<p>Ushba  is one of the most notable peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. It is located in the Svaneti region of Georgia, just south of the border with the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. Although it does not rank in the 10 highest peaks of the range, Ushba is known as the "Matterhorn of the Caucasus" for its picturesque, spire-shaped double summit. Due to its steep profile and unstable weather, Ushba is considered by many climbers as the most difficult ascent in the Caucasus.</p><br>
<p>Ushba&#39;s south summit is slightly higher than its north summit, which has an elevation of 4,690 m. The north summit was first climbed in 1888 by John Garford Cokklin and Ulrich Almer, while the south summit saw its first ascent in 1903 by a German-Swiss-Austrian expedition led by B. Rickmer-Rickmers.</p><br>
<p>Ushba&#39;s north summit is more accessible than the south summit: the standard route, the Northeast Ridge, ascends from the Russian side of the range to a high plateau and thence to the summit. (Hence a summit ascent on this route technically involves crossing the border.) The route is graded French AD+ or Russian 4a. Routes on the south summit, from the Georgian side, include two routes graded French ED.</p><br>
<p>In August 2012, thunderstorms made the ascent of Ushba treacherous. One climber died and another, Andranik Miribyan, was stuck near the summit for four days after becoming trapped on a ledge by heavy snowfall. Due to high winds, rescuers were unable to reach him by helicopter and Andranik made the decision to descend the mountain, despite having no ice axe after his broke while clearing snow.</p><br>
<p>Russian folk-rock band "Melnitsa" has a song "Ushba" on their fourth album. It is dedicated to the Georgian climber, a friend of one of them, who died on this mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>Irving, R. L. G., Ten Great Mountains (London, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1940)</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington is an area of northwest Baltimore, Maryland. It is a designated city historic district and divided into two sections: South Road/Sulgrave to the Southeast and Dixon&#39;s Hill to the North. The Mount Washington Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 with a boundary increase in 2001, with five contributing buildings and four contributing structures.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Historically, Mount Washington was a small area. However, residents and businesses of many other nearby neighborhoods in the 21209 zip code and a small portion of the 21215 zip code (west of Pimlico Road) where the neighborhood is located refer to their location as Mount Washington. Though mostly within the Baltimore city limits, but mixed with some of these areas within Baltimore County as Pikesville.</p><br>
<p>The Mount Washington neighborhood is served by the Mount Washington Improvement Association (), which, though not speaking on behalf of all the neighborhood&#39;s residents, wields significant political clout in Baltimore.</p><br>
<p>The actual Mount Washington is mostly residential, though it has two small commercial areas:</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington Village, located off the west side of the Jones Falls Expressway near the beautiful Kelly Avenue bridge, containing several restaurants and stores, as well as the Baltimore Light Rail&#39;s Mount Washington Station.</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington Mill, a refurbished textile mill now housing a Whole Foods, Starbucks, and other stores and offices, located off the east side of the Jones Falls Expressway near the Kelly Avenue bridge, commonly referred to as Historic Mount Washington.</p><br>
<p>These two areas were at one time viewed as a single area, but since the construction of Interstate 83, these areas have been separated, and travel over a longer distance is required between them.</p><br>
<h2>Major Roads in Mount Washington</h2><br>
<p>Some of the main roads that run through the Mount Washington area are:</p><br>
<p>Immediate:</p><br>
<p>Interstate 83, also known as the Jones Falls Expressway(JFX)</p><br>
<p>Falls Road</p><br>
<p>Kelly Avenue</p><br>
<p>Greely Road</p><br>
<p>Smith Avenue</p><br>
<p>Extended:</p><br>
<p>Greenspring Avenue</p><br>
<p>Cross Country Boulevard</p><br>
<p>Pimlico Road</p><br>
<p>Northern Parkway</p><br>
<p>Lake Avenue</p><br>
<p>Other communities located near Mount Washington include:</p><br>
<p>Village of Cross Keys (south)</p><br>
<p>Cheswolde (west)</p><br>
<p>Pimlico (west)</p><br>
<p>Rodgers Forge (east)</p><br>
<p>Ruxton (north)</p><br>
<h2>Public transportation</h2><br>
<p>Mount Washington is well known for its public transportation operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. This, most notably, includes the Central Light Rail line. It has a stop located in historic Mount Washington Village. Light Rail service operates to downtown Baltimore, Hunt Valley, and BWI Airport every 10–15 minutes at most times.</p><br>
<p>Currently, MTA also operates three public bus lines in Mount Washington Village, all of which originate at the Reisterstown Plaza Metro Subway Station. These are: Route 27, which operates to areas including Hampden, Downtown Baltimore, and the Cherry Hill area, Route 58, which terminates at a loop in Mt. Washington after serving the Fallstaff area, and Route 60, which also serves Fallstaff and continues north to Greenspring Station and Stevenson University.</p><br>
<h2>Schools</h2><br>
<p>The zoned local public schools are Mount Washington Elementary and Northwestern High School, although most of the children in the community who pursue their education in the Baltimore City public school system do so at either of the magnet schools, City or Poly. Most of the upper-middle-class families send their children to some of the many private schools in the area.</p><br>
<h2>Athletics</h2><br>
<p>The neighborhood has been the home of the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club since its establishment in 1904. Mount Washington dominated the sport at the club and collegiate level for much of the 20th century. Since 1999, Mount Washington has shared its home field, Norris Field on Kelly Avenue, with the all-girls Bryn Mawr School.</p><br>
<p>Mount Washington is also home of one of the most prestigious swimming clubs in the world, the North Baltimore Aquatic Center or NBAC for short. The NBAC is home to many Olympic swimmers including Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, Patrick Kennedy, Theresa Andrews, Anita Nall, Beth Botsford, Whitney Metzler, and Allison Schmitt. NBAC is also home to Paralympian Ian Silverman.</p><br>
<h2>Notable residents and natives</h2><br>
<p>Charles L. Bennett, Astrophysicist</p><br>
<p>Duke Cameron, heart surgeon</p><br>
<p>Katie Hoff, Olympic swimmer</p><br>
<p>Doug Turnbull, National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee, born in Mount Washington in 1903</p><br>
<p>Zuidlaardermeer is a lake in the northern part of the Netherlands</p><br>
<p>The lake runs Northwest of the village of Zuidlaren and southwards of the city of Hoogezand-Sappemeer and is called Zuidlaardermeer (Dutch for: Lake of Zuidlaren). The lake is largely situated in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. It was formed 5,000-8,000 years ago. The lake is fed by the river Hunze. This river enters the lake in the south-east and exits the lake in the north as Drentsche Diep.</p><br>
<p>The lake is shallow (about 3 ft deep), but some parts are deeper, like the fairway. The lake is popular with tourists, but in particular with yachtsmen. Many sailboats are moored in the lake, because the Zuidlaardermeer is one of the few suitable lakes for sailing in the region.</p><br>
<p>Large parts of the lake and nearby polders are conducted by the Groninger Zeeschap foundation.</p><br>
<p>Winterfold Forest is a wooded area of the broadest plateau of the western Greensand Ridge in Surrey, England. It blends seamlessly into the Hurt Wood or Hurtwood.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Hurt Wood is that part of the forest in greater Shere parish and associated with Peaslake and the other even smaller southern settlements of that parish traditionally defined as "hamlets". Otherwise the forest has many footpaths and bridleways and the springs that are the sources of streams including of Cranleigh Waters, but being mainly of Greensand soil, which is chiefly a form of sandstone which is permeable and underlain by in most places a layer of gravel and flint stones followed by clay. The soil where most sandy supports pineferous trees, gorse, bracken, ferns and fungi only.</p><br>
<p>It includes the fifth and sixth highest points in Surrey, in the highest and most wooded part of the parish of Ewhurst, Pitch Hill and The Warren, at 257 and 251 metres above sea level respectively.</p><br>
<p>Its nearest settlements other than the most remote smallholdings and woodland cottages of Shere are Farley Green and Ewhurst.</p><br>
<p>Absecon Island is a barrier island located on the Jersey Shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA. On the island  are the resort communities of Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport. The island ends at Absecon Inlet to the north and Great Egg Harbor Inlet to the south.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Absecon&#39;s earliest European settlers were English who earned their living clamming and oystering. Land there was bought not for farming but for control of the waterways. The name Absecon came from the word "Absegami" or little water, named by the Native Americans living along Absecon Creek.</p><br>
<p>In 1695, Thomas Budd purchased 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land in what later became Atlantic County. He paid 4 cents an acre ($9.88/km²) for land on which Atlantic City now stands. It was called Further Island (further from Absecon) and later called Absecon Beach and finally became Atlantic City.</p><br>
<p>Jeremiah Leeds was the first permanent settler on Absecon Island in 1785. He came from Leeds Point to Absecon Island when it was a complete wilderness. He built a cabin of cedar logs and cleared a field where the Atlantic City Expressway now ends in Atlantic City. The block called Columbus Plaza was part of the Leeds farm. Most of the homes in Atlantic City until 1854 were built by descendants of Jeremiah Leeds. Jeremiah&#39;s son Chalkey S. Leeds became the first mayor of Atlantic City in 1854 and his youngest son, Robert, became the first postmaster of Atlantic City.</p><br>
<p>In 1819, Dr. Jonathan Pitney went to Absecon to set up his medical practice. His visits to Absecon Island convinced him that the island had the climate ideal for a health resort. He was instrumental in convincing the municipal authorities that a railroad to the beach would be beneficial. He has been called the "Father of Atlantic City".</p><br>
<p>The first beachwalk or "boardwalk" in Atlantic City was completed in 1870 by Simon Luchs Wescoat. Because of its success as a resort, a second railroad was built in 1877. Fifty-four miles of track was laid in record time - 98 days.</p><br>
<h2>Beach reclamation</h2><br>
<p>As a barrier island, the beaches of Absecon Island are continuously affected by erosion, particularly in the event of noreasters, hurricanes and other coastal storms. The United States Army Corps of Engineers is undertaking a project to construct an approximate $63 million beach and dune system along the 8.1 mile oceanfront of Absecon Island, against many residents wishes, and destroying the beaches and charm of the downbeach communities in the process.</p><br>
<p>The State Bank Building, Decatur Branch, commonly known as the Old State Bank, is a historic Jeffersonian-style bank building in Decatur, Alabama, United States. It was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934 and 1935. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 1972, due to its architectural significance.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Decatur branch of the Alabama State Bank opened its doors on July 29, 1833. It was authorized by the Alabama General Assembly in 1830 to be one of three branches of the Alabama State Bank. After outstanding debts of over $1 million were unable to be reformed the Decatur branch franchise was revoked. The building remained vacant until the 1860s when it was one of four buildings that survived the Civil War in Decatur, Alabama. During the Battle of Decatur, the bank was used as headquarters for the Union forces in the area and was also used as a hospital while battles raged outside. Such evidence of the battle remains: bloodstains are visible in one of the three vaults and slugs from musket fire and Minié balls are still clearly seen in the walls of the building.</p><br>
<p>In 1881, the First National Bank opened its doors in the Old State Bank building. But, when First National Bank completed its new office in 1902, the bank building was used as a residence and office by J. Y. Cantwell. After signs of deterioration began to show themselves, Cantwell&#39;s grand niece, W. B. Edmundson, deeded the building over to the City of Decatur in 1933. Management of the structure was vested in an eight-member Board of Governors. The petition for restoration was presented to the Civil Works Administration and restoration commenced. Being one of only a handful of local buildings to survive the destruction of the American Civil War, and after going through the many changes over the years, the Old State Bank has become a symbol of historical significance.</p><br>
<p>By the year 1946, the building was deeded by its owner to the Morgan County American Legion, Post No. 15. At some point, the original bank building was completely obscured by a brick facade which also enclosed the front portico and columns. The appearance was simply a huge, ugly, brick warehouse and, by the early 1970s, the original history was long forgotten. As part of a plan to remove aging, blighted buildings, a demolition crew was contracted to tear down the old building with a wrecking ball. It was soon obvious that something unusual was present when the wrecking ball could tear right through the front wall at some places, but the heavy ball bounced off other spots. The invincible spots were found to be the five limestone columns hidden behind bricks for generations. (A few of the columns still carry wrecking ball scars.) The project to demolish the old, blighted warehouse quickly transformed into restoring this centerpiece of a newly formed historical district.</p><br>
<p>In 1972, the Old State Bank was named to the National Register of Historical Places at the age of 139 years. Three years later, in 1975, the American Legion, Post No. 15, donated the Old State Bank building to the City of Decatur. Plans for restoration were put together in the year 1976, as the bank turned 143 years old, and was put under the control of the Old Bank Board members. Restoration of the bank was finished in the year 1983, at the age of 150. In 1984, a curator was appointed, and daily tours were implemented. The second wave of detailed restoration was undertaken in the years of 1995-1996 and was led by noted preservation architect, Harvie Jones. Funding was provided by the Alabama Historical Commission, the City of Decatur, and the Old Bank Board of Directors. The City of Decatur commemorated the bank&#39;s 175th anniversary in 2008.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The architecture of the bank shows the influence of Thomas Jefferson&#39;s fusion of Palladianism with Roman temple forms. The five limestone columns across the front weigh 100-150 tons each and were mined in nearby Trinity. The pentastyle portico is highly unusual.</p><br>
<p>Castillo Serrallés  is a mansion located in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, overlooking the downtown area . It was built during the 1930s for Juan Eugenio Serrallés, son of businessman Juan Serrallés, founder of Destilería Serrallés. The structure sits on a 2.5 acre exceedingly manicured property. Nowadays, the structure functions as a museum, Museo Castillo Serrallés, with information about the sugar cane and rum industries and its impact in the economy of Puerto Rico. It is also increasingly used as a venue for social activities, including destination weddings. The property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The house was purchased by the city of Ponce from the Serrallés heirs. While the castle was valued at US$17–US$25 million, it was purchased for a mere US$400,000 and included much of the furniture in the sale. The city&#39;s initial intent was to turn it into a museum of Puerto Rican music. The Museum of Puerto Rican Music was eventually established elsewhere in the city.</p><br>
<p>The mansion was emptied in 1956, and while the structure kept in very good shape, the grounds were overgrown by weeds to the point that a total landscaping plan was needed to return the estate to its past glory. In 1980, the property was still owned by Rosa Serrallés Torruella and Felix J. Serrallés Sanchez.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The mansion was built on the south side of El Vigía hill, which is the most prominent and nearest hill to the Ponce Historic Zone. Its location has the mansion overlooking the city of Ponce. El Vigía is the name of one of the hills to the north of the city of Ponce that make up the foothills of the Cordillera Central found further inland. The location of the mansion, together with its magnificent landscape, and many architectural details, have made it unique among other Puerto Rico mansions. Its location atop the El Vigía hill makes it visible from nearly every part of the city of Ponce, "as a constant reminder to all Ponceños of their heritage". The building&#39;s location, coupled with its "Y" shape form, allows for an impressive and breath-taking view of the city of Ponce from any one of its eastern, southern, or western elevations.</p><br>
<h2>Significance</h2><br>
<p>The Serrallés mansion was built as the exclusive residence of Don Juan Eugenio Serrallés, a leader in the sugar cane industry during the early part of the 20th century. The building is significant from both the architectural and historical perspectives.</p><br>
<p>Architecturally, the building represents an example of Spanish Moroccan architecture, the style first introduced in Puerto Rico by the architect Pedro Adolfo de Castro. Three examples of this style of architecture were: El Castillo de Valdes in Mayagüez, el Castillo de Mario Mercado Montalvo in Guayanilla, and el Castillo de Serrallés. In the 1920s, other similar mansions were built in Puerto Rico, but Castillo Serrallés is the best preserved. Historically, the building is a reminder of the cultural and economic changes that southern Puerto Rico experienced in the 1920s. "Ponce&#39;s dependence on the sugar cane industry at the close of the nineteenth century, created an atmosphere of development from which evolved a series of intrinsic cultural characteristics and afforded great wealth to many families involved in the industry. The wealthy families generally chose Europe as the model for the direction that cultural endeavors would take."</p><br>
<p>According to the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office, "European fashions and lifestyles were usually preferred in this part of the Island...The result of intense cultural interest provided work for artists, artisans, and architects whose creations tended to strengthen the image of the ethnic identity...Even though El Castillo Serralles is not based on an indigenous design, its architectural significance lies in the fact that it was designed to adapt well with Caribbean climatic conditions. Its workmanship, its interior decorations, its furniture, and even its floor plan, reflect the cultural attitudes of the times".</p><br>
<h2>Physical characteristics</h2><br>
<p>The castle was built in 1930 by local architect Pedro Adolfo de Castro y Besosa.</p><br>
<p>It includes two huge terraces, an outside fountain, and a symmetrical backyard garden. Its interior includes a luxurious hall, a spacious dining room, and an interior courtyard.</p><br>
<p>The house has four floors. The ground floor houses the garage and a basement used as service quarters. The second floor contains the library, a central patio, a solarium, the living room, dining room, and the kitchen. The third floor contains all the sleeping quarters. The fourth floor is the terrace, from where the most impressive and commanding views of the city are possible. Intended as a relaxed entertainment space, the terrace has both covered and uncovered areas. Its flooring is all tiled.</p><br>
<p>Access to the main entrance to the house from the front street, and leading to the second level of the north elevation, is by way of either of two semi-circular stairways which run from the covered carriage entrance on the ground level of the north elevation. This leads to double French doors which open into a large vestibule reception area with a ceramic tile floor. The view from this room reveals an open courtyard patio with a fountain. The formal living room is located to the left of the vestibule. The living room is the only room with a parquet floor.</p><br>
<p>The building was constructed entirely of concrete. The mansion was designed in a style popular in the 1920s for representing Spanish Mediterranean influence. Prominent throughout the building is the use of wooden round arches over the buildings large windows and doorways, many of them adorned with small stained glass panes. Some openings are also decorated in ornate iron work. The two towers that accentuate the buildings eastern and western sides have red roof tiles. This accent is also present on all other rooftops. The exterior of the buildings is finished in stucco.</p><br>
<h2>In the movies</h2><br>
<p>Scenes from the Disney Channel original movie Princess Protection Program were filmed in the castle.</p><br>
<p>The Old Duke is a jazz and blues venue and pub situated on King Street in the English city of Bristol. Live music is played every night of the week, admission is free and it hosts an annual Jazz Festival. The pub&#39;s name is a reference to the classic American jazz musician Duke Ellington, though the pub has actually held the same  name since it was built, and most likely previously referred to The Duke of Cumberland.</p><br>
<p>The pub dates from about 1775, an entry appearing in Sketchleys Bristol Directory of that year, for Lewis Jenkins, victualler, Lodging & Board, Duke of Cumberland&#39;, 44 King Street,and is a grade II listed building.</p><br>
<p>The pubs heritage lies with traditional, New Orleans inspired jazz. Bands include the Blue Notes and the Severn Jazzmen, both of whom have been playing at the venue for over 35 years, Keith Littles Hot Six, Cass Caswell&#39;s Allstars, The University of Bristol Traditional Jazz Band, and many touring bands from around the world.</p><br>
<p>The resident blues musician Eddie Martin, who boasts numerous international awards, plays every Sunday night. The Duke also plays host to modern jazz bands including Andy Hague, Dave Betts, Code Red and The Cut Collective. Artists such as Peter Roe and Beth Rowley began their careers at the venue and still perform there regularly.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, The Old Duke was named by the Brecon Jazz Festival as one of 12 venues which had made the most important contributions to jazz music in the United Kingdom.</p><br>
<p>The Old Duke is located opposite the Llandoger Trow, another notable Bristol pub.</p><br>
<p>The Reitz Home Museum is a Victorian house museum located in the Riverside Historic District in downtown Evansville, Indiana. The museum offers year-round guided tours to the state&#39;s only late Victorian house museum.</p><br>
<p>An authentic restoration offers visitors a step back in time with silk damask-covered walls, hand painted ceilings, delicately molded plaster friezes, and intricately patterned hand-laid wood parquet floors. Other features of the home include tiled and marbled fireplaces, stained glass windows, and French gilt chandeliers. Much of the home is decorated with original period furniture.</p><br>
<p>Considered by many to be one of the finest examples of the French Second Empire style architecture, the home has been featured in several issues of Victorian Homes magazine as well as Victorian Decorating and Lifestyle magazine.</p><br>
<p>In 2003 the home received a commendation from the Victorian Society in America for the preservation and restoration of the Victorian mansion.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>John Augustus Reitz, who amassed a fortune in the lumber business, built the house in 1871 in the French Second Empire style. Built to reflect his station in life, the mansion was decorated with elegant furnishings and detailed architectural features. Upon John A. Reitz&#39;s death in the 1890s, his eldest son Francis Joseph Reitz took over the house and completely redecorated the interior in a variety of Victorian styles.</p><br>
<p>The last of Reitz children died in 1931 and the home was left to the Daughters of Isabella, a non-profit Roman Catholic womens organization. In 1944 the home was purchased by the Diocese of Evansville to become the home of its bishop, and it was occupied by the first incumbent, Henry J. Grimmelsman. In 1974 the Diocese of Evansville donated the mansion to the Reitz Home Preservation Society, a non-profit organization formed to restore and preserve the home. It was officially placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1973 and was opened for public tours a year later. Matt Rowe is currently the museum director.</p><br>
<p>The Archivo General de Indias , housed in the ancient merchants&#39; exchange of Seville, Spain, the Casa Lonja de Mercaderes, is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The building itself, an unusually serene and Italianate example of Spanish Renaissance architecture, was designed by Juan de Herrera. This structure and its contents were registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site together with the adjoining Seville Cathedral and the Alcázar of Seville.</p><br>
<h2>Structure</h2><br>
<p>The origin of the structure dates to 1572 when Philip II commissioned the building from Juan de Herrera, the architect of the Escorial to house the Consulado de mercaderes of Seville. Until then, the merchants of Seville had been in the habit of retreating to the cool recesses of the cathedral to transact business.</p><br>
<p>The building encloses a large central patio with ranges of two storeys, the windows set in slightly sunken panels between flat pilasters. Plain square tablets float in the space above each window. The building is surmounted by a balustrade, with rusticated obelisks standing at the corners. There is no sculptural decoration, only the discreetly contrasting tonalities of stone and stucco, and the light shadows cast by the slight relief of the pilasters against their piers, by the cornices, and by the cornice strips that cap each window.</p><br>
<p>The building was begun in 1584 by Juan de Mijares, using Herrera&#39;s plans, and was ready for occupation in 1598, according to an inscription on the north façade. Work on completing the structure proceeded through the 17th century, directed until 1629 by the archbishop Juan de Zumárraga and finished by Pedro Sanchez Falconete.</p><br>
<p>Researchers who wish to examine the archive&#39;s sources use another building located across the street.</p><br>
<h2>Contents</h2><br>
<p>In 1785, by decree of Charles III the archives of the Council of the Indies were to be housed here, in order to bring together under a single roof all the documentation regarding the overseas empire, which until that time had been dispersed among various archives, as Simancas, Cádiz and Seville. Responsibility for the project was delegated to José de Gálvez y Gallardo, Secretary for the Indies, who depended on the historian Juan Bautista Muñoz for the plans execution. Two basic motivations underlay the project; in addition to the lack of space in the Archivo General de Simancas, the central archive of the Spanish Crown, there was also the expectation, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, that Spanish historians would take up the history of Spains colonial empire. It was decided that, for the time being, documents evolved after 1760 would remain with their primary institutions.</p><br>
<p>The first cartloads of the documents arrived in October 1785. Some restructuring of the Casa Lonja to accommodate the materials was required, and a grand marble staircase was added in 1787, to designs of Lucas Cintara.</p><br>
<p>The archives are rich with autograph material from the first of the Conquistadores to the end of the 19th century. Here are Miguel de Cervantes&#39; request for an official post, the Bull of Demarcation Inter caetera of Pope Alexander VI that divided the world between Spain and Portugal, the journal of Christopher Columbus, maps and plans of the colonial American cities, in addition to the ordinary archives that reveal the month-to-month workings of the whole vast colonial machinery, which have been mined by many historians in the last two centuries.</p><br>
<p>Today the Archivo General de Indias houses some nine kilometers of shelving, in 43,000 volumes and some 80 million pages, which were produced by the colonial administration:</p><br>
<p>Consejo de Indias, 16th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>Casa de la Contratación, 16th–18th centuries</p><br>
<p>Consulados de Sevilla y Cádiz, 16th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>Secretarías de Estado y Despacho Universal de Indias, de Estado, Gracia y Justicia, Hacienda y Guerra, 18th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>Secretaría del Juzgado de Arribadas de Cádiz, 18th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>Comisaría Interventora de la Hacienda Pública de Cádiz, Dirección General de la Renta de Correos, 18th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>Sala de Ultramar del Tribunal de Cuentas, 19th century</p><br>
<p>Real Compañía de la Habana, 18th–19th centuries</p><br>
<p>The structure underwent a thorough restoration in 2002–2004, without interrupting its function as a research library., its 15 million pages are in the process of being digitized. The digitized sources are accessible online</p><br>
<p>Fairlington is an unincorporated neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia, United States, located adjacent to Shirlington in the southernmost part of the county on the boundary with the City of Alexandria. The main thoroughfares are Interstate 395  which divides the neighborhood into North and South Fairlington, State Route 7  and State Route 402 .</p><br>
<p>The neighborhood consists of primarily townhouse-type condominium apartments built in the 1940s as the largest housing project financed by the Defense Homes Corporation during World War II. Fairlington is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and on the Virginia Landmarks Register.</p><br>
<h2>Name, boundaries, and geography</h2><br>
<p>Fairlington was originally called Seminary Heights but it was changed due to confusion with other nearby geographical features named for Alexandria&#39;s Virginia Theological Seminary including Seminary Drive, Seminary Road, and Seminary View, among others. A new name, Fairlington, was chosen combining the two counties in which the neighborhood was then located: Fairfax and Arlington. (The former Fairfax County section is now part of the City of Alexandria.)</p><br>
<p>The neighborhood is wooded and sits on heights overlooking the Four Mile Run valley. It is bisected by I-395 into North and South Fairlington connected by the Fairlington Bridge (South Abingdon Street).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>Upon the arrival of Europeans in the New World, the area that is now Fairlington was near a Necostin Indian village in the 17th century. In the early 18th century, a 534 acre tract including Fairlington and extending to nearby Four Mile Run was granted under the headright system to William Struttfield, one of 48 original landowners in what is now Arlington County. By 1756, the land was owned by John Carlyle, a friend of future USA President George Washington, who was also the builder of Carlyle House in Alexandria. Carlyle and his heirs would possess the area of Fairlington for 150 years. Around 1770, Caryle began construction of a plantation and summer house near the current intersection of 30th Street South and South Columbus Street. The house was first called Torthorwald and later changed to Morven and stood until 1942. Carlyle used his plantation as a stud farm and operated a grist mill downstream from Fairlington above what is now Arlandria. Following John Carlyle&#39;s death in 1780, the house passed to his nephew, Carlyle Fairfax Whiting. George Washington himself owned a portion of the land in what would become Fairlington, near the Abingdon Elementary School and South 28th Street after he bought two of the 48 Arlington land grants.</p><br>
<p>Following the American Revolution, new federal district governed by Congress was created in 1790 and the area that is now Fairlington (except for part of the section now within Alexandria) was included within the original boundaries of the new District of Columbia, forming part of Alexandria County, D.C. Congressional control began in 1801 and the area was no longer under Virginian jurisdiction. However, in 1846, the entire county was retroceded to Virginia and became Alexandria County, VA.</p><br>
<h3>From Union occupation to World War II</h3><br>
<p>With the secession of Virginia from the United States on 17 April 1861, Northern Virginia was quickly overrun by Union soldiers. A line of redoubts and breastworks above Four Mile Run was constructed to defend the main base of the occupying Army of the Potomac in Alexandria and the Fairlington area was the site of two of these. Fort Reynolds, a redoubt, was constructed in September 1861 to command the approach to Alexandria by way of the Four Mile Run valley. It had a perimeter of 360 yd and emplacements for 12 guns and was located just northeast of what is now 31st Street South at South Woodrow Street. Battery Garesche at what is now South Abingdon Street at South 30th Road and was constructed late in 1861 to control the higher ground dominating Fort Reynolds, 200 yd to the southeast. It had a perimeter of 166 yd and emplacements for 8 guns. The area was never liberated by Confederate forces and remained under US military occupation until 1870.</p><br>
<p>Despite the military use of what is now Fairlington, the area retained a rural character; mostly wooded, with some small farms, into the 20th century. In 1879, the area of Fairlington was consolidated under Hawkins Smith who remodeled Morven and renamed it Hampton. His son, Hawkins Smith II, made Hampton a leading horse farm but sold it in 1926. It was subdivided with some of the land rented by sharecroppers. One cleared area in South Fairlington served as an airfield until the mid-1930s.</p><br>
<p>In 1920, Alexandria County was renamed Arlington County to distinguish it from the neighboring independent City of Alexandria and in 1929, Alexandria annexed all of Arlington County south of Four Mile Run to the current boundary along Quaker Lane.</p><br>
<h3>The creation of Fairlington</h3><br>
<p>At the time of the United States entry into World War II in December 1941, the Defense Homes Corporation (a component of the Federal Housing Administration) had purchased most of the area. The corporation was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 through the allocation of emergency funding and, by February 1942, it had assembled 322 acre for construction of housing for civilian and military defense personnel to be called Seminary Heights. The site was only 2+1/2 mi from the Pentagon which had begun construction in August 1941. As with nearby Parkfairfax, Alexandria, and several other sites throughout metropolitan Washington, the Corporation endeavored to quickly satisfy increased wartime demand for housing and, by the end of 1943, by which time the project was renamed Fairlington, there were almost 2,415 housing units completed. By 1945, there were 3,439 units when the project was completed at a cost of $35 million ($368 million in dollars).</p><br>
<p>In 1947, the Defense Homes Corporation sold the property to Fairmac Realty Corporation, which operated Fairlington as rental apartments. The area surrounding Fairlington also began to urbanize with nearby Shirlington Shopping Center opening in 1945 and Bradlee Shopping Center in the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>In 1952, the independent City of Alexandria annexed the small Fairfax County portion of Fairlington, rendering the name an anachronism. In 1966, a mutual agreement between Arlington and Alexandria adjusted the city-county boundary through North Fairlington that had followed the original District of Columbia-Virginia line. The new boundary followed the north and east sides of State Route 7 (King Street), 30th Street South, South Columbus Street, and 28th Street South. In 1954, the well-preserved Fort Reynolds was leveled to construct the Park Shirlington apartments.</p><br>
<p>In 1967, as part of the conversion of Shirley Highway to interstate standards, a bridge connecting South Abingdon Street in North Fairlington and 34th Street South in South Fairlington was opened, directly connecting the two sections for the first time.</p><br>
<h3>Fairlington as condominiums</h3><br>
<p>By the late 1960s, Fairlington&#39;s owners, now Hartford Insurance, considered razing the apartments and constructing high-rise apartment buildings. Instead, it decided to convert the existing structures to condominium apartments in 1972. Virginia had only permitted condominium development since 1962 and Fairlington was the largest scale project ever undertaken to that date. Fairlington was sold to Chicago Bridge and Iron and operated by CBI-Fairmac and a five-year project to physically modify the apartments for their new use commenced. Common basement areas were divided between apartments and boiler houses were removed and replaced with recreation facilities. Beginning in South Fairlington, CBI-Fairmac converted the area into seven legal entities under the Virginia Horizontal Property Act. Six of the condominiums were in South Fairlington and the entirety of North Fairlington formed one condominium. The initial offerings sold for $19,000-$45,500 ($86,000-$203,000 in dollars) in 1972 and prices were increased for later sales with the final units sold in 1978.</p><br>
<p>In 1979, Fairlington Elementary School was closed and the building became the Fairlington Community Center.</p><br>
<p>In 1996, the value of Fairlington was assessed at $423,701,600 ($514,299,241 in dollars). Fairlington as a whole was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in December 1998 and the National Register of Historic Places in March 1999.</p><br>
<h3>Historical marker</h3><br>
<p>An Arlington County Office of Historic Preservation historical marker installed at the corner of Quaker Lane and South 32nd Street reads:</p><br>
<h2>Civic organization</h2><br>
<p>Fairlington is organized into seven, independent condominium associations sometimes called villages including Fairlington Arbor, Fairlington Commons, Fairlington Glen, Fairlington Green, Fairlington Meadows, and Fairlington Mews, all in South Fairlington, and Fairlington Villages in North Fairlington. There is a single civic association, the Fairlington Citizens Association, representing the community in local affairs and the Fairlington Historical Society promotes historical preservation.</p><br>
<h2>Physical environment</h2><br>
<h3>Layout</h3><br>
<p>Fairlingtons streets are all two lanes and they are neither on a grid with uniform city blocks nor in the suburban cul-de-sac style found in most American suburbs but are slightly winding and usually separated by the equivalent of two or more city blocks. Fairlingtons apartment units are grouped in "courts," usually three or four separate buildings of around 40-50 total units facing a parking lot (carpark). Most units are three levels (upstairs, ground level and basement) with front and back doors. Some units are two or three story walk-ups with units on a single floor. Prior to the condominium conversions, back doors opened to common areas with connecting sidewalks leading to back porches. Post-conversions, most units have a small courtyard off the back door, surrounded by a wooden fence. The common areas between the courts contain open areas for recreation. Originally the common areas included playgrounds and wading pools. The latter consisted of flat concrete squares with short concrete sides and a sprinkler in the center. These provided cooling and recreation in the summer when air conditioning was not widely available. With the conversion to condominiums, tennis, basketball courts, playgrounds, and swimming facilities replaced the original playgrounds and wading pools. Prior to the condominium conversions, each building had a common basement area, which could be reached from the basement of apartments which had basements, or from a stairway in buildings containing single-floor apartments. The common basement contained trashrooms and laundry facilities. Buildings with single-floor apartments also had storage units in the common basements. With the condominium conversions, the common areas were divided to become part of the basement areas of individual condominiums. Sidewalks (pavements) along the streets and in the common areas connect the neighborhood. Each condominium association in South Fairlington consists of around 15 courts.</p><br>
<h3>Architecture</h3><br>
<p>Fairlington&#39;s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places identifies 1024 historical buildings in Fairlington and 30 residential unit types and describes North and South Fairlington as follows:</p><br>
<p>In journalist David Brinkley&#39;s 1988 Washington Goes to War, he mentions the area, describing life there in the summer of 1943 noting its lack of shopping and transportation options. However, "Fairlington at least had sturdy, well-designed housing (most of it still standing today and now expensive townhouses and condominiums)." Fairlington is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places and, in 2002, the neighborhood was presented the "Test of Time" award by the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects, for the lasting value of its architectural design. Such listings and awards do not impose restrictions on property use which is the under the purview of the condominiums. Fairlington was the first large-scale apartment community to be considered for such designation and the campaign for listing was largely a volunteer effort.</p><br>
<h3>Arboriculture</h3><br>
<p>Fairlington&#39;s streets and common areas are heavily treed with oaks, maples, elms, and sycamores (planes). A Fairlington Notable Tree Walk showcases some of the more unusual trees in the area.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<h3>Roads</h3><br>
<p>The controlled access Interstate 395 (Shirley Highway) divides Fairlington and is bridged by South Abingdon Street within the neighborhood but provides no direct access. State Route 7 (King Street) and State Route 402 (Quaker Lane) bound the neighborhood on the southwest and east respectively but are largely separated from it by chain link fencing with access only at street entrances.</p><br>
<p>Although Fairlingtons street names and addresses follow the rules of the grid-style Arlington Countys street-naming system, the streets do not follow a grid but are also not the suburban cul-de-sac style found in most American suburbs. Intersections consist of both four-way stops and modern roundabouts (traffic circles).</p><br>
<p>Within Fairlington there are both bicycle lanes and an on-street bicycle route.</p><br>
<h3>Buses</h3><br>
<p>Several Metrobus routes traverse the neighborhood and adjacent roads provide additional Metrobus and Alexandria’s DASH bus service.</p><br>
<h3>Rail</h3><br>
<p>Several Washington Metro stations are within 3 – of Fairlington and Metrobus and DASH directly connect the neighborhood with the King Street – Old Town Metro station in Alexandria and the Pentagon Metro station in Arlington.</p><br>
<p>Alexandria Union Station provides Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express service to the area and is accessible by DASH from Fairlington.</p><br>
<h3>Airports</h3><br>
<p>Fairlington is located 5 mi from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County and 25 mi from Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation and commerce</h2><br>
<p>The Fairlington Community Center, which was once an elementary school, is located at the northeast corner of 34th Street South and South Stafford Streets in South Fairlington. It provides space for a number of community and recreational activities. Utah Field Park and Abingdon Elementary School also have space for public recreation. Each condominium association within Fairlington also maintains its own system of swimming pools and tennis and basketball courts for its own residents.</p><br>
<p>Within the confines of Fairlington, there are several commercial buildings that house local businesses such as health care service providers (dentist, physical therapy, chiropractic, etc.) and business offices (real estate, law, patent services, etc.) that cater to local residents and the broader community. Adjacent to Fairlington, The Village at Shirlington, provides restaurants, stores (shops), bars (pubs), a theater (theatre), a cinema, and the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail trailhead within walking distance for North Fairlington residents. South Fairlington residents are connected to Shirlington by a pedestrian walkway that crosses the Shirlington Circle interchange with I-395.</p><br>
<p>The Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, the Virginia Theological Seminary, both in Alexandria, are a short distance from South Fairlington. Alexandria’s Bradlee and Fairlington shopping centers are adjacent to South Fairlington.</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<p>The public Abingdon Elementary School is on 30th Road South in North Fairlington and serves all of Fairlington as do Gunston Middle School and Wakefield High School.</p><br>
<p>The Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources provides continuing education at the Fairlington Community Center.</p><br>
<h2>County and state services</h2><br>
<p>Fairlington is in the 3rd District of the Arlington County Police Department which cooperates with the Fairlington Citizens Association. Arlington Fire Station No. 7 of the Arlington County Fire Department housing Engine 107, located at is located on South Abingdon Street in North Fairlington. The Arlington County office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service is located in the Fairlington Community Center.</p><br>
<p>All of Fairlington, including the Alexandria portion, is in the 22206 ZIP code area and is served by the United States Postal Service&#39;s Shirlington Annex Post Office although the Parkfairfax Post Office in Alexandria is closer to most of Fairlington.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Hotel is a historic hotel and coastal resort on Mackinac Island, Michigan, a small island located at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac within Lake Huron between the states Upper and Lower peninsulas. Constructed in the late 19th century, the facility advertises itself as having the worlds largest porch. The Grand Hotel is well known for a number of notable visitors, including five USA presidents, Russian presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev, inventor Thomas Edison, and author Mark Twain.</p><br>
<p>Grand Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1886, the Michigan Central Railroad, Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and Detroit and Cleveland Steamship Navigation Company formed the Mackinac Island Hotel Company. The group purchased the land on which the hotel was built and construction began, based upon the design by Detroit architects Mason and Rice. When it opened the following year, the hotel was advertised to Chicago, Erie, Montreal and Detroit residents as a summer retreat for vacationers who arrived by lake steamer and by rail from across the continent. The hotel opened on July 10, 1887 and took a mere 93 days to complete. At its opening, nightly rates at the hotel ranged from $3 to $5 a night (equivalent to $– in ).</p><br>
<p>In 1957, the Grand Hotel was designated a State Historic Building. In 1972, the hotel was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and on June 29, 1989, the hotel was made a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<h2>Facilities</h2><br>
<p>Carleton Varney, a protégé of Dorothy Draper, designed the Grand Hotel in its late 19th-century decor, including Pelargonium geraniums. Varney purposely designed the hotel so that all the rooms are different from each other in at least one aspect. There are four types of rooms: Category I, Category II, Category III, and Named Rooms. There are six two-bedroom suites consisting of two bedrooms connected by a parlor, of which two, the Grand Suite and the Carleton Varney Suite, overlook the Mackinac Bridge and the Straits of Mackinac. The presidential suite is located in the center of the hotel with a balcony over the porch. A detached structure added in early 2000 was named the Masco Cottage.</p><br>
<p>Additionally, seven suites are named for and designed by seven former First Ladies of the United States. These are the Jacqueline Kennedy Suite (with carpet that includes the gold presidential eagle on a navy blue background and walls painted gold), Lady Bird Johnson Suite (yellow damask-covered walls with blue and gold wildflowers), Betty Ford Suite (green with cream and a dash of red), Rosalynn Carter Suite (with a sample of china designed for the Carter White House and wall coverings in Georgia peach), Nancy Reagan Suite (with signature red walls and Mrs. Reagan&#39;s personal touches), Barbara Bush Suite (designed with pale blue and pearl and with both Maine and Texas influences), and the Laura Bush Suite (decorated with bright cream and floral patterns inspired by the Texas prairie).</p><br>
<p>Grand Hotels front porch is the longest in the world at some 660 ft in length, overlooking a vast Tea Garden and the resort-scale Esther Williams swimming pool. These areas are often used by guests on a casual family vacation, for large conventions, or concerts during the hotels annual Labor Day Jazz Festival. The hotel has drawn some criticism for its policy of charging a $10 fee for non-guests to enter the building and enjoy the view from the famous porch.</p><br>
<p>Before 2007, air conditioning was only available in public rooms, such as the lobby, parlor and Salle a Manger (main dining room). Due to the building&#39;s design it was difficult to add air conditioning to the guest rooms. Air conditioning was installed in 170 guest rooms after water heat exchangers in the bathrooms were added. The exchangers cool the air through contact with the cold water system.</p><br>
<p>Mackinac Island does not permit motor vehicles (except for emergency vehicles and, in winter, snowmobiles), and transport to and from the dock to the hotel is via horse-drawn carriage. The only other motor vehicles allowed in recent history were cars brought over for the filming of Somewhere in Time. During the winter months, when ice prevents ferry transport from the mainland, the hotel is closed. The island also has a small airport (no fuel or services) for private aircraft. The horse-drawn taxis will take guests from the airport to the hotel or any other destination.</p><br>
<h2>Notable events</h2><br>
<p>USA Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have visited the hotel. The hotel also hosted the first public demonstration of Thomas Edisons phonograph on the porch, as well as regular demonstrations of Edisons other new inventions. Mark Twain also made this a regular location on his speaking tours in the Midwest.</p><br>
<p>In May each year, the Grand Hotel serves as the headquarters for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce&#39;s Mackinac Policy Conference that attracts politicians, businessmen and labor leaders from across the state and the northern Midwest region.</p><br>
<h2>Acclaim</h2><br>
<p>Conde Nast Traveler "Gold Lists" the hotel as one of the "Best Places to Stay in the Whole World" and Travel + Leisure magazines lists it as among the "Top 100 Hotels in the World." The Wine Spectator noted the Grand Hotel with an "Award of Excellence" and it was included in Gourmet magazines "Top 25 Hotels in the World" list. The American Automobile Association (AAA) rates the facilities as a four-diamond resort. and in 2009 named the Grand Hotel one of the top 10 USA historic hotels.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The Grand Hotel served as a backdrop and one of the settings for the 1980 film Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Every October the hotel hosts an annual convention for fans of the cult classic.</p><br>
<p>The hotel also served as the setting for the 1947 musical comedy This Time for Keeps starring Jimmy Durante and Esther Williams (after whom the hotel&#39;s swimming pool is named).</p><br>
<p>The hotel was the origin of the first World Sauntering Day in the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>Carriacou is an island of the Grenadine Islands located in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, northeast of Grenada and the north coast of South America. The name is derived from the Carib language Kayryouacou.</p><br>
<h2>Government</h2><br>
<p>Carriacou is a dependency of Grenada and part of the Carriacou and Petite Martinique Constituency.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Carriacou is the largest island in the Grenada Grenadines. It is also the largest island in the Grenadine Islands (Vincentian and Grenadian Grenadines). It is located at latitude 12° 28 N, longitude 61° 27 W.</p><br>
<h2>Facts</h2><br>
<p>Carriacou is home to 8,000 people. The capital city is Hillsborough, the only town or city on the island. The rest of the island settlements are very small villages. There are more than 100 rum shops in Carriacou.</p><br>
<p>Carriacou is home to Herbert Augustus Blaize, the founder of GNP (Grenada National Party) and the former Chief Minister of Grenada.</p><br>
<p>Carriacou is a popular vacation destination for Grenadians. Noteworthy beaches in Carriacou include Paradise Beach and Anse La Roche. European (English or French) dances, such as the Quadrille, are still popular on the island today. The Big Drum dance is the most popular dance on the island and is performed on a special occasions. Carriacou is reputed to be the friendliest, healthiest and safest island in the Caribbean. Carriacou&#39;s Pierrot, or Shakespeare Mas, is originally from Mt.Royal.</p><br>
<h2>National facts</h2><br>
<p>National drink: Jack Iron</p><br>
<p>National Telephone company: Cable and Wireless</p><br>
<p>National Bank: Republic Bank (Grenada)</p><br>
<p>National Hospital: Princess Royal Hospital</p><br>
<p>National Dish: Coo-Coo and Okra</p><br>
<p>National Plant/Flower: The Flamboyant Tree</p><br>
<p>As a table:</p><br>
<h2>Diving</h2><br>
<p>Carriacou is known as the "Isle of Reefs", and features some of the most unspoiled coral reefs in the region. Most diving takes place on the calmer Caribbean side of the island, where 33 dive sites suitable for all levels of divers can be found. Depths range from 12 m down to a maximum of 30 m. Visibility is good throughout the year, with excellent opportunities for underwater photography.</p><br>
<p>All of Carriacou&#39;s dive sites boast a spectacular array of vibrant corals and schooling fish that have made the Caribbean a famous diving hotspot. Dive sites range from the tranquil and sheltered for beginners and underwater photography enthusiasts to fast drifts for those that love a challenge. Carriacou also features two wreck dives: the Westsider and Boris tug boats, both 30 m long, which were sunk as artificial wrecks for divers in 2004 and 2007 respectively.</p><br>
<h2>Underwater fauna</h2><br>
<p>As well as all the usual Caribbean reef fish, large nurse sharks, barracudas, Southern & roughtail stingrays, as well as spotted eagle rays, hawksbill and green turtles are frequently sighted. During the summer months spectacular schools of silversides may be seen. During late spring, humpback whales migrate past the island, and their song can be heard by scuba divers from a long way off.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Dry season is from January to June and the rainy season is from July to December.</p><br>
<h3>Hurricanes</h3><br>
<p>The first record of a hurricane on the island was on August 14, 1944. In 1955 the second floor of the Beausejour great house was blown away by Hurricane Janet. Recent hurricanes: Hurricane Ivan on September 7, 2004 and Hurricane Emily on July 13, 2005.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Between 500 and 1000 AD\CE, Amerindians came to Carriacou. These Carib settlers called Carriacou Kayryouacou, meaning "the land of reefs."</p><br>
<p>In 1656, Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, a turtle fisherman living in Guadeloupe, visited Carriacou. He was the first recorded French/European person to visit the island. It was colonized first by the French among the European newcomers.</p><br>
<p>In 1720, Bartholomew Roberts captured a French ship near Carriacou and commandeered it, renaming it the Royal Fortune.</p><br>
<p>In 1750, the first census of the island was conducted. It recorded 199 people (92 Whites, 92 Blacks and 15 Mixed Race, people of African descent were mostly enslaved) living in Carriacou.</p><br>
<p>In 1763 near the end of the Seven Years&#39; War, Carriacou was ceded with Grenada by the French to the British after their defeat in the war. In addition, the British had captured neighbouring Grenada. In 1776, the island population was 3,239 (86 Whites and 3,153 slaves), not counting the free Blacks and the free Mulattos or people of color. In 1791, Gun Point (Rapid Point), which had been a division of the Grenadines, was made a latitude on the island. The Point belonged to Saint Vincent and the rest of Carriacou belonged to Grenada.</p><br>
<p>In 1870, Stephen Joseph Perry led a British government expedition to observe a solar eclipse at Carriacou. In the 19th century, the Pierrot Mas was first introduced to Carriacou. In 1922, Petite Charles first introduced the Jab Jab (Devil) Mas to Carriacou. The telephone system began operating in 1961 on Carriacou. Bishop&#39;s College was the first secondary school in Carriacou; it was opened in 1964 by the Anglican Church. In 1965, the Carriacou Regatta began. In 1965?1968 Lauriston airport/airstrip was opened. On October 31, 1975, the Carriacou Carib Organization (CCO) began.</p><br>
<p>The inhabitants of Carriacou perform the "Big Drum" or "Nation," dance which celebrates their West African ancestors who were brought to the island during slavery. These Big Drum dances are usually performed at "Maroons" village festivals or fetes, where food and drink are prepared. They can also be danced at wakes and tombstone feasts in honor of dead relatives. The Quadrille dance is also performed on the island during festivals and historic events.</p><br>
<p>A traditional boat-building culture located in the village of Windward, on the northeastern side of the island. Carriacou&#39;s people of Scottish and Irish ancestry are concentrated here.</p><br>
<p>Carriacouans have migrated to the United Kingdom, and especially to the county town of Bedford. It is said that if you live in Carriacou you will have a family member in Bedford, and if you live in Bedford you will surely know someone from Carriacou. Other English locations where Kayaks (nickname for people from Carriacou) congregate are Huddersfield and South London (Lewisham). The rector of St Stephens is the Archbishop of Canterbury&#39;s Visitor to the Windward Island diocese. The United States, particularly New York City, is home to a significant number of Carriacouans. Many Carriacouans do return for holidays or to retire "back home".</p><br>
<p>Limes and citrus products were the leading exports during the 18th century.</p><br>
<h3>Colonial history</h3><br>
<p>On 27th Sep 1650, Jacques du Parquet bought Grenada from the Compagnie des Iles de l&#39;Amerique, which was dissolved, for the equivalent of £1160. In 1657, Jacques du Parquet sold Grenada to the Comte de Cerrillac for the equivalent of £1890. In 1664, King Louis XIV bought out the independent island owners and established the French West India Company. In 1674 the French West India Company was dissolved. Proprietary rule ended in Grenada, which became a French colony.</p><br>
<p>Carriacou was part of the French colony in 1762. Following French defeat in the Seven Years&#39; War, it ceded its territories to Britain. The island was part of the British Grenada colony from 1763-1779 and 1783-1974. It was part of French Grenada colony from 1779-1783. It has been a dependency of Grenada since 1974.</p><br>
<p>On November 1, 1983 during Operation Urgent Fury, two companies from the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit made a combined sea and helicopter landing on Carriacou. The nineteen Grenadan soldiers defending the island surrendered without a fight. This was the last military action of the campaign.</p><br>
<h2>Native name</h2><br>
<p>In the 17th and 18th centuries, Carriacou was spelled Kayryouacou in Carib.</p><br>
<h2>Notable residents</h2><br>
<p>Herbert Augustus Blaize - former Chief Minister of Grenada</p><br>
<p>Canute Caliste - native painter</p><br>
<p>Leonard James Paterson - father of Basil Paterson, grandfather of David Paterson</p><br>
<p>Linda Lorde - mother of writer Audre Lorde</p><br>
<h2>In literature</h2><br>
<p>Carriacou and the Big Drum are featured in Paule Marshall&#39;s novel Praisesong for the Widow.</p><br>
<p>The memory of Carriacou (from which her parents emigrated to New York) figures prominently in Audre Lorde&#39;s autobiographical work Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.</p><br>
<h2>Panorama</h2><br>
<p>Pictograph Cave is a 23 acre area of three caves  located 5 mi south of Billings, Montana, United States.</p><br>
<p>Excavation of the three caves began in 1937, and they were the site of some of Montana&#39;s first professional archeological studies. Over 30,000 artifacts have been identified, with at least 20,000 animal remains recovered from the site. Species range from large mammalian species, including bison (Bos bison) and elk (Cervus elaphus), to various species of herpetiles (reptiles and amphibians) and avies (birds). The presence of these remains result from human predation, processing and consumption as well as non-human (carnivores and raptors) predation and individual species who lived and died in and around the site.</p><br>
<p>Paintings known as pictographs are still visible in Pictograph Cave, which is the largest of the three caves. The pictographs are thought to be between 200 and 2,100 years old. However their interpretations are still debated over. The oldest pictograph is that of a turtle, radio-carbon dated to be approximately 2,100 years old. These pictographs are paintings of animals, warriors, and even rifles that document the story of the Native Americans of the area for thousands of years.</p><br>
<p>The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.</p><br>
<h2>Pictograph Cave State Park</h2><br>
<p>The caves are part of Pictograph Cave State Park, which features paved trails to the caves with interpretive signs about the paintings, the area&#39;s geology and vegetation. The park encompasses 23 acre and includes a visitor center and picnic facilities.</p><br>
<p>The natural shelters are nestled in a sandstone bluff on a well-traversed path extending south from the confluence of Bitter Creek and the Yellowstone River, 6 mi south of Billings. The cave complex has long been a site of mystical power, a culturally significant gathering place for American Indians. On the interior wall of Pictograph Cave (the only one containing rock art), archaeologists discovered 106 pictographs, painted between 2,145 and 200 years ago. The walls were covered with red, white, and occasionally yellow figurines over drawings originally painted with black. They also found stone and bone tools, moccasins, arrow shafts, basketry, grinding stones, and fire-starting tools. Excavations turned up jewelry too, such as pendants, bracelets, and beads crafted of seashells acquired from Pacific Coast Indians. The excavation was led by H. Melville Sayre of the Montana School of Mines. He later hired Oscar Lewis, an archeologist from the Glendive WPA crew, to help supervise the dig. William Mulloy replaced Sayre as the Project director from Oct. 1940 to Feb. 1942.</p><br>
<h2>Development and Perception of the Site</h2><br>
<p>Conversion of the site into a State Park was not accomplished easily. The 22-acre property was originally purchased by the State of Montana in 1937 and placed under the jurisdiction of the Montana Highway Commission.</p><br>
<p>During the excavation period covering 1938 to 1941 (which included notable discoveries such as the "barbed harpoon points of the Eskimo culture, made of caribou horn," the graves of nine plus individuals, and over 30,000 artifacts), over 10,000 visitors were recorded at the site. During that time, public interest was so intense that a small museum and visitor center was constructed. The building was also used to process artifacts that were continually flowing from the caves. L. B. McMullen, then President of Eastern Montana Normal School, was instrumental in developing the original museum located at the site.</p><br>
<p>When the excavation was halted due to the onset of World War II, interest in the site waned. Visitation at the site was not controlled, the artifacts were not tracked well (most still cannot be accounted for today), and the museum at the site was broken into numerous times and eventually burned by vandals.</p><br>
<p>In 1963 Mayor Willard Fraser signed an agreement stating that the City of Billings would take over administration of the park from the Montana State Department of Highways. This move was met with criticism from aldermen who expressed concerns over the citys ability to monitor the park, assume liabilities, and provide services. The distance of the park from the city was also of major concern. "Wed just be inviting kids to raise all kinds of hell" was the position of Alderman Joe Leone. Regardless of their opposition, Mayor Fraser saw the potential to attract tourists to the site (Billings Gazette 1963). The site was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 19, 1964.</p><br>
<p>The city turned over the caves&#39; management to the Parks Division of the Montana Department of Fish and Game in 1969; the site became a state park in 1991.</p><br>
<p>The Île Sainte-Marguerite is the largest of the Lérins Islands, about half a mile off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately 3 km in length  and 900 m across.</p><br>
<p>The island is most famous for its fortress prison (the Fort Royal), in which the so-called Man in the Iron Mask was held in the 17th century.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The island is first known to have been inhabited during Roman times, when it was known by the name Lero. The island was probably renamed in medieval times by crusaders, who built a chapel to Saint Margaret of Antioch on the island. In the 14th century, probably due to the writings of Raymond Féraud, the island became associated with a fictional Sainte Marguerite, sister to Saint Honoratus, founder of the monastery on the neighbouring Île Saint-Honorat. According to legend, Sainte Marguerite led a community of nuns on the island which was named after her.</p><br>
<p>In 1612, ownership of the island passed from the monks of Saint-Honorat to Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse. Shortly after, construction of a fort on the island (to become the Fort Royal) began. In 1635, the island was captured by the Spanish and recaptured by the French two years later.</p><br>
<p>Towards the end of the 17th century, the Fort Royal became home to a barracks and state prison. During the 18th century, the present-day village of Sainte-Marguerite developed, thriving on the spending power of the soldiers stationed on the island.</p><br>
<p>The Fort Royal was home to a number of famous prisoners until its closure in the 20th century. As well as the Man in the Iron Mask, a mysterious prisoner whose identity remains unknown, Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza&#39;iri (an Algerian rebel leader), Marquis Jouffroy d’Abbans (inventor of the steamboat) and Marshal Bazaine (the only successful escapee from the island) have all spent time there.</p><br>
<h2>Present</h2><br>
<p>A fifteen-minute boat ride from Cannes, the Île de Sainte-Marguerite is low in profile and heavily wooded with umbrella pines and eucalyptus. Both islands (with the Île Saint-Honorat) are looked after by the Office national des forêts, and are a popular tourist attraction of natural interest.</p><br>
<p>During the summer months, a large number of boats moor in the shallow, protected "Plateau du Milieu", between the islands or on the landward side of Sainte-Marguerite where there is more room for water skiing, parascending and other popular water sports.</p><br>
<p>The village of Sainte-Marguerite is made up of about twenty buildings. Most of these are home to fishermen, but there is also a small boatyard and one or two establishments offering refreshments to tourists. The island&#39;s hotel has been closed down since the summer of 2005.</p><br>
<p>The historic Fort Royal now houses a youth hostel and a Museum of the Sea, featuring items recovered from ancient Roman and Saracen shipwrecks. Visitors are also able to view a number of former prison cells (including that occupied by the Man in the Iron Mask) and a Roman cistern room.</p><br>
<p>Close to the Fort Royal is a small cemetery for French soldiers who died there when it was used for convalescence during the Crimean War, and alongside it is a cemetery for North African soldiers killed on the Allied side during World War II.</p><br>
<p>It was in the news recently because the Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, owner of the Formula 1 team Force India and the Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore, purchased “Le Grand Jardin,” or “The Large Garden”, a unique piece of luxury real estate on the Island of Sainte-Marguerite, for between €37 million and €43 million ($53–61 million US).</p><br>
<p>The island is served all year round by a regular commercial ferry service from Cannes.</p><br>
<p>The King Leopold Ranges are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. The range was named on 6 June 1879 by the explorer Alexander Forrest, during an expedition in the Kimberley area, after King Leopold II of Belgium, "for the great interest taken by His Majesty in exploration".</p><br>
<p>Crossed by the Gibb River Road about 134 km east of Derby, part of the ranges are covered by the 3,921 km&sup2; King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park, managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. The ranges separate the main Kimberley plateau from the southern Fitzroy plains and consist of quartz sandstone intruded by dolerite.</p><br>
<p>The ranges are shaped like a crescent with a length of 567 km running from the northern end of the Durack Range in the East to east of Secure Bay in the West Kimberley. The range is estimated to cover a total area of 30,794 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The ranges, which have an average height 600 m, were named by Alexander Forrest in 1879 after King Leopold II of Belgium. The highest point of the range is found at Mount Wells which is 983 m above mean sea level.</p><br>
<p>The next two highest peaks are Mount Ord at 936 m and Mount Broome at 927 m.</p><br>
<p>Nearby features include Mount Hart, Bell Gorge, Silent Grove and Lennard Gorge as well as the Napier Range and Queen Victoria&#39;s Head granite outcrop. Fitzroy Bluff is formed where the Fitzroy River carves through the range. Camping is permitted at Mount Hart Station, Bell Creek or at Silent Grove.</p><br>
<p>The traditional owners of the area are the Ngarinjin, Konejandi and Bunaba peoples.</p><br>
<p>Cattle were first overlanded across the range in 1903. Leaving from Fitzroy Crossing and used to stock Mount Barnett Station, the trip took over six weeks to complete.</p><br>
<p>The ranges will be renamed to Wilinggin Ranges and along with the currently name King Leopold Conservation park will form part of the Wilinggin National Park</p><br>
<h2>Physiography</h2><br>
<p>The ranges are a distinct physiographic section of the larger Kimberley Block province, which in turn is part of the larger West Australian Shield division.</p><br>
<h3>Ranges</h3><br>
<p>The King Leopold Range is made up of many smaller ranges including; Lady Forrest Range, Isdell Range, Narrie Range, Sir John Range,Latitude: 17°35&#39;22"S</p><br>
<p>Longitude: 126°1059.2"E Precipice Range Latitude: 17°1602"S</p><br>
<p>Longitude: 125°36&#39;19.1"E and Durack Range.</p><br>
<p>Saunders Lake is located in the United States state of Minnesota. It is a 70 acre lake that is west-southwest of Minneapolis–St. Paul in the Minneapolis suburbs of Mound and Minnetrista.</p><br>
<p>The first European settlers came to the area near Saunders Lake in the 1850s. In 1854, Nathaniel Sanders and J. F. Buck settled on its shores. Saunders Lake was named for Nathaniel Sanders.</p><br>
<p>The lake is a large, Type 5 wetland, classified as a Natural Environment lake. The lake outlets through a small channel to Lake Langdon, which discharges through a culvert under County State-Aid Highway 110 into Lost Lake, which outlets into Cooks Bay of Lake Minnetonka. It is part of the Langdon Lake subwatershed of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD).</p><br>
<p>The corridor between Black (also called Flanagan) and Saunders Lakes consists of wetlands and maple-basswood forest and has been identified by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a regionally significant area with outstanding ecological value. Most of this area has been incorporated into Gale Woods Regional Park by the Three Rivers Park District.</p><br>
<p>Saunders Lake scores highly on vegetative diversity, fish and wildlife habitat, and is classified in the Preserve category.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>The lake is considered by many to be a great crappie fishing lake, and catfish and sunfish are also present. Beavers are present as evidenced by the downed trees on its north shore.</p><br>
<h2>Water Quality</h2><br>
<p>Minnehaha Creek Watershed District has graded Saunders Lake a B- for water quality on a scale of A-F. Lakes with a B grade are defined as, “Generally good water quality but algae may limit swimming, particularly toward the end of the summer.”</p><br>
<p>Kuruvadweep is a 950 acre protected river delta on the Kabini River in the Wayanad district, Kerala, India. Kuruvadweep is the only island surrounded with naturally purified water source in Kerala.</p><br>
<p>These group of islands consists of dense and evergreen forest that is uninhabited and hence home to rare kinds of flora and fauna: endemic species of birds, orchids and herbs namely. Its unique geographical characteristics make it a place where not only the leaves but also silence is evergreen. Its 16.7 km from the nearest town itself and thus it has become a place of attraction. Recently, it has been named as the most visited place in the district by tourists from all over the globe.</p><br>
<p>The island surrounded by streams and river is accessible by rafts or fiber boats run by Kerala Tourism Department. Entrance to the island is restricted and monitored by the Forest Department of Kerala, initiative to protect forest. Due the sheer number of elephants and other animals in the island, a pass has to be obtained prior to the visit, from Dept of Forest is mandatory. The best time to visit Kuruvadeep is from mid December to late April. Kuruvadweep is usually closed to the public from May last to early December, due to the monsoons and retreating monsoons.The torrential rainfall floods the streams and the water level rises dangerously high. The best time to visit Kuruvadeep is from mid December to late April.</p><br>
<p>Kuruva Islands is 17 km east of Mananthavady and 10 km north west of Pulpally, nearby towns in Wayanad District. More details can be sought in district office of Department of Tourism, Wayanad in Kalpetta.</p><br>
<p>Mitchells Fold  is a Bronze Age stone circle in South-West Shropshire, located near the small village of White Grit on dry heathland at the south-west end of Stapeley Hill in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton, at a height of 1083 ft  o.d.</p><br>
<p>It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (number 107448) in the guardianship of English Heritage.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>As with most sites of this type, its true history is unknown. The name of the circle may derive from micel or mycel, Old English for big, referring to the size of this large circle.</p><br>
<p>Its doleritic stones came from nearby Stapeley Hill. Many of them are now missing and others are fallen. One example is that “This circle was the site of vandalism by a local farmer in the summer of 1995 when several stones were uprooted by a mechanical digger. The stones were promptly righted and "planted" again and the culprit punished. Ongoing unsympathetic use by both local youth and townie pagans, such as the creation of numerous fire pits and the leaving of litter and broken glass after the festivals, does nothing for the atmosphere of this site.”</p><br>
<p>In the beginning there may have been some thirty stone pillars. The survivors that still stand range in height from 10ins to 6 ft, and stand in an ellipse 89 ft NW-SE by 82 ft The tallest is at the south-east end of the major axis, standing, perhaps by coincidence or design, close to the line of the southern moonrise. This pillar and a companion have been taken to flank an entrance about 6 ft wide.</p><br>
<p>Aubrey Burl has stated in his 2000 book A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany that "There was a claim for a central stone and a very dubious eighteenth-century report that there was a stone across your two Portals, like those at Stonehenge, and that the stone at eighty yards distance was the altar." but that the "probability of a trilithon, otherwise unique to Stonehenge, at Mitchell&#39;s Fold, like an identical claim for Kerzerho in Brittany, should be regarded as rumour rather than reality."</p><br>
<h2>Folklore</h2><br>
<p>As with most sites of this type, its true history is unknown. However, there is a traditional folkstory that a giant whose marvellous cow gave unlimited amounts of milk used the circle until a malicious witch milked the cow, using a sieve until it was drained dry, as a result of which it fled to Warwickshire where it became the Dun cow.</p><br>
<p>As a punishment, the witch was turned into stone and surrounded by other stones to prevent her escaping. What became of the giant is unknown. Local folklore also suggests this is the actual place where King Arthur withdrew Excalibur from one of the stones in the circle and then became king of the Britains.</p><br>
<p>Burl goes on to state that "An intriguing fact does exist however. Aerial photographs have revealed mediaeval ridge-and-furrow ploughmarks not only running up to the ring but also through it as though this prehistoric megalithic ring might postdate the Middle Ages!" It does not. In the Middle Ages, the whole area was simply thoroughly farmed.</p><br>
<p>In recent times, referred to as Yrvasnth (pron. Eer-Vasin-Ta), the site has been home to Germanic pagan revivalism and ritual.</p><br>
<h2>Other nearby prehistoric sites</h2><br>
<p>The only other known stone circles in Shropshire are the Hoarstones, only 1½ miles northeast of the Fold, and the Whetstones, less than half a mile to the east of the Fold. So this area is a concentrated area of activity. Nearly all the latter&#39;s stones were blown up in the 1860s; now there is only a collapse of stones. When the last stone was uprooted in 1870 charcoal and bones were seen in its hole.</p><br>
<p>The circle is 6 mi north of Bishop&#39;s Castle, 1 mi north of Corndon Hill over the Welsh border in the small village of White Grit and within a few miles of the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age picrite stone axe factory of Cwm-Mawr. To the south-east is a weathered cubical block on a small cairn. Along the path leading from the Fold which crosses Stapeley Common, home to the Cow Stone, or single standing Stone - Menhir and the Stapeley Hill Ring Cairn.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The circle features on the cover of the 2012 album Heathen Psalms by Shropshire based pagan metal band Hrafnblóð.</p><br>
<p>The River Hodder is a river in Lancashire, England. The river is a County Biological Heritage Site.</p><br>
<p>It rises on White Hill and flows for approximately 23 miles to the River Ribble, of which it is the largest tributary. The confluence of the rivers is an impressive sight, particularly when both are in spate.</p><br>
<p>The Hodder drains much of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and all but the last mile of its course is through this scenic area.</p><br>
<p>The upper reaches of the river feed the large Stocks Reservoir, which provides much of Lancashire&#39;s water supply. After exiting the reservoir, the Hodder continues in a general southward direction. It collects many tributaries from the valleys of Bowland and, lower down, parts of the Ribble Valley. Most notable among the feeders of the Hodder are Croasdale Brook, Easington Brook, the River Dunsop, Langden Brook and the River Loud.</p><br>
<p>Much of the land in the Hodder Valley further to the north is owned by the Crown as Duke of Lancaster, whilst further down, farming land on the Stonyhurst Estate is owned by Stonyhurst College and the Jesuits. The river runs close to the College and passes adjacent to the former preparatory school, Hodder Place. The river lends its name to the pre-preparatory department at Stonyhurst, "Hodder House" and also years three to five known collectively as "Hodder Playroom".</p><br>
<p>The River Hodder eventually joins the River Ribble near Great Mitton, close to the River Calder.</p><br>
<p>The relief of the river starts over 400 m above sea level and within a distance of 15 km it drops to 99 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The Lower Hodder marks the historical county boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It formed an important early feature in the development of the ancient Lordship of Bowland.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name Hodder is likely derived from Brythonic. Its meaning is either "pleasant stream" or possibly "boundary" (Welsh yr odre), the latter suggesting that the Lancashire/Yorkshire border has its origins in the depths of antiquity. It is thought that Bowland takes its name from the Old Norse boga- meaning a bow in a river; the Hodder being characterised by the way it meanders and twists through the Bowland landscape.</p><br>
<h2>Diversion</h2><br>
<p>In geological history, the Hodder did not flow eastward around Longridge Fell to join the River Ribble, but instead ran westward along the Loud valley from Doeford Bridge to the Derby Arms north of Longridge (reversing its modern-day eastward flow), continuing south-westward through Halfpenny Lane on the west side of Longridge to join either Blundell Brook past Broughton church and Woodplumpton to join the River Wyre, or else Savick Brook through Fulwood to join the River Ribble.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>The Hodder does not pass by any major towns, but the following villages are situated along the river:</p><br>
<p>Slaidburn</p><br>
<p>Newton</p><br>
<p>Dunsop Bridge</p><br>
<p>Whitewell</p><br>
<p>Hurst Green</p><br>
<p>Great Mitton</p><br>
<p>The medieval silver Mitton Hoard was found near where this river joins the River Ribble in 2009.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<p>Manda is an island of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya, known for the prosperous 9th century ports of Takwa and Manda town. The island is now linked by ferry to Lamu and is home to Manda Airport, while Manda Toto island lies to its west. The island is separated from the mainland by the narrow Mkanda channel.</p><br>
<p>Both Manda town and Takwa were probably abandoned due to lack of water in the first half of the 19th century. In the 1960s the Kenya Department of Agriculture recommended building several concrete catchments called jabias to capture rain water on the island. Two jabias were built and many families moved onto the island, farming maize, cassava, simsim and cotton.</p><br>
<h2>Manda town</h2><br>
<h3>History</h3><br>
<p>The Manda town ruins (on the Northwest coast of Manda Island), were first explored by the archaeologist Neville Chittick in 1965. The town owes its origins to trade with the Persian Gulf during 9th and 10th centuries. The chief trading commodity was probably elephant ivory. Mbutangrove poles were probably also important. Early inhabitants of Manda constructed buildings with burnt square brick and stone and set with a lime mortar. These building techniques are found only on islands and coastal areas of Kenya. This brick and mortar technology is unique to the previously mentioned areas whereas the bricks averaging about 18 cm (which "match perfectly...in measure") are unique for East Africa for this period, and are likely to have been brought in from Sohar, in modern-day Oman. These bricks probably arrived on Manda Island as ballast in sailing ships entering the port. From the mid-9th century to the early 11th century buildings were also constructed from coral known as coral rag cut from dead coral reefs.</p><br>
<p>The large scale excavations in 1966, 1970, and 1978 revealed an prosperity unrivaled in East Africa for the period. Signs of this prosperity include Chinese porcelain dating from the ninth century onward, Islamic pottery and glass, and local pottery dated by the associated imports. Chittick defines 7 periods for occupation of Manda Island: Mid-9th to early 11th century, Mid-11th to late 13th century, late 13th to 14th century, 15th and early 16th century, Mid-16th to 17th century, and Post-seventeenth century. A striking feature of the town are large sea walls built sometime between the 9th century to the 13th century. The walls parallel the shore and are built from large coral blocks. These walls were likely constructed to reclaim sections of the shoreline. Running parallel with the sea with returns running inland, these walls built from large coral blocks are deduced to have been constructed partly to reclaim sections of the shore, and partly to consolidate the edges of the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>In the July 2013 issue of Archeology it was reported that a Chinese "Yongle Tongbao" cash coin was found on Manda Island, illustrating the reach of Chinese explorers and traders. The coin was issued during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di which lasted until 1424.</p><br>
<p>At its peak, the town covered some 40 acre and its population is estimated to have been about 3,500. Manda prospered until the 13th century when it began to decline.</p><br>
<h2>Takwa</h2><br>
<p>The Takwa Ruins was a 1500–1700 town, and it was designated a Kenyan National Monument in 1982.</p><br>
<h2>Manda Airport</h2><br>
<p>Manda Airport is the only airport in the Lamu Archipelago.</p><br>
<p>Lamu Island is a part of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya.</p><br>
<p>Lamu Old Town, the principal inhabited part of the island, is one of the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlements in East Africa. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant center for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures.</p><br>
<p>The island is linked by boat to Mokowe on the mainland and to Manda Island, where there is an airport. There are no roads on the island, just alleyways and footpaths, and therefore, there are few motorized vehicles on the island. Residents move about on foot or by boat, and donkeys are used to transport goods and materials.</p><br>
<p>A port was founded on the island of Lamu by Arab traders at least as early as the fourteenth century, when the Pwani Mosque was built. The island prospered on the slave trade.</p><br>
<p>After defeating Pate Island in the nineteenth century, the island became a local power, but it declined after the British forced the closure of the slave markets in 1873. In 1890 the island became part of Zanzibar and remained obscure until Kenya was granted independence from Great Britain in 1963. Tourism developed from the 1970s, mainly around the eighteenth century Swahili architecture and traditional culture.</p><br>
<p>Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia have launched the controversial LAPSSET development project to build a port, oil refinery and rail network near the island of Lamu, the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor.</p><br>
<p>In addition to Lamu Town, there are three villages on Lamu Island: Shela, Matondoni and Kipungani.</p><br>
<h2>Shela</h2><br>
<p>Shela is a village about 3.2 km south of Lamu (town). The origin of the village is unknown, but according to tradition, it was settled by people from nearby Manda Island. In 1813, the elite of Pate Island, allied with the Mazrui clan from Oman, attempted to subjugate Lamu in the Battle of Shela. This attempt failed totally, and the defeat of Pate at Shela signalled the rise of Lamu as the leading power in the archipelago. Shela&#39;s golden age was from 1829 to 1857, when 5 of its 6 mosques were constructed. It is especially known for the Friday mosque.</p><br>
<p>Shela is now a centre for tourism on the island, with several guest houses featured by the coast. Shela is also home to the most spectacular beaches on Lamu island, which were damaged during the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The appearance of the area is much more in keeping with the imagined East African coastline, with its almost pure white sand, traditional dhows, and clean appearance. It makes a sharp contrast to Lamu town (directly opposite the airstrip on Manda) which lacks a beach and functions as a relatively busy port.</p><br>
<h2>Matondoni</h2><br>
<p>Known for the building and repairing of dhows, Matondoni lies at the NW coast of the island, 7.3 km west of Lamu (town). The village has a modern jetty.</p><br>
<h2>Kipungani</h2><br>
<p>This is a small village on the West coast of the island.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Michael W. Smith featured a song about visiting the island called "Lamu" on his 1986 album The Big Picture. A different version is featured on Smith&#39;s 1987 live album The Live Set.</p><br>
<p>Wasini Island lies in southeast Kenya 3 km off the coast of the Indian Ocean, 75 km south of Mombasa, and 3 km opposite the harbour of the village Shimoni. It is approximately 7 km long and 3 km across. The island has only footpaths of sharp old coral or sand. There are no autocars, carts or bicycles. Cargo is transported by foot or by a wheelbarrow with a solid tyre. Transport is over the paths, or via the beaches, mainly consisting of coral and only passable with low tide, or by boat over the sea. Before 1963, in the British colonial time, there was an airstrip in the lagoon situated longitudinal south on the island; only small parts of tarmac are reminders of this history.</p><br>
<h2>Population, culture, language and religion</h2><br>
<p>The island has a population of about 3.000 living at the north coast in the two villages Wasini and Mwkiro, respectively at the west and east side of the island, and inland in the hamlet Nyuma Maji, which means in Swahili behind the water. In Wasini-village and Nyuma Maji live the Bantu people the Vumba, whose mother tongue is the Swahili dialect kivumba; in Mwkiro the Digo have their own mother tongue, the Swahili dialect kidigo. Besides that they all speak Swahili and sometimes English. The Vumba are of Arabic origin, may be a little bit mixed with the Chinese. The Arabs came to the East-African coast in the 1st century A.D. and after mixing with the Bantu people they together formed the Coast or Swahili people. The Digo probably came from the Persian Gulf in the 15th century A,D. Between the island and the Tanzanian islands Pemba and Zanzibar south-east of the island in the Indian Ocean consist strong cultural connections and family ties.</p><br>
<p>The population is for about 99% Muslim, from liberal to orthodox. (See note 1).</p><br>
<h2>Economy and tourism</h2><br>
<p>Tourism is the main source of income; second comes fishing. The high poverty level has greatly diminished in the last 30 years due to the tourism based on the approximately 10 km far Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park. Here tourists do snorkel and dive between the coral around this tiny sand island Kisite which is totally inundated during high tide. This park annually attracted 80.000 of overseas (75%) and African (25%) tourists. Unfortunately, since 2013 there is a decline of 50% in the number of overseas tourists, of which 75% are coming from Europe, because of their fear for Al-Shabaab and since 2014 also for the Ebola virus, although this virus was never detected outside West- Africa and Congo. In Wasini village approximately 50% of the costwinners are relying for their income on tourism, so 75% of the population. In mwiro this percentage are 12%, and probably, 18% respectivily.</p><br>
<p>The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is monitoring the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Park and is asking for an entry fee. These fees are not recirculated within the auspices of the collection area - instead they are remitted to their headquarters in Nairobi. The majority of visitors arrive on prepaid packages organised outside of the Island and outside of Shimoni. The larger operators are foreign owned. Many such organisations claim to operate responsible tourism - eco tourism. The tourist numbers generated in the area over the years are not monitored for environmental or socio economic impact.</p><br>
<p>Fishing is the second source of income. The fisherman are using open baskets put under water with stones and marcated by mangrove poles hewn on the island and taken into their canoes, or are throwing fishing lines. They are fishing in the sometimes rough waters of the Pemba Channel, between Wasini and Pemba, and the more calm waters between the island and the mainland. Also there are several sports fishing vessels anchored on the shore of Shimoni at the Pemba Channel Club which pass into the Pemba Channel - a fishing ground famous for Kenya, winning All Africa and World IGFA fishing records. The presence of long liner fishing vessels offshore, rising water levels, destructive fishing methods using small seine nets and dynamite on reefs, have all had an detrimental impact on the fish reservoir.</p><br>
<p>Often humpback whales and dolphins can be spotted in the immediate surroundings of the island. Near the mainland humpback whales can regularly be seen swimming northbound on the East African current. At the east side of the island often dolphins are playing in the seawater. On the island itself at the shore opposite of Wasini village near the Kenyan Marine jetty beautiful coral fauna and flora can be seen and be examined while snorkeling; the Beach Management Unit is demanding an entrance fee of 5 US dollars or the equivalent in Kenyan shillings. North of the stairs of the jetty it is nice swimming because of the cool clear seawater there.</p><br>
<p>The harbour of Shimoni, 3 km. diagonal across the channel between the island and the mainland which contains the northward bound East-African current of the Indian Ocean coming from Cape Delgado in the north of Mozambique near the border with Tanzania. is deep enough for a natural port and the only one in this area for oceangoing trading dhows and fishing vessels. It is the stopping off point to reach Wasini island, and is some 75 km south of Mombasa. Port immigration and customs facilities are present and provide services for those trade dhows and people arriving from Tanzania, especially the island Pemba, or further afield. Twice a week there is a passenger transport service by boat to Weyte at Pemba; also it is possible to board a cargo dhow for payment to that harbour.</p><br>
<p>The Wasini Women Group has established a nature boardwalk in the beautiful coral gardens on the Western end. Proceeds help e.g. needy Wasini students and other Wasini citizens. In Mwkiro there is a well established, but rudimentary orphanage. These indigenous Non Government Organisations (NGO&#39;s) and self-help groups supplement activities across the water at Shimoni whereby visitors frequent the "Shimoni Slave Caves" - a community based project. Though it is questionable to what extent and what part both locations played in the slave trade, it is true to say that both were involved in it. In the caves live fruitbats who harbour the innocent Shimoni bat virus.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Orientated west to east, Wasini lies about 500 km. south of the equator in the Indian Ocean and is every year blasted by the vigour of the northeast monsoon Kaskazi, which brings the long rains. In the other half of the year the southwest monsoon Kusi brings the short rains. Both monsoons were in the history propelling the trade sailing boats, the dhows from the direction of the Persian Gulf and India, and from the southern parts of East-Africa, and in the other half of the year propelling them back home.</p><br>
<h2>Public services</h2><br>
<p>The island doesn&#39;t cater for boreholes as the source of fresh water; sweet water originating from a borehole lasts for only one week. There exist no piped drinking water. Instead eight rainwater catchments on the island were built, which are sufficient for the demand to fresh water; from there professional water carriers transport the water with their wheelbarrows to the private homes.</p><br>
<p>Kenya&#39;s power grid does not extend on the island neither are there public electricity generators, so increasingly people are putting privately owned solarpanels on their roofs to generate electric current.</p><br>
<p>Neither exists there a public sewer system. Deep holes are hacked in the coral rock until the groundwater is reached for building a pit latrine. Those pits are washed out twice a day across through the coralrock by the high tide of the sea. Is the distance short to the sea, the raw effluent will leak in the seawater, resulting in fecal contamination of the seawater near the shore of the villages. However, the longer the distance between the latrinepit and the sea, the more micro-organisms take the chance to clean the passing raw sewage material. Rubbish is not publicly collected although a NGO made a short-lived effort to improve this system. So people are giving their edible garbage to the goats, putting the remains in a compostpit and burn the non-biodegradable left overs. However, at the coast some people tend to dispose the non-biodegradable remains directly in the sea, resulting in floatsam - mainly items of plastic and rubber, but also big derooted wooden trunks and their branches- at the lower end with high tide. The inland lagoon near Nyuma Maji in the southern half of the island and the mangrove forests marshes entrap large quantities of flotsam floating in on the tides.</p><br>
<p>On the sandy mudflats in the west grows Shoreline Seaside Purslane, in Swahili called mboga pwani, "the vegetable of the ebb", with its official botanical name Sesuvium portulacastrum (See note 2). The island inhabitants cook this tasty and healthy sea vegetable as part of their Swahili dishes.</p><br>
<h2>Health</h2><br>
<p>The island has two dispensaries, both staffed by one common community health nurse. There is a high infant mortality compared on the island with other parts of Kenya. The main diseases of the children are malaria, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, while many adults suffer from diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and gastric ulcer. The dispensaries provide some basic medicines, and give vaccinations to the children and health education to their mothers. For more complicated diseases and sophisticated medical care the inhabitants visit the private and state clinics at the mainland in Shimoni, Msambweni and Mombasa. They can reach these places by matatu. Private car taxis can also be called, but are mostly used by tourists because for the locals they are too expensive. For short distances also the taxi-motorbike, the piki-piki, can be rented.</p><br>
<h2>Security</h2><br>
<p>Because of the high security on this sparsely populated island, there is no police. The nearest police post is at Shimoni on the mainland: 15 min. by boat.</p><br>
<p>Notes.</p><br>
<p>1) According to the private observations of a male Muslim villager, of the about 400 adult men in Wasini village, 32 or 8% visit five times a day the main mosque service, while on the holy Friday this number doubles to about 64 or 16%.</p><br>
<p>2) Determination confirmed by Prof. Dr. E.F.(Erik) Smets, Scientific Director - Botany</p><br>
<p>P.O.Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands</p><br>
<p></revision></p><br>
<p>Rusinga Island, with an elongated shape approximately 10 miles  from end to end and 3 miles  at its widest point, lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it is linked to Mbita Point on the mainland by a causeway.</p><br>
<h2>Demography</h2><br>
<p>The local language is Luo, although the ancestors of the current inhabitants were Suba people who came in boats several hundred years ago from Uganda as refugees from a dynastic war. Many Rusinga place names betray Suba origins, including the islands name itself and its central peak, Lunene. There was an extinct language of Uganda called Singa, alternatives Lusinga and Lisinga, spoken only on Rusinga Island (which, of course is in Kenya). It belonged to the same group of Niger–Congo as Suba. As of 2006, estimates of Rusingas population range between 20,000 and 30,000. The entire island is part of the Homa Bay County.</p><br>
<p>Most residents of Rusinga make their living from subsistence agriculture (maize and millet), as well as fishing. The native tilapia is still caught, though this species (like all others native to the lake) has been decimated by the voracious Nile perch that was introduced into the lake in 1954. Constant onshore winds cool the lakeward side of the island and provide clean beaches with ideal swimming and boating conditions, but poor roads between Rusinga and the nearest town, Homa Bay, inhibit trade and tourism. The brightly glittering black sands of the beaches are made of crystals of melanite garnet, barkevikite hornblende, and magnetite eroded from the uncompahgrite lava fragments in the agglomerates that overlie the fossil beds.</p><br>
<p>The island is also notable as the family home and burial site of Tom Mboya, who before his assassination in 1969 was widely pegged as Jomo Kenyatta&#39;s successor as President of the new nation of Kenya.</p><br>
<h2>Palaeontology</h2><br>
<p>Rusinga is widely known for its extraordinarily rich and important fossil beds of extinct Miocene mammals, dated to 18 million years. The island had been only cursorily explored until the Leakey expedition of 1947-1948 began systematic searches and excavations, which have continued sporadically since then. The end of 1948 saw the collection of about 15,000 fossils from the Miocene, including 64 primates called by Louis Leakey "Miocene apes."</p><br>
<p>All the species of Proconsul were among the 64 and all were given the name africanus, although many were reclassified into nyanzae, major and heseloni later. Mary Leakey discovered the first complete skull of Proconsul, then considered a "stem hominoid", in 1948. Excavation of the fossil was completed by Louis native assistant, Heselon Mukiri (whence Walkers 1993 name heseloni). Many thousands of fossils are now known from five major sites, with abundant hominoids including an almost complete skeleton of a second species of Proconsul, as well as Nyanzapithecus, Limnopithecus, Dendropithecus and Micropithecus, all of which show arboreal rather than terrestrial adaptations. The first true monkeys do not appear until around 15 million years ago, so it is widely supposed that the diverse Early Miocene African catarrhines like those found on Rusinga filled that adaptive niche. The phylogenetic position of these primates has been debated. It has been theorized that Proconsul is a stem catarrhine and therefore ancestral to both Cercopithecids (Old World monkeys) and hominids (great apes and humans), rather than a stem hominoid.</p><br>
<p>Pleistocene mammal fossils, including an extinct antelope called Rusingoryx, notable for its nasal dome hypothesised to produce loud calls, known nowhere else, are also common in former shoreline deposits around the edges of the island, left behind as Lake Victoria has slowly subsided over the centuries due to erosion in its outlet.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The fossil beds are layers of volcanic ash produced by a succession of explosive eruptions during the earliest stages of a volcano that eventually covered an area 75 miles in diameter. The volcano is now eroded down to the frozen magma in its vent that makes up the Kisingiri hills on the mainland opposite Rusinga, and the surrounding remnants of the cone: the semicircular Rangwa mountain range, and the islands of Rusinga and neighboring Mfangano Island. This rift valley volcano on the southern flank of the now-inactive Winam Gulf tapped much deeper in the mantle than oceanic or subduction zone volcanos, and its lavas and explosive ash clouds thus contained much more carbonate and alkali than normal. This meant that even though the Miocene environment was a tropical rainforest, the chemistry of the successive ash beds was that of a desert dry lake, preserving everything from caterpillars and berries to apes and elephants in an unusual situation found only in a few other East African ex-volcanos, notably Menengai and Homa Mountain in western Kenya, Napak and Mount Elgon in Uganda, and the much younger Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania, which created the fossil beds of Olduvai Gorge.</p><br>
<p>Annet  is the second largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, 1 km west of St Agnes with a length of 1 km and approximately 22 hectare in area. The low-lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves. At the northern end of the island are the two granite carns of Annet Head and Carn Irish and three smaller carns known as the Haycocks. The rocky outcrops on the southern side of the island, such as South Carn, are smaller. Annet is a bird sanctuary and the main seabird breeding site in Scilly.</p><br>
<p>The island is closed to the public from 15 April to 20 August every year to limit the disturbance to the breeding seabirds for which it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is also within part of the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Isles of Scilly Heritage Coast and part of Plantlife’s, Isles of Scilly Important Plant Area The island is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust who lease it from the Duchy of Cornwall.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Little has been found on Annet in the way of human remains apart from a prehistoric hut circle, a fragmentary field system and several limpet middens. Bones of cattle and sheep were found indicating that they were eaten here and probably grazed the island. It is proposed to designate the whole of Annet as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The name of the island is first recorded in 1302 as Anet. Also recorded as Anete in 1305, Anet in 1339, Agnet in 1570 and Agnet iland alias Annett in 1650.</p><br>
<p>In the 19th century Annet was ″used for pasturage by the inhabitants of other islands″ although with only one freshwater seepage there could not have been many animals grazing on the island.</p><br>
<p>The SS Castleford struck the Crebawethans in June 1877 and led to some of her cargo of 250 to 450 cattle being landed on the island and staying there for up to 10 days. Gurney (1889) reported that "... the animals trampled everything and would have caused an immense amount of damage at the peak of the shearwater and storm petrel nesting season". It seems unlikely that many stayed for 10 days because of the need for fresh water. Cattle were washed up on the Cornish coast as far as Mounts Bay and St Ives. Another ship wrecked nearby, the worlds only seven-masted schooner, Thomas W Lawson spilled her cargo of oil on 14 December 1907 causing the loss of many birds. In 1971 Rex Cowan found the wreck of VOC Hollandia together with a large quantity of coins, bronze cannons and mortars. The ship hit Gunner Rock on 13 July 1743 with the loss of 276 lives.</p><br>
<h2>Natural history</h2><br>
<p>The geology of Annet is of Hercynian granite overlain with raised beach deposits. On the southern end there is a "thick bed of soil, part sand and part soil". The island is low-lying with a top height of 18 m and the coast consists of boulder storm beaches. The effects of wind exposure, salt spray and lack of topography, restricts diversity and only 53 species of vascular plants have been recorded. The north of the island is dominated by a well developed, thick, thrift (Armeria maritima) turf whilst the southern part is dominated by dense stands of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), bramble (Rubus fruticosus) and bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), with some sand sedge (Carex arenaria) and Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus). Thickets of tree mallow (Lavatera arborea) have developed at the back of some of the boulder beaches. There were scattered colonies of shore dock (Rumex rupestris) until a storm in 1982 swept away some of the boulder beaches. One colony remains in the corner of a relatively sheltered beach in the south of the island at a freshwater seepage. Shore dock is one of the primary reasons for the selection of the Isles of Scilly as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Annet is the ″British stronghold″ for the lichen Roccella fuciformis.</p><br>
<p>A description of the island by Hilda Quick, a former resident of St Agnes published in 1964 is still relevant today:</p><br>
<p>Many people are disappointed at being unable to visit the famous bird sanctuary, but in fact, there is very little to see there by day. There will be shearwater corpses lying about, (victims of the gulls) several large colonies of gulls, some oystercatchers, rock pipits, and wrens. The walking on the island is horrid, much of it over loose stones hidden in long grass, some bramble and bracken, and awkward great clumps of thrift. What Annet is famous for is its colonies of Manx shearwaters and storm petrels; but since they nest underground, and only come and go in the dark, there is nothing to be seen of them by day. One has to camp out for the night, which is often a chilly process, and requires special permission. The puffins that to breed there in such numbers that their bodies were used for paying rent are now few, and can best be seen from a boat as they swim on the water.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>Annet is considered to be of outstanding importance as a seabird colony. Twelve species nest here, of which two, European storm–petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) and lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) have nationally important breeding populations. The storm–petrel breeds amongst the boulders of the more stable storm beaches. The largest population of Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) in the islands breed here and the other annual breeding species are puffin (Fratercula arctica), greater black-backed gull (Larus marinus), razorbill (Alca torda), kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), herring gull (L. argentatus) and shag (P. aristotelis). Common tern (Sterna hirundo) breed on the island most years as do cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and very rarely Arctic tern (S. paradisaea).</p><br>
<h4>Breeding birds</h4><br>
<p>Annet has long had a reputation for being the best island for breeding birds and Jessie Mothersole visiting in 1910 described the island thus:</p><br>
<p>Annet is known by the name of " Bird Island," from the immense numbers that breed there. In the early summer the sea all round is black with puffins and razor-bills, their white breasts being hardly noticeable as they sit on the surface of the water; and the air above is dark with clouds of gulls, and full of their ceaseless cry. Puffins (also called sea-parrots) have bred on the islands from time immemorial.</p><br>
<p>Numbers of breeding birds have fallen over the years and in the last 150 years some of the threats have been recorded.</p><br>
<p>J H Gurney visited the island in May 1887 and estimated the population to be 200 pairs. He reported: There had been a terrible robbery on Annet, a few days before our visit, of Shearwaters or their eggs, or both, and the south end of the island was dug over in all directions. Notwithstanding this, we had no difficulty in finding the objects of our search; indeed the ground was so honeycombed, that it was impossible in some places to avoid stepping on, and breaking into, their domiciles. The raid on the colony had been carried out by men from Tresco and they were brought before the Lord Proprietor Mr Dorrien–Smith; Gurney did not report on their punishment if any. He also reported that Annet was the only island without rats. A few weeks later cattle from the SS Castleford were landed on Annet after she hit the nearby Crebawethans and was said to have "trampled everything to pieces, broke in all the Shearwaters&#39; holes, probably destroying many birds, and made a ruin of everything". Another wreck, the Thomas W Lawson on 14 December 1907, spilled her cargo of oil and many of the rabbits and birds on Annet "were seen to lie upon the shore". The smell of oil could still be smelt on nearby St Agnes 18 months later.</p><br>
<p>At the time of Jessie Mothersole&#39;s visit in 1910, visitors were only allowed one hour on the island and shooting and egg collecting was forbidden. Despite this, Annet figured highly on the list of places to visit for egg collecting. An examination of the egg collection at the Natural History Museum (NHM) shows 45 eggs taken between 1880 and 1936 by 14 individuals and one group from Holloway College; doubtless there are many more eggs in private collections. Names on the data cards include well known wildlife experts such as Charles Rothschild and F W Frohawk. An indication of how common and acceptable egg collecting was at the time, is the issue of day permits to visit uninhabited islands by the warden A A Dorrien–Smith of Tresco. A NHM data card for three eggs in the collection has a permit for landing on Annet on 24 May 1931 attached and allowed the Souter brothers to land on any island, except tern islands, for up to one hour.</p><br>
<p>European storm–petrel</p><br>
<p>The only breeding sites for European storm-petrel in England are on the Isles of Scilly with 11 colonies and an estimated 1,475 occupied sites (i.e. breeding pairs). Annet had the majority of breeding pairs with 938 occupied sites during the Seabird 2000 survey declining to 788 occupied sites in a repeat survey in 2006.</p><br>
<p>Other species</p><br>
<p>The most recent count of seabirds on the Isles of Scilly was the Seabird 2000 count and on Annet 209 nests were found to be occupied by shag out of a total of 1,109 for the islands. On Scilly, they breed almost exclusively beneath boulder beaches or holes in low cliffs. Manx shearwater was estimated to occupy 123 burrows out of a total of 201 for the islands’ – a 74% decrease from a previous survey in 1974.</p><br>
<p>On 22 September 2002 the first lanceolated warbler (Locustella lanceolata) recorded on the Isles of Scilly was found during a search for migrant birds. Also seen was two sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) and four willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus).</p><br>
<h4>Mammals</h4><br>
<p>In 1996 the Isles of Scilly was designated a European Marine Site and the Marine Management Organisation is required to monitor the site at least every six years. The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is a named species and surveys were carried out in 2005 and 2010. Annet is one of the top four sites within the islands for numbers of seals and, during August to December 2010, over half of the observed pups seen were on Annet (46 out of 85). Records of some of the rarer cetaceans are from strandings and the British Museum was the first organisation to publish such reports for Britain. Strandings are often the only indication that rare species live, or pass through, an area and in 1917 an endangered species, a 13.6 m male fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) was washed up.</p><br>
<p>Natural England (previously English Nature) began a rat extermination programme in the 1990s with systematic baiting now being carried out by the Wildlife Trust. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) have been eradicated from Annet and a feasibility study has found that the eradication of rats from St Agnes and Gugh would benefit the breeding birds on Annet by removing the most likely source of invasion. The study also found that small mammals also benefit from the eradication programme which should help the Annet population of Scilly shrew (Crocidura suaveolens). A rat eradication programme started on St Agnes and Gugh on 8 November 2013 and seems to be successful as none have been recorded in December. The eradication team will visit Annet in January 2014 to check for signs of rats.</p><br>
<p>Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has also been recorded. A gull pellet found in 2002 contained the skull of a small mammal and when examined was found to be a water vole (Arvicola terrestris) which has never been found on the Isles of Scilly. Water vole is extinct at the nearest possible mainland source, Cornwall, and the original location of the skull is unknown.</p><br>
<h4>Invertebrates</h4><br>
<p>The lepidopterist Austin Richardson made annual visits to the Isles of Scilly from 1956 to 1962 recording the moths and butterflies. On 14 September 1958, during a visit to Annet, he saw a crimson speckled (Utetheisa pulchella); a migrant moth whose larvae have never been found in Britain. He did not see any larva of the grass eggar (Lasiocampa trifolii) but the imago was found there the following August. K Smith visited Annet in June 1961 to record the diptera and also found a moth, the garden tiger (Arctia caja).</p><br>
<p>Odonata</p><br>
<p>Red-veined darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) photographed on 23 September 2002</p><br>
<p>Dictyoptera</p><br>
<p>Lesser cockroach (Ectobius panzeri) found at Smith&#39;s Carn on 20 June 2002 by Rosemary Parslow</p><br>
<p>Lepidoptera</p><br>
<p>Aristotelia brizella larva (recorded in 1903)</p><br>
<p>Lobesia littoralis (1934, 1994, 1995 and 1996)</p><br>
<p>Grass eggar (Lasiocampa trifolii) (1959) and empty pupal cases, September 1993</p><br>
<p>Crimson speckled (Utetheisa pulchella) (1958 and 1995)</p><br>
<p>Garden tiger (Arctia caja) (1961)</p><br>
<p>Knot grass larva (Acronicta rumicis) (2011)</p><br>
<p>Diptera</p><br>
<p>Medetera saxatilis (recorded in 1961)</p><br>
<p>Fucellia maritima (1961)</p><br>
<p>Mydaea setifemur (1961)</p><br>
<p>Minettia rivosa (1961)</p><br>
<p>Sphaerophoria scripta (1961)</p><br>
<p>Phryxe nemea (1961)</p><br>
<p>Pherbellia cinerella (1961)</p><br>
<p>Limonia unicolor (1961)</p><br>
<p>Hymenoptera</p><br>
<p>Bombus lapidarius (recorded in 1961)</p><br>
<p>B. terrestris (1961)</p><br>
<p>B. hortorum (1961)</p><br>
<p>B. muscorum (1961)</p><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>At the time of publication of Lousley’s flora in 1971, 53 species of ferns, flowering plants and grasses had been recorded on Annet. They are as follows:-</p><br>
<p>Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)</p><br>
<p>Sea spleenwort (Asplenium marinum)</p><br>
<p>Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)</p><br>
<p>Common scurvy-grass (Cochlearia officinalis)</p><br>
<p>Danish scurvy-grass (C. danica)</p><br>
<p>Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana)</p><br>
<p>Pale wood-violet (V. reichenbachiana)</p><br>
<p>Sea mouse-ear (Cerastium diffusum)</p><br>
<p>Common chickweed (Stellaria media)</p><br>
<p>Sea pearlwort (Sagina maritima)</p><br>
<p>Cliff sea-spurry (Spergularia rupicola)</p><br>
<p>Sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima)</p><br>
<p>Hastate orache (Atriplex prostrata)</p><br>
<p>Babington’s orache (A. glabriuscula)</p><br>
<p>Frosted orache (A. laciniata)</p><br>
<p>Prickly saltwort (Kali turgida)</p><br>
<p>Tree mallow (Lavatera arborea)</p><br>
<p>Doves–foot cranes–bill (Geranium molle)</p><br>
<p>Sea stork&#39;s–bill (Erodium maritimum)</p><br>
<p>Common bird’s–foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)</p><br>
<p>Bird’s–foot (Ornithopus perpusillus)</p><br>
<p>Bramble (Rubus fruticosa)</p><br>
<p>English stonecrop (Sedum anglicum)</p><br>
<p>Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris)</p><br>
<p>Rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum)</p><br>
<p>Sheep’s sorrel (Rumex acetosella)</p><br>
<p>Curled dock (R. crispus)</p><br>
<p>Shore dock (R. rupestris) RDB, six plants found in 1994 and 51 in 1996.</p><br>
<p>Nettle (Urtica dioica)</p><br>
<p>Thrift (Armeria maritima)</p><br>
<p>Early forgot-me-not (Myosotis ramosissima)</p><br>
<p>Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)</p><br>
<p>Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum)</p><br>
<p>Buckshorn plantain (Plantago coronopus)</p><br>
<p>Cleavers (Galium aparine)</p><br>
<p>Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)</p><br>
<p>Heath groundsel (Senecio sylvaticus)</p><br>
<p>Common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)</p><br>
<p>Sea mayweed (Tripleurospermum maritimum) including some plants with double flowers (fl. pleno)</p><br>
<p>Slender thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus)</p><br>
<p>Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare)</p><br>
<p>Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper)</p><br>
<p>Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)</p><br>
<p>Sand sedge (Carex arenaria)</p><br>
<p>Heath-grass (Sieglingia decumbens)</p><br>
<p>Red fescue (Festuca rubra)</p><br>
<p>Darnel fescue (Catapodium marinum)</p><br>
<p>Annual meadow-grass (Poa annua)</p><br>
<p>Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata)</p><br>
<p>Sand couch (Elytrigia juncea subsp. boreoatlantica)</p><br>
<p>Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus)</p><br>
<p>Creeping bent (Agrostis stolonifera)</p><br>
<p>Swan Lake is a historic district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its borders consist of 15th Street to the North, Utica Street to the East, 21st Street to the South, and Peoria Avenue to the west. The District was developed in the early 20th Century as a middle class residential area with single-family homes, some duplexes and apartment buildings. It is still considered a highly regarded residential area with a high occupancy rate.</p><br>
<p>The district presently covers about 127 acres and includes 415 contributing resources and 148 non-contributing resources.</p><br>
<p>Tulsa Parks and Swan Lake Waterfowl Society partner to ensure viability of resident swans and other riparian birds. Society cares for and feeds waterfowl; park staff maintains shore habitat.</p><br>
<p>Neighborhood events such as September block party, Halloween parade and costume contest, November&#39;s "Lights on Swan Lake" foster community spirit and public participation. Such a rich history of community involvement has created a neighborhood of natural and manmade beauty. From the early beginning there has been a focus on creating an atmosphere of interaction between people and nature. Currently a hot spot for bird watches the 4 acre Swan Lake Park provides walking paths, ornamental stone fountains, thematic sculptures, and seasonal Lighting provides a perfect area for relaxation. Also in the area are two important sculptures that capture the essence of the park</p><br>
<p>The larger-than-life bronze of a trumpeter swan in-flight located at park entrance.</p><br>
<p>"Enchantment," a boy with a swan, relocated from 1934 Chicago World&#39;s Fair.</p><br>
<p>Swan Lake was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 1998 under National Register criteria A and C. Its NRIS number is 98000140.</p><br>
<h2>Great American Place</h2><br>
<p>The United States is rich in culturally historic neighborhoods sometimes in plain sight or hidden among the many streets of the many large cities across the country. Each significant in their own way to their own communities yet some have been identified as “Great Places in America: Neighborhoods” by the American Planning Association. The American Planning Association (APA) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that supports and advocates community planning through educational and citizen empowerment. The Swan Lake Neighborhood has been identified along with nine other neighborhoods as 2011’s “Great Places In America: Neighborhoods”. An APA program celebrates communities with a true sense of place, culture and historical interest, community involvement, and vision that set the standard of excellence. It is a great honor for this neighborhood to be identified as an area of exemplary character, planning, and quality by the national organization. The Swan Lake Neighborhood is a community that should be celebrated and learned from to help spread this high standard across the country.</p><br>
<h2>Marquette School</h2><br>
<p>According to the Tulsa Preservation Commission, Marquette School, the parish school for Christ the King Catholic Church, is a contributing resource for the Swan Lake Historical District. The school is at 1519 South Quincy Avenue.</p><br>
<h2>Amenities not in the District</h2><br>
<p>There are some shopping areas along the streets that border the District (especially 15th Street and Peoria Avenue), they are rather limited in scope. Utica Square, located at 21st Street and Utica Avenue is the largest general shopping area close to the District. The St. John&#39;s medical complex is across Utica on the south side of the District.</p><br>
<p>El Mirage Lake is a dry lake bed in the northwestern Victor Valley of the central Mojave Desert, within San Bernardino County, California.</p><br>
<p>The lake is located about 9 mi west-northwest of the town of Adelanto and 10 mi north of Highway 18 in San Bernardino County.</p><br>
<p>The dry lake, at an elevation of 2,840 ft, is approximately 6 mi long.</p><br>
<h2>El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area</h2><br>
<p>Formerly open to all visitors, it has been a popular spot for many activities ranging from gyrocopter and ultralight aircraft operations to automobile racing. The Bureau of Land Management has installed a fence to enclose the lake and some of the surrounding areas, and now charges fees for entry to what is now known as the El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Recreation Area. It is a popular filming location for automobile commercials. Permits for the Recreation Area can be purchased on-site, at local retailers and online. Annual permits are $90, weekly permits are $30, and daily permits are $15. Private aircraft may still land on the lakebed.</p><br>
<p>For 50 years the lakebed has been used by the Southern California Timing Association for timed speed runs. The club also operates the Bonneville Salt Flats speed runs.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>El Mirage Lakebed experiences a desert climate, with cool winters and hot summers. Due to the lakebed&#39;s aridity and altitude, the Diurnal temperature variation is substantial. Though summer days can be very hot, summer nighttime temperatures are cool. The lakebed receives an occasional dusting of snow in the winter months, however, snowfall usually melts within 24 hours.</p><br>
<p>St. Rose Priory is a house of the Dominican Order located near Springfield, Kentucky. It is the first foundation of that Order in the United States, and the first Catholic educational institution west of the Allegheny Mountains.</p><br>
<p>The land for the priory was purchased by (then) Father Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P. (later Bishop of Cincinnati) in July 1806 with money received from an inheritance. He bought an existing farm west of Springfield, Kentucky. Construction began shortly thereafter, including a church, priory, and college. The college was begun in 1808 but the building was not finished until 1812. It was named Saint Thomas&#39; College, after St. Thomas Aquinas. Its most famous student was Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The church was named for St. Rose. Though not designated a cathedral, the church served in the role of a cathedral until the Basilica of Saint Joseph Proto-Cathedral could be built in nearby Bardstown, Kentucky. The church is in a stone Tudor-Gothic style architecture and includes an octagonal tower. The Bardstown diocese was the first diocese west of the Allegheny mountains, with its first and only bishop, Benedict Joseph Flaget as spiritual leader of that diocese. Though not the first Catholic church building in Kentucky (this honor belonged to St. Ann in nearby Springfield, a log cabin church) the church was the first brick church in Kentucky. It is sometimes referred to as a "proto-priory".</p><br>
<p>A convent was added about 1822, an order of the Dominicans. Later this convent moved to another location in Washington County, Kentucky and founded Saint Catharine College.</p><br>
<p>Although Saint Thomas Aquinas College closed in 1828, the priory continued, including an education role as a seminary, novitiate, elementary and higher educational levels.</p><br>
<p>The present church of St. Rose was erected in 1854. Part of the original brick church of 1809 was preserved and is now the Eucharistic Chapel. The brick was covered with a cement mixture to blend with the limestone of the newer church.</p><br>
<p>The original St. Rose church remains, though much of the old priory buildings (including the college and old novitiate) were torn down in 1978. The grounds also include one of the original cemeteries in Washington County, Kentucky. Some graves date to the early 19th century.</p><br>
<p>Mormon Lake is a shallow, intermittent lake located in northern Arizona. With an average depth of only 10 ft, the surface area of the lake is extremely volatile and fluctuates seasonally. When full, the lake has a surface area of about 12 square miles, making it the largest natural lake in Arizona. In particularly dry times, the lake has been known to dry up, leaving behind a remnant marsh.</p><br>
<p>A small settlement, Mormon Lake Village, was developed during wet years, and many homes have docks that are very far from the shoreline. Mormon Lake Lodge, the main centerpiece of the little town, now relies on a fishing pond located adjacent to the Lodge. The surrounding area, which lies within Coconino National Forest, is part of the largest continuous stand of ponderosa pine in North America, often hosting campers and hikers. The lake itself is occasionally stocked with fish species such as bullhead catfish and northern pike, but due to its intermittent nature it may contain few or no fish following dry seasons.</p><br>
<p>The name of the lake commemorates Mormon settlers who arrived here in 1878 and founded a dairy, which no longer exists.</p><br>
<p>The Kilgore Fort House is a historic site located in Scott County, Virginia at 190 West Jackson Street, Gate City, Virginia. Fort houses were built to provide protection for individual families during the period from 1773 to about 1795 when attacks by Native Americans on the pioneer settlers were common. The Kilgore Fort House was built about 1790 by the Reverend Robert Kilgore, and is the only surviving example of its type in southwest Virginia.</p><br>
<p>The Kilgore Fort House was restored in 1973&ndash;74. There are two stories, with two rooms on each story. The rooms on each floor were separated by a timber partition. The rooms have been arranged so that if they were attacked they could retreat into the next, until a final stand could be made in the northeast room of the second floor. The original building was constructed without windows, but had small openings for gun ports, which feature emphasizes its defensive purpose. The doors were made of heavy timbers and inside held shut with a heavy bar. The house was made of trimmed white oak log timbers, each of which was notched at the end to receive the timber from the adjacent wall. Gaps between timbers were chinked with mud. A large stone fireplace and chimney on the northeast side was provided for cooking and heating.</p><br>
<p>Despite its obvious defensive design, there is no record of the fort house being attacked by Indians. A story persists in the county that Cherokee Indians once camped on the far bank of Copper Creek, but that is unlikely since the far bank is a cliff. The fort house is on a natural crossing on Copper Creek that is still used today. Older residents remember when cars would ford the creek at this spot; at least two bridges, including the current one, have been built here. Unused bridge pilings still exist in the creek.</p><br>
<p>The Kilgore Fort House is also called the Kilgore Fort, but unlike the popular idea of a frontier fort, it had no walls around it. Instead it is simply a log home designed for defense, hence the term fort house.</p><br>
<p>After spending over a quarter of a million dollars on renovations ($40,000 in grant funds from the state level and nearly $300,000 in Federal grant funds)for restoration, Scott County Commissioners returned the Kilgore Fort House to private landowners, over the objections of citizens present at the meeting. Those citizens feared being denied access to the Fort House in the future. As they feared, and despite the expenditure of these significant public dollars, the Fort House was immediately closed to the public by the landowner, and remains closed. Given that this is the only remaining structure of its kind from this important era in American history, and given the public dollars involved in its restoration, it seems prudent and even desirable for the public to have access to this important site again.</p><br>
<p>Alevrada  is a small village and a community in northern Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece. It belongs to the municipality of Amfilochia. The village has 90 inhabitants . Together with the smaller villages Pistiana and Kremasta Sykias, it forms the community Alevrada, population 124 .</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The village Alevrada is situated 3 km west of the artificial lake Kremasta, at 573 m above sea level. Pistiana is about 1 km to the east, on the road to the Tatarna Bridge. Kremasta Sykias is 6 km to the southeast, near the Kremasta Dam. The nearest larger village is Chalkiopoulo, 11 km to the northwest. Amfilochia is 45 km to the west.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Alevrada appears as a community immediately after the Greek war of independence and the arrival of the king Otto. The origin of the name "Alevrada" is unknown. May be it derives from the word "Alevri" (which in Greek means flour) because of the flour mills which were scattered across the banks of the river Achelous. Another interpretation is that a person with the surname "Alevradas" was the first inhabitant of the place. The villagers cultivated as well a lot of corn fields due to the abundance of water from the river. So there was plenty of corn flour which can explain the name "Alevrada" (the village which has a lot of alevri=flour).</p><br>
<p>During the war for independence there were very few people living in the area (mostly shepherds).</p><br>
<p>That time the village was 2 kilometers far from todays place.The name "palichoraki=old village" reminds this event. (More information youll find inside the book "Alevrada", edided by Kostas Papaioannou 2007, see below to the references)</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Mount Blue is a mountain in Maine, USA. It gives its name to Mount Blue State Park in Weld and Mount Blue High School in Farmington.</p><br>
<h2>Access to Summit</h2><br>
<p>Hikers can access the summit by a chain-gated entrance road which is located on the intersection of Center Hill Road and Mt Blue Road in Weld. The Trailhead provides vehicle parking and is located at the end of Mt Blue Road, a 4.1 mi mostly dirt road. Once on foot, hiking distance from Trailhead to summit 1.6 mi. Mount Blue offers a very steep, rocky, and strenuous trail which is well marked leading to the summit. Hikers should realize that climbing this trail is quite steep, rocky and therefore risky; an injury can leave a hiker in serious trouble on this mountain. Experienced, athletic hikers may be able to make this aggressive climb in roughly 1.5–2 hours, while recreational hikers may take 2–3 hours to reach the summit. At the summit there are stunning views to the North, East and South and an observation platform on a cell phone tower.</p><br>
<h2>Nearby Lakes</h2><br>
<p>West of Mount Blue is Webb Lake, a very shallow 2,124 acre lake. Webb Lake is publicly accessible and has several fish species, including brook trout. About 3 mi north of Mount Blue is Mount Blue Pond, a 134 acre lake that is accessible by the public and is reported to have good fishing.</p><br>
<h2>Featured in Literature</h2><br>
<p>Mount Blue is believed by Judith Bluestone to possess spiritual qualities. In Judith Bluestone Polichs book "Children of Light", the author relays a story of how, in her early twenties, she experienced a transformative spiritual enlightenment while meditating at Mount Blues summit. This author felt the mountain&#39;s intrinsic power help facilitate this experience.</p><br>
<p>Crooks Mound   is a large Marksville culture archaeological site located in La Salle Parish in south central Louisiana. It is a large, conical burial mound that was part of at least six episodes of burials. It measured about 16 ft and 85 ft. It contained roughly 1,150 sets of remains that were placed. However, they were able to be fit into the structure of the mound. Sometimes body parts were removed in order to achieve that goal. Archaeologists think it was a holding house for the area that was emptied periodically in order to achieve this type of setup.</p><br>
<p>Most of the time, the people were just placed into the mound, but a few of the burials were in log-lined tombs or, rarely, stone-lined tombs. Only a few out of each burial were interred with copper tools as grave goods. This suggests that the area was mainly for common people to be buried in.</p><br>
<p>The site is on private land, usually with no public access, but it can be viewed from the roadway.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>There were two separate mounds that make up the site. In 1938-1939 the site was completely excavated under the direction of James A. Ford. The mounds were 1,200 ft southeast of French Fork Bayou and 450 ft southwest of Cypress Bayou. Mound A was a conical mound that stood 17.8 ft in height and 85 ft in diameter. Mound B is low rectangular mound located 110 ft southwest of Mound A. It was originally 3 ft in height and measured 58 ft in its northeast/southwest alignment and 38 ft in its northwest/southeast alignment. Excavations revealed that Mound A had been built in three stages; Mound B was a single-stage structure. The mounds held 1,175 burials: 1,159 from Mound A, and 13 from Mound B (3 unknown). Pottery accompanied some burials; the weight of mound fill apparently crushed the vessels. The mounds were used for burials around 100 BCE to 400 CE. No evidence for domestic structures exists on or near the mounds, leading archaeologists to believe they were strictly for mortuary purposes.</p><br>
<p>Hell Hole reservoir is an artificial, crescent-shaped lake in the Sierra Nevada mountain range 10 mi west of Lake Tahoe in California. The lake is about 3.5 mi long when at full capacity.</p><br>
<p>The lake was created in 1966 with the completion of Lower Hell Hole Dam across the Rubicon River, which is a major tributary of the Middle Fork of the American River. Hell Hole is named for a deep canyon which is now under the waters of the lake.</p><br>
<p>How the canyon came to be named Hell Hole is a combination of folklore and speculation. An early author, George Wharton James (1858–1923), visited the canyon in 1913. James attributed the name to an unidentified miner seeking riches during the Squaw Valley mining excitement of 1862. It was "a hell of hole to get out of," James wrote but admitted his source for the place name was more speculative than the anonymous miner&#39;s chances for riches at Squaw Valley.</p><br>
<p>James&#39; guide for the 1913 camping expedition to Hell Hole was Bob Watson, a well-known camping guide who operated in the Lake Tahoe Region from the 1880s into the first decades of the 20th century. Watson may have been the source of the story who sought to entertain and edify his paying clients with tales of local history. James attributed much of the local lore to Watson.</p><br>
<p>The United States Board on Geographic Names attributes the first use of the name "Hell Hole" to a United States Geological Survey map of 1894. The board was created in 1890, so previous uses of the name on federal government maps are possible.</p><br>
<p>James reported finding a natural lake near the Hell Hole chasm known as Bear Lake, which would have been drowned by the reservoir. James also described Hell Hole in terms that belies the colorful name: "Hell Hole? Then give me more of it," he wrote. The author reported his pleasure of the canyon was derived from its rugged nature that precluded human exploitation: Logging, mining, water development and road building, evident in other portions of the Lake Tahoe region. It was "a paradise of delightful surprises," he wrote.</p><br>
<h2>Current conditions</h2><br>
<p>Lower Hell Hole Dam (its official name) is operated by the Placer County Water Agency, a powerful political force in the region. The agency controls two dams in the Eldorado National Forest and Tahoe National Forest. The water agency gained its power from financing approved by Placer County voters in 1961.</p><br>
<p>Proposals for the dam date to 1958. In 1964 the first Hell Hole dam was completed. Placer County sought drinking water supplies to fuel growth of its communities in the Sacramento Valley. The gold-rush-era town of Auburn is in Placer County as is the suburban community of Roseville. The agency also sought to generate hydroelectric power to finance its ability to deliver the water to users.</p><br>
<h3>Recreational uses</h3><br>
<p>Today, the lake offers modern facilities to aid in waterborne recreation. The remoteness of the lake limits the number of visitors, so the lake is seldom crowded even during the height of the summer season. Most boating activity is limited to small powered fishing skiffs, canoes and kayaks. Afternoon high winds can make boating precarious.</p><br>
<p>The lake is known by its three components: Lower Hell Hole, the Narrows and Upper Hell Hole. The lake is accessible by motor vehicle only at Lower Hell Hole, where a paved launch facility and forest service ranger station are located. The Hell Hole campground is also located there.</p><br>
<p>The campground features a view of the polished granite lakeshore but is not located directly on the shore of the lake because of the steep grade. The campground features a parking area but the 10 campsites are walk-in only. Many visitors use Big Meadows campground about one mile (1.6 km) away, which has 54 drive-in campsites suitable for recreational vehicles.</p><br>
<p>A second forest service campground is maintained at Upper Hell Hole and is known by that name. It can be reached by boat or a 3.5 mi hiking trail that is reached by crossing the breakwater of the dam and hiking on a trail that flanks the lake but is several hundred feet above the water.</p><br>
<p>Upper Hell Hole campground is said to have 15 campsites and two pit toilets, but does not have trash service or other amenities. A camping fee is not charged. The campground is arranged on three tiers of elevation. Steps are cut into the granite rock to connect the levels. During the spring and early summer snowmelt, several of the campsites feature creeks and waterfalls nearby. Other campsites there are sheltered by giant granite boulders. Camping is also permitted wherever the rugged shoreline will permit boat landing.</p><br>
<p>The lakes principal inflows are from the Rubicon River and Five Lakes Creek, formerly a tributary of the Rubicon. Lake water has drowned the historical confluence of the two water courses. The Rubicon River was once known as the south fork of the middle fork of the American River. The Rubicon Rivers entry into the lake is via a cataract where the river has eroded through the elevated granite block.</p><br>
<p>The lake also features many small granitic islands that expand and contract with the level of the lake. Hell Hole typically has its highest level of water in May and lowers gradually through the summer and fall. The forest service maintains visitor services from May 15 through September 15. The lake is accessible until snow makes roads to the area impassable.</p><br>
<p>In 1984, the federally protected Granite Chief Wilderness was created by the United States Congress after a long advocacy campaign by the Sierra Club, a conservation organization.</p><br>
<p>Upper Hell Hole forms the western border of the Granite Chief Wilderness. A small buffer zone between the lake shore and the wilderness prevents accidental intrusion into the wilderness. The juxtaposition of the lake and wilderness presents the opportunity for rustic boat/backpacking adventures through the rugged and scenic 25,680 acre of wilderness. Like the lake itself, the wilderness is lightly used on the western border. Hell Hole Trail enters the wilderness from near the lake but is difficult to locate. Granite Chief Wilderness is managed by the Tahoe National Forest, while visitor facilities at Hell Hole are exclusively managed by El Dorado National Forest (Georgetown district).</p><br>
<p>The Truckee and American River (formerly Foresthill) ranger districts of the Tahoe National Forest advise caution at Granite Chief: "Topographic maps and skills to use them are highly recommended in the wilderness because of the minimal level in signing and remoteness of the area." Wilderness permits are not required to enter the Granite Chief Wilderness. Campfire permits are always required.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrology</h2><br>
<p>The construction of the present Hell Hole Dam also changed the course of the Rubicon River.</p><br>
<p>The pre-dam river channel wended its way several miles to its confluence with the Middle Fork of the American River near Ralston Afterbay. Now, In addition to releases from Hell Hole down the pre-dam path, water is diverted through a pipeline to Middle Fork Powerhouse (AKA Stephenson Powerhouse) where it flows into Interbay Reservoir. From here, in addition to releases down the Middle Fork American River, the water is diverted into a tunnel to Ralston Powerhouse and into Ralston Afterbay, where it joins water from the pre-dam path. Oxbow Powerhouse and Oxbow control dam there releases water into the middle fork of the American River just below the spot of the historical confluence.</p><br>
<p>Water for hydroelectric generation is also shuttled into Hell Hole from French Meadows Reservoir which impounds the Middle Fork of the American River. The water travels through a tunnel to a powerhouse located on the north side of Hell Hole. French Meadows, at 5,200 elevation, is higher than the 4,700 ft elevation at Hell Hole. The</p><br>
<p>powerhouse at Hell Hole is actually known by the name, French Meadows powerhouse.</p><br>
<p>The traditional channel of the Rubicon River still maintains water flow from the spillway at Hell Hole Dam and from tributaries of the Rubicon below the dam, such as Gerle Creek (pronounced girly).</p><br>
<p>The Placer County Water Agency does not take water directly from Hell Hole or the other dam but instead claims rights to the water as it is shipped through the American River System and ends up at Folsom Lake near Sacramento. Folsom dam was originally constructed for the purposes of flood control. The Placer water agency&#39;s dams and Ralston are presently known as the Middle Fork Project.</p><br>
<h2>Historical usage</h2><br>
<p>Hell Hole canyon and nearby vicinities initially escaped man-made exploitation during the latter half of the 19th century, but events that occurred then allowed eventual exploitation of Hell Hole during the 1960s.</p><br>
<p>The gold rush of 1849 on the South Fork of the American River resulted in establishment of Sierra foothill towns of Auburn, Placerville, Nevada City and Georgetown. The gold rush did not intrude into the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada range, but the water and timber needs of these towns did intrude into the upper elevations. In one case in 1873 the privately owned, California Water Company employed a scheme to dam Loon Lake to the south of Hell Hole and then sluice the water closer to Georgetown where it could be used by residents and farmers.</p><br>
<p>Somewhat later, in 1862, the residents of Placer County (Auburn, Foresthill) came upon a scheme to build a road from the Foresthill divide to Squaw Valley with the intent of luring immigrant trains away from Nevada City and into Placerville and neighboring vicinities. George Wharton James, the author, described the road as an ill-fated enterprise: "The grade is frightful. For an hour or more, we go slowly up it stopping every few yards or so to give our horses breath," James wrote of a ride on the old road a half century after it was built. "It is hard enough for horses to go up this grade but to pull heavily-ladened (sic) wagons - it seems impossible, " he concluded. Later attempts to improve this road or forge other wagon roads not successful.</p><br>
<p>The Comstock Lode silver rush in the 1860s in Nevada Territory also encouraged the attempt of the gold-rush foothillers to find pathways over the mountains to the riches of the Comstock and the more local Squaw Valley silver excitement.</p><br>
<p>The roads then brought timber claimants and homesteaders, called locators, who were able to claim public lands. The old homesteads and timber claims were bought by private water companies or hoteliers who sought visitors to the "healthful" mineral springs after much of the timber was depleted by the mid-1880s.</p><br>
<p>Railroads brought the tourists. Tourists could reach Truckee, California by rail from either San Francisco or Ogden, Utah by the end of the 19th century. The Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company brought them to the lake. One particular resort established east of Hell Hole has a significant relationship to the canyon. Deer Park, just south of Squaw Valley (now a ski area and home to the 1960 Winter Olympics) was a tourist hotel which had a rustic hideaway camp at Five Lakes now in Granite Chief Wilderness. James described the Five Lakes resort as a 160 acre timber claim in which the timber had never been cut but in which cabins had been built and rowboats kept in hand for fishing upon the five small lakes.</p><br>
<p>The Five Lakes are the headwaters of Five Lakes Creek which led James on his 1913 horseback descent into Hell Hole in the company of Bob Watson, the guide. The pair camped at Hell Hole, then ascended the Rubicon River to Rockbound Lake, where they camped again. Rockbound Lake is now in the Desolation Wilderness and is near the headwaters of the Rubicon River. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District controls a dam within the Desolation Wilderness: Rubicon Reservoir. Desolation Wilderness was created in 1969.</p><br>
<h2>Recent history</h2><br>
<p>Placer Countys 1961 bond approval allowed its water agency to seek out water supplies that were not already claimed by others. Loon Lake, south of Hell Hole, was already prescripted, but the rugged, untouched Hell Hole was not. In 1934, the State of California took steps to claim any unclaimed water rights along the American Rivers three forks. In 1962 the rights to the Rubicon River water were conveyed to Placer County.</p><br>
<p>The Hell Hole dam, a rock-fill-type dam, was completed across the Rubicon River in December 1964. As the reservoir began filling the dam sprung a leak during a flood event and failed completely the next day. The resulting flood washed down the Middle Fork of the American River and washed away the Greenwood Bridge near Auburn.</p><br>
<p>The Placer County Water Agency began a new dam which was completed two years later and has now stood for 42 years.</p><br>
<p>Hell Hole Dam was partially completed at the time of extremely heavy storms in December 1964. The D/S rockfill portion was up ~220 above the river bottom, but the impervious core and adj zones were only up ~35. Debris from extreme storm runoff U/S from the dam blocked the diversion outlet and water rapidly accumulated behind the partially constructed dam. As the water came up it was seeping thru the rockfill-and when it crested the entire mass collapsed in a matter of minutes. A surge went down the canyon-washing out 2 older suspension bridges below the Long Canyon influx and at the Spanish Dry Diggings crossing near Greenwood. It then washed out the State Highway 49 bridge over the American River just below Auburn. Folsom Dam reservoir absorbed the surge below that point.</p><br>
<p>The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern California in the United States. The mountain range is part of the Northern Inner Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges System.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of the Mendocino Range, west of Clear Lake, and east of Ukiah in Mendocino and Lake Counties, and extend south into Napa and Sonoma Counties. The range stretches for 52 mi in a northwest-southeasterly direction.</p><br>
<p>The range&#39;s highest point is Cobb Mountain, at 4,724 ft in elevation, located in the central section. There are several other peaks over 2,500 ft, including Mount Saint Helena and Hood Mountain. These peaks are sufficiently high to retain some snow cover in winter.</p><br>
<p>Several streams rise in the Mayacamas Mountains including Mark West Creek, Sonoma Creek, Calabazas Creek, Arroyo Seco Creek, Putah Creek, and Santa Rosa Creek.</p><br>
<p>In prehistoric times, around ten million years ago, the mountains are thought to have been densely forested in Mendocino Cypress (Cupressus pigmaea).</p><br>
<p>The Mayacamas Mountains currently support California mixed evergreen forest and California interior chaparral and woodlands habitats.</p><br>
<h2>Naming</h2><br>
<p>According to Gudde:</p><br>
<p>The spelling Mayacamas is listed as an alternate name by the Board of Geographic Names.</p><br>
<h2>Geothermal power</h2><br>
<p>Located in the Mayacamas mountain range is The Geysers, the world&#39;s largest and most developed geothermal field. It consists of more than 22 power plants scattered across an area of about 30 square miles (78 square kilometers). The Geysers spans the Lake, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties in California, and provides energy to those counties.</p><br>
<p>The electrical energy is generated when dry steam is pumped from geothermal reservoirs through turbines.</p><br>
<p>Zion Canyon  is a deep and narrow gorge in southwestern Utah, United States, carved by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Nearly the entire canyon is located within the western half of Zion National Park.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The beginning of the canyon is usually delineated as the Temple of Sinawava, a vertical-walled natural amphitheater nearly 3,000 ft deep. The canyon actually begins much further upstream, however, and runs southward about 16 mi through the Narrows to reach the Temple, where a seasonal tributary of the North Fork plunges over a tall waterfall during spring runoff and after heavy rain. The gorge then runs southwest through the national park, approaching 2,000 ft deep in places. While the canyon rim is dominated by desert, the canyon floor supports a forest and riparian zone watered by the North Fork Virgin River. The gorge then merges with Pine Creek Canyon as it winds out of the national park and past the community of Springdale. The canyon&#39;s end is where it meets the Virgin River, some 100 mi northeast of Lake Mead, which the river ultimately flows into.</p><br>
<p>Zion Canyon Drive and Zion-Mount Carmel Highway are the two major roads throughout the canyon. Zion Canyon Drive ends at the Temple of Sinawava, where the Riverside Walk trail follows the river upstream to the lower end of the Zion Narrows. Hiking trails further upstream descend into the Narrows, where the canyon floor is on average 20 ft wide. Hiking is permitted in the Narrows when water levels are low enough, however, flash floods are known to rise quickly following heavy rainstorms. Many areas in the drainage of Zion Canyon have little or no soil cover, contributing to extremely brief but heavy storm runoff. In contrast, the floor of most of the main Zion Canyon is close to 1,000 ft wide, and is rich with river-deposited sediments. Tributaries to the river within the canyon include Deep, Kolob, Goose, Pine, and Oak Creeks.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and history</h2><br>
<p>Geologically Zion Canyon is part of the Navajo sandstone Colorado Plateau, which contained many joints and cracks when first uplifted, one of which was cut by the North Fork of the Virgin River to become Zion Canyon. The river was the largest force in cutting the canyon, mostly by flash floods, as the average flow of the river is very light. This relatively quick downcutting has left many seasonal tributaries with hanging valleys. Some of the largest tributaries have cut down to nearly an equal elevation as the valley floor.</p><br>
<p>Erosion continues to sculpt the canyon walls, creating natural arches and other rock formations. It is believed that there is another 1,000 ft of vertical bedrock that the Virgin River can still erode. Mass wasting, often caused by ice wedging into cracks in the canyon walls, is another force that widens the valley. The Navajo Sandstone formation is easily eroded and is known to be very porous. Unstable geology is prevalent throughout the canyon, and occasional rockslides have formed impounded lakes in the canyon, the most recent of which was roughly 4,000 years ago. Owing to the extreme depth of the canyon, there are many springs fed by the surrounding groundwater, permitting water in the canyon to run year round.</p><br>
<p>Mormons migrated from the lower Virgin River area in the late 1850s. The canyon was named by settler Isaac Behunin, who named the canyon after a "place of peace" mentioned in of the Bible. Explorer John Wesley Powell is credited with the name Mukuntuweap, supposedly the native name of the canyon. In 1909, the canyon was first declared a national monument, and in 1919 was declared a national park. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, cutting through Pine Creek Canyon and lower Zion Canyon, first opened in 1930.</p><br>
<p>The Reeves-Reed Arboretum ) is a nonprofit arboretum and garden located at 165 Hobart Avenue in Summit, Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is the only arboretum in Union County. The arboretum grounds are open daily from dawn till dusk, free of charge.</p><br>
<p>The property was originally traversed by Lenni Lenape Native Americans on their route from the coast near Elizabeth to the highlands near Schooley&#39;s Mountain. During the American Revolutionary War, it was farmed, and was adjacent to the site of the Old Sow cannon and the signal beacon atop Beacon Hill on the Second Watchung Mountain.</p><br>
<p>In 1889, John Hornor Wisner, a merchant in the China trade, purchased the property for a country estate. He hired New York architects Babb, Cook and Willard to build a Colonial Revival house, sited facing south with extensive views over the rolling hills. He and his wife, Isabelle, moved with their children to their stylish new home and called it "The Clearing." Working with noted landscape architect Calvert Vaux, they planted specimen trees and created flower beds and a meandering path around the property. In 1916, new owners, Richard and Susie Reeves, purchased the estate. Susie Reeves expanded the gardens, guided by prominent landscape architects Ellen Biddle Shipman (1924) and Carl F. Pilat (1924-1925), adding a rose garden in 1925. The Charles L. Reed family became the last private owners in 1968, adding an herb garden. In 1974, the estate was preserved as a public arboretum by the City of Summit.</p><br>
<p>The gardens are a beautifully maintained example of early 20th century landscape architecture, also known as the Country Place Movement. Italianate in character, the garden layout is symmetrical and axial, creating formal garden rooms off a main axis from the house. The Gretchen Keller Azalea Garden (designed by Shipman and Pilat) and Rock Garden contain about 850 shrubs and 25 trees. Its peak bloom is in May, with the dogwoods, azaleas, lilacs, deutzia and crabapples. The Susie Graham Reeves Rose Garden contains 286 rose bushes, representing over 150 varieties of roses, including floribundas and hybrid teas laid out in a traditional circle-in-a-square design. The central feature of the rose garden is a cherub fountain from the Reeves period. Old fashioned roses flank the formal garden, and climbing roses are trained on posts and chains. Over 30,000 daffodils bloom in a glacial bowl in front of Wisner House each April.</p><br>
<p>Evergreen Cemetery and Crematory is an American cemetery and crematorium located at 1137 North Broad Street, Hillside, Union County, New Jersey. Parts of it are in Hillside, Elizabeth, and Newark.</p><br>
<p>The cemetery is listed on both the New Jersey Register and the National Register of Historic Places, since 1991.</p><br>
<p>Notable graves include authors Stephen Crane, Mary Mapes Dodge and Edward Stratemeyer. Six former USA Congressmen (including one who became Senator) and one non-voting delegate (from Alaska) are buried there as well.</p><br>
<p>The cemetery also is known for having a section of plots devoted to Roma (Gypsy) families.</p><br>
<h2>Notable interments</h2><br>
<p>James Vote Bomford (1811&ndash;1892), Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General</p><br>
<p>William Brant Jr. (1842&ndash;1898), Civil War Medal of Honor recipient</p><br>
<p>John Brisbin (1818&ndash;1880), USA Representative from Pennsylvania&#39;s 11th congressional district, 1851</p><br>
<p>William Chetwood (1771&ndash;1857), USA Representative from New Jersey at-large, 1836&ndash;1837</p><br>
<p>Adoniram Judson Clark (1838&ndash;1913), Civil War Union Army officer</p><br>
<p>Amos Clark, Jr. (1828&ndash;1912), USA Representative from New Jersey&#39;s 3rd congressional district, 1873&ndash;1875</p><br>
<p>Stephen Crane (1871&ndash;1900), author; known for his war novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895)</p><br>
<p>Barton Wood Currie (1877&ndash;1962), American journalist and author</p><br>
<p>Mary Mapes Dodge (1831&ndash;1905), author; known for her novel Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates (1865)</p><br>
<p>James M. Drake (1837&ndash;1913), Civil War Medal of Honor recipient</p><br>
<p>George F. Houston (1896&ndash;1944), Broadway and Hollywood actor</p><br>
<p>Adolphous J. Johnson (1815&ndash;1893), Civil War Union Army officer</p><br>
<p>Phineas Jones (1819&ndash;1884), represented New Jersey&#39;s 6th congressional district, 1881&ndash;1883</p><br>
<p>John Kean (1852&ndash;1914), USA Representative from New Jersey&#39;s 3rd congressional district, 1883&ndash;1885, 1887&ndash;1889; United States Senator from New Jersey</p><br>
<p>Rufus King, Jr. (1838&ndash;1900), Civil War Medal of Honor recipient</p><br>
<p>William J. Magie (1832-1917), Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court 1880-1900, serving as Chief Justice from 1897 to 1900</p><br>
<p>Luther Martin (1827&ndash;1863), Civil War Union Army officer</p><br>
<p>Edward Stratemeyer (1862&ndash;1930), author and creator of The Hardy Boys (1927) and Nancy Drew (1930) book series</p><br>
<p>Charles August Sulzer (1879&ndash;1919), delegate to USA Congress from Alaska Territory, 1917&ndash;1919</p><br>
<p>William Sulzer (1863&ndash;1941), Governor of New York in 1913 who was impeached and removed from office later that year</p><br>
<p>The Ivanpah Mountains are located in the southeastern Mojave Desert of California in the United States. The range lies to the south and east of the Mescal Range and Clark Mountain Range. Paute Valley lies between the Ivanpahs and the Mescal Range and Wheaton Wash lies between the Ivanpahs and the Clark Mountains to the north. Interstate 15 traverses the Wheaton Wash to the north of the Ivanpahs. The Ivanpah Valley lies to the southeast with the New York Mountains beyond. The mountains lie in a general southwest-northeasterly direction, however Mineral Hill in the northeast part of the range lies at right angles to this trend.</p><br>
<p>The mountains have had a rich mining history and are home to the Morning Star, Kokoweef, and Allured Mines among numerous others mostly worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.</p><br>
<p>The southern part of the range lies in the Mojave National Preserve.</p><br>
<p>The Black Tusk is a stratovolcano and a pinnacle of volcanic rock in Garibaldi Provincial Park of British Columbia, Canada. At 2,319 m above sea level, the upper spire is visible from a great distance in all directions. It is particularly noticeable from the Sea-to-Sky Highway just south of Whistler, British Columbia. Distinctive and immediately identifiable, The Black Tusk is among the best known mountains in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The volcano is part of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt which is a segment of the Canadian Cascade Arc, but it is not within the geographic boundary of the Cascade Range.</p><br>
<h2>Indigenous</h2><br>
<p>To Squamish people, this mountain is known as taktak muyin tla in7inaxe7en. In their language it means "Landing Place of the Thunderbird", speaking of the supernatural in7inaxe7en or Thunderbird. The jagged shape of the mountain and its black colouring are said to come from the Thunderbirds lightning. The same is true for Mount Cayley, another stratovolcano farther north.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Black Tusk is considered to be the remnant of an extinct andesitic stratovolcano which formed between about 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago. Following glacial dissection, renewed volcanism produced the lava dome and flow forming its summit about 170,000 years ago. According to Natural Resources Canada, The Black Tusk was "perhaps the conduit for lava within a cinder-rich volcano. The loose cinder has eroded, leaving only the hard lava core." The exposed lava rock of the core is loose and friable. It is also black, giving the mountain its name and character. Cinder Cone, to the east of The Black Tusk, produced a 9 km long lava flow during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene.</p><br>
<p>The mountain currently hosts two significant glaciers, in large cirques carved into the northeastern and northwestern flanks of the broad cone below the lava pinnacle. Both glaciers start from about 2,100 m and flow northwards to below 1,800 m. The glaciers are heavily covered in rocky debris due to the crumbling nature of the Tusk&#39;s rock.</p><br>
<p>The Black Tusk is a member of the chain of volcanic peaks that run from southwestern British Columbia to northern California. The peaks formed in the past 35 million years as the Juan de Fuca, Gorda and Explorer plates to its west have been subducting under the North American Plate at the Cascadia subduction zone.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The Black Tusk&#39;s lower flanks and south summit are a popular backcountry hiking and scrambling destination. Most hikers approach from the Taylor Meadows campground to the south near Garibaldi Lake, although there is a second route from the north that travels by way of Helm Lake. A third option approaches from the west, from a microwave relay tower located at about 1,800 m on the western flank, which is reached by a dirt road from the Cheakamus River valley.</p><br>
<p>The upper summit area at the top of the lava column can only be reached by scrambling up a short but exposed rock chimney to reach the south summit. The true summit, only about a metre higher, lies just to the north across a precipitous drop. It is rarely climbed, requiring a rappel of about 10 m into a notch followed by a loose and dangerous reascent up the crumbling lava. On the northern side of the north summit stands an isolated and intimidating rock formation known as the "Bishop&#39;s Mitre", which is rumoured to be unclimbed.</p><br>
<p>Blue Lake  is a 3 mi long reservoir located 6 mi east of the town of Sitka, on the west side of Baranof Island, in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska.</p><br>
<h2>Name and geology</h2><br>
<p>The local descriptive name was reported in 1910 by Knopf (1912, fig 4), in United States Geological Survey.</p><br>
<p>Blue Lake, as its name suggests, possesses a deep blue hue to its water. Blue Lake&#39;s water sources are partially from snowpack and small glaciers from the glacially carved, U-shaped, Blue Lake valley in which it lies.</p><br>
<h2>Dam</h2><br>
<p>Blue lake was first dammed in 1913 by Sitka Wharf and Power Company. It sold its operation to the city in 1942. Floods damaged the infrastructure in 1943 and 1947.</p><br>
<p>Blue Lake was dammed again in 1958, greatly expanding the lakes size from 490 acre to 1,225 acre and increasing its height from 208 ft to 342 ft. Dam fluctuations allow the lake elevation to vary up to 60 ft. The Blue Lake dam, along with the Green Lake Dam, combine to make Sitkas mainstream power sources exclusively hydroelectric.</p><br>
<p>Blue Lake Road is used to reach the lake from Sawmill Cove, allowing residents to use kayaks and canoes to more easily access peaks further up the Blue Lake valley, like Clarence Kramer Peak. Blue Lake Campground lies along this road. The road itself is very dangerous, often winding above cliff ledges. There are also many avalanche chutes located along the road which can pose a hazard or block it completely in winter.</p><br>
<h2>Water rights</h2><br>
<p>Currently, at the Sawmill Cove Industrial Park, there is a small water bottling operation utilizing the water that originates from the watershed. Two other companies retain rights to export of the water in the future. In 2010 a Texas company S2C Global Systems announced that it was moving forward with a plan to ship 2.9 to 9 e9USgal of fresh lake water a year from Blue Lake to the west coast of India. The deal would represent the world’s first regular, bulk exports of water via tanker. The water will be redistributed to places in India, southeast Asia and the Middle East. The town of Sitka could earn up to $90 million a year in revenue.</p><br>
<p>Indian River  is a roughly eight-mile long watershed that flows through the community of Sitka on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska.</p><br>
<p>Indian River was named in 1826 by Russians colonizing the Sitka area as Reka Koloshenka. This was translated in 1883 to the English title used today.</p><br>
<p>Indian River is a large salmon-spawning stream. The river terminates in the heart of Sitka National Historical Park and passes the Alaska Raptor Center. The river extends about five miles into Baranof Island before splitting into two branches. A trail follows the southern branch to a viewpoint of a 21-meter waterfall. The river carries a large volume of water relative to its watershed due the extremely high rainfall of the Baranof Island area.</p><br>
<p>Indian River played a vital role in the Battle of Sitka with the impenetrable Tlingit fort sitting just adjacent to the mouth of the river.</p><br>
<p>Tell Tweini is an archaeological site located 1 kilometre east of the modern city of Jableh, Syria. It is situated within the coastal plain of Jableh, a short distance of two other main archaeological sites: Tell Sukas  and Tell Siyannu . As a tell, the site is the result of centuries of habitation on the same place, which resulted in a rising mound, as every new generation built their houses on top of the remains of older structures.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Tell Tweini was inhabited from at least the end of the third millennium BCE until the Persian period. The town may have been ancient Gibala, a city mentioned in a treaty found at Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) from the 13th century BCE.</p><br>
<h3>Middle Bronze Age</h3><br>
<p>An extraordinary find at Tell Tweini was the communal tomb dating to ca 1700 BCE.</p><br>
<p>The grave contained the skeletons of 42 adults and 16 infants. Serving as grave-goods were 160 well-preserved ceramic vessels, plates and dishes, several bronze pins and a figurine... Among others, the grave goods included a fenestrated axe, quite typical for this period. Similar axes have also been discovered at Sukas, Ugarit and Byblos.</p><br>
<h3>Late Bronze Age</h3><br>
<p>At the end of the Late Bronze Age Gibala formed the southern border of the Ugaritic kingdom. The transition between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age remains as at most northern Levantine site&#39;s problematic, but preliminary results from the end of the 2007 campaign show the city was inhabited during the 11th-10th century BCE. During the Iron Age itself, the city was completely urbanised. A geophysical prospection conducted on the complete surface of the tell proofs this and made it possible to detect the ancient street system of the Iron Age city. By the Perisian era the city lost its importance and the habitation was relocated near the modern harbour of Jebleh at the Mediterranean sea coast. Later, during the Byzantine domination of the region some isolated structures were installed on the surface of the tell.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Tell Tweini is being investigated since 1999 by a Syro-Belgian interdisciplinary team led by Michel al-Maqdissi, Joachim Bretschneider and Karel Van Lerberghe.</p><br>
<p>Since excavations started in 1999, major discoveries include a Phoenician sanctuary, a large communal tomb from the end of the Middle Bronze Age containing 58 human remains, a large city wall, several domestic and public structures from the Iron Age I-II and multiple small finds. The coming years research on the tell will be continued.</p><br>
<p>Kokino  is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the Republic of Macedonia, approximately 30 km from the town of Kumanovo, and about 6 km from the Serbian border, in the Staro Nagoričane municipality. It is situated between about 1010 and 1030 m above sea level on the Tatićev Kamen  summit and covers an area of about 90 by 50 meters, overlooking the eponymous hamlet of Kokino.</p><br>
<p>It was discovered by archeologist Jovica Stankovski, director of the national museum in Kumanovo,</p><br>
<p>According to the Macedonian Archaeological Association http://mand.org.mk/mk/clen.php?id=153 МАНД,</p><br>
<p>Jovica Stankovski (Јовица Станковски), born 13 January 1948 in Kumanovo, diploma in mechanical engineering in 1975, diploma in art history and archaeology in 1986, from 1999 to 2003 director of the national museum in Kumanovo. in 2001.</p><br>
<p>In 2002, Stankovski together with Gorje Cenev (who is the head of a planetarium at a http://mkc.mk/ Youth Cultural Center in Skopje) published the claim that the site contains a "megalithic observatory and sacred site" (мегалитска опсерваторија и светилиште).</p><br>
<p>The oldest archaeological finds date from about the 19th century BC, corresponding to the early European Bronze Age.</p><br>
<p>It shows signs of occupation for the period from the 19th to the 7th centuries BC. Finds from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 16th to 14th centuries BC) are the most numerous (mainly ceramic vessels, stone-mills and a few molds). An agglomeration from the Iron Age was discovered in 2009.</p><br>
<p>The Kokino "megalithic observatory" should be distinguished from the wider Kokino archaeological site.</p><br>
<p>While the observatory consists of two platforms of a combined area of about 5000 square meters, the site covers about 30 hectares. From this area, an abundant amount of fragments of ceramic vessels, dated to between the 19th and the 11th centuries BC. Also found was a mould for casting bronze axes, and a pendant.</p><br>
<p>The remains of vessels filled with offerings were found deposited in cracks in the rocks, which gave rise to the interpretation of the site as a "holy mountain".</p><br>
<p>The claimed archaeo-astronomical site itself consists of two platforms with an elevation difference of 19 m.</p><br>
<p>The claim of the site representing an astronomical observatory was made by Stankovski and by Gjore Cenev in 2002.</p><br>
<p>According to this interpretation, the site includes special stone markers used to track the movement of the Sun and Moon on the eastern horizon. The observatory used the method of stationary observation, marking positions of the Sun at the winter and summer solstice, as well as the equinox.</p><br>
<p>Four stone seats or "thrones" are placed in a row on the lower platform. According to Cenev,</p><br>
<p>A stone block with a marking on the upper platform marks the direction of sunrise on summer solstice when viewed from one of the seats.</p><br>
<p>Kokino was mentioned in a poster made by NASA&#39;s "Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum" in 2005.http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/2005/images/ao_poster.pdf Ancient Observatories - Timeless Knowledge;</p><br>
<p>Kokino is listed fourth of fifteen "Ancient Observatory Sites" on this poster. This was reported in terms of "http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2005/05/11/feature-02 Macedonia&#39;s Megalithic Kokino Observatory Places 4th on NASA List" by , Marija Lazarova for Southeast European Times in Skopje (11 May 2005).</p><br>
<p>The Cultural Heritage Protection Office of Macedonia&#39;s Ministry of Culture declared the site a "property under temporary protection" on 13 November 2008 (Decision nr. 08-1935/6).</p><br>
<p>In 2009, Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kancheska-Milevska declared Kokino "one of the priorities of the Ministry of Culture’s 2009 programme".</p><br>
<p>In 2009, the Republic of Macedonia also suggested the site be inscribed on the World Heritage Site list.http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5413 Archaeo-astronomical Site Kokino, World Heritage Centre "Tentative List", Ref. 5413. Submitted by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia - Cultural Heritage Protection (30 January 2009).</p><br>
<p>Marchlyn Mawr reservoir is a high level lake in Snowdonia behind Elidir Fawr mountain. It is used as the high level water source for Dinorwig power station, a closed-loop pumped storage hydroelectric generating facility.</p><br>
<p>It is said that nearby lies the cave containing Arthur&#39;s treasure, a source of bedazzlement to the wanderer who sees it, and of disaster to the pilferer who touches it. The lake itself lies in between two mountains Carnedd y Fillast and Elidir Fawr and lies at a height of 636m above sea level and the reservoir took four years to build (from 1975-1979). The reservoir holds about 9.2 e6m3 of water. From the reservoir, a 10.5 m diameter tunnel runs for 1.7 km to a 10 m diameter vertical shaft. From the bottom of the shaft, a 9.45 m diameter tunnel leads to the power station, 670 m away.</p><br>
<p>Isla del Sol  is an island in the southern part of Lake Titicaca. It is part of the modern State of Bolivia and is part of the La Paz Department. Geographically, the terrain is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island with many eucalyptus trees. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy. Of the several villages, Yumani and Ch&#39;allapampa are the largest.</p><br>
<p>There are over 80 ruins on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period circa the 15th century AD. Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people lived on the island as far back as the third millennium BC. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among the ruins on the island are Titi Qala (Aymara titi Andean mountain cat; lead, lead-colored, qala stone, "mountain cat stone" or "lead stone", also spelled Titikala), a labyrinth-like building called Chinkana, Q&#39;asa Pata, and Pillkukayna.</p><br>
<p>In the religion of the Incas, it was believed that the sun god was born here.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The Aymara name for the island is Titi&#39;kaka. The original meaning of this word is not known. Some linguists and archaeologists believe the name to be a corruption of titi (Andean mountain cat; lead, lead-colored) and qala (rock). In the 1612 Aymara-Spanish dictionary of Ludovico Bertonio, the phrase Tahksi kala is listed as "piedra fundamental" or "foundation stone" possibly alluding to the origin story of the Inca that the Sun and Moon were born in the lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The chronicler Bernabé Cobo documented two versions of an Inca origin myth that took place on the northern part of this island. The first Inca Manco Cápac is said to have emerged from a prominent crag in a large sandstone outcrop known as Titi Qala. Manco Cápac is the son of Inti the Andean deity identified as the sun. In one version of the myth, the ancient people of the province were without light in the sky for many days and grew frightened of the darkness. Finally, the people saw the Sun emerge from the crag and believed it was the Sun&#39;s dwelling place. In another version related by Cobo, others believed the crag was dedicated to the Sun because it hid under the crag during a great Flood. Isla del Sol was the first land that appeared after the flood waters began to recede and the Sun emerged from Titi Qala to illuminate the sky once again. A temple was built at this rock and later expanded by the 10th Inca Tupac Inca Yupanqui. He built a convent for mamaconas (chosen women) and a tambo (inn) for visiting pilgrims.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Excavations at the archaeological site of Ch&#39;uxu Qullu, located on a small peak above the Bay of Challa, led to the recovery of Archaic Preceramic remains that radiocarbon dated to about 2200 BC. Eight obsidian flakes were recovered from this context, and Neutron Activation Analysis of three of the flakes revealed that all of them were from the Chivay obsidian source which is located in the Colca Canyon, Department of Arequipa. The presence of Chivay obsidian is clear evidence that inhabitants of the island were participating in a wider network of exchange.</p><br>
<p>Chivay obsidian has also been used at a nearby archaeological site, Jisk&#39;a Iru Muqu, located on Peruvian territory. This indicates cultural continuity between these two sites in the same preceramic time frame.</p><br>
<h3>Geological studies</h3><br>
<p>According to one bathymetric model, there is no path between the shore edge and the Island of the Sun that does not pass over areas where the lake bottom reaches a depth of 200 m or greater. Paleoclimate studies indicate that around 3100 BC the level of Lake Titicaca would have been as much as 85 m lower than modern conditions, but that it had reached near modern levels by about 2000 BC. Thus, at 2200 BC lake levels were probably lower than at present but still high enough that the island was separated by water from the mainland. Data from Ch&#39;uxuqullu therefore indicates that the lake shore cultures were using well-developed watercraft technology during the Archaic period.</p><br>
<h3>Occupation history</h3><br>
<p>The island was continually occupied from at least 2200 BC up to the present day. There is a significant Early Formative occupation (1800-1100 BC), Middle Formative (1100-500 BC) and Upper Formative (500 BC - AD 500).</p><br>
<p>The earliest recorded pottery on the island dates to between 1426 and 1316 B.C.</p><br>
<p>Most significantly, there is a major Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) settlement on the island. The site of Chucaripupata was a major Tiwanaku ritual site located above the Titi Qala, that the Incas made famous.</p><br>
<p>All these sites are located on the western side of the island.</p><br>
<p>Chucaripupata is only a few hundred meters from Titi Qala, and immediately above them is a rock outcrop known as Murokata. It is therefore possible that Murokata was the "sacred rock" of the Tiwanaku culture.</p><br>
<p>The archaeological evidence indicates that neither Murokata nor Titi Qala were used during the Late Intermediate Period (ca AD 1000-1450). With the conquest of the southern Titicaca region by the Inca, the Titi Qala zone was converted into one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the Inca state on par with the famous oracle at Pachacamac on the coast just south of Lima.</p><br>
<p>Underwater archaeological investigations conducted off the Island of the Sun from 1989-92 led to the discovery of both Inca and Tiahuanaco artifacts. These are now on display at a site museum in Ch&#39;allapampa. Today the economy of the island is mainly driven by tourism revenues, but subsistence agriculture and fishing are widely practiced.</p><br>
<p>Gorgany  is a mountain range in Western Ukraine in Outer Eastern Carpathians, adjacent to Chornohora range. The highest peak of Gorgany is Syvulia  with the other high peaks including Ihrovyshche,  and Grofa. The mountains are made of flysch rock, mostly sandstone, which create typical for Gorgany debris fields . They are bordered by the Mizunka River and Vyshkovsky Pass in the west and the Prut River and Yablonitsky Pass in the east.</p><br>
<p>Gorgany are the least populated part of the Ukrainian Carpathians, The western parts of Gorgany are inhabited by Boykos, whose primary occupation is herding and timber exploitation. The major towns in the area include Vorokhta and Yaremche.</p><br>
<p>* https://web.archive.org/web/20141206212301/http://www.serwisgorski.pl/relacje/item/32-ukrai%C5%84ska-przygoda-gorgany Gorgany - Picture</p><br>
<p>Lake Georgetown is a reservoir on the north fork of the San Gabriel River in central Texas in the United States. Lake Georgetown is a USA Army Corps of Engineers reservoir formed on the San Gabriel by the North San Gabriel Dam, which is located about three miles west of Georgetown, Texas. The dam, lake, and all adjacent property are managed by the Fort Worth District of the USA Army Corps of Engineers. The dam was officially completed on October 5, 1979, and serves to provide flood control for the community of Georgetown. Lake Georgetown is also a source of drinking water for Georgetown and the nearby city of Round Rock. The lake is also a popular recreational destination.</p><br>
<p>The other reservoir on the San Gabriel River is Granger Lake, located downstream of Lake Georgetown, near Granger, Texas.</p><br>
<h2>Fish populations</h2><br>
<p>Lake Georgetown has been stocked with several species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish present in Lake Georgetown include largemouth bass, catfish, white bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie, and sunfish.</p><br>
<h2>Recreational uses</h2><br>
<p>In addition to maintaining the dam that creates the reservoir, the USA Army Corps of Engineers maintains recreational facilities at the lake. Cedar Breaks Park, Russell Park, Jim Hogg Park and Overlook Park include day use areas for picnics. Cedar Breaks Park, Jim Hogg Park and Russell Park have boat ramp facilities for recreational boating. No camping is permitted at Overlook park though it is the only free entry park on the lake.</p><br>
<p>The Goodwater Trail is a 26 mi hiking trail that follows the entire perimeter of the lake with trailheads at Cedar Breaks, Overlook, Jim Hogg, and Russell Park. Tejas Camp, while technically on the San Gabriel river and not on the lake, also has trail access and is the only other entry or exit point to the southern half of the trail besides Cedar Breaks. Mountain biking is allowed on the entire length of the loop thanks to the Austin Ridge Riders group for their work on the southern half of the trail. Beginner riders would be wise to stay on the North shore as it permits shorter trips with water refilling available and multiple exits. The southern shore presents a much more challenging ride with its rocky terrain and steep drop offs and is not recommended for beginners. Also there are no water refilling stations or trail exits between Cedar Breaks and Camp Tejas. (Approximately 12 miles)</p><br>
<p>Overnight primitive camping is allowed at Sawyer Park which rests roughly halfway between Cedar Breaks and Tejas.</p><br>
<p>Granger Lake is a United States Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the San Gabriel River in central Texas in the United States. The lake is located near the towns of Granger, Texas and Taylor, Texas in Williamson County. The dam, lake, and all adjacent property are managed by the Fort Worth District of the USA Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir was officially impounded in 1980, and serves to provide flood control for the communities downstream. Granger Lake is a popular recreational destination.</p><br>
<p>The other reservoir on the San Gabriel River is Lake Georgetown, located upstream of Granger Lake, on the North Fork of the San Gabriel River, near Georgetown, Texas.</p><br>
<h2>Fish populations</h2><br>
<p>Granger Lake has been stocked with species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish present in Granger Lake include catfish, white bass, and crappie.</p><br>
<h2>Recreational uses</h2><br>
<p>In addition to maintaining the dam that creates the reservoir, the USA Army Corps of Engineers maintains recreational facilities at the lake. Taylor Park, Willis Creek Park, and Wilson H. Fox Park include day use areas for picnics and boat ramps for lake access.</p><br>
<p>Overnight camping at both improved and primitive sites is permitted. Several designated wildlife areas border the lake, including Pecan Grove Wildlife Area, San Gabriel Wildlife Area, Sore Finger Wildlife Area, and Willis Creek Wildlife Area. Boating and fishing are very popular.</p><br>
<p>Dorinish  is an uninhabited island in Clew Bay in County Mayo, Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The island was previously owned by John Lennon, who purchased the island in 1967 for £1,700. Previously used by sailing ships for its stones, the island became a place of peace for Lennon and his family. After his divorce from wife Cynthia, the island went unused until Lennon invited "King of the Hippies" Sid Rawle to establish a commune on the island in 1970. For the next two years, a group of 25 hippies called Dorinish home. In 1972 a fire burned down the islands supply tent and the commune disbanded. After Lennons death, Yoko Ono sold the island for nearly £30,000 and donated the proceeds to an Irish orphanage. Dorinish is now used as a grazing site for livestock and is sometimes visited by enthusiastic Beatles fans. An artists&#39; summer school "Aerial Blue" was held on the island in July 2011.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
