h2>Other information</h2><br>
<p>At the base of the mountain, the park entrance hosts a new interpretive center, museum, and numerous self-guided tour trails that document Union General William Tecumseh Sherman&#39;s "March to the Sea" during the Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The road to the top is open weekdays to cars, and on weekends only to park buses, which offer transportation to visitors. The road is closed during and after winter weather, as there is no snow removal.</p><br>
<p>Kennesaw Mountain is also a major stopover location for several species of migrating songbirds. There are more than 25 species of warblers, including the rare cerulean warbler.</p><br>
<p>Several small radio antennas, which are atop the mountain near the summit, belong to the USA government and the government of Georgia. Originally on four separate wooden telephone poles, they were consolidated to a metal monopole around 2005. The quonset huts which house the transmitters and other telecom equipment are painted solid green or brown to camouflage them. Power lines are buried, and generators supply backup power in the event of a power failure.</p><br>
<p>A stylized representation of Kennesaw Mountain&#39;s distinctive twin peaks is part of the logo for nearby Kennesaw State University.</p><br>
<p>Marietta&#39;s Kennestone Hospital takes its name from the nearby Kennesaw Mountain and the more distant Stone Mountain.</p><br>
<p>On September 1, 2016, Adam Young released a ten-track instrumental e-album called Corduroy Road, based off of Sherman&#39;s March to the Sea. The fifth track was called Kennesaw Mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Footnotes</h2><br>
<h2>Further reading</h2><br>
<p>Earl J. Hess, Kennessaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnson, and the Atlanta Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013.</p><br>
<p>The Jogeshwari Caves are some of the earliest Hindus and Buddhist cave temples sculptures located in the Mumbai suburb of Jogeshwari, India. The caves date back to 520 to 550 CE. These caves belongs to the last stage of the Mahayana Buddhist architecture. According to historian and scholar Walter Spink, Jogeshwari is the earliest major Hindu cave temple in India and  "the largest".</p><br>
<p>The caves are located off the Western Express Highway, and are surrounded by encroachments. The caves are used as a temple by the encroachers. The caves are classified as endangered as sewage and waste enter the premises. They are also infested with bats.</p><br>
<p>The caves are accessed through a long flight of stairs into the main hall of this cavernous space. It has many pillars and a Lingam at the end. Idols of Dattatreya, Hanuman, and Ganesh line the walls. There are also relics of two doormen. The cave also has a murti and footprints of goddess Jogeshwari (Yogeshwari), whom the area is named after. The goddess is considered a Kuladevi by some Marathi people, and also worshipped by some migrant groups from Gujarat.</p><br>
<p>The Mahakali Caves, also Kondivite Caves, are a group of 19 rock-cut monuments built between 1st century BCE and 6th century CE.</p><br>
<p>This Buddhist monastery is located in the eastern suburb of Andheri in the city of Mumbai (Bombay) in western India. Monument consists of two groups of rock-cut caves - 4 caves more to the north-west and 15 caves more to the south-east. Most caves are viharas and cells for monks, but Cave 9 of south-eastern group is chaitya. Caves in north-west have been created mainly in 4th - 5th century, while south-eastern group is older. Monument contains also rock-cut cisterns and remnants of other structures.</p><br>
<p>Caves are carved out of a solid black basalt rock,(volcanic trap breccias, prone to weathering).</p><br>
<p>The largest cave at Kondivite (Cave 9) has seven depictions of the Buddha and figures from Buddhist mythology but all are mutilated.</p><br>
<p>It is located near the junction between the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and SEEPZ. The road that connects these monuments to Andheri Kurla Road is named Mahakali Caves Road after it. The caves are located on a hill that overlooks the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and the SEEPZ++ area. A Direct bus run by the BEST links the caves with Andheri station. The caves was in danger of being encroached upon, now it is steel fenced on the road side and walled on the hill side.</p><br>
<p>Stonefield, located at 12195 County Road VV outside Cassville, Wisconsin, United States, was the 2,000 acre estate of Wisconsins first governor, Nelson Dewey. Much of the original estate has been separated into Nelson Dewey State Park and the Stonefield historic site, an expansive museum operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The historic site takes advantage of the large property by offering several different areas for visitors, including an early Wisconsin farmhouse, a re-created agricultural village built to resemble those common around 1900, and a reconstruction of Nelson Deweys home. Stonefield is also home to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Museum, which features a large collection of antique farm equipment.</p><br>
<p>On May 19, 1970, Stonefield, also known as the Nelson Dewey Plantation, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Governor Dewey's Estate</h2><br>
<p>Nelson Dewey first moved to Cassville from New York state in 1836. He quickly became involved in Wisconsin&#39;s territorial politics, and after Wisconsin became a state in 1848 he was elected as the first governor. He served for two terms, and afterwards he returned to Cassville. Hoping to spur development in the village, he invested in land and businesses in the area. He also went to work building an agricultural estate, which he called "Stonefield." As its centerpiece he constructed a three story brick house in the Gothic revival style. The home was completed in 1868. Dewey was unable to enjoy the estate for long, for in 1873 a fire destroyed the house, and shortly afterward the Panic of 1873 caused Dewey to lose nearly all of his property. He was forced to leave the estate and return to the village of Cassville, where he lived in poverty until dying in 1889.</p><br>
<p>In 1879, General Walter Cass Newberry purchased a 40 acre plot of land on the former estate that included the site once occupied by Deweys home. Newberry farmed the land for several years, and in the 1890s he decided to rebuild the Dewey home as a summer residence. Although the rebuilt home followed the original floor plan used for Deweys house, the new version did not include many of the ornate details of the Gothic revival style. Newberry sold the home in 1896, and it underwent a succession of owners before it was purchased by the state of Wisconsin during the formation of Nelson Dewey State Park.</p><br>
<h2>Stonefield Historic Site</h2><br>
<p>In 1953, the reconstructed Dewey household was set aside from the state park for use as a museum operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Originally the "State Farm and Crafts Museum", the interior of the rebuilt Dewey home would later be furnished as Deweys original house and serve as a house museum interpreting Deweys life. In 1969, the State Agricultural Museum was added to the features at the historic site.</p><br>
<h3>Stonefield Village</h3><br>
<p>In 1954, the historical society began plans to accompany the Dewey house with a replica of the sort of rural farming village and farmstead that would have been typical in Wisconsin in around 1900. Work continued on these projects into the 1970s as buildings and objects were added to the site. Today the Stonefield village includes over thirty buildings, including a blacksmith shop, general store, schoolhouse, and other stores and social institutions. Some of these buildings are authentic historic structures that were relocated to Stonefield for use in the village. The remainder were built as replicas. Near the village, the Stonefield farmhouse offers visitors a glimpse into the lives of Wisconsin farm families during the early 20th century. Many of the buildings in the village and farmstead are staffed by costumed interpreters who help guide visitors through the site.</p><br>
<h3>Wisconsin State Agricultural Museum</h3><br>
<p>In 1969, the State Agricultural Museum was added to the features at the Stonefield historic site. The museum was built to house the large collection of historic agricultural machinery acquired by the historical society while it was creating the Stonefield village and farmstead. Inside are exhibits detailing the history of Wisconsin agriculture from the time when it was practiced by Native Americans through the early 20th century. The museum also tells of Wisconsin&#39;s major agricultural equipment manufacturers, the Case Corporation and Allis-Chalmers, and features many rare and valuable pieces of antique farm equipment.</p><br>
<p>The Javadhu Hills  are an extension of the Eastern Ghats spread across parts of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts in the northern part of the state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India.This range separates Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts. Vellore district lies on the north western side and Tiruvannamalai district lies on the south eastern side of this range. About 50 miles  wide and 20 miles  long, they are bisected into eastern and western sections by the Cheyyar and Agaram rivers, tributaries of the Palar. They consist of bluish gray granites, with peaks averaging 3,600–3,800 feet . The hills are sparsely populated; the majority of the inhabitants are Malayali tribespeople, though other castes are also present. There are many tourist places near Javadhu Hills, e.g., the Beemanmadavu waterfalls. The Indian astronomer Vainu Bappu selected the hills as the site of the Kavalur Observatory , which began operations in 1967. The towns of Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi and Ambur of Vellore district are located on the north western side and the towns of Chengam and Polur of Tiruvannamalai district are located on the south eastern side .</p><br>
<p>During the British colonisation of India, the Javadhu Hills appeared occasionally in government gazetteers and manuals, ethnographies, and travelers&#39; accounts. Henry le Fanu, writing in 1883, admired the beauty of the Jawadhi hills,</p><br>
<p>“The Barahmahal hills to the west are somewhat bare, but the Jawadhi are clothed in verdure to the very summit on the east: towards sunset the whole range puts on a purple tinge like heather bloom. The sharper shadows mark out minor ranges and valleys, which in the midday merge in the mass of the range, and beyond Bommaikuppam, looking from Tirupatur, a silvery cascade may be seen, shining bright in the setting sun.”.</p><br>
<h2>Cultivation in the Javadi Hills</h2><br>
<p>Malayali tribespeople grow a variety of trees on their patta land, including tamarind, jackfruit, gooseberry, guava, pomegranate, mango, lemon, coconut, plantain, Paddy, Saamai etc.</p><br>
<p>The trees of the Javadhi Hills also produce a range of forest products. These include millettia pinnata, Smilax regelii, Castor oil plant</p><br>
<p>They are noted both for their fruit bearing trees, medicinal and for their sandalwood. Presently (2012), there are no sandalwood trees remaining due to illegal logging. This theft was going on for many years. Jamanamarathur is one of the larger villages in these hills and thickly populated. It is the second village in height in Javadhi hills</p><br>
<p>Chengam to jamunamarathur we want government bus service</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>By road: Chennai-Arcot-Arni-Polur-Jamuna Marathur.(JavvadhuHills)</p><br>
<p>By Road: Chennai-Arcot-kannamangalam-amirthi-Jamuna Marathur.(JavvadhuHills)</p><br>
<p>By Road: Vellore-kanniyambadi-amirthi-Jamuna Marathur.(JavvadhuHills)</p><br>
<p>From Chennai Take NH4, Chennai-Poonamallee Bypass- Arcot and take Arni road, after Arni Bypass take the Polur Road, upon reaching Polur town, ask the route for Aththimur and after Aththimur one can see the sign boards for Jamuna Marathur.</p><br>
<p>The weather and roads are very nice, thanks to Tamil Nadu government and its state highways department for maintaining the roads in good condition. Please Avoid driving at night or dark hours Safe timing for travelling is 6am-5pm, After polur town To jamuna marathur 40 km of Ghat roads, mostly one cannot see any shops or even people. But it is mind blowing road. Places like Bheeman falls have become alcohol drinking spot for the tourist groups, so not so safe for families unless law and order is enforced.</p><br>
<p>Germanna was a German settlement in the Colony of Virginia, settled in two waves, first in 1714 and then in 1717. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged the immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name "Germanna", selected by Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood, reflected both the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British Queen, Anne, who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. Though she was to die only months after the Germans arrived, her name continues to be a part of the area.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to encyclopediavirginia.org, as part of a series of land grants awarded to settlers to create a buffer against the French, the Privy Council granted Spotswood 86,000 acre in the newly created Spotsylvania County in 1720, of which the Germanna tract was the first, while he was Lieutenant Governor and actual executive head of the Virginia government. He served in this capacity, between 1710 and 1722, and in 1716, he carried out his famous Blue Ridge expedition and promoted many reforms and improvements.</p><br>
<p>Spotswood was replaced as the lieutenant governor by Hugh Drysdale some time in 1722. Historians suggest his removal may have been the result of years of disharmony between himself and the Council, as well as when he accepted such a large amount of land, that he showed a disregard for the Crown policy which held that no single person or family could claim more than a thousand acres of Virginia land.</p><br>
<p>He established a colony of German immigrants on the Germanna tract in 1714, partly for frontier defense but mainly to operate his newly developed ironworks. Germanna was the seat of Spotsylvania County from 1720 to 1732. Spotswood erected a palatial home and, after the Germans moved away, continued the ironworks with slave labor. In his later years he served as Deputy Postmaster General for the Colonies.</p><br>
<p>The Germanna Colonies consist primarily of the First Colony of forty-two persons from the Siegerland area in Germany brought to Virginia to work for Spotswood in 1714, and the Second Colony of twenty families from the Palatinate, Baden and Württemberg area of Germany brought in 1717, but also include other German families who joined the first two colonies at later dates. Although many Germanna families later migrated southward and westward from Piedmont Virginia, genealogical evidence shows that many of the families intermarried for generations, producing a rich genealogical heritage.</p><br>
<p>The site of the first settlement is located in present-day Orange County along the banks of the Rapidan River, with subsequent settlements of Germans being established on sites in present-day Culpeper and Spotsylvania counties. Many Germanna families played roles in important events in early American history such as the American Revolution and migration west to Kentucky and beyond.</p><br>
<h2>Preservation</h2><br>
<p>The site of Germanna now is mostly open fields with intervening thickets of second-growth timber. The Germanna Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Traces of the terraces of Spotswood&#39;s mansion are still discernible.</p><br>
<p>The Germanna Foundation owns land on the original Germanna peninsula, on the Germanna Highway, State Route 3, near the site of the original Fort Germanna, once the westernmost outpost of colonial Virginia. The Germanna Foundation operates a Visitor Center on that land, 15 mi east of Culpeper and 20 mi west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Foundation also owns a nearby 18th century mansion, Salubria, once the home of Governor Spotswood&#39;s widow. In October 2000, Salubria was donated by the Grayson family to the Germanna Foundation for historic preservation. The Foundation maintains a research library, a memorial garden, and plans interpretive walking trails to various historic and archaeological sites. In addition, the Foundation publishes histories and genealogical books, a newsletter, offers educational programs at an Annual Historical Conference and Reunion and to the community, and offers group travel to Germany geared to the origin of the Germanna families. The Germanna Association is composed of descendants who advise the Foundation.</p><br>
<h2>Timelines</h2><br>
<h3>First colony</h3><br>
<p>The first colony consisted of the family surnames: Albrecht, Brombach, Fischbach, Friesenhagen, Hager, Heide/Hitt, Heimbach, Hoffman, Holtzklau/Holtzclaw, Huttman, Kemper/Camper, Cuntse/Koontz, Merdten/Martin, Otterbach/Utterback, Reinschmidt, Richter/Rector, Spielmann, Weber/Weaver</p><br>
<p>Late spring of 1713: the people left Nassau-Siegen, apparently not in a single group</p><br>
<p>Summer of 1713: the people arrived in London</p><br>
<p>January 1714: they left for Virginia on an unknown ship</p><br>
<p>Late March 1714: Spotswood first learns from Col. Nathaniel Blakiston, the agent for Virginia in London, that Germans are coming</p><br>
<p>April 1714: the Germans arrived in Virginia</p><br>
<p>1714: established first German Reformed church on the continent, which doubled as a defensive blockhouse</p><br>
<p>1716: they started mining operations at the silver mine</p><br>
<p>1718, early in the year: they were instructed to search for iron</p><br>
<p>During 1718: the search for iron continued and a statement in a courthouse says they worked until December 1718 at mining and quarrying. Also during the year they made their commitment to buy land at "Germantown." By December 1718, Spotswood says he spent about 60 pounds on the endeavor so there was no iron furnace.</p><br>
<p>January 1719: some moved to Germantown. Pastor Haeger may not have moved at this time. By this time they had completed the four years of service they committed themselves to in London.</p><br>
<h3>Second colony</h3><br>
<p>1717: Eighty-odd Germans from Wuerttemberg, Baden, and the Palatinate agree with Capt. Tarbett in London to take them to Pennsylvania in the ship Scott.</p><br>
<p>1717/1718: Capt. Tarbett hijacks the Germans to Virginia where they become indentured servants of Lt. Gov. Spotswood</p><br>
<p>1719/1722: Some of the Germans who left in 1717 arrived in Virginia at a later time</p><br>
<p>1723/25: Spotswood sues many of the Germans</p><br>
<p>1725: Most of these Germans move to the Robinson River Valley</p><br>
<p>1733: Johann Caspar Stoever becomes their (Lutheran) pastor</p><br>
<p>1740: The German Lutheran Church (Hebron Lutheran Church today) is built with funds raised in Germany</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>The Sestra  is a river in Vsevolozhsky and Vyborgsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast and Kurortny District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The length of the Sestra is 74 km, and the area of its basin is 399 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The Sestra River flows over the Karelian Isthmus. The source of the river is in swamps west of the settlement of Vaskelovo, and the Sestra flows in the general direction south, having its mouth in the town of Sestroretsk. It used to fall into the Gulf of Finland until the early 18th century. After the construction of a dam for the needs of the munitions factory in Sestroretsk, a part of the river was turned into a reservoir called Sestroretsky Razliv (Sestroretsk Overflow), 2 m deep with an area of 10.6 km&sup2;. Since then, the Sestra River has been flowing into this reservoir. The Sestroretsk Overflow is separated from the Gulf of Finland with a ridge of artificial sand dunes. Excess water is dumped into the Gulf of Finland through a canal, which is 4.8 km long.</p><br>
<p>The Sestra River served as a natural border between Russia and Sweden (1323–1617) and between Russia and Finland (1812–1940). It currently serves as a border between Vsevolozhsky (east, formerly Soviet Union) and Vyborgsky (west, formerly Finland) districts of Leningrad Oblast.</p><br>
<p>Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a bay on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. It received its name from Alexandr Baranov, who was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the Gulf of Alaska. When the storm settled it was Easter Sunday, so the bay and nearby Resurrection River were named in honor of it. Harding Gateway refers to the passage between Rugged and Cheval Islands.</p><br>
<p>Resurrection Bay is the location of Caines Head, at the summit of which Fort McGilvray is situated (650 feet above sea level). This fortification was constructed by the United States Armed Forces to defend against a possible invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The bay remains ice-free even in winter, making it easily navigable.</p><br>
<p>It is the central theme to the song "Resurrection Bay" by John Craigie on his album Montana Tale.</p><br>
<p>It is called the gateway to the Kenai Fjords as many water taxis, kayak tours, anglers, and recreational boaters use the bay to access nearby Kenai Fjords National Park.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Resurrection Bay has a maximum depth of 972 feet, near the coast at Caines Head.It contains many deep coves, most notably Thumb, Humpy, Bulldog, Pony and Derby Coves. To the west, Resurrection Bay is bordered by the Aialik Peninsula and the adjacent Aialik Bay. To the east, the bay is bounded by the Resurrection Peninsula and Day Harbor.</p><br>
<p>Lake Harriet is a lake in the southwest part of Minneapolis, just south of Lake Calhoun and north of Minnehaha Creek. The lake is surrounded by parkland as part of the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes. The lake has an area of 335 acre and a maximum depth of 85 ft.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Lake Harriet is named for Harriet Lovejoy, who lived with her husband Colonel Henry Leavenworth at Fort Snelling. The two came to the area in 1819. The lake and surrounding land was last owned by Colonel William S. King, who donated the land to Minneapolis in 1885.</p><br>
<p>The lake was called Bde Unma ("other lake") by the local Dakota people.</p><br>
<h3>The bandshell</h3><br>
<p>A public pavilion has been located on the northern side of Lake Harriet since 1888, when a pavilion was erected on the property of Thomas Lowry. It stood on the edge of Lake Harriet until 1891, when it was destroyed by fire. After the fire, Minneapolis hired architect Harry Wild Jones to design the next bandshell. Designed in a pagoda-like style, the second pavilion overlooked the lake until 1903, when it too was destroyed by fire. A third pavilion, in the classical revival style, again designed by Jones, was built in 1904. It was destroyed on July 8, 1925, in a windstorm; two people were killed, among a group which had taken refuge inside it. After the loss of this pavilion, a small bandstand was built on the site as a temporary replacement. The bandstand remained until it was replaced by the current bandshell structure, built in 1986.</p><br>
<p>The current bandshell was originally painted blue, but in 2004 developer Mark McGowan organized an all-volunteer free restoration of the buildings. To complete the restoration, McGowan obtained $650,000 in donated labor and materials from local and national companies. Through these efforts, the bandshell, refectory and sailing club have been repaired and repainted light brown. To celebrate the restoration, an all-day music festival, called "Lake Harriet Live!", was held on September 19, 2004.</p><br>
<p>During the fall of 2006, construction of a new patio and picnic shelter built to match the design of the original buildings was begun next to the concessions. Construction of the new building and picnic area have been completed.</p><br>
<h2>Recreational facilities</h2><br>
<p>Lake Harriet is popular for recreation. It offers sailing, two beaches, and a system of bike and pedestrian trails (about 2.99 mi for the bike trail and 2.75 mi for the pedestrian trail). The trail and parkway system, part of the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, connects with Lake Calhoun on the north end of Lake Harriet, via William Berry Parkway, and with the Minnehaha Creek trail system at the southeast side of the lake.</p><br>
<p>The bandshell is used for concerts throughout the summer months. The bandshell complex also contains a picnic area and a seasonal outdoor restaurant, the Bread & Pickle.</p><br>
<p>A preserved section of the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line runs between Lake Calhoun and the Lake Harriet bandshell area.</p><br>
<h2>Other features</h2><br>
<p>The lake is in a direct line with two of the main runways at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, and airplanes frequently fly over the area.</p><br>
<p>On the walking path near where Queen Avenue meets the perimeter drive around the lake, there is an "elf house" carved into the base of an ash tree. For several years, one could leave a letter for the elf supposedly living there and find a letter in reply sometime in the next few days. During the winter, the elf door is shut, and a plank appears stating he has "moved to his castle in the east." It reopens in the spring.</p><br>
<p>Other parkland near the lake includes a picnic ground just north of the bandshell, Lyndale Park, and the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary on the northeast side of the lake. Lakewood Cemetery is located between the southeast side of Lake Calhoun and the north shoreline of Lake Harriet.</p><br>
<p>Two blocks west of the lake is the shopping district of Linden Hills, often referred to as "a small town in the city".</p><br>
<p>It was discovered on Google Earth that the silhouette of a twin-engine aircraft can be seen in the water. Most have dismissed this as the shadow of a plane flying over, but an investigation was opened into the matter. Further information has determined that there is no sunken plane but rather it is a photographic anomaly of a plane passing over that, due to the exposure, makes it appear to be under the water.</p><br>
<h2>Fish</h2><br>
<p>The lake contains black crappie, bluegill, golden shiner, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, pumpkinseed, walleye, white sucker, yellow bullhead, and yellow perch. Some guideline restrictions have been placed on the consumption of bluegill, carp, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, white sucker, and yellow perch from the lake, because of contamination with mercury and PFOS.</p><br>
<p>In 1998, a dead female lake sturgeon weighing 105 lb and 6.3 ft long washed ashore on the lake. Sturgeon were thought to no longer exist in the lake or the Minnehaha Creek watershed. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials speculated it may have been released into the lake when young by a fisheries employee during the mid-20th century. It is also possible the fish was a descendant of sturgeon which migrated into the lake thousands of years ago, prior to the formation of Minnehaha Falls.</p><br>
<p>Cedar Lake is a lake on the west side of Minneapolis, north of Lake Calhoun and west of Lake of the Isles. The lake is surrounded by parkland on the west side, while the east side borders the Kenwood residential area. The north side is bordered by the Cedar Lake Trail and the BNSF Railway. The lake has an area of 169 acres  and a maximum depth of 51 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Fish</h2><br>
<p>The lake contains black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, tiger muskellunge, walleye, white sucker, and yellow perch. Some fish consumption guideline restrictions have been placed on the lake&#39;s bluegill, carp, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, and walleye due to mercury and/or PFOS contamination.</p><br>
<p>The Captain Lemuel Clap House  is a historic house located at 199 Boston Street, Dorchester, Massachusetts. It is now owned by the Dorchester Historical Society, which opens the house for tours two afternoons per month. It is one of two Clapp Houses owned by the society that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>It appears that a house has occupied this site since about 1633, and possibly todays house was its enlargement. Although there is no solid evidence for this possibility, the Clapp family genealogy records that such a first house was built circa 1633 by Roger Clapp, one of Dorchesters original settlers in 1630, and then rebuilt and enlarged by his descendant Lemuel Clap in 1767. On the other hand, the Historical Society also has evidence that the earlier house was built by the Ward family at the beginning of the 18th century.</p><br>
<p>There seems little doubt, however, that today&#39;s house was substantially constructed by Lemuel Clap in 1767. The house was purchased by Historical Society in 1945, and moved several hundred yards from Willow Court to its current location in 1957. Its rooms currently contain items from the Society’s historical collection.</p><br>
<p>The houses of the Dorchester Historical Society are open on the second Sunday of the month from 11 am to 4 pm.</p><br>
<p>The William Clapp House  is a historic house located at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, Massachusetts. It is the headquarters of the Dorchester Historical Society and contains many items from the society&#39;s collections, including 19th century furnishings and local historical items. It is one of two Clapp Houses owned by the society that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in 1806 for the marriage of William Clapp (March 3, 1779 - February 29, 1860), son of Capt. Lemuel and Rebecca (Dexter) Clap who built the nearby Captain Lemuel Clap House. The younger Clapp followed his father&#39;s business with the largest tannery in Dorchester.</p><br>
<p>Later in life, Clapp devoted his time to his farm and the development of many varieties of pears. The most notable was Clapp&#39;s Favorite, developed in 1820 and marketed by 1860. It remains in wide commercial use today.</p><br>
<p>The Bradlee-McIntyre House is a Victorian Cottage Style house. It is now located in Longwood, Florida at 130 West Warren Avenue, after being moved there from Altamonte Springs. On March 28, 1991, the house was added to the USA National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The Bradlee-McIntyre House was built circa 1885 for noted Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee and family. It is the only surviving "cottage" in Orange and Seminole counties, a Queen Anne Style three-story, 13-room winter vacation house featuring an octagonal tower and "ginger-bread" trim typical of the flamboyant houses of the Victorian Period.</p><br>
<p>Currently the Bradlee-McIntyre House is open to the public for tours on scheduled days as posted at the house. Museum tours are offered the 2 and 4 Wednesdays and Sundays from 1-4 pm.</p><br>
<p>Scotland Island is an island in the north of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Church Point, Scotland Island&#39;s major mainland service locality, is located 32 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and geology</h2><br>
<p>Scotland Island is located in Pittwater, off Church Point. The island is approximately 1 km in diameter and its highest point is over 100 metres above sea level. To the east is the suburb of Newport, west is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, and south are the suburbs of Church Point and Bayview.</p><br>
<p>Around 18,000 years ago Scotland Island was a hill in a river valley. Following the last ice age, sea levels rose, flooding the valley, forming Pittwater and creating the island. There are many small beaches, consisting mainly of mud, mangroves and rocks. There are no rivers or cliffs, but some small caves towards the top of the island. The top of the island is sandstone and the lower part consists of shale.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>European discovery and first exploration of the island was in 1788, shortly after the establishment of a penal colony in Sydney Cove. The island was originally named Pitt Island by Arthur Phillip, Governor of the colony, in honour of William Pitt, the British prime minister at the time. The first European settler to own land on Scotland Island was Andrew Thompson where he created a successful salt works. He renamed the island Scotland Island after his homeland. He built boats on the island until his death in 1810. The island was sold as a whole several times in the nineteenth century before being sub-divided and sold off in lots in 1906. Around 1900, salt was extracted from seawater near what is now known as Tennis Court Wharf. Using an oil burner, about 90 kg were extracted each week.</p><br>
<p>Permanent residents took up residence in the 1960s and power connected to the island in 1967. Sheep farms were located on the island at one time but now the majority of workers commute to the mainland.</p><br>
<h2>Community</h2><br>
<p>Scotland Island is one of two inhabited islands in the Sydney area and according to the , the island was home to 579 residents.</p><br>
<p>The island is accessed by the Church Point Ferry and private vessels. Most of the island consists of bushland, with a residential zones of approximately 350 houses around the perimeter foreshore. There are no shops, cafes or industrial zones.</p><br>
<p>The non-residential buildings are a kindergarten, Community Hall and Fire Station. The Child Centre and Community Hall were built by the residents in the 1980s and 1990s and are used for various purposes. Community groups on the island include Island Thinking, which organises regular discussion groups, and a number of artists. In 2006, an arts and film festival was organised on the island by the community. A fire in an art gallery in neighbouring Newport destroyed a collection of artworks created by artists living on Scotland Island and the offshore communities of Pittwater.</p><br>
<p>There is no road access to the island, so the volunteer fire brigade fulfill a number of essential services normally performed by full-time emergency service personnel in other areas of Sydney. The Scotland Island Rural Fire Brigade (SIRFB) is made up of volunteers: about 30 active (firefighting) members and about another 30 associate (non-firefighting) members.</p><br>
<p>Scotland Island is a renowned hub for Sydney artists and musicians. Notable residents include Continental Rob Suzs from 1980&#39;s Sydney soulsters, The Dynamic Hepnotics, and blues and roots singer Jackie Marshall.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Scotland Island was used as a location in Australian mystery/crime writer Peter Corris novel "The Greenwich Apartments" (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1986); , but was renamed Shetland Island.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Climate is characterised by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. Summers are usually somewhat wetter than winters, with much of the rainfall coming from convectional thunderstorm activity. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa" (Humid Subtropical Climate).</p><br>
<p>Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, located at 81 Carl Sandburg Lane near Hendersonville in the village of Flat Rock, North Carolina, preserves Connemara, the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and writer Carl Sandburg. Though a Midwesterner, Sandburg and his family moved to this home in 1945 for the peace and solitude required for his writing and the more than 30 acre of pastureland required for his wife, Lilian, to raise her champion dairy goats. Sandburg spent the last twenty-two years of his life on this farm and published more than a third of his works while he resided here.</p><br>
<p>The 264-acre site includes the Sandburg residence, the goat farm, sheds, rolling pastures, mountainside woods, 5 miles (8 km) of hiking trails on moderate to steep terrain, two small lakes, several ponds, flower and vegetable gardens, and an apple orchard.</p><br>
<p>Visitors to the site can tour the Sandburg residence and visit the dairy barn housing Connemara Farms goat herd, representing the three breeds of goats Lilian Sandburg raised. From mid-June until mid-August, live performances of Sandburgs Rootabaga Stories and excerpts from the Broadway play, The World of Carl Sandburg, are presented at the park amphitheater.</p><br>
<h2>The Memminger years</h2><br>
<p>In the middle 1830s Christopher Memminger, of Charleston, South Carolina, took a tour of Flat Rock in an attempt to find a summer home. Unable to find a home he liked, he purchased land from Charles Baring, one of the more prominent land holders in the area. In 1838 he hired an architect to begin work on a large summer home in the Greek-Revival-style. The kitchen house and stable were actually completed first in the summer of 1838. The house was not complete until 1839. A cook’s house was added in 1841, a wagon shed in 1843, and an icehouse in 1845. An addition to the main house was constructed over the course of 1846-1849, and servant quarters were built in 1850.</p><br>
<p>Memminger called his summer home “Rock Hill,” possibly because the main house was constructed on the gradual slope of Big Glassy Mountain. In 1855, he had a stream in front of the house dammed up to create a small, artificial lake. The Memminger family spent most of their summers after 1839 at Rock Hill, not to be confused with Rock Hill, South Carolina. They lived there full-time from 1864 until the end of the Civil War. During the war, the house was fortified and used as a shelter for friends who needed protection from raids by Union soldiers and Confederate deserters turned bandits.</p><br>
<h2>The Gregg and Smyth years</h2><br>
<p>After Memminger’s death, his son Edward sold Rock Hill to Colonel William Gregg, Jr., a Confederate veteran. During his ownership, he built new steps at the front of the house, since the originals had been removed during the war for defense. He also installed a bay window and fireplace mantles. The Greggs used Rock Hill as their summer home for about ten years before they sold it in 1900 to Captain Ellison Adger Smyth.</p><br>
<p>Smyth changed the name of the house from “Rock Hill” to “Connemara,” after his ancestral district in Ireland. The Smyths winterized the house and enclosed the porch to convert it to a dining room. They also painted the house green for a brief period and even installed an eight-hole golf course in the pastures. The captain and his family used Connemara as a summer home until 1925 when they decided to make it their permanent residence. Smyth died in 1942, and the house remained vacant until 1945.</p><br>
<h2>The Sandburg era</h2><br>
<p>Sandburg purchased Connemara on October 18, 1945 for $45,000. Mrs. Sandburg had been looking for a new farm in a warmer climate to raise her Chikaming dairy goats. When she showed Connemara to her husband, he reportedly said, “This is the place. We will look no further.” Upon buying the house, the Sandburgs immediately began remodeling. Contractors were hired to work on the heating, plumbing, electrical, the roof and the cement floor of the basement. The Sandburgs installed new chimneys and bathrooms, as well as dozens of bookshelves for his large library. They also repainted the house and installed a new indoor kitchen, having turned the original kitchen building into a three- car garage. The entire remodeling process lasted for some two and a half years. In addition, more than 42,000 lb of personal belongings, primarily Sandburg’s library, were sent by train from their old house in Harbert, Michigan.</p><br>
<p>The Sandburgs lived at Connemara from October 1945 to July 1969. Mr. and Mrs. Sandburg lived there along with their three daughters, Margaret, Janet, and Helga, as well as Helga’s two children, John Carl and Karlen Paula. Sandburg published more than a third of his works while living at Connemara, and it was at this house he died of natural causes in 1967. After his death, his wife decided to sell Connemara to the USA government to preserve the house as a memorial to her husband. The Secretary of Interior and family friend Stewart Udall visited the house in October 1967, and Mrs. Sandburg signed a deed of gift in June of the following year. On October 18, 1968, President Johnson approved a congressional act making the home a historic site. The home officially opened to the public in 1974. The National Park Service restored the house and installed Plexiglas covers over the bookcases during the time between the purchase and its opening.</p><br>
<h2>The site today</h2><br>
<p>Today Carl Sandburg Home National Historic site attracts more than 85,000 visitors a year. The national park is open everyday except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year&#39;s Day.</p><br>
<p>The USA government has designated the goats a historic herd. About fifteen goats are kept on the farm at any given time. The interior of the home is arranged in a manner similar to how the Sandburgs maintained it during the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, supported by North Carolinas congressional delegation, authorizes the expansion of the site by 115 acre to protect the scenic view, create additional parking, and to establish a visitors center.</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking , an open youthful tide dominated, drowned valley estuary, is located in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia approximately 30 km south of Sydney central business district. Port Hacking has its source in the upper reaches of the Hacking River south of Helensburgh, and several smaller creeks, including South West Arm, Bundeena Creek and The Basin and flows generally to the east before reaching its mouth, the Tasman Sea, south of Cronulla and north–east of Bundeena. Its tidal effect is terminated at the weir at Audley, in the Royal National Park. The lower estuary features a substantial marine delta, which over time has prograded upstream. There is also a substaial fluvial  of the Hacking River at Grays Point. The two deltas are separated by a deep basin.</p><br>
<p>The total catchment area of Port Hacking is approximately 165 km&sup2; and the area surrounding the estuary is generally managed by Sutherland Shire Council. While the area to the north of Port Hacking is urbanised, the area to the south is relatively pristine and forms the northern boundary of the Royal National Park.</p><br>
<p>The land adjacent to Port Hacking was occupied for many thousands of years by the Tharawal and Eora Aboriginal peoples and their associated clans. They used the bay as an important source of food and a place for trade.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Aboriginal history</h3><br>
<p>For more than 8,000 years prior to 1840, the Tharawal (or Dharwal) people occupied the catchment area evidenced by hundreds of Aboriginal artefacts, middens, rock carvings and cave paintings. In the mid 19th century shell grit was in high demand as a source of lime for building in the Sydney district. Consequently, mud and oyster rocks were collected in large numbers from Port Hacking catchment destroying a number of aboriginal midden sites in the region.</p><br>
<h3>European history</h3><br>
<p>Matthew Flinders and George Bass (with Bass&#39;s servant William "The Boy" Martin) explored there in early April 1796. They called it Port Hacking after Henry Hacking who was the principal game hunter in the colony and who first told them of a large river he had seen inland on kangaroo hunting expeditions. Hacking was the quartermaster on HMS Sirius, part of the First Fleet under the command of Governor Arthur Phillip. Hacking became a skilled, adventurous bushman, who led many hunting expeditions to supplement meat rations for Australia’s first settlers. He was amongst the party that found the lost government cattle at Cowpastures in 1795. He was also the man who in 1802 killed Pemulwuy an Aboriginal resistance fighter and a Bediagal man who had killed and harassed settlers and who since 1790 had been a wanted man.</p><br>
<p>European impacts have been substantial: the river has been effectively dammed at Audley, the dynamics of the frontal part of the marine delta were substantially altered by the creation of a fish hatchery at The Basin, shell grit extraction decimated large seagrass beds, and the entire northern shore is urbanised.</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking has been closed to commercial fishing for about a century, and there are other catch/harvesting closures throughout the Port.</p><br>
<p>The northern headland, located at Cronulla is called Bass and Flinders Point.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Port Hacking effectively forms the southern boundary of Sydney&#39;s suburban sprawl. Working inland from the sea, the indented north bank of Port Hacking is formed by the suburbs of Cronulla, Woolooware, Burraneer, Caringbah South, Dolans Bay, Port Hacking, Lilli Pilli, Yowie Bay, Miranda, Gymea Bay and Grays Point. The southern bank is largely undeveloped land within the Royal National Park, although the small communities of Bundeena and Maianbar are found there. Warumbul and Gundamaian are other localities on the southern bank, in the Royal National Park. Cronulla and National Park Ferry Cruises operates a regular passenger ferry service that crosses Port Hacking, connecting Cronulla and its railway station to Bundeena. They also operate cruises along Port Hacking that depart from Cronulla.</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking is a drowned river valley, with a water surface area of 11 km&sup2;. With very little industrial and minor agricultural inputs via the Hacking River, the water quality is categorised as extremely good, and the extensive inter-tidal shoals provide opportunity for wading birds.</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking is a popular recreational area, where many activities can be enjoyed such as swimming, fishing and boating. The estuary and bays are used for watersports such as wakeboarding and water skiing and Scuba driving. The distinctive shore feature, Shiprock, sits above the only aquatic reserve in Port Hacking. It has been protected because of the unique micro environment of marine fauna and flora.</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking Estuary.JPGPort Hacking estuary near Burraneer</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking estuary 1.JPGPort Hacking estuary at Lilli Pilli</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking estuary 2.JPGPort Hacking estuary at Lilli Pilli</p><br>
<p>Port Hacking estuary 4.JPGPort Hacking estuary near Warumbul</p><br>
<p>Grays Point 2.JPGPort Hacking estuary at Grays Point</p><br>
<p>The Meier & Frank Building is a fifteen-story, glazed terra cotta building located in downtown Portland, Oregon, across from the northeast corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square. The building is the former flagship store and headquarters building for the Meier & Frank department store chain, which was taken over by Macys in 2006. In 2006–2007, the buildings lower floors were remodeled into an updated Macys department store, while the upper floors were renovated in 2008 into a luxury hotel known as The Nines. In 2016, Macys announced that it planned to close the store in spring 2017, and the store closed in April 2017.</p><br>
<p>The building site is a full block, bounded by SW Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Morrison and Alder Streets. The present building was constructed in stages, starting in 1909 with major expansions occurring in 1915 and 1932. It replaced an earlier Meier and Frank store built in 1898.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The project was the first major commission for prolific Portland architect, A. E. Doyle. Although the original commission was an annex to the original building, Doyle took a trip to Chicago with the companys co-founder Sigmund Frank to survey department stores. Frank was very impressed with what he saw, and plans for the building changed into a full-block fully modern department store. Franks death in 1910 ended those plans and resulted in the building&#39;s construction in piecemeal segments over several decades, which led to anomalous differences in which elevators and which stairways reached which floors. However, A.E. Doyle first used glazed terra-cotta in this building, resulting in later use of it in many other Portland structures by his and other firms.</p><br>
<p>The building hosted the corporate headquarters of the Meier & Frank chain. After the acquisition of Meier and Frank by May Department Stores in 1966, the chain became a division which was based out of the former corporate offices.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the building has been modernized over the years with few interior historic elements remaining. However, several notable exceptions to this were the Georgian Room restaurant and seasonal Santaland, both on the 10th floor (highest retail floor in the building). The historic Georgian Room had remained virtually unchanged for at least the last 50 years. Santaland, which closed after the 2005 Christmas season, was an annual holiday favorite for generations of Portland families. Santaland operated a "kiddie"-sized overhead monorail around the ceiling of Santaland; first installed in 1959, it last operated during the 2005 holiday season. There was also a holiday model railroad layout and Santa Clauses. Pneumatic tubes were used throughout the store to convey messages and money from upper to lower floors and back again. The remnants of this system could still be found in some stairwells and back areas.</p><br>
<p>The Meier & Frank Building featured the first escalator installation in Portland, and housed the company&#39;s own radio station. KFEC signed on the air October 19, 1922. The studio was on the 5th floor and was also used as the library and reading room for employees. The transmitter towers were atop the building. KFEC operated until March 22, 1929, when it was sold and moved to Yakima, Washington, which still operates today as KIT.</p><br>
<p>Until August 1962, the building at 223 ft was the second tallest in Portland after the Public Service Building. The building has two primary lower levels and a third service level beneath these. The first lower level was used for retail space until the mid-1980s. The levels beneath that were used for storage and various seasonal needs. The bank of hand-controlled elevators originally operated by store employees was closed to the public with the construction of new automatic elevators, but were still used to transport merchandise into the 1990s out of public view.</p><br>
<p>At its peak, the store housed everything from a pharmacy to a pet store. Actor Clark Gable worked in the store&#39;s tie department in 1922. Several delis and food vendors operated out of various levels. As demand for these services declined, the store changed focus. During the 1980s the store began to concentrate more on soft lines such as clothing, as well as small goods such as housewares. Several floors were modified to serve as corporate offices. Other floors were simply shut down and turned over to cold storage. The store was able to operate in this configuration until finally doomed by the development of the nearby Pioneer Place mall and increased competition from stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom.</p><br>
<p>The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, the May Company was acquired by Federated Department Stores, corporate parent of Macys and other chains. The Meier & Frank stores were renamed Macys in September 2006. Already in late 2005, a $100 million renovation of the building began, and this was to include work to turn the top nine floors of the building into a 330-room luxury hotel called The Nines, a Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel. Renovation of the Meier & Frank store in the lower floors of the building began first, in late 2005, and was still under way when the store was rebranded in September 2006 as a Macys (as were all other then-remaining Meier & Frank stores). Macys later decided to temporarily close the store, in order to accelerate the remodeling work, and the temporary closure began in December 2006. The remodeled stored, named Macy&#39;s at Meier and Frank Square, reopened on October 26, 2007. The hotel opened in late summer 2008.</p><br>
<p>In 2016, Macy&#39;s announced that it planned to close the store in spring 2017, because of declining sales. and the store closed permanently in April 2017.</p><br>
<h2>Other historic buildings</h2><br>
<p>Meier and Frank also owned and operated two other buildings in the downtown area, namely, the Delivery Depot and Warehouse, both of which are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Both structures have been transformed into other uses.</p><br>
<p>On August 18, 2010, Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, announced that it will lease the historic Meier & Frank Delivery Depot in the Pearl District. After renovations completed in 2012, the 172,000 ft&sup2; space now houses the company&#39;s USA headquarters.</p><br>
<p>The Karatal River , also known as the Qaratal River , is a river in Kazakhstan that originates in the Dzungarian Alatau Mountains near the border of with China and flows into Lake Balkhash. It is the easternmost of two large rivers that flow into the lake; the other is the Ili River. The Karatal is one of the main rivers of the historic region of Zhetysu.</p><br>
<p>The river flows west-south-west from the border with China before turning north-westward south of Taldykorgan and then northward when it reaches the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert, a large sand desert south of Lake Balkhash. The river empties into Lake Balkhash near the centerpoint of its southern side. Karatal freezes up in December and stays icebound until March. Because of irrigation, the river&#39;s flow into Lake Balkash is limited.</p><br>
<p>Democracy and Freedom Island, historically known as Yassıada ) is one of the Princes&#39; Islands in the Sea of Marmara, to the southeast of Istanbul. The island, which has an area of 0.05 km², is officially a neighbourhood in the Adalar  district of Istanbul Province, Turkey.</p><br>
<p>Yassıada was used by the Byzantines for sending prominent figures into exile. One such person was the Armenian Patriarch (Catholicos) Narses who was first sent to this island before being imprisoned at Prinkipos in the 4th century AD. In the 11th century AD the Byzantines used the island for political prisoners. The remains of the 4 underground prison cells from this period can still be seen. The Byzantines also built a monastery and church on the island. Yassıada (Plati) was captured by the Latin Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.</p><br>
<p>In 1857, Yassıada was purchased by the British ambassador Henry Bulwer, brother of novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who built himself a mansion and a number of other structures to live undisturbed on this distant island. Henry Bulwer also organized agricultural production on the island to self-sustain his little realm at least to a certain degree, but later sold Yassıada to the Khedive of Ottoman Egypt and Sudan, Ismail Pasha; who, however, didn&#39;t construct any new buildings and completely neglected the island.</p><br>
<p>With the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the island became a property of the Turkish state, and in 1947 Yassıada was handed over to the Turkish Navy which built several school buildings. Between 1960 and 1961, these school buildings became the venue for the trials of the members of the former ruling party, Demokrat Parti, after the military coup of 1960. Several of the defendants were sentenced to death, and three of these, including the former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, were taken to İmralı Island (further southwest, near the southern shoreline of the Sea of Marmara) and executed there in 1961.</p><br>
<p>After the end of the trials, Yassıada was given back to the Turkish Navy and lessons continued to take place at the naval school buildings until 1978.</p><br>
<p>In 1993, the island became a property of Istanbul University&#39;s department of Marine Life and Sea Products, which used it for lessons and research. However, the strong winds on the island made life difficult for the students and eventually classes were held elsewhere.</p><br>
<p>Today, the island is a favourite location for scuba diving schools and amateur divers.</p><br>
<h2>Rename</h2><br>
<p>The island was home to the infamous trial of then Turkish Prime minister Adnan Menderes and ministers Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan, which was resulted with execution order. After the 1960 coup "Yassıada" name was reminiscenced negatively, which led the island to be renamed as "Democracy and Freedom Island" on November 7, 2013.</p><br>
<p>The Benjamin Thompson House  is a historic house museum and National Historic Landmark at 90 Elm Street, in the North Woburn area of Woburn, Massachusetts. It is significant as the birthplace of scientist and inventor Benjamin Thompson , who became Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire as well as Sir Benjamin Thompson of the United Kingdom. His birthplace was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975 in recognition of Rumford&#39;s scientific accomplishments, which notably include the development of the Rumford stove, a fireplace design that was significantly more efficient at retaining heat in the house than older and larger fireplaces.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Rumford House is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, five bays wide, with a gambrel roof and a large central chimney. The exterior is sheathed in clapboards, and decoration is limited to a modest front door surround. The interior includes a great deal of well-preserved original hardware and woodwork.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in 1714 by Ebenezer Thompson. His grandson, Benjamin Thompson, Jr., later to become Count Rumford, was born on March 26, 1753, in the west end of this house, which his parents had lived in since their marriage. Young Benjamin&#39;s father died on November 7, 1754, and he lived in the house with his grandfather and his mother until she married Josiah Pierce, Jr., of Woburn, and he was taken to live in his house.</p><br>
<p>Benjamin Thompson was a Loyalist during the American Revolution, and fled the country, never to return, in 1775 when the British evacuated Boston. He eventually settled for a time in the Holy Roman Empire, where he acquired the title of Count Rumford, and where he performed his groundbreaking research into the design of heating systems. This research resulted in a series of improvements to home heating systems, notably the Rumford stove, a shallow fireplace that more efficiently projected heat into a room than older and larger fireplaces. While in Munich, Thompson oversaw reforms of the indigent welfare system of Bavaria, and designed the city&#39;s famous English Garden. Thompson was also an inveterate and practical tinkerer, developing new versions of everyday utensils. He also proposed in 1799 the establishment in the United Kingdom of a research organization, which resulted in the founding of the Royal Institution. Although he never returned to the country of his birth, he did endow a professorial chair at Harvard College, and established the Rumford Prize, an annual award given by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died in Paris in 1814.</p><br>
<h2>Current ownership</h2><br>
<p>The birthplace of Benjamin Thompson is now owned by the Rumford Historical Association, founded in 1877 to maintain it as a site of historic interest. In its museum are reconstructed models of Count Rumford&#39;s scientific experiments and inventions. A copy of a portrait of Count Rumford by Gainsborough is on display. The house also has a library of Rumford biographies and essays. It is open weekend afternoons 1 - 4:30PM. Admission is free.</p><br>
<p>The King Caesar House is a historic house located at 120 King Caesar Road, Duxbury, Massachusetts. It is operated as a non-profit museum by the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.</p><br>
<p>The Federal style house, completed in 1809, was built for Ezra Weston II (1772–1842) and his wife, Jerusha Bradford Weston (1770–1833). Like his father, Weston was known as "King Caesar" for his success in shipbuilding and shipping. During the 1830s and 1840s, the firm of E. Weston & Sons ran the largest mercantile operation on the South Shore of Massachusetts. In 1841, USA Senator Daniel Webster, during a speech in Saratoga, New York, made the claim that Weston was, "the largest ship owner, probably, in the United States."</p><br>
<h2>Historic significance</h2><br>
<h3>Weston family</h3><br>
<p>The Weston firm was established by Ezra Weston I (1743–1822) who began building small sloops and schooners on Powder Point in Duxbury in 1764. Ezra I earned the nickname "King Caesar" due to his audacious character and his influence on local politics. After his death, the nickname passed to his son Ezra II who greatly expanded the firms activities, built up a fleet of large sailing vessels, and made the Weston name known across the Atlantic. The firm experienced its heyday in the 1820s and 1830s during which Ezra Weston II presided as sole owner. The vessels built by the Weston firm varied widely in size and configuration, from the 25 ton schooner Sophia, to the ship Hope, launched in 1841 at 880 tons, the largest vessel built in Duxbury and the largest merchant vessel launched in Massachusetts up to that time. Although Ezra Weston II built many schooners for fishing and the coastal trade, the majority of his vessels were large brigs and ships which traded around the world. Over the course of three generations, the Weston firm built or otherwise acquired more than 110 sailing vessels.</p><br>
<p>From the King Caesar House, Ezra Weston II directed the affairs of his fleet and presided over a ten acre shipyard, a farm, a ropewalk, a sailcloth mill, and a large work force of sailors, carpenters and laborers. After the death of Ezra Weston II in 1842, his three sons inherited the firm and continued to operate it until 1857. The firm&#39;s activities declined sharply after his death, however, and his sons evidently did not possess the same talent for business as "King Caesar."</p><br>
<p>The King Caesar House passed to the second son, Alden Bradford Weston (1805–1880). After the firm ceased operation, the family fortune was rapidly spent by Alden Weston&#39;s two brothers while Alden lived an austere lifestyle in the King Caesar House. Alden Weston married late in life but had no children. He died alone in the King Caesar House in 1880.</p><br>
<p>The house then fell to King Caesars grandchildren, Alden Westons nieces and nephews. Most of them lived in the Boston area and had little desire to keep the Duxbury mansion.</p><br>
<h3>Later owners</h3><br>
<p>In 1886, Frederick Bradford Knapp (1857–1932) purchased the King Caesar House and the surrounding estate. Knapp, former Superintendent of Buildings at Harvard College, aimed to establish a preparatory school, converting King Caesars barns into gymnasiums and classrooms. The school was known as the Powder Point School for Boys and quickly earned an excellent reputation. During this period, the King Caesar House served as the Headmasters House, and Knapp resided there with his family. The Powder Point School for Boys operated successfully for nearly 40 years but eventually merged with Tabor Academy in the 1920s.</p><br>
<p>Frederick B. Knapp died in 1932. By that time the mansion was in decline. His heirs sold it in 1937 to Dr. Hermon Carey Bumpus, Sr., former director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who thoroughly restored the mansion.</p><br>
<p>In 1945, the King Caesar House was purchased from Dr. Herman Carey Bumpus, Jr. by Miss Alice Moran, a lawyer from New York City who had lived there for years with an Austrian couple, Emil Weber and Elizabeth Weber-Fulop. After the three moved into the house, the servants quarter in the rear was converted into an artists studio for Weber-Fulop, who was a painter of high repute. Emil Weber and his wife, Elizabeth, both passed away in the mid -1960s, leaving Miss Moran alone. In 1966. she offered to sell the house to the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society. After a community fundraising effort, the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society procured the necessary funds to purchase and repair the house. On June 25, 1967, the King Caesar House was dedicated as a museum, "commemorative of the busy shipbuilding days of Duxbury."</p><br>
<p>The Reginald A. Fessenden House is a historic house at 45 Waban Hill Road in the village of Chestnut Hill in Newton, Massachusetts. It was the residence from 1919 to his death in 1932 of the inventor Reginald A. Fessenden , called "the father of radio broadcasting," because he was the first to broadcast the human voice and music by radio. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 in recognition of Fessenden&#39;s accomplishments.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Fessenden House is an architecturally undistinguished three story brick building, with a stuccoed exterior and a tile roof. It has vernacular styling that includes a hooded entry, large central chimney, and a generally asymmetrical massing. The interior follows a fairly typical central hall plan. Both the exterior and interior of the house are relatively unaltered since Fessenden&#39;s ownership; the only notable alteration is the addition of awnings on some of the east-facing windows.</p><br>
<p>Reginald A. Fessenden was born Quebec in 1866, and entered Bishop&#39;s University as a precocious young mathematical prodigy, but left in 1884 without graduating. In 1886, he took a position at the Edison Machine Works, working for inventor Thomas Edison. During an academic period teaching at Purdue University and at the University of Pittsburgh, Fessenden engaged in research on the nascent subject of wireless telegraphy. Much of the rest of his life he was employed in industry, either directly or as a consultant, but was often living near poverty, and produced a stream of inventions. In 1904 he invented the rotary spark-gap transmitter, and in 1906 he built a large transmitter in Massachusetts from which he successfully made a voice transmission. He also discovered the means to recombine separate frequencies to form a coherent audible sound. At his death he was described by inventor and businessman Elihu Thomson as "the greatest wireless inventor of the age, greater than Marconi."</p><br>
<p>Fessenden purchased the Newton house in 1919, and it was his home until his death in 1932. Although he spent most of later years in Bermuda, this house is the place with the longest-lasting association with his life in the United States. It is still a private home and is not open to the public.</p><br>
<p>The house was declared a National Historic Landmark on January 7, 1976, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in recognition that it is one of the few places with a long-term association with Fessenden.</p><br>
<p>ANZAC Square is a heritage-listed town square and war memorial located between Ann Street and Adelaide Street , in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a state memorial to the men and women who participated in overseas armed service and is named in honour of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Square is adjacent to ANZAC Square Arcade.</p><br>
<p>ANZAC Square was opened on Armistice Day, 1930. It is also known as 9th Battalion Memorial and Queensland Women&#39;s War Memorial. ANZAC Square was registered on the (now inactive) Register of the National Estate in 1980 and added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<p>ANZAC Square contains the Shrine of Remembrance and the Eternal Flame of Remembrance held in a continuously lit bronze urn, dedicated on Tuesday, 11 November 1930.</p><br>
<p>There is also the World War II Shrine of Memories. Daphne Mayo sculptured the Womens War Memorial that forms part of the memorials wall.</p><br>
<p>The external wall of the Shrine of Memories is dedicated to the 60,000 Queenslanders who fought in World War I. There are also war-related statues, for various wars, including memorial statues for the Queensland soldiers who fought during the Second Boer War (1899–1902), as well as World War II, the Vietnam War and campaigns in Korea, Borneo and New Guinea.</p><br>
<p>On 25 April, every year, a Dawn Service is held at the Shrine of Remembrance and ANZAC Square.</p><br>
<h2>Symbolism</h2><br>
<p>Some of the symbolism used are as follows:</p><br>
<p>the 18 columns of the Shrine represent the year of peace after World War 1—1918.</p><br>
<p>also symbolizing the year (1918) are the number of stairs leading up to the shrine—19 stairs in the first row and 18 stairs in the second row.</p><br>
<p>the bottle trees commemorate the Queensland Light Horse Regiments, which served in South Africa&#39;s Boer War (1899–1902).</p><br>
<p>the palm trees are Middle East date palms and they represent Australia&#39;s success in the Middle East during both World Wars. Palms are also a biblical symbol of victory.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Australias involvement in World War I exacted a heavy toll in death and injury. Of a relatively small population of about five million people, 60,000 troops were killed and 152,000 wounded. Australias casualty rate of 68.5% was the highest of the Allied forces.</p><br>
<p>The idea of a large memorial park and monument in the centre of the city commemorating those who had participated and died in the Great War was first raised in 1916. The original plan was to use the whole city block bounded by Ann, Edward, Adelaide and Creek Streets for the Square but as negotiations with Federal, State and local governments continued throughout the early 1920s, a smaller site was determined. In 1928 State and Federal governments agreed to grant lands for the Square and to erect flanking buildings to a co-ordinated design.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square commemorates all Queenslanders who participated in war, not just Brisbane residents. In 1928 a competition for the design of a Shrine of remembrance was won by Sydney architects Buchanan and Cowper. Construction proceeded over the following two years and on Armistice Day 11 November 1930 the Queensland Governor Sir John Goodwin dedicated the Shrine and the Square. In 1933 the Square was declared a Reserve for Park purposes and the Brisbane City Council was appointed trustee of the site.</p><br>
<p>In 1932 the Queensland Womens War Memorial was unveiled. This memorial was an initiative of the Brisbane Womens Club and funded by public subscription. It was designed and executed by Daphne Mayo with assistance from George Harvey.</p><br>
<p>A memorial commissioned by the 9th Battalion (AIF) Association was mounted in the Crypt and unveiled by the Australian Governor-General Lord Gowrie on 17 August 1937. Commemorating the battalion&#39;s 45 officers and 1048 other ranks who lost their lives in the war, it was undertaken by former Brisbane sculptor William Leslie Bowles at a cost of £500. Bowles was noted for his memorial work, having been head sculptor at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra during the years 1924 to 1931.</p><br>
<p>In 1939 a memorial commemorating Queenslanders who served in the South Africa conflict 1899 to 1902 was relocated to the Square. This memorial, featuring a fully equipped mounted trooper originally stood near the intersection of Turbot and Edward Streets. It was designed by James Watts and sat on a pedestal constructed by local firm Lowther & Sons.</p><br>
<p>During the 1960s and 1970s various proposals were made to alter the Square as part of the redevelopment of property on the opposite side of Adelaide Street. These plans met with considerable public resistance. After a protracted public debate, a compromise plan involving limited encroachment on Anzac Square was agreed upon. This work was completed by 1984 and included the construction of a pair of elevated pedestrian bridges to Post Office Square, enlarging the crypt under the Shrine, and the realignment of the Adelaide Street entrance to the Square.</p><br>
<p>Originally envisaged as a First World War memorial, Anzac Square has become a repository for memorials of other wars. In 1984 the Second World War Shrine of Memories was relocated in the enlarged crypt under the Shrine and during 1988 memorials to those who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars were erected in the square.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square remains as the focus of armed services commemorations, particularly on Anzac Day.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Anzac Square, occupies an area of more than 0.5 hectare between Ann and Adelaide Streets. It lies in a band of pedestrian access space extending from Central Station through four city blocks. On the river side of Anzac Square are Post Office Square, the GPO precinct and St Stephens Cathedral grounds.</p><br>
<p>The Square is formally arranged. From a small stone wall edged by formal gardens on Adelaide Street, three paths, separated by lawns and mature trees, converge on a large elevated Shrine at Ann Street These paths represent the three branches of the armed forces, Army, Navy and Air Force. Trees along these paths include Palms, Bribie Island Pines and Bottle Trees – the latter were donated by Colonel Cameron, former Light Horseman and active lobbyist for the square.</p><br>
<p>A dominant feature of the Square is the Shrine. It is an adaptation of the classical Greek temenos (sacred enclosure) and tholos (circular shrine) comprising a circular colonnade of Helidon sandstone on a three-tiered base of Queensland granite, and stands approximately 7 m high on a paved forecourt extending to the Ann Street footpath. Eighteen Doric columns support a circular entablature externally ornamented with rosettes and internally inscribed with the names of battlefields where Australian soldiers fought. The colonnade is enclosed by cast iron railings that span the columns. Within the circular enclosure a bronze urn houses the Eternal Flame – a symbol of faithful remembrance.</p><br>
<p>Beneath the Shrine is a large crypt containing the Shrine of Memories, a memorial of the Second World War, and several other memorials dedicated to various Queensland contingents of the armed forces.</p><br>
<p>Twin stone staircases wrap around the Shrine, descending to the level of the Square. On either side of the staircase are shallow tiled reflecting pools – symbols of tranquillity and renewed life. Large sandstone retaining walls rise from the lawns of the Square to the footpath under the Shrine.</p><br>
<p>The Queensland Women&#39;s War Memorial is located in the western wall of Anzac Square, below the Shrine of Remembrance. It consists of a relief panel in Helidon sandstone depicting a military procession. The panel is surmounted by a centrally placed bronze laurel wreath and the inscription "Erected by the women of Queensland in memory of those who lost their lives through The Great War 1914–1918". A sandstone and stone pedestal supports a bronze and sandstone drinking fountain mounted on upturned bronze dolphins – symbols of renewed life.</p><br>
<p>The equestrian memorial of the South African War dominates the entry to the central path at Adelaide Street. A life-size bronzed statue, it depicts a Queensland Mounted Infantryman. On two sides of the trachyte pedestal large bronze plaques contain the names of the eighty-nine Queensland soldiers who lost their lives in the South African war.</p><br>
<p>Memorials to the Korean and Vietnam wars are also located in the Square.</p><br>
<p>The Square is flanked by State Government Offices to the south and Commonwealth Government Offices on the north. These are generally of restrained classical design and sympathetic in scale to the space, except the 1970s Commonwealth Government highrise extension on Ann Street. They frame vistas through the Square to the GPO in the east and Central Station to the west.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Anzac Square was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square, a State memorial to those who participated in overseas armed service campaigns and the site for major commemorative occasions is significant as a rare example formal urban design of such a scale and degree of unity.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square, a State memorial to those who participated in overseas armed service campaigns and the site for major commemorative occasions is significant as a rare example formal urban design of such a scale and degree of unity.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square is significant as one of the few examples of Australian war iconography which include servicewomen.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square is significant as it contains the only memorial in Brisbane dedicated to all members of the Queensland contingents who died during the South African conflict, and one of the few South African War memorials in the state.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square, a State memorial to those who participated in overseas armed service campaigns and the site for major commemorative occasions is significant as a rare example formal urban design of such a scale and degree of unity.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square is important for its contribution to the central city area as a large open space, combining green and built elements.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square is significant as examples of the work of Queensland artists and sculptors Daphne Mayo, L Watts and W L Bowles.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Anzac Square, a State memorial to those who participated in overseas armed service campaigns and the site for major commemorative occasions is significant as a rare example formal urban design of such a scale and degree of unity</p><br>
<p>Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, at 301 Pine Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, preserves the home of Tadeusz  Kościuszko. The life and work of the Polish patriot and hero of the American Revolution are commemorated here.</p><br>
<p>Kosciuszko returned to the United States to a heros welcome after his wounding, capture, imprisonment, and banishment from his native Poland occupied by Russia, in 1796. Kosciuszkos secretary, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, having been instructed to find "a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap" as possible, chose Mrs. Ann Relf&#39;s boarding house at the corner of 3rd and Pine Streets in Society Hill. Here, where Kosciuszko recuperated from his wounds while rarely leaving the house, he was visited by numerous luminaries of the day, including Vice President Thomas Jefferson, architect Benjamin Latrobe, William Paterson (a signer of the US Constitution), Chief Little Turtle of the Miami people, and Chief Joseph Brant of the Mohawk nation.</p><br>
<p>The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1970. The National Memorial was authorized on October 21, 1972. It is administered under Independence National Historical Park but is counted as a separate unit of the National Park System. At 0.02 acre 0.02 acre (80 m²), the memorial is America&#39;s smallest national park or unit of the National Park System.</p><br>
<p>The site is currently open for touring, Saturday and Sunday, from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. No fees, tickets, or reservations are required to visit this site.</p><br>
<p>The Soeste is a river in Lower Saxony in the Cloppenburg district.</p><br>
<p>The Soeste forms from two source brooks in Hesselnfeld and Egterholz, two small settlements in the Emstek municipality. It flows northwest through Cloppenburg, where its water flow was already sufficient for water mills to be operated. The Soeste flows into a dam at Thülsfelde, which was built in the 1920s. From there it flows through the towns Friesoythe and Barßel. Near the latter town, the Soeste flows into the Leda, which drains into the Ems.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>* Heinz-Josef Lücking, 1995: Ökologische Bewertung des Soestetals zwischen Cloppenburg und Stedingsmühlen (LK Cloppenburg, Nordwest-Deutschland) aus der Sicht des Naturschutzes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Vegetation, Gewässergüte und des ökomorphologischen Gewässerzustandes. BSH/NVN n a t u r s p e c i a l R E P O R T Heft 21.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions is a heritage-listed row of six terrace houses at 40 George Street , Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by G.H.M. Addison and built in 1889 by RE Burton. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 August 1992.</p><br>
<p>The architectural style is Victorian with Italianate influences.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Mansions, built in 1889 and located near Parliament House on the George Street ridge at the corner of Margaret Street, was designed by architect George Henry Male Addison as six attached elite masonry houses. Constructed by RE Burton for £11,700, it was an investment for three Queensland politicians - Boyd Dunlop Morehead, then Premier; William Pattison, Treasurer; and John Stevenson, member for Clermont - during a decade of enormous population growth and land development in Brisbane.</p><br>
<p>Since the 1820s, the north bank and adjacent ridgeline of the Brisbane River, now containing William and George Streets, has always featured a concentration of government and associated activities and uses. Over the period of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, buildings constructed along this ridgeline, were used by government officials for "accommodation, administration and control". When the settlement was closed in 1842, the remnant penal infrastructure was used by surveyors as a basis for the layout for the new town of Brisbane. Set at right angles to the river, the prisoners barracks determined Queen Street, while the line of buildings along the ridge determined William Street. Streets surveyed parallel to these streets including George Street, formed Brisbanes rectangular grid.</p><br>
<p>While a range of buildings and activities occurred along George and William Streets from the 1840s, the government maintained its dominant presence in the area. At some sites (such as the former Commissariat Store and Brisbane Botanic Gardens) earlier uses were continued. The establishment phase following the separation of Queensland in 1859 saw the new colonial government reserve land parcels and construct a range of buildings to facilitate its functions. The building of Government House (now Old Government House) and Parliament House along the eastern end of the George Street alignment in the 1860s firmly entrenched the physical reality of a government precinct in the area.</p><br>
<p>The siting of Parliament House had a pronounced effect on the built environment around lower George Street. Many of Queensland&#39;s early politicians were pastoralists, a reflection of their economic dominance in the colony. Together with a growing workforce of public servants, these politicians required accommodation when in Brisbane. From the 1860s to the 1880s, a range of buildings, many built by, or for politicians, were built to address these needs.</p><br>
<p>Throughout the 1880s Brisbane was transforming into a colonial city. Many of Queenslands immigrants remained in the capital, swelling the population from almost 40,000 in 1881 to well over 90,000 in 1891. This growth stimulated building, municipal organisation, amenities and services, and cultural and leisure outlets. The flourishing building activity caused Brisbanes practising architects to treble in number, and builders and contractors to rise from 16 in 1882 to 87 in 1887. Brisbane&#39;s centre sprouted a host of impressive new stone buildings including the Customs House, additions to the Government Printing Office, the first wing of the Treasury Building and the Alice Street facade of Parliament House. The number of inhabited dwellings in the capital almost doubled between 1881 and 1891 from 5,814 to 10,321, causing the town to overshoot its old boundaries. Consequently, land speculation was extensive and the capital value of metropolitan land rose towards its peak in 1890, a level not approximated again until 1925.</p><br>
<p>The land on which The Mansions was later erected, lots 1 and 2 of Portion 38, was originally purchased as Town Lot 56 in 1852 by land speculator James Gibbon. By 1863 he had subdivided the land into three lots, but lots 1 and 2 remained vacant. The land was transferred in 1882 to William Williams, a successful Brisbane businessman associated with the Australian Steam Navigation Shipping Company. He in turn sold the vacant land in August 1888 to Pattison, Morehead and Stevenson who were members of parliament, business associates and friends.</p><br>
<p>BD Morehead (1843-1905) was a pastoralist, businessman and politician who served in both the Queensland Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. With AB Buchanan he established BD Morehead and Co. in 1873 which comprised a mercantile and trading business and a stock and station agency. He experienced financial disaster in the 1893 economic crisis. William Pattison (1830–96), a businessman, mine director and politician, served in the Queensland Legislative Assembly between 1886 and 1893. He was one of the original shareholders and later chairman of directors of the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company but was damaged politically and economically by the 50% collapse of the company&#39;s share price from mid-1888. John Stevenson was a pastoralist who bought into the firm of BD Morehead and Co., managing the stock and station business until 1896 when he formed the business J Stevenson and Co. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1875 to 1893.</p><br>
<p>These three men engaged architect George Henry Male Addison to design a row of houses for the George Street site. Addison had moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and established a branch of Oakden, Addison and Kemp, which in 1888 won the competition to build a new exhibition hall for the National Agricultural and Industrial Association on Gregory Terrace (now known as the Old Museum Building). Addison was an accomplished designer, his buildings stylistically eclectic and more ornately and highly finished than any previously seen in the city. The distinctive use of face brickwork relieved with stone or rendered detailing and steep dominant roof forms are characteristics of his work. Other Addison-designed buildings include the Albert Street Uniting Church in Brisbane and the Strand Theatre in Toowoomba Addisons skills and distinctive style of domestic architecture were recognised and attracted business from Queenslands leading professionals. Noteworthy houses designed by him are Cliveden Mansions in Brisbane; Kirkston in Brisbane; Oonooraba in Maryborough, and Ralahyne, and Cumbooquepa both in South Brisbane. Addison called tenders for the construction of The Mansions viz "city residences in George street" in the Brisbane Courier on 29 September 1888, closing on 15 October. RE Burton&#39;s tender of £11,600 was accepted.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions was designed to be impressive and aesthetically pleasing, using high quality materials, generous use of ornamentation and careful composition of building forms, the six individual houses being unified by the overriding use of arcades and the arrangement, in alternating pairs, of entries and roof dormers. The design was well suited to the climate, the arcades providing shade without impeding ventilation. Soon after the residences were completed in late 1889 The Boomerang described them as:"unique in their way, being built after the Queen Anne style of red brick with stone facing. They have been constructed to suit the climate. The mantelpieces are very rich and were specially imported. In fact, its as fine a terrace as any in Australia".Addison published a drawing of The Mansions in 1890 in the Building and Engineering Journal of Australia, describing them as:"convenient and roomy having three reception rooms and ten bedrooms, exclusive of servants" quarters. The front is of brick, relieved with Oomaroo stone, the total cost &pound;11,700...".The Mansions as terraced houses were a type of land use that was uncommon in colonial Queensland due to the enactment of the Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act 1885. This legislation enforced a minimum lot size of 16 perches (404 m) and a minimum frontage of 30 feet (10 metres) effectively stopping the building of terraced housing in Queensland except as a rental investment. Early pre-legislation versions of terraced housing in Brisbane included Harris Terrace and Hodgsons Terrace (demolished) in George Street; Athol Place in Spring Hill (1860s); Princess Row in Petrie Terrace (1863) and a group of four houses (-85) in Wellington Road, Petrie Terrace. Terraces built around 1885 or afterwards included Byrne Terrace on Wickham Terrace (1885–86, architects John Hall and Son, demolished); OKeefe Terrace on Petrie Terrace (1886–87, architect Andrea Stombuco and Son); Cook Terrace (1889, possibly Taylor and Richer) on Coronation Drive; Cross Terrace in Red Hill (1886); Petrie Mansions on Petrie Terrace (1887–88); Brighton Terrace in West End (1890 John Beauchamp Nicholson); and two terrace houses on Wellington Street, Petrie Terrace (1894/95). Of these, The Mansions was the grandest and most ambitious architecturally.</p><br>
<p>Elite tenants began to occupy the well-located residences from 1889 but the economic downturn which culminated in the 1893 depression denied full occupancy. Although the Queensland economy experienced problems from the mid-1880s, the downturn only became apparent from 1889 after local confidence waned and British investment funds dried up. The building industry was affected first and most severely, then depression spread to other sectors of the economy. The severest years of the depression in Queensland were from 1891 to 1893. Brisbanes economic experiences followed those of the Queensland economy overall but with different emphases. The phenomenal growth of the 1880s had culminated in widespread speculation in land and buildings, which created an excess capacity of offices and dwellings. Brisbanes descent into depression began with a crash in the construction and building materials industries and the collapse of building societies towards the end of 1891 after the climax of its land and building boom. Land and rent values began dropping in 1890, reaching their lowest level in 1893-1894. Empty dwellings became a common sight in the city and suburbs - some deserted while other recently built ones had never been occupied. All three investors in The Mansions suffered severe financial losses during this depression.</p><br>
<p>By 30 November 1889 two of the villas were occupied by members of parliament, William Pattison and the Hon. Hume Black. Pattison moved from The Mansions in July 1891 and a Mrs Prince, previously of Glencairn, Wickham Terrace advertised that she had leased:"the Hon. W Pattisons late residence, The Mansion, George Street and would be "pleased to receive applications for Accommodation. The buildings are situated close to Parliament House and are therefore highly suited to members".In 1892 The Mansions housed a Mrs Probyn who resided in "The Grange" (possibly a boarding house) and which was replaced the following year by Elizabeth Bird&#39;s boarding house.</p><br>
<p>Between 1896 and 1954 The Mansions was used primarily as boarding houses, which operated under various names. Guests included professional families such as barrister and later University of Queensland Registrar Frank Cumbrae-Stewart and family from 1906, the Commissioner of Public Health John Simeon Colebrook Elkington and wife in 1912, District Court Judge Allan Wight McNaughton and electrical engineer William Muir Nelson. Some doctors such as Arthur Benjamin Carvosso continued to practice from The Mansions.</p><br>
<p>Despite ownership of The Mansions changing a number of times, this did not result in changes of use. The property was transferred to the Queensland National Bank in August 1898 and was sold in 1912 to Gerard Ralph Gore and Christiana Gore, pastoralists on the Darling Downs, in order to recoup the loan for its construction. In 1925 the property was sold again but due to the owners death quickly transferred to the Queensland Trustees. In 1947 the property was sold to three new owners, two of whom ran three boarding houses using the propertys six villas. The boarding houses (from the Alice Street end) were named Lonsdale (24-26 George Street), Glenmore (28-30) and Binna Burra (32-44).</p><br>
<p>In 1954 The Mansions was offered at public auction, but passed in when the reserve was not reached.</p><br>
<p>Subsequently, the Queensland Government purchased the property for use as government offices as part of its acquisition of buildings in George Street under what was then officially known as the "George Street Plan". A shortage of accommodation for administrative offices in State-owned buildings had been identified immediately after World War II when the Queensland Government began to expand their activities considerably in Brisbane city. Most public servants were then located in the Treasury and Executive Buildings in George Street and in offices in Anzac Square. The shortage of office accommodation in the Brisbane central business district, and the need to address future requirements, led to a phase of governmental property acquisition in the city. The purchase of properties on George and William Streets between the Government Printing Office and Parliament House was a key focus, in addition to other acquisitions on Charlotte, Mary and Margaret Streets. Properties in William Street were purchased in 1946-1947 and the expenditure in 1954 on properties for this purpose in George, William and Margaret Streets, including The Mansions, was £60,500. Despite their varying condition and former uses, many of these newly acquired buildings were quickly adapted for government use.</p><br>
<p>At this time the Department of Public Works prepared measured drawings of The Mansions. "Lonsdale" and "Glenmore" were described as:"a three storey double brick building...conducted as a residential and compris 32 rooms, 16 of which are let as flatettes and 16 as serviced rooms".Linings and ceilings were plaster except at the top floor where ceilings were beaded pine. Floors were mainly pine. There were 10 fireplaces of which two were marble and the remainder "ornamental timber". There was one "set of 4 foot wide twin cedar staircases in excellent condition". Four bathrooms, two shower rooms, two laundries and six sewerage units served the property. The condition of the properties was considered to be fair. At the rear of the land, there were two double storey brick dormitories and a garage, which were of much inferior construction and finish to the main building.</p><br>
<p>Conversion of The Mansions into government offices cost £45,054. Drawings prepared for the conversion show that the general configuration of the houses was changed. Walls were removed, new doorways made, fireplaces blocked, internal partitions installed, concrete floors for toilets added and all stairs except one at the rear of no. 28-30 were removed or altered. Original details including dado panelling in the halls and dining rooms, and leadlight sidelights on the front doors were removed. Evidence of the original asymmetrical arrangement of bay windows at ground floor level was lost except in no. 24-26 and new load-bearing partitions were installed on the first and second floor levels above the dining rooms.</p><br>
<p>A range of government departments occupied The Mansions until the 1970s. The Government Statisticians Office was located on the ground floor from and by 1961 the Medical boards, Licensing Commission, Prices Branch, Department of Public Works and Probation Office occupied the first floor. Replanning of the Medical boards offices took place in 1967 and remodelling of the ground floor for the Comptroller-General of Prisons occurred in 1972.</p><br>
<p>The consolidation of government ownership and usage along George and William streets led to a number of schemes in being investigated by the state to further the development of a "government precinct". By 1965, a masterplan had been developed involving the demolition of all buildings between the Executive Building (Land Administration Building) and Parliament House, to enable the construction of three high-rise office buildings in a "plaza setting". In November 1965 the government announced the proposed demolition of its George Street office buildings. A new Executive Building was completed in 1971 as part of this plan (scheduled for demolition in 2017 as part of the Queen&#39;s Wharf Redevelopment). However, by the early 1970s this plan for the precinct was considered no longer suitable and a number of other proposals for the area were explored.</p><br>
<p>A 1974 "George Street Masterplan" involved lower rise buildings spread out over greater areas and the demolition of the Bellevue Hotel and The Mansions. A major influence in ultimately shaping the layout of the area during the 1970s was the growing community support for the retention of older buildings within the government precinct. In 1973 the National Trust of Queensland began a public campaign to save both The Mansions and its next-door neighbour in George Street, the Bellevue Hotel, from demolition under the Queensland Government&#39;s "George Street Masterplan". The campaign highlighted the government-related associations and links between buildings, their architectural qualities, and aesthetic contributions to the area in submissions to the government and in the public sphere. The unannounced June 1974 removal of the balconies of the Bellevue Hotel was a deliberate action by the Queensland Government to degrade the visual appearance of the area, and drew further attention to the conservation cause.</p><br>
<p>Ultimately the Bellevue Hotel was demolished in April 1979 after Cabinet adopted a recommended schedule of demolition work to further the development of the government precinct. The Bellevue Hotel was to be demolished, but The Mansions and the original section of Harris Terrace were to be retained, renovated and adapted. On 21 April, three days after this decision, the Bellevue Hotel was demolished in the early hours of the morning, a notorious event in the history of heritage conservation in Queensland causing a furore of public complaint.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions servants wings and stables were demolished later in 1979 in accordance with the Cabinet decision. However, this did not cause a complete loss of the area to the rear of The Mansions, which may still reveal archaeological information about foundations and material culture related to servants occupation of this area of the site.</p><br>
<p>Subsequently, several schemes were prepared for the reconstruction and conservation of The Mansions. Measured drawings of the remaining sections of the building were prepared and exteriors photographed. Plans for the renovations and alterations were prepared by Lund Hutton Ryan Architects in 1980 and in 1982 further plans for the restoration were prepared by Conrad and Gargett in association with the Department of Public Works. At this time it was reported that there were problems with rising damp; the existing roof framing was generally sound; none of the original staircases survived; all internal walls were plastered brick or plaster and lathe on timber framing; the few original ceilings on the ground and first floors were plaster and lathe while on the second floor they were tongue and groove pine; some original skirtings, architraves, cornices and ceiling roses remained; some original fire surrounds and grates survived; many original doors and windows survived but were in disrepair; and hardware had been changed.</p><br>
<p>A final renovation scheme was prepared then carried out in 1983-1984. This development removed most of the 1950s fit-out as well as removing original material, reconstructing features and adding new features such as a lift and air conditioning plant. A transverse corridor was created by enclosing parts of the rear courtyards in glass requiring reconfiguration of the rear verandahs. Stairs and toilets were installed in the second reception room at the ground floor level. Walls which formed the small front room at the first floor level were removed. All the ceilings and the remaining evidence of the original off centre bay layout of no. 24-26 at ground floor level and the surviving dining room fireplace in no. 40 were removed. Castings of ceiling roses were installed throughout the rooms. Most of the wall plaster was removed. Most door and window joinery was reconstructed. New stairs were constructed using detail and parts from the original but in a new configuration. The roof sheeting was replaced, new finials constructed and the rear verandahs rebuilt. New dormer windows at roof level were constructed facing south-west over the new rear verandahs. Most of the ground floor and second floor ceiling framing and some of the roof framing was replaced. All floors were re-laid with plywood and hearths removed, concrete slabs were laid in wet areas, tie downs were installed and new ceramic tile paving was laid on verandah floors.</p><br>
<p>On 28 April 1986 Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen officially opened the Government Precinct Development incorporating the State Works Centre, the renovated Harris Terrace and The Mansions. After the redevelopment, The Mansions housed a variety of professional offices and exclusive specialist retail stores. A restaurant also operated in the building.</p><br>
<p>Since this refurbishment only minor alterations have occurred to the buildings, apart from updating of services and the provision of disability access. A freestanding roof was constructed next to the south-east rear verandah of the house at the Alice Street end for the restaurant tenant in 1988.</p><br>
<p>In 1990 there was a proposal to sell The Mansions with the Port Office and Smellies building but this did not proceed.</p><br>
<p>In 2002, the Mansions was featured in a television advertisement for the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, which starred Steve Irwin.</p><br>
<p>In 2005 timber decking and ramps were added in Queen&#39;s Place for access at the Alice Street end.</p><br>
<p>In 2015, it was announced that The Mansions would be restored and used as an up-market tea house, dining and bar, and serviced apartments as part of the Queen&#39;s Wharf Redevelopment.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Mansions is a three-storeyed brick and stone terrace on the corner of Margaret and George Street, Brisbane. The building stands in an urban context, on a high ridge of land, with open landscaped space behind and beside it. The precinct is dominated by mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth century state government-related buildings including the nearby Parliament House, Queensland Club, Harris Terrace, the former Government Printing Office, former Land Administration Building, and the former Treasury Building. It makes a strong contribution to the George and Margaret Streets streetscapes as a prominent, decorative and striking form.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions is a face brick structure with limestone dressings and a painted corrugated steel roof. It sits back slightly from the George Street alignment behind a brick pier fence with wrought iron panels. However, it is built to the Margaret Street alignment. The building is visibly separated into six houses unified by the facade - a deep arcade of arches on the ground and first floors along both street fronts. The second floor is partially incorporated within the roof space behind a decorative parapet. Each house has an octagonal bay projecting onto the arcade on both levels that is carried through onto the roof as a multi-faced hip perpendicular to the main roof. Although fully cohesive, the design is perceptibly five houses facing George Street that are mirrors of each other in plan with a sixth house, on the corner, primarily facing Margaret Street that is of an individual layout and superior scale. The sixth house has two octagonal bays and they are larger and project fully to the street alignment. The entrance to the sixth house is from Margaret Street.</p><br>
<p>The building is designed in a Victorian style with Italianate influences. The arcade is decoratively treated. Short cast iron colonettes (thin columbs) have Ionic order capitals incorporating garland swags, carved limestone panels, and entrances accentuated by triangular pediments. Two sculpted limestone cats sit atop the parapet of the George Street facade.</p><br>
<p>Wings with timber verandahs on their ground and first floors extend off the rear and are separated by courtyards. Rear walls feature cement render indicating the profile of demolished service wings.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the building is considerably altered. Room layouts indicate original separate tenancies but openings in the party walls now connect them. Fittings, though ornate, are reproductions and suspended ceilings conceal air-conditioning ducts. A lift and other modern facilities are also installed.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The Mansions was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 August 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions (1889) is important in demonstrating the evolution of urban development in colonial Queensland as a result of the 1880s land boom, especially in the capital city Brisbane.</p><br>
<p>It demonstrates the pattern of development of the Brisbane CBD with lower George Street as a prestigious residential area associated with parliament and the site of professional offices from the 1860s. The Mansions is a distinctive example of this residential development of lower George Street.</p><br>
<p>It also demonstrates, through its purchase and refit for government offices, the development of lower George Street as a government office precinct post World War II.</p><br>
<p>The survival of The Mansions, despite 1960s plans for its demolition, demonstrates how increased public concern about the preservation of heritage buildings influenced government redevelopment plans during the 1970s and 1980s.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&apos;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions demonstrates nineteenth century terraced housing - a form of housing, which was uncommon and is now rare in Queensland. The building is a distinctive and exceptional example of prestigious, late nineteenth century terraced housing.</p><br>
<p>The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions has potential to contribute to a greater understanding of Queenslands history. Potential exists at the rear of The Mansions for archaeological materials including footings and foundations associated with the former servants and kitchen wings, and objects and refuse commonly found within domestic contexts, particularly ceramic, glass and personal items.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of late nineteenth century, terraced housing. Defining elements of this style of housing include its shared dividing walls, repetition of form and linear house plan. Comprising six residences, the building is a fine and rare Queensland example of prestigious, late nineteenth century terrace housing and exemplifies the urban lifestyle experienced by affluent Queenslanders of this period.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions are also an excellent example of the work of George Henry Male Addison, a designer who made an important contribution to Queenslands built environment. Stylistically these highly finished and ornate terrace houses are unlike any others in Queensland but are characteristic of Addisons work as an accomplished designer achieving maximum effect with roof form and face brickwork relieved with stone detailing.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions is important for its architectural attributes. The skilful and complex composition of face brickwork, stone detailing, shady arcaded verandahs, integrated gardens and fencing, and complex roof form are of aesthetic beauty and make a strong contribution to the George and Margaret Streets streetscape and to the government precinct in George and William Streets.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions has a strong association for its cultural heritage significance with Queenslanders concerned about heritage issues. It was the focus of the National Trust of Queensland&#39;s campaign to save the Belle Vue Hotel and The Mansions during the 1970s, which had wide public support and resulted in The Mansions not being demolished. Newspaper, film, magazine and journal articles from the period demonstrate this association.</p><br>
<p>The Kazinga Channel in Uganda is a wide, 32 km long natural channel that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The channel attracts a varied range of animals and birds, with one of the world&#39;s largest concentration of hippos and numerous Nile crocodiles.</p><br>
<p>Lake George is a small lake with an average depth of only 2.4 m and which is fed by streams from the Rwenzori mountains. Its outflow is through the Kazinga Channel which drains into Lake Edward, water levels fluctuating very little.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, large numbers of hippos were killed in the channel as a result of an anthrax outbreak, which occurs when animals eat remnants of vegetation in the driest months, absorbing bacterial spores that can live for decades in dry soil.</p><br>
<p>The channel is described as a popular wildlife tourism area.</p><br>
<p>Lixus is the site of an ancient Roman-Berber-Punic city located in Morocco, just north of the modern seaport of Larache on the bank of the Loukkos River. The location was one of the main cities of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Ancient Lixus is located on Tchemmich Hill on the right bank of the Loukkos River (other names: Oued Loukous; Locus River). It lies just to the north of the modern seaport of Larache. The site lies within the urban perimeter of Larache, and about three kilometres inland from the mouth of the river and the Atlantic ocean. From its 80 metres above the plain the site dominates the marshes through which the river flows. To the north, Lixus is surrounded by hills which themselves are bordered to the north and east by a forest of cork oaks.</p><br>
<p>Among the ruins are Roman baths, temples, 4th-century walls, a mosaic floor, a Christian church and the intricate and confusing remains of the Capitol Hill.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Lixus was first settled by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, and was later annexed by Carthage. It was part of a chain of Punic towns along the Atlantic coast of modern Morocco; other major settlements further to the south are Chellah (called Sala Colonia by the Romans) and Mogador. When Carthage fell to Ancient Rome, Lixus, Chellah and Mogador became imperial outposts of the Roman province Mauretania Tingitana.</p><br>
<p>The ancient sources agree to make of Lixus a counter Phoenician, which is confirmed by the archaeological discovery of material dating from 8th century BC. It gradually grew in importance, later coming under Carthaginian domination. After the destruction of Carthage, Lixus fell to Roman control and was made an imperial colony, reaching its zenith during the reign of the emperor Claudius I (AD 41-54).</p><br>
<p>Some ancient Greek writers located at Lixus the mythological garden of the Hesperides, the keepers of the golden apples. The name of the city was often mentioned by writers from Hanno the Navigator to the Geographer of Ravenna, and confirmed by the legend on its coins and by an inscription. The ancients believed Lixus to be the site of the Garden of the Hesperides and of a sanctuary of Hercules, where Hercules gathered gold apples, more ancient than the one at Cadiz, Spain. However, there are no grounds for the claim that Lixus was founded at the end of the second millennium BC.</p><br>
<p>Lixus flourished during the Roman Empire, mainly when the Emperor Claudius established the province of Africa with full rights for the citizens. Lixus was one of the few Roman cities in Berber Africa that enjoyed an amphitheater. In the third century, Lixus became nearly fully Christian and there are even now the ruins of a Paleochristian church overlooking the archaeological area. The Arab invasions destroyed the Roman city. Some Berber life was maintained there nevertheless until one century after the Islamic conquest of North Africa by the presence of a mosque and a house with a patio with the covered walls of painted stucco.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological works</h2><br>
<p>The site was excavated continuously from 1948 to 1969. In the 1960s, Lixus was restored and consolidated. In 1989, following an international conference which brought together many scientists, specialists, historians and archaeologists of the Mediterranean around the history and archaeology of Lixus, the site was partly enclosed. Work was undertaken to study the Roman mosaics of the site, which constitute a very rich unit. Lixus was on a surface of approximately 75 hectare. The excavated zones constitute approximately 20% of the total surface of the site.</p><br>
<h2>World Heritage Status</h2><br>
<p>This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 1, 1995 in the Cultural category.</p><br>
<p>Bird Island is the northernmost island in the Seychelles archipelago, 100 km from Mahe. The 0.94 km coral island is known for its birdlife, including sooty terns, fairy terns and common noddies, and for hawksbill and green turtles. It is now a private resort with 26 bungalows. It also contains a small weather station and a small landing strip Bird Island Airport which connects the island with Mahe.</p><br>
<p>Bird Island used to be known as "Île aux Vaches" due to the numerous dugongs (sea cows) that lived in nearby waters. Between 1896 and 1906, 17,000 tons of guano were removed from the island and exported to Mauritius as fertilizer. The island has been a coconut plantation, and for growing cash crops such as papaya and cotton.</p><br>
<p>Since 1967 it has been privately owned, and conservation measures have taken place such as protection of birdlife and hawksbill turtle nesting sites, the eradication of feral rats and rabbits and the translocation of a population of Seychelles sunbird.</p><br>
<p>Bird Island is named in honour of its spectacular colony of around 700,000 pairs of sooty tern that nest on the island. The birds arrive from late March, laying eggs in May and remaining until October before leaving the island. Another phenomenon especially in October to December, arises from the geographical location of Bird Island on the northern edge of the Seychelles Bank. This means it is the first landfall for migratory Eurasian birds and Seychelles Bird Records Committee has recorded here many species new to the country.</p><br>
<p>Denis Island is the second northeasternmost island in the Seychelles. It is 60 km north of Mahé and lies at the northern edge of the Seychelles bank, along with the nearby Bird Island, which is the northernmost Seychelles island. The 1.4 km&sup2; coral island was named after the French explorer Jean François Sylvestre Denis de Trobriand, who visited it in 1773. Denis Island is privately owned and has a short airstrip. It has a holiday resort with 25 guest chalets.</p><br>
<p>A lighthouse built in 1910 still stands on the northern edge of the island. There is also a chapel named Chapel St. Denis.</p><br>
<p>The island has an abundance of coconut palms, Takamaka and Casuarina trees. In 2004, 47 Seychelles fodies from Fregate Island and 58 Seychelles warblers from Cousin Island were relocated to Denis as part of a Nature Seychelles conservation project.</p><br>
<p>The island has been designated a cay, in the Seychelles Archipelago.</p><br>
<p>Silhouette Island lies 20 km northwest of Mahé in the Seychelles. It is the third largest granitic island in the Seychelles. It has an area of 20.1 km and has a population of 200, mostly workers on the island. The main settlement is La Passe, where Hilton Hotel is located. The name Silhouette was given after Étienne de Silhouette , the French minister of finances under Louis XV.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is mountainous with five peaks over 500 m in elevation; Mont Dauban 751 m, Mont-Pot-a-Eau 621 m, Gratte Fesse 515 m, Mont Corgat 502 m and Mont Cocos Marrons 500 m. As such, it has some of the most dramatic scenery of the islands.</p><br>
<p>Though superficially similar to neighbouring islands, much of Silhouette is made up of younger syenite dated from 63 million years ago. Between Point Ramasse Tout and Point Zeng Zeng lies the only surface volcanic ash in Seychelles.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The population of 200 lives in 3 villages, Grand Barbe, which is on the west coast, Anse Mondon and La Passe on the East coast.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The crew of an English East India Company vessel, the Ascension, were the first humans known to step ashore on Silhouette, in 1609. The island was visited by Charles Oger, who took possession of it in the name of the King of France on 28 January 1771. Graves discovered at Anse Lascars were thought to be evidence of earlier visitors, possibly of Arabic origin (hence the name "Lascars", which is the local term for an Arab). However, when bones from the graves were taken for investigation, they were dated to around 1800, around the time of the first settlement. Also, there is a legend in the Seychelles that the corsair Jean-François Hodoul buried his treasure on Silhouette Island.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-19th century until 1960, the island was owned by the Dauban family, who were originally from France but had settled in Mauritius in 1830. The Dauban family were responsible for developing extensive plantations on Silhouette. There is a mausoleum built in the style of La Madeleine in Paris, Église de la Madeleine, where a number of the family members are buried, including Auguste Dauban, whose business ventures were so extensive he earned the nickname "the Rothschild of the Indian Ocean". The Dauban era came to an end when Henri Dauban sold the island to a French group. Following the purchase of the island by the Seychelles government in 1983, a small hotel was constructed. This was later replaced by the larger Labriz Resort which was then bought by the Hilton hotel group. The Dauban plantation house has recently been restored.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Silhouette Island is one of the richest biodiversity points in the western Indian Ocean with many endemic and threatened plant and animal species. Among the most important is the Critically Endangered Seychelles sheath-tailed bat. Two roosting caves have been located, part of a single system of passages in a boulder field. Another roost complex was discovered in 2005 and 32 bats recorded. Most of the 75 or so endemic plants of the granitic islands of Seychelles are found on Silhouette, some of them unique to the island. One of the rarest of these is the Critically Endangered Impatiens gordonii, a white-flowered relative of the well-known garden plant Busy Lizzie, only ever recorded on Mahe and Silhouette. In 1987 the surrounding waters were declared a Marine National Park. In 2010, Silhouette National Park was created protecting 93 percent of the landmass. The island is also an Important Bird Area and is considered by the Alliance for Zero Extinction to be an important site for the survival of Critically Endangered species. Conservation of the island is managed by the Island Conservation Society.</p><br>
<h2>Species of interest</h2><br>
<p>Coleura seychellensis, the Seychelles sheath-tailed bat</p><br>
<p>Seychelles giant tortoise</p><br>
<p>Schefflera procumbens</p><br>
<p>Seychelles kestrel</p><br>
<p>Seychelles blue pigeon</p><br>
<p>Praslin is the second largest island  of the Seychelles, lying 44 km northeast of Mahé. Praslin has a population of around 7,533 people and comprises two administrative districts: Baie Sainte Anne and Grand Anse. The main settlements are the Baie Ste Anne, Anse Volbert and Grand Anse.</p><br>
<p>It was named Isle de Palmes by explorer Lazare Picault in 1744. During that time it was used as a hideaway by pirates and Arab merchants. In 1768 it was renamed Praslin in honor of French diplomat César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin.</p><br>
<p>Praslin is known as a tourist destination with several hotels and resorts, as well as a number of beaches such as Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette.</p><br>
<p>It has substantial tracts of tropical forests with birds such as the endemic Seychelles bulbul and the Seychelles black parrot. The Vallée de Mai Nature Preserve, established in 1979, is known for the unique coco de mer and vanilla orchids. It has been reported that General Charles George Gordon of Khartoum (1833-1885) was convinced that Vallée de Mai was the Biblical "Garden of Eden".</p><br>
<p>Praslin is home to Praslin Island Airport, while surrounding islands include Curieuse Island, La Digue, Cousin Island, Cousine Island and Aride Island. There are a few near offshore islets including Round Island (.193 km) and Chauve Souris (.007 km), both of which have hotel accommodations.</p><br>
<p>Twice in two weeks in August 2011 bull sharks entered the so-called safe bathing area inside the coral reef of Anse Lazio and attacked and killed swimmers less than 100 ft from shore. However, to put this in perspective, these were the first recorded fatal shark attacks in Seychelles for 50 years and none have been recorded after 2011.</p><br>
<p>A large area in the south of the island has been designated as Praslin National Park and surrounding areas Important Bird Area.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>La Digue is the third largest inhabited island of the Seychelles in terms of population, lying east of Praslin and west of Felicite Island. In terms of size it is the fourth largest granitic island of Seychelles after Mahé, Praslin and Silhouette Island. It has a population of 2,800 people, who mostly live in the west coast villages of La Passe  and La Réunion. There is no airport on La Digue, so to get there from a foreign country, one has to fly to Victoria and continue by ferry, usually via Praslin. It has an area of 10.08 km, which makes it relatively easy to travel around by bike or on foot.</p><br>
<p>La Digue was named after a ship in the fleet of French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, who visited the Seychelles in 1768.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to modern historians, La Digue was first sighted by the French navigator Lazare Picault in 1742, but it was not named until 1768. The first people settled on the island in 1789, when French colonists arrived with their African slaves. Most of them went back to France, but some people were left and some of todays inhabitants carry their names. Later, more French deportees arrived, followed by a large number of liberated slaves and Asian immigrants. In 1854, the first Catholic chapel was built on La Digue by Father Theophile. Most inhabitants of the island are of the Catholic faith. French colonists on La Digue manufactured coral lime, and they are believed to be responsible for the decline of the islands coral reefs. They also made copra out of coconuts, and they planted vanilla on their plantations. This tradition has been continued.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The Seychelles in general have warm temperatures throughout the year. Thanks to their location near the equator, they get frequent and sometimes heavy rainfall. On La Digue, rainfall can be very heavy, but it usually lasts for one hour or less. The day temperature on La Digue normally stays between 24 &deg;C and 32 &deg;C and the nights do not get too much colder than that. There is most rainfall from October to March, with a monthly precipitation of 402.6 mm in January. There is the least precipitation in July, with only 76.6 mm of rain.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>The inhabitants of La Digue are called Diguois. The first inhabitants arrived in 1798, exiled from Bourbon for taking part in a political rebellion there. They were supposed to be sent to the East Indies, but bribed the captain to ship them to Seychelles instead where many had relatives. The population of La Digue is mostly Catholic and the islands feast day on August 15 is a national holiday.</p><br>
<h2>Politics</h2><br>
<p>There is no separate government of La Digue, so it follows the laws and legislation set from the government in Victoria. The Seychelles have a president and the main political sides are the PP and SNP. The law system of the Seychelles is modelled on European politics.</p><br>
<h2>Government services</h2><br>
<p>Being an island with a population of only 2,800 people, there are not many government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to Praslin. La Digue has a post office which is closed on Sundays. There is a small police station that was mainly set up for tourists. There is a small hospital, although some inhabitants prefer to visit the hospitals in Praslin and Victoria. Women usually go to Victoria to give birth.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Today, the islands main industry is tourism, and it is known for its beaches, especially Anse Source dArgent and Grand Anse. La Digue went through a major tourist increase in the previous century, which heavily impacted the economy of the Seychelles. In former times, copra and vanilla production were mainstays of the local economy, which is commemorated in the island&#39;s museum.</p><br>
<p>Veuve Nature Reserve, in the islands interior, is home to the rare black paradise flycatcher, of which there are only about 100 in existence. La Digues tallest peak, Belle Vue (Eagle&#39;s Nest Mountain), is in the central part of the island, with a summit more than 300 m above sea level. La Digue is also visited for its wide variety of underwater creatures like fish, sharks and rays. The island has plenty of accommodation and activities to offer tourists. There are at least twenty guesthouses and hotels, a few restaurants and a dive centre. One can go on a boat trip or a diving trip around La Digue for one day or half a day. Furthermore, the Veuve reserve offers tourists a hiking trip with a guide who can show them the beauty of La Digue.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>Once, one was not allowed to own a car at La Digue. This has recently changed, but the main means of transportations are still bicycles. Tourists are requested to adapt to this lifestyle; it is possible to rent bicycles right near the pier. There are a few personally owned vehicles, but most cars and buses belong to hotel companies. Driving a large car or even a bus can turn out to be a quite hard task, because the roads were originally designed for bicycles. Two cars going against each other must slide off the road with two wheels in the sand. The people who own a car on La Digue usually have many seats built in so that it can accommodate their whole family. Another method of transport on La Digue is using an ox-cart, but most tourists avoid this because of the unpleasant smell.</p><br>
<h2>Cuisine</h2><br>
<p>Since La Digue is an island inhabited by many ethnic groups, the cuisine is a specific mix of world cuisines. With the abundance of fish, the Seychellois people have learned how to make hundreds of recipes out of this simple ingredient. One can have fish curry, fish fillets, raw fish with lemon, grilled fish, steamed fish, cooked fish and so on. The inhabitants of La Digue also make fried octopuses, lobsters with garlic and their biggest speciality &mdash; bat curry. An ingredient used to a very large degree is ginger, which is put in many meals. The most popular alcoholic drink on La Digue is palm wine, which most Seychellois people like to make themselves by fermenting the inside of a coconut.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>La Digue is the home to the critically endangered paradise flycatcher. However, there are more rare and endangered animals that live on this island. Since the Seychelles are detached from the rest of Africa, many of the species are endemic to La Digue. There is a significant population of giant tortoises that come from the island Aldabra. The subspecies that lived on La Digue is extinct. From the arthropod group there is, for example, the Seychelles coconut crab which likes to dig holes in the backyards of the Seychellois people. Among others, there are fodys, sunbirds, terns, fruitbats, sheath-tailed bats, and geckos.</p><br>
<p>The reefs and lagoons of La Digue offer a large amount of flora and fauna. Green sea turtles live on the very edges of the coral reefs, and they sometimes venture closer to the island. There are butterfly fish, eagle rays, murray eels and many other species of fish. Divers and snorkellers may be lucky enough to see blacktip reef sharks or even whale sharks, which come mainly in the winter but can be seen all year round.</p><br>
<p>Sadly, the animals that have traditionally lived on La Digue are threatened by animals that were brought there by the first inhabitants: rats, dogs, cats etc. The rat population was probably the first animal that was brought to the Seychelles. It quickly made many birds become extinct by eating their eggs and threatening their nests. The dog and cat population is not nearly as much of a threat, but it still is something that the original species of Seychelles are not used to.</p><br>
<p>The marine flora and fauna is threatened by the increasing number of tourists who damage corals and by the number of boats that pollute the clear waters of La Digue. There is concern that global climate change may be causing the corals to die.</p><br>
<p>Curieuse Island is a small granitic island 1.13 square miles in the Seychelles close to the north coast of the island of Praslin. Curieuse is notable for its bare red earth intermingled with the unique coco de mer palms, one of the cultural icons of the Seychelles, only growing on the two neighboring islands.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Originally named "Ile Rouge" due to its red coloured soil. In 1768 the French claimed possession of the island, naming it after the schooner "La Curieuse", a ship that was under the command of explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne. Like a number of islands in the Seychelles, there was a native giant tortoise population that was quickly extirpated.</p><br>
<p>In 1771 sailors set fire to the island, intending to make harvesting of the coco de mer nuts easier. The fire destroyed many of the islands&#39; native trees, and indications of the fire can still be seen today, nearly 250 years later.</p><br>
<p>In 1829, Curieuse was first used as a leper colony, and it functioned in this capacity until 1965. This helped protect the ecosystem from human influence. Today, ruins of the leprosarium remain, as well as the former physician&#39;s residence at Anse St. Joseph (now an educational center and museum).</p><br>
<h2>Conservation</h2><br>
<p>In 1967 a fire destroyed much of the vegetation on the island, including more than 150 coco de mer palms. Following this event, the government took ownership of the island and introduced various restoration and conservation projects.</p><br>
<p>In 1979, Curieuse and surrounding waters were declared the Curieuse Marine National Park in order to protect the native wildlife. Between 1978 and 1982, a conservation project relocated Aldabra giant tortoise from Aldabra to Curieuse. Today, it is the home of more than 300 Aldabra giant tortoise, some staying around the Ranger&#39;s Station and the rest roaming around elsewhere on the island.</p><br>
<p>On the southern part of the island is a mangrove swamp that is traversed by a walkway for park visitors. The island is also known for coco de mer palms, giant takamaka trees, a large hawksbill turtle rookery and several bird species, such as the rare Seychelles black parrot Coracopis nigra barklyi, a parrot found only here and on Praslin. Among the plant species on the island, several are native and endemic to Curieuse; Porcher (Cordia subcordata), Bois Chandelle (Dracaena), Lalyann dile (Secamone schimperiana, Bwa bannann (Gastonia sechellarum) and Bois Cassant de Bord Mer (Guettarda speciosa)</p><br>
<p>Most visitors to the Curieuse Marine National Park disembark at Baie Laraie, where the shallow water is known for its population of large humphead parrotfish, growing up to 1.2 m in length. There is a trail from Baie Laraie to Anse St. José on the other side of the island passing over the boardwalk through the thick mangrove forest. The ruins of the leper colony is now well blended into the landscape and includes Creole colonial architecture which consists of a doctors house built for Dr. William Macgregor in 1973, now turned into a museum containing information about Curieuse Islands history. On the beach in front of the Doctor&#39;s House, sea turtles lay their eggs. There is also currently a satellite camp for the Seychelles branch of Global Vision International, a volunteer group that focuses on conservation of the island and surveys local fish, coral, turtle and coco de mer numbers.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Aride Island is the northernmost granitic island in the Seychelles . A nature reserve, it is leased and managed by the Island Conservation Society of Seychelles.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The name ‘Aride’ first appears on nautical charts after French voyages of exploration in 1770 and 1771. The first written account was in 1787 by Jean-Baptiste Malavois, French commandant of Seychelles, who described it as being “…no more than a pile of rocks covered with a few bushes.” Between 1817 and 1829 Aride was possibly an unofficial leper colony. In 1868, the Irishman Perceval Wright, who gave his name to Aride’s unique gardenia and one of its endemic lizards, visited Aride. In 1883, the British artist Marianne North painted a scene on the island, reporting just one large tree, beneath which the island staff sheltered from the sun. Coconut palms were planted over much of Aride and copra production became important economically. Dogs, pigs, cats and chickens were introduced, though fortunately rats never arrived.</p><br>
<p>The wooden plantation house on Aride, overlooking the small settlement, is one of the last buildings of its type to survive in Seychelles.</p><br>
<p>For almost a century sooty tern eggs were cropped with up to 220,000 being removed each season. Not surprisingly the number of nesting seabirds declined and all endemic land birds were wiped out. However, in 1967, the island’s owner, Paul Chenard, ceased egg collection and declared the island a reserve. In 1973, Mr. Christopher Cadbury purchased Aride for the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (now Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts). In 1979 it was declared a Special Reserve under Seychelles law, to include a marine zone of 200m around the island, with penalties including imprisonment for killing or disturbance of its wildlife.</p><br>
<p>In 2003, management was transferred to Island Conservation Society. In 2006, the freehold was transferred to the UK Registered Charity Island Conservation Society UK and in 2008, the island was leased back to Island Conservation Society of Seychelles.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is part of the district of Grand&#39;Anse, located 10 km north of Praslin island and is 68 hectares in area.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The only human inhabitants are the reserve&#39;s staff; currently four Seychellois rangers, two expatriate Conservation Officers and two volunteers. They live in the main village of the island, La Cour, on the south side of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Government services</h2><br>
<p>Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to Praslin.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Today, the island is dedicated to conservation supported by ecotourism. It is known for huge seabird colonies, with more breeding species than any other single Seychelles island plus large numbers of non-breeding frigatebirds. The density of lizards is also one of the greatest on earth. There is only one beach, which faces south, making access difficult when the southeast trade winds are at their height (June to September)</p><br>
<p>There is no overnight accommodation other than for the resident staff of the island but one can visit for the day by boat trip from neighbouring Praslin, 8 kilometres to the south.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>the main means of transportation is bicycles.</p><br>
<h2>Cuisine</h2><br>
<p>Fish is the staple diet supplemented by fruit and vegetables grown on the island and other foodstuffs brought by the island boat from Praslin.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Over 1.25 million seabirds regularly breed on Aride including the worlds largest colony of lesser noddy, the largest Seychelles population of roseate tern and the worlds largest colony of tropical shearwater. There is also an enormous roost of non-breeding frigatebirds.</p><br>
<p>There are five species endemic to Seychelles resident on Aride. The Seychelles warbler was introduced from Cousin Island to Aride in 1988 and its population is now the largest in the world with over 2,000 pairs. The Seychelles fody was also introduced from Cousin in 2002, as well the Seychelles magpie robin from Fregate Island. The Seychelles blue pigeon and the Seychelles sunbird have re-colonised Aride naturally.</p><br>
<p>Reptilian fauna includes several species of skink, three species of gecko and three species of non-poisonous snakes. Green turtles and hawksbill turtles are regular visitors to the beaches of Aride.</p><br>
<p>Aride is the only place in the world where the flowering shrub Wright&#39;s gardenia Rothmannia annae is endemic.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Cousin Island is a small  granitic island of the Seychelles, lying 2 km west of Praslin. It is a nature reserve protected under Seychelles law as a Special Reserve. It is managed by Nature Seychelles, a national nonprofit organization and Partner of BirdLife International, by which it has been identified as an Important Bird Area.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>A plateau covered with indigenous woodland extends over most of the island, which is almost encircled by a long sandy beach. The southern coast is rocky. A 69 m hill occupies the centre of the island’s southern half. There is an area of mangroves and three small, freshwater swamps. A marine reserve, protecting coral reefs, extends 400 m into the sea from the shoreline.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The island was formerly a coconut plantation that had been stripped of much of its native vegetation. The endemic Seychelles warbler had become almost extinct, with a population of only 26 birds. In 1968 BirdLife International, at the time known as the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), bought the island and removed young coconut trees, thus allowing the native vegetation to regenerate and native fauna to recover. It was declared a special reserve in 1975.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The island’s woodland is dominated by Pisonia grandis, Morinda citrifolia and Ochrosia oppositifolia trees. Casuarina equisetifolia trees and Coconut palms fringe the coast. The rocky southern part of the island is characterised by Pandanus balfourii, Ficus reflexa, Ficus lutea and Euphorbia pyrifolia shrubs, with tall herbs and ferns.</p><br>
<p>There are several species of endemic Seychelles lizards on the island, the skinks Mabuya wrightii, M. seychellensis and Pamelascincus gardineri and the geckos Phelsuma astriata and Ailuronyx sechellensis, as well as a freshwater turtle Pelusios subniger and 12 Aldabra giant tortoises. It is an important nesting site for hawksbill turtles and, occasionally, green turtles. The island is free of rats. Indian hares have been introduced but are not considered harmful to the vegetation.</p><br>
<h3>Birds</h3><br>
<p>The island was the last refuge of the Seychelles warbler, with only 26–29 individual birds left in 1959. Following conservation efforts the population began to recover and birds were translocated to other islands. In 1999, the population on Cousin was 353 birds with 104 occupied territories. The total warbler population has since grown to some 3000 birds. The island is one of only four that host the Seychelles fody, with an estimated 800–1,200 birds in 1997. A small breeding population of Seychelles magpie-robin was established in 1995, with three pairs translocated from Frégate; in 1997, the population had increased to 25 birds in four occupied territories. Other landbirds present include the endemic Seychelles sunbird and Seychelles blue pigeon as well as the Malagasy turtle dove.</p><br>
<p>The island hosts over 300,000 nesting seabirds of seven species. A large colony, dominated by lesser noddies, but including about 1300 pairs of brown noddies, is present from May to September during the south-east monsoon. During the north-west monsoon, the hill supports a breeding colony of wedge-tailed shearwaters. Year-round breeders include white and bridled terns, white-tailed tropicbirds and some 1000–1,500 pairs of Audubon&#39;s shearwaters. Several hundred great and lesser frigatebirds use the island for roosting and can be seen soaring over it. Some waders are present throughout the year, the commonest being the ruddy turnstone. Common moorhens and striated herons also breed on the island.</p><br>
<h2>Conservation</h2><br>
<p>The island is known as a site for good practice in environmental management and has been the focus of many case studies. It is used by international research organisations and universities as a research base. It is a Demonstration Site for the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). Its ecotourism program has won several prizes including the Condé Nast ecotourism award and a Tourism for Tomorrow award. It is linked to other privately owned islands that contain endemic biodiversity through the Island Conservation Centre on Praslin island, funded by a World Bank/Global Environment Facility project. The Centre aims to increase awareness of conservation efforts on Cousin and elsewhere through displays, educational programs and work with grass roots groups.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>The island is accessible by sea from Praslin, or the neighbouring resort island of Cousine. It is open to visitors every morning, Monday to Friday, but is closed at weekends and on public holidays.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Moyenne Island is a small island  in the Ste Anne Marine National Park off the north coast of Mahé, Seychelles. Since the 1970s it has been a flora and fauna reserve. From 1915 until the 1970s, the island was abandoned until its purchase by Brendon Grimshaw, a former newspaper editor, originally from Dewsbury in Yorkshire, England.</p><br>
<p>Grimshaw was the only inhabitant of the island until his death in July 2012. Currently the island is a National Park and can be visited as part of organized trips.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Brendon Grimshaw purchased the island for £8,000 in 1962 and set about making the island habitable. He did this with the help of one other man, Rene Antoine Lafortune. They operated the island as a nature reserve, charging visitors €12 to come ashore, roam the island, dine at the "Jolly Roger" restaurant and relax on the beach.</p><br>
<p>Grimshaw and his friend planted sixteen thousand trees, built 4.8 km of nature paths, and brought and bred giant tortoises, creating an island of incredible beauty now worth 34 million Euros. Apart from a wide variety of plant and bird life, the island is home to around 120 giant tortoises. The eldest, Desmond, is 76 years old, according to Grimshaw in 2012. He named the tortoise after his godson.</p><br>
<p>There are rumours that pirate treasure is buried on the island. Grimshaw made two major digs and found some evidence of man-made hiding places, but no gold or other treasure has been found as of yet. There are two graves on the island which have been said to be those of pirates, although this cannot be confirmed. His father was also buried on the island.</p><br>
<p>After 20 years of persistence, Grimshaw and his assistant Lafortune achieved their goal of making Moyenne Island a National Park in its own right, separate to that of the Ste. Anne marine park. Now known as the Moyenne Island National Park, it harbours more species per square foot than any other part of the world. The island is 4.5 km away from the main island of Mahe.</p><br>
<p>Grimshaw died in Victoria, Mahe, in July 2012.</p><br>
<p>in 2013, after the island has received its own national park status, a new hut was built and a warden was posted on the island, collecting the entrance fee from tourists.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>The island belongs to Mont Fleuri District.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Today, the islands main industry is tourism, and it is known for its beaches, especially Anse Creole Travel Services (formerly known as Anse Jolly Roger). The restaurant on the beach is a haven for tourists. behind the restaurant is the local wardens house.</p><br>
<p>The island is also visited for its wide variety of underwater creatures like fish, sharks and rays.</p><br>
<h2>Cuisine</h2><br>
<p>Fish is the main ingredient.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Cerf Island  lies 4 km off the northeast coast of Mahé in the Seychelles.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Cerf Island measures 1.7 km long and 1 km wide, it reaches a height of 108 m. The island is surrounded by a coral reef and the geology is granitic. it is part of the Ste Anne Marine National Park.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Cerf Island was named after the royal French navy frigate Le Cerf which arrived at Port Victoria on 1 November 1756 during the Seven Years&#39; War. On board was Corneille Nicholas Morphey, leader of the French expedition, which claimed the island by laying a Stone of Possession on Mahe, Seychelles’ oldest monument, now on display in the National Museum of History, Victoria.</p><br>
<p>In the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Some properties on Cerf Island suffered minor damage.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>Cerf Island is one of the islands in the marine park to have a small local population (not resort staff or rangers), who commute to Mahé for their daily business. It has a local population of 100, mostly centered in the southwest corner of the island, which allows them to make the short commute by boat to Mahé for work.</p><br>
<p>Well-known residents of Cerf formerly included the celebrated South African novelist Wilbur Smith, writer, explorer and treasure hunter William "Bill" Travis and yacht designer Phil Southwell. Artists Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar lived for a year on the island in 1998, where they created the cult cartoon Harold&#39;s Planet.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>The island belongs to Mont Fleuri District.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Cerf island has a small art gallery, Anglican chapel, Catholic chapel, and a cemetery.</p><br>
<p>A high standard of accommodation is available in three hotel establishments (Cerf Island Marine Park Resort, Fairy Tern Chalets, and L&#39;Habitation) currently on the island.</p><br>
<p>There is also a guest lodge, 3 restaurants (Kapok Tree), a spa, a small shop, and a beach bar. There are no paved roads or local infrastructure on the island; travel to-and-from the island is by boat and by helicopter which lands at the heli pad at.</p><br>
<p>There are no roads or local infrastructure on Cerf. telephone and electricity is provided from the mainland Mahe. Diving centers are plentiful on Mahe and snorkeling equipment is available for hire on the hotels of Cerf Island.</p><br>
<h2>Flora & Fauna</h2><br>
<p>Due to Cerf Island’s location, in a National Marine Park, the waters around Cerf Island prove a spectacular sight. The deepest point of the Marine Park is 250 m and the Park offers exceptional marine life, with more than 150 species of reef fish, crabs, sea urchins, starfish, octopi and many more. Cerf Island is home to the fruit bat and giant tortoises. On the north side of the island are superb coral reefs, where sea turtles swim with clown fish.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Rattlesnake Ridge  is a mountain ridge located south of North Bend, Washington, United States. The western end is near the intersection of State Route 18 and I-90 in Snoqualmie, Washington and runs southeast about 7 mi or 11 mi by trail. It is the highest and easternmost of the Issaquah Alps . A complicated maze of abandoned logging roads and constructed trails have been strung together to provide a 10.5 mi foot path from the Snoqualmie Point Trailhead at Exit 27 on I-90 all the way to the Rattlesnake Lake trailhead near Exit 32.</p><br>
<h2>Legal status</h2><br>
<p>Most of the mountain is owned by the state of Washington or King County, and is protected as Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area,</p><br>
<p>managed jointly by Washington State Department of Natural Resources and King County Park and Recreation Department. The Southern section of the mountain, closed to the public, is owned by Seattle Water Department, while large sections in the western part of the ridge are owned by Weyerhaeuser Corporation, which conducts substantial logging operations there.</p><br>
<h2>Deaths</h2><br>
<p>On May 30, 2009, a 28-year-old man fell one hundred feet to his death from a ledge on Rattlesnake Ridge. Officials say Ruben Maldonado, 28, of Snohomish County, fell from the popular hiking area above Rattlesnake Lake around 12:15 p.m.</p><br>
<p>On March 9, 2012, a 32-year-old man fell about 300 feet from a ridge. He was found dead by another hiker who saw the fall.</p><br>
<p>On February 9, 2013, a Redmond man missing near Rattlesnake Ridge was found dead at about 10 a.m. Bove said King County Search and Rescue found the body of Ira Thomas Clodfelter, 28, about three-quarters of a mile from the main trail, and it appeared to be a suicide. The King County Medical Examiner said February 11 that Clodfelter died from a gunshot wound to the head, and ruled it a suicide.</p><br>
<p>On August 29, 2013, a man in his 20s fell to his death while hiking in the Rattlesnake Ridge area of Snoqualmie near Rattlesnake Lake. King County Sheriffs deputies received a 911 call around 10:55 a.m. from a woman who said someone had fallen off Rattlesnake Ridge. When rescue personnel arrived, a friend of the victim told them she and the man had hiked to the top of the ridge. She was taking pictures of the man, who was near the ledge, when he slipped and fell as he was trying to jump to a rock. Medics found the man&#39;s body and determined he had fallen about 150 feet to his death.</p><br>
<p>San Cristóbal  is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago, as well as one of the oldest geologically. It is administratively part of San Cristóbal Canton, Ecuador.</p><br>
<p>Its Spanish (and official Ecuadorian) name "San Cristóbal" comes from the patron saint of seafarers, St. Christopher. English speakers increasingly use that name in preference to the traditional English name of Chatham Island, derived from William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>San Cristobal Island is composed of three or four fused volcanoes, all extinct. It is home to the oldest permanent settlement of the islands and is the island where Darwin first went ashore in 1835. A small lake called El Junco is the only source of fresh water in the islands. The availability of fresh water is what led to the early settlement of San Cristobal. A penal colony was built on San Cristóbal Island in 1880 for prisoners from mainland Ecuador. This later turned into a military base for Ecuador and export center for the island&#39;s products including sugar, coffee, cassava, cattle, fish and lime.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>San Cristóbal has an area of 558 km&sup2; and its highest point rises to 730 m. The population is approximately 6000. San Cristóbal is the most fertile island of the archipelago and is the second most populated after Santa Cruz. The capital of the archipelago, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, lies at the south-western tip of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Air transport</h2><br>
<p>The island is served by San Cristóbal Airport, with daily flights from Quito and Guayaquil.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>This island hosts frigatebirds, Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos tortoises, blue and red footed boobies, tropicbirds, marine iguanas, dolphins and swallow-tailed gulls. Its vegetation includes Calandrinia galapagosa, Lecocarpus darwinii, trees such as Lignum vitae, Matazarna. In the waters nearby are sharks, rays, and lobsters.</p><br>
<p>The largest fresh water lake in the archipelago, Laguna El Junco, is located in a crater in the highlands of San Cristóbal, in the southern half of the island. The lake harbors a large population of birdlife, but reaching the lake requires a short uphill walk. Nearby, La Galapaguera is a breeding station and sanctuary for giant tortoises.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The majority of inhabitants make their living in government, tourism, and artisanal fishing. Also the majority of the residents of San Cristóbal live in the port city of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, which is the capital of the Galápagos province. Island tourism sites nearer the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno include the Cerro Tijeretas, a nesting colony for Frigate birds and a statue of Charles Darwin, marking the original site where he first disembarked in the Galápagos Islands during the voyage of the Beagle, on 16 September 1835. La Loberia, a colony of sea lions, lies about ten minutes by bus from the town.</p><br>
<p>Local boat tours also take visitors to two popular nearby dive sites. "Kicker Rock" (the Spanish name is "León Dormido") represents the remains of a lava cone, now split in two. "Isla Lobos" (sea lion island) is also a nesting site for blue-footed boobies.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>Paisaje en Cerro Brujo, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 115.JPGBeach in Cerro Brujo, San Cristóbal Island.</p><br>
<p>Araña zig zag (Argiope aurantia), Punta Pitt, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 44.JPGYellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), Punta Pitt.</p><br>
<p>Delfín mular (Tursiops truncatus), isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 86.JPGCommon bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in San Cristóbal island.</p><br>
<p>Lagartija de lava de San Cristóbal (Microlophus bivittatus), Punta Pitt, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 17.JPGSan Cristóbal lava lizard (Microlophus bivittatus), Punta Pitt.</p><br>
<p>Langosta grande pintada (Schistocerca melanocera), Punta Pitt, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 18.JPGLarge Painted Locust (Schistocerca melanocera), Punta Pitt.</p><br>
<p>Libélula (Tramea sp), Cerro Brujo, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 146.jpgLibélula (Tramea sp), Cerro Brujo.</p><br>
<p>Lobo marino (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki), Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 164.JPGSea lion (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki) lying on a bench in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristóbal Island.</p><br>
<p>Lobo marino (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki), isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-25, DD 29.JPGSea lion (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki) in the coast of San Cristóbal Island.</p><br>
<p>Pelícano pardo de las Galápagos (Pelecanus occidentalis urinator), Cerro Brujo, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 154.JPGGalápagos brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis urinator), Cerro Brujo.</p><br>
<p>Piquero patiazul (Sula nebouxii), Punta Pitt, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 49.JPGChick of blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), Punta Pitt.</p><br>
<p>Piquero patiazul (Sula nebouxii), Punta Pitt, isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 66.JPGAdult blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), Punta Pitt.</p><br>
<p>Tortuga gigante de San Cristóbal (Chelonoidis chathamensis), isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 03.JPGSan Cristóbal Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis chathamensis).</p><br>
<p>The Nerl River  is a river in Pereslavsky District of Yaroslavl and Kalyazinsky District of Tver Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Volga River . The length of the river is 112 km. The area of its drainage basin is 3,270 km&sup2;. Its main tributary is the Kubr River .</p><br>
<p>It originates in the Lake Pleshcheyevo under the name of Veksa-Pleshcheyevskaya, flows northwest and is known as the Nerl downstream of Lake Somino. Downstream of the village of Andrianovo a stretch of the Nerl makes the border between Yaroslavl and Tver Oblasts. Further downstream, the Nerl enters Tver Oblast. Its mouth is in the village of Sknyatino. The Nerl River freezes up in November and stays under the ice until April.</p><br>
<p>The drainage basin of the Nerl includes the western and the central parts of Pereslavsky District, the southern part of Kalyazinsky District, as well as relatively minor areas in the southern part of Uglichsky District of Yaroslavl Oblast, and northern parts of Alexandrovsky District of Vladimir Oblast and Taldomsky and Sergiyevo-Posadsky Districts of Moscow Oblast. The town of Pereslavl-Zalessky and the urban-type settlement of Kubrinsk lie in the drainage basin of the Nerl.</p><br>
<p>The Gryffe Reservoirs  are two reservoirs, known as Gryffe No. 1 and Gryffe No. 2, located in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.</p><br>
<p>The larger reservoir, Gryffe No. 1, is adjacent to Loch Thom with Gryffe No. 2 connecting immediately to the east. Together, they are occasionally known as Loch Gryffe.</p><br>
<p>The reservoirs are fed from a stream rising on Creuch Hill. Their outflow, the Gryffe Water, joins with the Green Water to form the River Gryffe near Kilmacolm.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The reservoirs were completed in 1872 to provide clean drinking water to Greenock. The construction was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1866 following the typhus epidemic of 1864, related to a continuing problem with unsafe water, which resulted in thousands of deaths in the town.</p><br>
<p>Filitheyo island hosts one of the newest resorts in the Maldives and the only resort in Faafu Atoll. Launched in 1999, the resort consists of 125 guest bungalows along with a main restaurant, two bars, a Thai spa and a dive school.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Geographically, the island is located approximately 120 km south west of the capital island Malé and can be reached by a 35-minute sea plane flight followed by a ten-minute dhoni ride.</p><br>
<p>The island is in a triangular shape, with surrounding shores facing east, north and south-west. All of the guest related buildings including bungalows, restaurants and receptions are located on the outlying areas of the island. The interior of the island is covered with trees including many coconut, screwpine, and other forms of vegetation. Staff quarters and other resort offices are dotted amongst the trees.</p><br>
<p>The water bungalow complex is located at the far west of the island pointing out into the atoll, facing a shallow lagoon. A wooden walkway connects the bungalows to the island opposite the Sunset Bar and fresh water pool area. The main jetty is located halfway along the southwest shore and connects with the reception by another wooden walkway. Another jetty lies further to the southeast, giving boat access to the diving school.</p><br>
<p>The island is encircled by its own house reef with safe swimming on the north and southwest shores.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Filitheyo has a large collection of lizards of various types, a colony of fruit bats based at the south-east end of the island, at least two herons, crows, at least eight cats, several species of land dwelling hermit crab and tree dwelling rats.</p><br>
<p>The Indian Ocean around the Maldives hosts over 75% of the worlds reef fishes species, many of which can be seen around Filitheyo. Those spotted on the house reef include: parrot fish, marine angelfish, butterflyfish, tuna, ray or batoidea, smaller shark, cuttlefish, porcupinefish, wrasse, clownfish, damselfish, octopus, surgeonfish, unicornfish, crab, moray eel and many more.</p><br>
<p>Further off the island, larger species including dolphin and hawksbill turtle can be encountered.</p><br>
<h2>Unusual Features</h2><br>
<p>When the island was being cleared for the construction of the resort, a graveyard marked by approximately 30 headstones was discovered about 25m inland from the south-west shore. The origins of those buried and the reason for their burial on the island is unknown.</p><br>
<p>Lake of Two Mountains  is part of the river delta widening of the Ottawa River in Quebec, Canada, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence River.</p><br>
<p>Lake of Two Mountains has four outflows: Rivière des Mille Îles and Rivière des Prairies, bordering Île Jésus, and two branches of the Ottawa River, flowing into the St. Lawrence via Lake Saint-Louis, on either side of Île Perrot.</p><br>
<p>The city of Deux-Montagnes is located on the lakes north shore, where it flows into Rivière des Mille Îles. The southwest portion of the city of Montreal borders the eastern part of the lake, as does the now merged village of Senneville. Kanesatake (Kanehsatà:ke), a Kanienkéha:ka Mohawk reserve in Kanesatake, Quebec, is also located along the northern shore.</p><br>
<h2>Origin of the name</h2><br>
<p>The lake was named lac des Médicis in 1612 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, then renamed lac des Soissons about 1632. By around 1684 French colonists named it as Lac des Deux Montagnes. The name refers to Calvaire Mountain and Saint-Joseph-du-Lac Hill, the two highest peaks of Mont Oka that face the lake on its northern shore.</p><br>
<p>Castle Semple Loch is a 1.5-mile-long  inland freshwater loch at Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Originally part of an estate of the same name, it is now administered by Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park as a watersports centre. An RSPB bird sanctuary is located on the loch&#39;s southern shore.</p><br>
<h2>Loch history</h2><br>
<p>Early authors, such as Hector Boece (1465–1536), often use the term Garnoth or Garnott and may be referring to a single large loch incorporating Kilbirnie Loch and Loch Winnoch (Barr and Castle Semple Lochs). Boece in his book of 1527 the Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People), says that this entity was nocht unlike the Loch Doune full of fische.</p><br>
<p>There is a long history of drainage schemes and farming operations in the Lochwinnoch area, with co-ordinated attempts dating from about 1691 by Lord Sempill, followed by Colonel McDowal of Castle Sempil in 1774, James Adams of Burnfoot, and by others. Until these drainage works Loch Winnoch and Kilbirnie Loch nearly met and often did during flooding, to the extent that, as stated, early writers such as Boece, Hollings and Petruccio Ubaldini regarded the lochs as one, using the name Garnoth or Garnott.</p><br>
<p>The Castle Semple and Barr Lochs lie in an area previously covered by one large loch known as ‘Loch Winnoch’, however by the end of the 18th century silt from the River Calder had divided the loch into two and thus Castle Semple and Barr Loch became separate entities. In 1814 Barr Loch and the Aird Meadow was bunded and drained, however after WW2 the area was gradually abandoned for any agricultural use.</p><br>
<p>Harvey of Castle Semple refused the use of Castle Semple loch to the Royal Curling Club for the Grand Match or bonspiel; he could spare no part of the 2-mile-long loch; however, his neighbour, McDowall of Gartland, offered the Barr Meadow, which he flooded to a depth of two to three feet, thereby providing a safe alternative venue. The event of 11 January 1850 was very successful and attracted huge crowds. The North won for the first time by a majority of 233 shots.</p><br>
<p>The Loch has hosted the Scottish Rowing Championships and the Home International Regatta.</p><br>
<h2>Buildings</h2><br>
<p>The ruins of the early mediaeval Peel Tower stand on the southern shore of the loch, inaccessible except by boat. This tower was probably used as a fortified stronghold by the people of the area around the loch for defense against bandits and other dangers, as only the locals knew the safe paths through the marsh.</p><br>
<p>The ruins of the small sixteenth-century Collegiate Church can be found on the northern shore along a well-maintained path. It was built in 1504 by John, Lord Sempill, in the grounds of the original (13th-century) Castle Semple, and is now in the care of Historic Scotland.</p><br>
<p>Although the house itself burnt down at the beginning of the 20th century, the grounds of Castle Semple on the loch&#39;s northern shore still contain the walls of the old walled garden as well as much of the surrounding wall and one of the gates.</p><br>
<p>There is also an octagonal structure, known as The Temple, on top of Kenmuir hill near the house, which was built in the 18th century as a hunting lookout.</p><br>
<p>The Baker Hotel is a long-shuttered hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas. The Baker Hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Origin</h3><br>
<p>The story of the Baker Hotel begins in 1922, when citizens of Mineral Wells, concerned that non-citizens were profiting off of the growing fame of the community&#39;s mineral water, raised $150,000 in an effort to build a large hotel facility owned by local shareholders. They solicited the services of prominent Texas hotel magnate Theodore Brasher Baker, who gained fame by designing and building such grand hotels as the Baker Hotel in Dallas, the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, and managed the Connor Hotel in Joplin, Missouri.</p><br>
<p>Architect Wyatt C. Hedrick based the hotel design on the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which was known for its water and baths. Construction began on the hotel in 1926 but was stopped after Mr. Baker made a trip to California, where he visited a hotel with a swimming pool and decided the new Baker Hotel must have one in the front of the hotel. The swimming pool was placed on top of an already-completed basement, which was used as a work area for the hotel and a changing area for guests. An Olympic sized pool to be filled with the curing mineral waters, it was the first swimming pool built at a hotel in Texas.</p><br>
<p>Construction began the following year on the grand and opulent structure, which was described by Palo Pinto County historian John Winters as “Spanish Colonial Revival, Commercial Highrise." It would rise fourteen stories over Mineral Wells, house 450 guest rooms, two ballrooms, an in-house beauty shop, and other novelties such as a bowling alley, a gymnasium, and an outdoor swimming pool. Completed three years later with a cost in 1929 dollars of $1.2 million, the mammoth building instantly dominated the city skyline. It was the first skyscraper to be built outside a major metropolitan area.</p><br>
<h3>The 1930s: a top tier spa destination</h3><br>
<p>The Baker Hotel opened to the public on November 9, 1929 and celebrated with a grand opening celebration gala two weeks later on November 22. It boasted extravagant creature comforts such as an advanced hydraulic system that circulated ice water to all 450 guest rooms, lighting and fans controlled by the door locks that shut off and on automatically when the guest left or arrived in their rooms, and a valet compartment where guests could deposit soiled laundry that was accessible by hotel staff without them ever even having to enter the guests room. The hotel was fully air conditioned by the 1940s, which added to its appeal as a top-notch convention attraction, offering a meeting capacity of 2,500 attendees; a remarkable number considering that Mineral Wells was home to only approximately 6,000 residents in 1929. Even though it opened mere days after the 1929 stock market crash, the Baker enjoyed immense success throughout the 1930s, largely due to Mineral Wells growing reputation as a top tier health spa destination. Several notable celebrities made the Baker a temporary home during their visits to the citys health spas; the star studded guest list included the likes of Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and future USA President Lyndon B. Johnson. It is even rumored by local historians that legendary outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow may have spent a night or two at the Baker.</p><br>
<h3>The 1940s: war brings prosperity</h3><br>
<p>T.B. Baker began to suffer financial difficulties in the early 1930s, eventually declaring bankruptcy in 1934. He passed control of the Baker Hotel to his nephew Earl Baker, who had served as the hotels manager as well as managing director of Bakers Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. Despite its owners financial problems, the Baker Hotel continued to thrive throughout the mid-1930s. As the decade came to a close, however, Mineral Wells reputation as a health spa was in decline; advances in modern medication and the discovery of antibiotics such as penicillin began to lead local doctors, who had been encouraging patients to partake in the areas therapeutic waters, to invest more confidence in medicine. Business began to suffer, until a second boom in the Bakers popularity began when the Fort Wolters military base opened nearby in October, 1940. It was home to the largest infantry placement in World War II, and the hotel enjoyed its greatest popularity and success as a result; throughout World War II, the transient and permanent population of Mineral Wells hovered near 30,000, a large number of them making their temporary homes in the Baker.</p><br>
<h3>The 1950s-1970s: decline and abandonment</h3><br>
<p>After the war ended in 1945, Fort Wolters was closed and business suffered. A smaller renaissance came in 1951 when the Wolters facility was reopened as a helicopter base, and the Baker hosted the Texas Republican Party conventions in 1952 and 1955, and the Texas Democratic Party held their convention at the Baker in 1954. Aside from these successes, business declined steadily through the 1950s and the proverbial final nail was driven by Earl Baker himself when he announced that he would be closing the hotel after the passing of his seventieth birthday in 1963. True to his word, Baker shuttered the building on April 30 of that year, bringing an end to thirty years of service to Mineral Wells and surrounding areas. The hotel re-opened in 1965 when a group of local investors leased the structure from the Baker family, but the revival would be brief and marred by the death of Earl Baker of a heart attack in 1967 after he was found unconscious on the floor of the cavernous Baker Suite. In 1972, the Baker closed its doors for the last time and though several groups have made offers to rehabilitate the structure (the most recent in 2008), the building sits vacant and deteriorating from the ravages of nature and constant threats of vandalism.</p><br>
<h3>2010 restoration plans</h3><br>
<p>Plans were announced in August 2010 for Hunter Chase Private Equity to purchase and reopen the Baker with a proposed renovation budget of $54 million. Hunter Chase Private Equity and The Baker Hotel Development Team currently hold plans to bring the hotel back to life once financing and capital is obtained. Plans call to enlarge the current 400 plus rooms and bring the total number of rooms down to 155. The third floor will still be maintained as a luxury mineral spa. It is estimated the restoration will take approximately two years after ground-breaking.</p><br>
<p>In 2014, citizens of Mineral Wells approved a measure to allocate a portion of the city&#39;s sales tax to the renovation project that will provide up to $4 million for the $56 million project. The renovation team is currently working to obtain the remainder of the funding and have created a website to communicate with the public about the project.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The Baker Hotel was featured on the December 7, 2012 episode of Ghost Adventures.</p><br>
<p>The Baker Hotel was also featured on the July 21, 2010 episode 2.3 of Celebrity Ghost Stories with a story of actor Eric Balfour&#39;s paranormal experiences at the hotel. After this episode, he was also featured on the September 10, 2016 Season 5 Episode 6 of The Haunting of....Eric Balfour.</p><br>
<h2>Photo gallery</h2><br>
