<p>The Owingup Swamp and Boat Harbour Wetlands Important Bird Area is a 442 ha site comprising Owingup Swamp, and ten other, smaller, wetlands nearby, in the Great Southern region of south-western Australia. It lies about 25 km south-south-west of Denmark, Western Australia, near the track to the coast at Boat Harbour cove. The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area  because it is supports small numbers of the endangered Australasian bittern.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The shallow wetlands are permanent or near-permanent, cycling through seasonal changes in salinity from freshwater in winter and spring to brackish in summer and autumn. They provide habitat for the bitterns in the form of sedgelands dominated by Baumea articulata or Gahnia trifida, but also have heathland, shrubland and forest communities. The site is largely contained by the Owingup Nature Reserve and has a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Over fifty species of plants, over forty species of macroinvertebrates, and at least eight species of fish have been recorded in the IBA. The swamp supports the largest remaining mature stand of juniper myrtle forest and a nearby wetland holds one of the largest known populations of the nationally threatened tall donkey orchid. The swamp system is a nursery area for freshwater and estuarine fishes.</p><br>
<h3>Birds</h3><br>
<p>With the bitterns, some forty waterbird species have been recorded at the swamp, with another five in the surrounding wetlands. Of these, ten breed in the area, including blue-billed ducks. Long-toed stints and Eurasian coots are known to use the swamp. Other birds include western rosellas, western thornbills, red-winged fairywrens, western spinebills and red-eared firetails.</p><br>
<p>The Walrond and Elizabeth Snell House  is a historic house located at 402 South Lake Street in Miles City, Montana.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>It was built in the Folk Victorian style in 1882-83. It is a two-story house built with load-bearing brick walls, with a two-story frame addition at its south east end. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 11, 2003.</p><br>
<p>The house is described in its 2003 NRHP nomination as "unassuming" but deemed notable as:...it is one of the first masonry residences in Miles City, and its construction coincides with the first wave of economic development in the area, as well as the arrival of the railroad. A major remodel of the house between 1910 and 1916 is reflective of the economic prosperity realized in the area during that time. The Snell family, successful and influential in the sheepraising and banking businesses, purchased the property in 1891, and enjoyed a long and prosperous association with the community. The building is also eligible for listing... as a representative example of Late Victorian architecture, and its association with the first and most prominent architect in Miles City, Byron Vreeland.</p><br>
<p>The Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart is a National Registered Historic Place located in Miles City, Montana. It has also been known as Sacred Heart Convent, Ursuline Academy, was added to the Register on March 5, 1992.</p><br>
<p>The Ursuline convent opened on January 18, 1884. The original building was destroyed in a fire in 1897. The new convent was completed in 1902, designed by Helena architect Charles S. Haire. Sisters taught at the convent until 1978. It then became a mental health center. Currently it is used as a community center.</p><br>
<p>According to its NRHP nomination, the building "has long been a landmark building in eastern Montana. The convent marks the Ursulines&#39; important role in establishing early institutions of learning in Montana, and especially their commitment to providing educational opportunities for children in Montana. The building is additionally the earliest known example of the work of Charles S. Haire, a prolific turn-of-the-century architect who designed many prominent buildings in Miles City. It is a highly significant building, in a local and statewide context...."</p><br>
<p>The Kleine Laber is a small river in Bavaria, Germany. The Kleine Laber issues into the Große Laber, which issues into the Danube River.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>From its source in the Landshut district near Pfeffenhausen-Egg the Kleine Laber mostly flows in the north-east direction, among others, through Neufahrn in Niederbayern. Then the streamlet reaches the district Straubing-Bogen. There it passes through Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg, Geiselhöring, Perkam, Atting and Rain. Finally the streamlet issues into the Große Laber at Atting - Wallmühle.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<h2>Kleine Laber (Untere Au)</h2><br>
<p>Originally the Kleine Laaber issued directly into the Danube. This changed in course of the training of the Danube. With this change a part of the Kleine Laber was cut off. Now this is called Kleine Laber in the Lower Meadow (Untere Au).</p><br>
<p>Brough Lodge is a 19th-century Gothic mansion on Fetlar, one of the Shetland Islands, in northern Scotland. Built by the Nicolson family, who were responsible for clearing Fetlar of many of its inhabitants, it has been disused since the 1980s. The Brough Lodge Trust has recently started work to restore the building. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1805, parts of the island of Fetlar were acquired by the Nicolson family, a well-established Shetland family who also owned Papa Stour among other lands. The land was given to the Nicolsons by Andrew Bruce of Urie, in payment of a debt. Arthur Nicolson (1794–1863) evicted many of the island&#39;s tenants on his estate, enclosing the land for sheep farming. He lived at Urie in the north of the island, until Brough Lodge was completed around 1820. In 1826 he was recognised as a baronet, the heir of Sir James Nicolson, 7th Baronet, who had died in 1743.</p><br>
<p>Brough Lodge was built in the Gothic Revival style, with crenellated walls and bartizans at the corners. Details in Classical and Moorish styles were added to the facades and screen walls, as well as a brick-built chapel. Around 1840, Sir Arthur Nicolson constructed a folly, known as The Tower, on a small hill to the north-east of the lodge. The Tower is built over the remains of an Iron Age broch, and was later used as an observatory. A second folly, the Round House, was built at Gruting in the eastern part of the island, and was later used as an estate office. The lodge and its outbuildings are described as "Shetland&#39;s most unusual group of 19th century buildings."</p><br>
<p>After Sir Arthur died in 1863, the Fetlar estate was left to his widow, Eliza Jane Nicolson (d.1891), who lived in England. On her death it was inherited by Sir Arthur Nicolson, 10th Baronet (1842–1917). The son of the 9th Baronet, Sir Arthur was born in Australia, but spent time living on Fetlar. From the 1890s, finding Brough Lodge in poor condition due to neglect, he undertook renovations. His wife Lady Annie kept a detailed diary of life at Brough Lodge during these years.</p><br>
<p>In 1997 a local initiative to restore the building was begun, and the Brough Lodge Trust was established. Lady Jean&#39;s heir transferred ownership of Brough Lodge to the trust in 2007, which plans to use the building as a multi-purpose commercial venue. Proposals to make the building weatherproof, costed at £380,000, were supported by Shetland Islands Council, and fundraising efforts included a concert by Scots musicians Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham. In August 2011 it was announced that Historic Scotland would fund the rest of the project, and that work was about to commence.</p><br>
<p>Carcluie Loch  is a small freshwater loch in the South Ayrshire Council Area, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole, Parish of Dalrymple, Scotland.</p><br>
<h2>The loch</h2><br>
<p>Blaeus map of circa 1654 taken from Timothy Ponts map of circa 1600 shows Loch Luy and nearby the dwelling of Kar Cluy. In 1821 the farm was recorded as Kirklewy, but no loch shown. In 1832 Thomson&#39;s map shows a small loch at Carcluie. In the 1870s the OS map shows that the loch was roughly oval in shape, and of an extent of 0.709 hectares or 1.752 acres. The loch is fed by the Carcluie Burn and a burn running down the hill from the vicinity of the railway; the outflow runs down towards Broomberry.</p><br>
<h3>Drainage</h3><br>
<p>The loch&#39;s drainage may have begun in the early 18th century when Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton, was pursuing a number of agricultural improvements on his extensive estates. Further drainage work may have taken place in the 1740s as part of the improvements undertaken to provide employment for Irish estate workers during the Irish potato famines of the 1740s and the mid 19th centuries. Many drainage schemes also date to the end of World War I when many soldiers returned en masse to civilian life.</p><br>
<h3>Island</h3><br>
<p>Smith records that the former roughly circular island within the loch, having all the appearance of a crannog once had pile-heads in the water around it. A casual inspection did not reveal any supporting evidence. Smith gives the spelling as Carclui. The island is no longer visible (2011), the SW end of the loch being entirely overgrown with reeds. Probing at the position of the island shown on the OS 1:10,000 map recorded that the natural deposits in this part of the loch to be over 2m deep. A 1993 investigation sees the site as possessing an island and not a crannog.</p><br>
<p>The loch was on the route of the old road from Straiton to Kirkmichael and onto Dalrymple.</p><br>
<h2>Natural history</h2><br>
<p>Extensive areas of reeds (Phragmites sp.) are present. The site is listed on the WEBS register of the Wetlands Birds Survey scheme. The loch is a Scottish Wildlife Trust provisional wildlife site. The loch margins are dominated by rushes (Juncus sps) with willow scrub and a conifer plantation. Common house martins (Delichon urbicum) use the loch and its margins as a feeding area until late September.</p><br>
<p>The Saraj  is a historic neoclassical estate in Resen, Macedonia. It was built in the early 20th century by the local Ottoman bey, Ahmed Niyazi Bey. The Saraj&#39;s architectural style makes it unique in Macedonia.</p><br>
<p>The name "Saraj" comes from the Turkish word saray meaning "palace". The building is now home to a museum, a ceramic colony, a gallery, and a library.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Saraj was built in the neoclassical architectural style. The building is symmetrical with a taller central portion, which rises 25 m (82 ft), and two wings. It has a basement, a main floor, a second floor, and an attic, and has a floor area of 4,800 m (51,667 ft).</p><br>
<p>The building&#39;s exterior walls are 40 cm to 85 cm thick. They contain rich sculptural detail, particularly on the façade. The roof was originally made of wood but, during renovation in 1982, it was replaced with steel profiles.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Ahmed Niyazi Bey, a progressive and likely a member of the Young Turk Revolution, was the bey of the Resen area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The bey desired to have a French-style estate, perhaps after receiving a postcard of Versailles.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the Saraj began in 1905. The exterior of the building was completed in 1909 after the Young Turk Revolution, though everything else, including the interior, was not completed until a few years after the Balkan Wars and World War I in 1922. Ahmed Niyazi Bey, however, died in 1912 in Durrës of unknown causes and therefore never lived to see his estate completed.</p><br>
<p>After the Balkan Wars, the Saraj served several different functions for several different organisations. It was first used for local administrative purposes under the Kingdom of Serbia, then under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, the building was used by occupying forces. After the war, it was used as the city hall of Resen and, later, as a city library. Finally, the Saraj became a museum and gallery, which it remains today.</p><br>
<p>The building&#39;s roof has been restored twice since its construction: once in 1982 and again in 2005.</p><br>
<h3>Current use</h3><br>
<p>The Saraj today houses the Dragi Tozija House of Culture, the Resen Ceramic Colony, the Keraca Visulčeva Gallery, and a library.</p><br>
<p>The Dragi Tozija House of Culture is a branch of the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. The house of culture is also home to plays, literary readings, and other cultural events.</p><br>
<p>The Resen Ceramic Colony, also situated in the Saraj, is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics of UNESCO.</p><br>
<p>A permanent gallery containing many of the works of painter Keraca Visulčeva is also found in the building.</p><br>
<p>A city library has existed in the Saraj since the 1940s. Today, it contains over 31,000 books.</p><br>
<p>Köhlbrand is an anabranch of the Unterelbe river in the Port of Hamburg, Germany. It has a width of approximately 325 m.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The branch emerged during floods in the 14th and 15th centuries, which separated the former Elbe island of Gorieswerder.</p><br>
<p>The Köhlbrand is bridged by the Köhlbrand Bridge, both probably named after charcoal burners (Köhler), whose fires (Brand) could be seen along the river banks and who sold coal to the boatmen. Until the 19th century dockyards were located at the banks of Köhlbrand. According to the third Köhlbrand treaty signed in 1908, the anabranch was relocated around 600 m to the west and deepened by 4 m to 8.4 m. Its former pathway is marked by the harbour basin of Kohlenschiffhafen, which is almost completely filled up with sand today.</p><br>
<p>Nowadays, the complete Süderelbe waterflow is redirected through the Köhlbrand, which is a main access to the Container Terminal Altenwerder.</p><br>
<p>The Unterelbe  or, in English often the Lower Elbe, names to the lower reaches of the river Elbe in Germany swayed by the tides. It starts at kilometre 586, at the floodgate of Geesthacht, where the Elbe forms the border between Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. It onflows downstream, then landmarking the border between Lower Saxony and Hamburg, before fully throughfaring into Hamburg homelands. In Hamburg the Unterelbe offbrooks two anabranches, Norderelbe and Süderelbe, the latter now slightly a cut-off wend. Where Norderelbe and Süderelbe once in-met again, at kilometre 634 there is a bight called the Mühlenberger Loch. This marks the beginning of the stretch of the Unterelbe which called the Niederelbe. After leaving Hamburg it shapes the border between Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, again. The end it marks out by the Kugelbake in Cuxhaven at kilometre 727.73. It onflows further into the Wadden Sea as the Außenelbe, where it runs hard by the Hamburg islands Scharhörn and Nigehörn.</p><br>
<p>The Schönebecker Aue is a geest stream in Bremen and Lower Saxony, Germany.</p><br>
<p>Its source is on the Lange Heide plateau near Heilshorn, Osterholz-Scharmbeck (Landkreis Osterholz) in Lower Saxony. Its mouth is in Bremen-Vegesack in the river Weser.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The Schönebecker Aues total length is 17.7 km, of which the last 3.1 km are in the city of Bremen. The streams source is on the Lange Heide, a geest plateau north of Bremen in the district of Osterholz-Scharmbeck, which is also the source of several other geest streams (e.g.: the Drepte, Giehler Bach, Scharmbecker Bach and Wienbeck).</p><br>
<p>From a height of approx 40m above NAP, the Aue flows through the so-called Bremen Switzerland in the lowland meadows around Schönebeck Castle. Here the stream carved the Auetal (Aue valley), which is a major recreational area for the population of Bremen-Nord. Not far after the Aue reaches Bremen territory, it flows into a pond, which on one side forms a crescent around Schönebeck Castle, and on the other side used to serve as the water source for a now-disused water mill. At the old mill today, there is only a weir, which regulates the water level in the Schlossteich (castle pond).</p><br>
<p>Downstream from the weir, the Aue flows through Bremen suburbs Schönebeck und Vegesack, then for a short way through fields, before reaching another residential area. Bundesautobahn 270 and Uhthoffstraße pass over the Aue, and at Vegesack railway station the stream is led underneath the station&#39;s square via a series of pipes. Directly from the pipes, the Aue flows into Vegesack harbor.</p><br>
<h2>Redirection</h2><br>
<p>In its upper reaches, the course of the Aue has been "lightly to moderately altered". The weir at Schönebeck Caste, as well as pipe laying at Vegesack railway station had previously caused impassable obstacles for migrating fish.</p><br>
<p>In 2007 a redirection of the Aue around the weir was initiated. This involved a small, naturalistically-formed canal, which leads the stream in a crescent around the weir and was laid out by conservationist volunteers.</p><br>
<p>The mouth of the Aue was modified several years ago with a stone embankment, through which the migrating fish can still pass. For years before that, the "opening" of the Aue into a harbor basin near to Vegesack railway station was a controversial discussion point in Bremen communal politics.</p><br>
<p>The Matagorda Island Light is located on Matagorda Island in Calhoun County, in the USA state of Texas. Once under the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard, the lighthouse is now managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Building of a lighthouse to guide sea-going vessels into Matagorda Bay through Pass Cavallo was authorized by the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1845. When President James K. Polk signed the Texas Annexation documents on December 29, 1845, it became the responsibility of the United States. In 1847, United States Congress authorized $15,090 to build the lighthouse. Legislative red tape caused a series of delays, and the contract to build the lighthouse was finally awarded to Murray and Hazlehurst of Baltimore in 1851. The new 55 ft cast iron lighthouse became functional on December 21, 1852. Gulf storms and subsequent beach erosion caused the lighthouse to be rebuilt on higher ground. The light tower was raised 24 ft in 1857 to enable the beam to be seen from a greater distance. A new lens was installed in 1859.</p><br>
<p>During the Civil War, the Confederate States Navy tried to blow up the lighthouse to keep it out of Union hands. Damage inflicted by the Confederate troops necessitated rebuilding of the lighthouse at a new site in 1873 at a cost of $32,000. A new iron conical tower was added, with the lens 91 ft above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The 1886 Indianola hurricane, which wiped out Indianola, caused the water to rise 4 ft inside the tower, and caused such structural swaying that the lens fell out. In 1956, the tower was automated by the United States Coast Guard, making it the first time the tower was not operated by human keepers.</p><br>
<h2>Renovation</h2><br>
<p>The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which manages the lighthouse, installed a new rotating solar-powered marine lantern in 1999. After having been out of commission since 1995, the light was re-lit at Midnight as the year turned over to 2000, to celebrate the new millennium. The lighthouse underwent a renovation completed in 2004, at a cost of $1.23 million. The renovation was made possible through private donations through the Matagorda Island Foundation, and with a grant from the United States government.</p><br>
<h2>Cemetery</h2><br>
<p>The resting place for lighthouse keepers and their families can be found near the lighthouse.</p><br>
<h2>Additional reading</h2><br>
<p>The Hammond Covered Bridge is a Town lattice covered bridge spanning Otter Creek in Pittsford, Vermont. The bridge was built in 1842 by Asa Norse, and originally carried Kendall Hill Road, which now passes just to its south. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1974.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Hammond Covered Bridge is located north of the Pittsford Village center, just north of Kendall Hill Road, a secondary street providing access from United States Route 7 to points on the west side of Otter Creek. The bridge spans the creek in an east-west orientation. It is a single-span Town lattice structure, with trusses 139 ft in length, and a roadway width of 18 ft. The eastern abutment is built of stone and marble slabs, and is now topped by a concrete pad, while the western abutment is marble topped by concrete. The bridge has been reinforced with laminated beams mounted below the trusses. The exterior is finished in vertical board siding, which extends around to the portal faces and a short way inside. There are square openings providing light to the interior of the structure, which is capped by a corrugated metal roof.</p><br>
<p>The bridge was built in 1842 by Asa Nourse. It was acquired by the state in 1961, which is responsible for its maintenance.</p><br>
<p>The Parkersburg Carnegie Library is a historic library building located at Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. It was designed and built in 1905, with funds provided by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It is one of 3,000 such libraries constructed between 1885 and 1919. Carnegie provided $34,000 toward the construction of the Parkersburg library. It is a two-story, "L"-shaped brick structure in the Classical Revival style. The facade is detailed in gray stone and features a pediment with two Doric order columns. It ceased use as a library about 1975, and in December 1985, it was re-opened, as Trans Allegheny Books, which was the largest used book store in West Virginia until it closed in 2010.</p><br>
<p>It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.</p><br>
<p>Lunna House is a 17th-century laird&#39;s house on Lunna Ness in the Shetland Islands. Lunna House is noted for having "the best historic designed landscape in Shetland". In the 20th century it was used as a base of the wartime Shetland Bus operation.</p><br>
<p>The house is protected as a category B listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Lunna House dates from before 1663 and was built on the site of a medieval haa (hall), which itself was built on the site of a viking longhouse. The east side of the house (on the right in the picture) was built in the 1660s for Robert Hunter (d.1695). The house was extended in 1710, 1750, 1810, 1850 and finally between 1897 and 1910, when the south, north and west-sections of this cross-shaped house were built. The house is mainly constructed from stone and lime mortar, except for the newest section (1897-1910) which was made out of early cast concrete. The house was "harled" (covered in early concrete and pebble cladding ) around 1910 to hide the join between the concrete and thick stone sections of the house.</p><br>
<p>The stones for the original construction of the house are believed to have come from the ruins of an iron age broch; the remains of which lie behind the original stone gateway of the house, south of the building.</p><br>
<p>An armorial panel on the house commemorates the 1707 marriage of his son Thomas Hunter and Grisella Bruce, around which time this part of the house was added. Lunna Kirk is the oldest working Kirk (church) in Shetland.</p><br>
<p>The formal landscape around the house was laid out during the 18th century, and augmented in the 19th century with Gothic ornaments, such as the beach cobble finials of the gates to the south-west of the house. On the hilltop beyond the gates is a small folly, known as Hunter&#39;s Monument, which terminates the axis, and was formerly used as a lookout by the lairds. The harbour was also constructed in the 19th century, along with a walled garden and a lime kiln.</p><br>
<p>In 1845 Robina Hunter inherited the property. The following year she married Robert Bell, Sheriff at Lerwick, and a son of the surgeon Joseph Bell. Their son Robert Bell Hunter, 8th Laird of Lunna, sold the property in 1893 to John Bruce of Sumburgh. Bruce had the house extended in the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>During the Second World War, Lunna House was requisitioned by the UK War Office and became one of the bases of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Following the invasion of Norway in May 1940, the house became the original base for the Shetland Bus, a clandestine operation to transfer men and materials between Shetland and Nazi-occupied Norway. The sheltered harbour at Lunna, away from populated areas, was considered ideal. Lieutenant David Howarth set up the SOE base at Lunna House, which accommodated the Shetland Bus boat crews. The Shetland Bus operation moved to Scalloway in 1942, but the SOE base remained until the end of the war. The beaches below the house were used for testing one-man submarines and other equipment, as part of the SOE activities.</p><br>
<p>By the end of the war, the house was in a poor condition. It was bought in the 1960s by the Lindsay family who rescued it from dereliction. Mains electricity reached the house in 1975. The Lindsays ran Lunna House as a B&B from the mid 1960s until 1997, when Mrs Ruby Lindsay retired, aged 89.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed in 1971, and in 1998 the Folly, West Gates, Gothick Cottage, and Walled Garden were also listed at category B, as integral parts of the designed landscape, and with a group value of category A.</p><br>
<p>Since 2001, the property has been owned by a family with wartime links to the SOE, and it has undergone further extensive renovations; repairing and replacing much of the sections of the slate roof, and internally repairing and restoring the fabric of the building.</p><br>
<p>The Paroo Floodplain and Currawinya Important Bird Area is a 7,874 km&sup2; site comprising the floodplain and the associated wetlands of the Paroo River in north-western New South Wales and south-western Queensland, Australia. It includes extensive areas of the Paroo-Darling and Currawinya National Parks, both of which are listed under the Ramsar Convention as wetland sites of international importance, as well as of the Nocoleche Nature Reserve.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The IBA contains the lower Paroo floodplain, including the overflow lakes, as well as the Yantabulla swamp and the Cuttaburra Creek floodplain. The area contains a complex network of channels, wetlands and lakes. Water is received from local rainfall or the Paroo River. Floods occur erratically; water enters from the Paroo, the Warrego River via Cuttaburra Creek and other channels, or backs up from the Darling River in the south, filling shallow channels, floodplain depressions and numerous ephemeral lakes. Ranging to 5.5 m in depth, some lakes retain water for up to three years. The shores and channels support samphire, lignum, canegrass and other grasses, with black-box and other riparian woodland communities which flood seasonally. Currawinya National Park also has Acacia shrublands on sand sheets and dunes. The region has a desert climate, with low and very variable rainfall usually falling in summer; mean annual rainfall at Currawinya is 278 mm.</p><br>
<h2>Birds</h2><br>
<p>The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because, when conditions are suitable, it supports up to 400,000 waterbirds with over 1% of the world populations of black swans, freckled and pink-eared ducks, grey teals, Australasian shovelers, hardheads, red-necked avocets, white-headed and banded stilts, sharp-tailed sandpipers and red-capped plovers.</p><br>
<p>Gardie House is an 18th-century estate house on Bressay in Shetland, Scotland. Located opposite Lerwick, across the Bressay Sound, Gardie is described by Historic Scotland as an "example of the smaller Scottish country house, unique in Shetland."</p><br>
<p>The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Henderson family owned Gardie from the 17th century, and in 1724 Magnus Henderson (died 1753) had the present house built. The builder was a mason from Aberdeen named Forbes. The double-pile plan of Gardie was relatively novel in the early 18th century. The symmetrical arrangement of walled gardens leading down to a harbour was laid out at the same time. The drawing room contains fine wooden panelling, installed around 1750.</p><br>
<p>The house passed out of the Henderson family in 1799, and was inherited by Elizabeth Nicolson and her husband Thomas Mouat of Garth, the builder of Belmont House on Unst. Their nephew, William Mouat, added the porch and constructed the steading and Gothic cottage in the grounds. Sir Walter Scott dined at Gardie House during his 1814 visit to Shetland. In 1905 the house was altered, and remains privately owned. In 2001, the owner was John Hamilton Scott, Lord Lieutenant of Shetland.</p><br>
<p>McDonald&#39;s Brook is tributary of the Passaic River. It is a natural stream originating in Clifton, New Jersey, passing through Passaic, New Jersey. For most of its length, it runs underground in a culvert constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Prior to the construction of the culvert, larger parts of it ran through a ground-level stream bed, though parts of it ran underground even in its natural configuration.</p><br>
<p>The brook, throughout its length, is used as a catchment for storm drain by the cities of Clifton and Passaic. Parts of Clifton&#39;s combined storm/sewer lines run adjacent, and when they overflow or have breakages, feed additional stormwater or raw sewage into the brook.</p><br>
<p>In the past, Clifton industry took advantage of the brook for wastewater dumping, mostly illegally.</p><br>
<p>The brook runs through Passaics Third Ward Veterans Memorial Park, constructed in the 1930s as part of the Works Project Administration (WPA). At the time of the parks construction, the brook&#39;s path was altered slightly, and a small lake bed was dug in the center of the park, creating a pond fed by the brook. The pond was open to fishing and boating until the detection of industrial pollution. Although not well known, the pond is officially named Hughes Lake.</p><br>
<p>Presently, the park contains the only exposed portion of the brook. The culvert ends at the westernmost tip of the park, near the Broadway entrance, at the end of the playground. The brook then flows along the border of the playground, and then runs roughly parallel to The Circle, the road bordering the park, until it reaches Hughes Lake. At the opposite end of the lake is a man-made dam and waterfall, where the brook continues, running underground again briefly to cross Passaic Avenue. On the other side of the avenue, it runs next to the ballfield and tennis court, before being concealed again to cross Howard Avenue, Pennington Avenue, Benson Court, and the New Jersey Transit railroad trestle. It runs in the open through an undeveloped portion of the park between Pennington and High Street, ducks under High, and runs across the edge of the playground that is at the eastern terminus of the park. It then continues in another culvert for the remainder of its length, until it meets the Passaic River near the foot of Brook Avenue.</p><br>
<p>The brook was originally known as Mineral Spring Brook, when a resort business was attempted near the current start of the exposed part of the brook. A surveyor incorrectly labeled it McDonald&#39;s Brook, and variations of that name became the common name, and now the official name. Mineral Spring Avenue runs perpendicular to the brook near the site of the former resort, and the name of the street may actually be a remnant of the original name and the resort that tried to put the brook to medicinal use. Bloomfield Avenue, parts of it now renamed Broadway, was originally built on February 1, 1803, to provide access to the spring resort.</p><br>
<p>In addition to Hughes Lake, two other ponds were found along the brook&#39;s path downstream, after it crossed Main Avenue (known then as Franklin Avenue). The ponds have since been lost to development, and the entire stream is buried along this length. Both ponds were along Brook Ave, on its south side. The first was at Park Avenue (east side of Park), and the other was midway between Gold Street and River Road. Though Gold Street itself no longer exists at Brook, a portion of it remains at Terhune, and its old location can be determined via a straight line.</p><br>
<p>In a late 20th-century rehabilitation of the park, the brook was rerouted again. Much of the new bed eroded to the sides.</p><br>
<p>Rokeby is a Georgian house near Leesburg, Virginia, built in the mid-18th century. The house is the best example of Georgian architecture in Loudoun County. Rokeby served as a repository for USA Government documents during the British occupation and burning of Washington in 1814 during the War of 1812. The Declaration of Independence was reputedly kept in the basement.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The main house is a two-story five-bay brick building standing on a low basement, with prominent end chimneys. The plan is two rooms deep with a central stair hall. A rear wing was added in 1886, using detailing that matched the original house. The main house is notable for its basement, in which the central portion features a brick barrel vault. A large kitchen was located in the basement; its hearth survives. Renovations have altered much of the interior detailing, adding Colonial revival trim and plaster detailing. The exterior is built entirely in Flemish bomd.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Rokeby was built around 1765 by Charles Binns, Sr. on a 160 acre tract. His son inherited the house in 1801, and although William Binns did not live there, the empty house was used to store USA government documents at the direction of then-Secretary of State James Monroe. The house was purchased in 1830 by Benjamin Shreve, Jr., who altered the earlier clipped gables to their present form and who changed the interior trim details. At about 1886, under the ownership of O.E. Breese, the house was first called "Rokeby." The Breese family made the additions to the rear of the house. It was restored in 1958.</p><br>
<p>Rokeby was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 1976.</p><br>
<p>The Cathedral of Saint Andrew in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, is a historic church and the oldest place of continuing worship in the city. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. The property is located at the corner of South Louisiana Street and West 7th Street in downtown Little Rock.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Rev. Peter Donnelly from the Diocese of St. Louis celebrated the first Mass in Little Rock in a room over Dugan&#39;s Store at 2nd and Main Streets in 1830. As the congregation grew they acquired a building for their use on East Markham near Third Street. The Rev. Joseph Richard Bole and Father Paris were sent to Little Rock to build a permanent church building in 1839 on the property where the Arcade Building was located on Louisiana between Sixth and Seventh Streets. Known as the Old French Church, it was dedicated by Bishop Mathias Loras of the Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa in 1841. The Diocese of Little Rock was established by Pope Gregory XVI on November 28, 1843 with the Most Rev. Andrew Byrne as the first bishop.</p><br>
<p>Bishop Byrne established the first St. Andrew&#39;s Cathedral at Second and Center Streets in 1845. As the congregation grew a new cathedral was needed. The cornerstone for the present cathedral was laid by Bishop Edward Fitzgerald on July 7, 1878. The church was dedicated on November 27, 1881. It was designed by Little Rock architect Thomas Harding and cost $470,000 to build. The tallest tower on the façade of the building was completed in 1887.</p><br>
<p>A tornado struck downtown Little Rock in 1950 and toppled the cross on top of the tower. It also destroyed two of the stained glass windows. The present rectory was built in 1966. St. Andrew&#39;s Cathedral was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Cathedral of St. Andrew is a Gothic Revival style structure that was built of native granite. The church measures 140 ft in length and its nave is 86 ft wide. The façade features two towers, the tallest of which is crowned with a spire and rises 86 ft above the ground. The interior is finished in Southern yellow pine and features a marble high altar that is decorated with onyx and other precious stones.</p><br>
<p>Exeter was a late 18th-century Georgian house near Leesburg, Virginia, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places from 1973 to August 1980, when it was destroyed by fire and subsequently de-listed from the National Register. The house and its dependencies were unusually elaborate for northern Virginia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The house was built about 1790 by Dr. Wilson Cary Selden on a property that he had inherited from his first wife, Mary Mason Selden, who was a niece of George Mason. Selden and his second wife, Eleanor Love Selden, expanded the property as the centerpiece of a plantation. In 1835 Seldens son Wilson Cary Selden, Jr. inherited the property, but sold it in 1846 to General George Rust, who expanded the house to the rear. The property played a role in the American Civil War when the Battle of Balls Bluff was fought on the plantation&#39;s lands, with Confederate General Jubal Early using the house as a headquarters. The house had fallen into disrepair by the 1970s, and was destroyed by fire in August 1980.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Exeter was a seven-part house. It was dominated by a two-story tetrastyle Ionic portico with Chinese Chippendale railings on the upper level, added in the 1830s to replace a one-story pedimented portico. The portico was flanked by single recessed bays, then by hyphens recessed farther back, and finally by small pavilions on either end. The mass of the house was reduced by a gambrel roof on the upper story. The interior featured an entrance hall with a stair hall behind, with a parlor to the south and a dining room to the north. Three main bedrooms were upstairs. The house retained most of its original woodwork. An 1850s addition housed additional rooms to the rear. A number of outbuildings surrounded the house, one of which has been restored as a community center. A barn was demolished to construct the bypass for USA Route 15.</p><br>
<p>Exeter was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973 and was de-listed after its destruction by fire in August 1980.</p><br>
<p>The James Elliott Farm is a historic farmstead located on the edge of the town of New Harmony in Posey County, in the USA state of Indiana. The farm is composed of the farmhouse and seven outbuildings, The farm centers around the farmhouse, which was built in the Greek Revival style in 1826 by English immigrant James Elliott; even before Elliott joined the commune, the property had been associated with the followers of Robert Owen; the land had previously supported an offshoot of the main community, which its residents called "Feiba Peveli." Elliott had settled in the vicinity as part of the Owenist commune that lived at New Harmony at that time; besides farming, Elliott established himself as the community&#39;s brewer.</p><br>
<p>Among the distinctive architectural elements of the farmhouse are its two large chimneys, its symmetrical five-bay facade, and a porch with a gabled Greek Revival pediment. The front door sits at the middle of the first-floor facade, with two windows on each side; the second floor facade is similar, except that a window occupies the place of the front door.</p><br>
<p>Although the Elliott Farm dates back nearly two hundred years, not all of its elements are original; one of the outbuildings was completed in 1938. Later in the twentieth century, the owners — still members of the Elliott family — took sustained action to restore and maintain the farm; this was one of many projects that they undertook at the time to preserve the buildings dating back to the time of the Harmony Society. In connection with their preservation efforts, the family succeeded in having the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, due in part to the property&#39;s importance in the fields of architecture and agriculture. Six New Harmony properties are listed on the National Register, along with many buildings that have been grouped together as the New Harmony Historic District and named a National Historic Landmark; of the six, only the Harmony Way Bridge and the Elliott Farm are not part of the historic district.</p><br>
<p>Mount Halcon or Monte Halcón is a mountain located in the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. Its height of 2,586 m makes it the 18th highest peak in the Philippines. Its steep slopes have earned it the reputation of being the most difficult mountain to climb in the country. The first documented ascent was made in 1906 by botanist Elmer Drew Merrill and a party of forestry and military personnel.</p><br>
<p>Mt. Halcon is home to the indigenous Alangan Mangyans. Its thick vegetation contains much flora and fauna, including the critically endangered Mindoro bleeding-heart which is endemic in the area, and the stick insect Conlephasma enigma, which was first described in 2012.</p><br>
<p>The mountain was also the location of a possible World War II Japanese holdout. Isao Miyazawa found evidence that his comrade Captain Fumio Nakahara was living there in 1957. Another search in 1977 was called off due to Miyazawa contracting malaria. In 1980, Miyazawa found Nakahara&#39;s hut, and the natives talked to him extensively about the foreigner. However, Nakahara himself has never been spotted.</p><br>
<p>Lee Castle, also known as The Lee, is a castellated mansion in Auchenglen, a branch of the Clyde Valley in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located 1.5 km south of Braidwood, and 4 km north-west of Lanark. Lee was the seat of the Lockharts of Lee from its establishment in the 13th century until 1919, though the present house is the result of rebuilding in the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The house is protected as a category B listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1272, William Locard was granted the feudal barony of Lee. His son, Sir Simon Locard (1300–1371), fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence, and afterward accompanied Sir James Douglas in his attempt to carry the heart of Robert the Bruce to the Holy Land in 1330. Following the death of Sir James Douglas in battle with the Moors in Spain, Sir Simon carried the Bruces heart back to Scotland for burial at Melrose Abbey. He is said to have subsequently added the heart and fetterlock to the family coat of arms. He also acquired the "Lee Penny", an amulet or touch piece said to have healing properties, and which remains in the familys possession.</p><br>
<p>Sir William Lockhart of Lee (1621–1675) fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War, but switched sides, and later married the niece of Oliver Cromwell. Lockhart was appointed Cromwells commissioner for the administration of justice in Scotland, in 1652. He also served as English ambassador at the French court in 1656. His brother George Lockhart was appointed Lord Advocate, and he purchased the Lanarkshire estates of the Earl of Carnwath. Both Lee and Carnwath estates were inherited by his son Sir George Lockhart of Lee (1673–1731). He acted as a commissioner for the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, but later adopted the Jacobite cause. He was involved in the Jacobite Rising of 1715 but escaped serious punishment. Georges grandson, another George, fought with the Jacobites in the 1745 Rising, and afterwards went into exile. This Georges younger brother James also went overseas, fighting in the Austrian army during the Seven Years War. He inherited the Lee estates by staging the death of his traitorous older brother, and was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1782. His nephew, Alexander Lockhart of Lee, member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed, was made a baronet in 1806.</p><br>
<p>By this time, the parklands around Lee Castle had been laid out, as recorded on William Roys maps of the mid 18th century, although the form of the house at this time is unknown. Sir Charles Lockhart, 2nd Baronet (1799–1832), built a new house at Lee in 1817, but shortly after his death Sir Norman Lockhart, 3rd Baronet (1802–1849), commissioned James Gillespie Graham to design a much larger house. Work began in 1834, incorporating the earlier building, and continued until 1845. The 5th baronet made changes to the parklands in the later 19th century, but on his death in 1919 the baronetcy became extinct. In 1948 the house and estate passed out of the family, and were later split up in the 1970s. The feudal barony of Lee was granted by Petition to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth IIs Representative in Scotland, the Lord Lyon, King of Arms to The Much Honoured Terence Alvis of Lee, 23rd Baron of Cam&#39;nethan, 33rd Baron of Lee.</p><br>
<p>Baron Alvis of Lee (33rd Baron) carried out major restoration to the house over a ten-year period, during which time his Son and heir, Tai Alvis of Lee was born in 1981. In 2004 the house, along with 250 acre and the feudal caput, was put up for sale on the internet site eBay, although this was unsuccessful. The house was later sold for an all-time record price for a private Scottish residence to an American buyer.</p><br>
<p>The Glebe of Shelburne Parish is a house built as a glebe in rural Loudoun County, Virginia around 1775 to attract a cleric to preach in the Shelburne Parish of the Anglican Church. Shelburne Parish, named for the Earls of Shelburne, desired in 1771 that a minister preach at Leesburg, Virginia every three months. The absence of a glebe and glebe lands detracted from efforts to recruit a parson, so in 1773 the parish purchased 473 acre and built a house on the property.</p><br>
<p>The two-story brick house stands on a hilltop overlooking Goose Creek. There are five bays, of which two may have been added. A two-bay kitchen wing is appended. The interior, which by vestry order was to include one large room 20 ft by 20 ft and another 18 ft by 19 ft, follows a hall-and-parlor plan. The interior may not have been completed until after the American Revolution, as its detailing is Greek Revival in character. The property includes a number of outbuildings, including an ice house and a kitchen.</p><br>
<p>Virginia ordered the sale of all glebes in 1802, but the parish resisted. Legal action was not settled until 1830, and the property was finally sold in 1840.</p><br>
<p>The Goose Creek Meeting House Complex is a Quaker worship center, with an original 1765 Meeting House, an 1817 meeting house, a burying ground, and the Oakdale schoolhouse in the village of Lincoln, Virginia. The complex is on the site of the original log meeting house, built about 1750. The 1765 meeting house is a one-story stone building,and was converted to a residence after the construction of the 1817 meeting house.</p><br>
<p>The 1817 meeting house was originally built as a two-story brick building, but was damaged in a windstorm in 1944 and its upper story was removed. The building remained unrepaired for some years after the storm because of wartime restrictions on building materials. Due to a schism in American Quakerism in the early 19th century, there was a second Quaker meeting in Lincoln. Friends from this meeting, known as "Orthodox" Friends, invited the members of Goose Creek to worship with them until the Goose Creek Meeting House could be repaired. When the repairs were completed, the two meetings reunited to form the Goose Creek United Meeting, worshipping in the now-single story 1817 meeting house.The 1817 meeting house was enlarged with the addition of a Gathering Room or First Day School room in 1982</p><br>
<p>Today, the meeting house continues to be an active center for worship and the activities of the Monthly and Yearly Meetings of Friends.</p><br>
<p>The schoolhouse is a one-story brick building on a stone foundation, built in 1815. Oakdale School was the first public school in Loudoun County, Virginia, and following the American Civil War was the first school in the region to offer education to African-American children.</p><br>
<p>The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1974.</p><br>
<p>The Goose Creek Meeting House complex and the village of Lincoln lie within the Goose Creek Historic District, a rural landscape district.</p><br>
<p>Welbourne is the main house of what was formerly a large plantation in Loudoun County, Virginia. The original core of the house, in what is now the south wing, was built about 1770. The stone house was two and a half stories tall, with three bays, one room deep. Some of the original woodwork survives in this section of the house. The house was expanded greatly by John Peyton Dulany around 1830, adding five bays in stuccoed brick, connected to the original house by a transverse hall. The interior of the new section features Greek Revival detailing. A two-story portico with Italianate columns was added in the 1850s, and the house was further enlarged with a two-story addition on the south side in the 1870s. The whole is covered with stucco, detailed with faux-painted joints.</p><br>
<p>The house faces an axial lane through a park-like setting. The houses surroundings include a designed garden to the east with one of the oldest swimming pools in Virginia. The property includes a number of outbuildings, including a tenant house, spring house, servants house, toolhouse, smokehouse and a schoolhouse, as well as a subsidiary dwelling reputed to be older than the main house.</p><br>
<p>The house has remained in the hands of Dulany descendants. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1972,</p><br>
<p>The Arcola Slave Quarters were built circa 1800 on the grounds of the Lewis plantation at Arcola in Loudoun County, Virginia. The plantation house was replaced by a different house in the 1930s on the original foundation, but the slave quarters remain. The stone structure is a double-pen building built into an embankment downhill from the main house. The western end is older, with two connecting rooms and a cellar, accessible through a hole in the floor. The eastern end consists of two rooms, connected to the original wing by a breezeway. Each block has a central chimney with two hearths. The walls are stone rubble construction with timber roof construction. A loft, probably a later addition, has been created on the attic space. The floors are dirt, except for the room over the cellar, which is wood. The roof is asphalt roll roofing over plywood, but traces of the older wood shake roof remain. There are several window openings which do not appear to have been glazed, but rather shuttered.</p><br>
<p>The Lewis plantation was established between 1744 and 1746 by Vincent Lewis, who owned a number of slaves, whose numbers increased with succeeding generations. The Lewis family sold the property for development in the 1980s.</p><br>
<p>The Arcola slave quarters were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 26, 2008 as local examples of extant slave quarters, and as an unusual example of stone slave quarters. The 1930s American Foursquare house is not considered a contributing structure.</p><br>
<p>The Pearce, Urquhart and Hervey Islands Important Bird Area consists of three small adjacent islands, with a collective area of 9 ha, in the western Gulf of Carpentaria’s Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, in the Northern Territory of Australia. They lie to the north-east of the group’s North Island.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The islands are traditionally owned Aboriginal land. Pearce Islet is covered with low vegetation. The circular Urquhart Islet is formed of rock and coral rubble and also vegetated. Hervey Rocks is a small, low, partly vegetated, rocky island with a small sand spit.</p><br>
<h2>Birds</h2><br>
<p>The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because they support over 1% of the world populations of greater crested (with up to 50,000) and roseate terns (up to 17,500). Bridled and black-naped terns also breed on the islands, which are used for nesting by large numbers of sea turtles as well.</p><br>
<p>Adolphus Island is an uninhabited island located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is situated in Cambridge Gulf approximately 35 km north of Wyndham and covers an area of about 4,157 hectare. The island has a maximum height of approximately 770 ft.</p><br>
<p>The island, the gulf and many other features surrounding the gulf were named by Philip Parker King who visited the area in 1819 aboard the survey cutter HMS Mermaid but left after spending eleven days charting the gulf, being unable to find supplies of freshwater in the mudflats, rivers and hills that surround the Cambridge Gulf. King named the island after the Duke of Cambridge at the time, Prince Adolphus.</p><br>
<p>One of the earliest European burials in Western Australia occurred on Adolphus Island at Nicholls Point, ten years before the foundation of the Swan River Colony, during Kings time in Cambridge Gulf. The following passages from Kings journals start on 27 September 1819.</p><br>
<p>I have this day to record the death of one of the crew, William Nicholls, who, for some time past, and particularly during the last three days, had been suffering from a dropsical complaint; his death was occasioned by suffocation, having very imprudently laid down with his head to leeward while we were under sail: this poor fellow had been for nearly three months on our sick list; he was a native of Norfolk Island, and, when in health, had been one of my most useful and attentive men.</p><br>
<p>September 28.</p><br>
<p>He was interred the next morning on shore; in memorial whereof the north-west point of the island was named after him.</p><br>
<p>King later mentions the death on 30 September, after they had left Cambridge Gulf.</p><br>
<p>...we had only lost one man; and this from a complaint which even medical assistance might not, perhaps, have cured; and by an accident which could not have been prevented, for our people were at the moment so busily employed in working the vessel through a dangerous navigation that the unfortunate man&#39;s situation was not known until the vital spark was nearly extinct, and too far gone for any human means to save his life.</p><br>
<p>The island is home to endangered flora such as Brachychiton incanus and a variety of birdlife such as rufous night heron, little eagle, brown falcon, whimbrel, tawny frogmouth, great bowerbird and rainbow bee-eater. The agile wallaby is commonly sighted on the island.</p><br>
<p>Pulo Jehat is an island located in the Straits of Johor. The name means Wicked Island.</p><br>
<p>It is located south of Tioman Island. Heritiera littoralis can be found on the island.</p><br>
<p>In 1938, the British built three gun emplacements on the island to defend the straits. The island is the supposed resting place of a witch doctor named Merah, placed there because it was believed that his spirit could not cross water. Supposedly, any who disturb or disrespect his tomb are killed.</p><br>
<p>A Japanese kamikaze plane is supposed to have tried to destroy the emplacements, but crashed nearby in the sea.</p><br>
<p>The emplacements were abandoned at the end of the war and the island is now vacant. The waters nearby are a popular local dive site. There are some underwater caves also.</p><br>
<h2>Pulau Jahat Marine Park</h2><br>
<p>A marine park was established in 1994.</p><br>
<p>The Broad Run Bridge and Tollhouse were built for the Leesburg Turnpike Company in Loudoun County, Virginia. The stone bridge, built about 1820, was a permanent replacement for a series of wood bridges at the location, with at least three that had been washed away between 1771 and 1803. The bridge spanned Broad Run on two arches with prominent conical buttresses. The road rose to the center of the bridge. The stone toll house stands nearby. It is a one-story three-bay house that has been progressively enlarged. The Tollhouse was purchased by the county Board of Supervisors with intentions to restore the facility.</p><br>
<p>One span of the bridge collapsed, on June 21, 1972, as a result of flooding from Hurricane Agnes. The remainder of the bridge has since collapsed, leaving only the stone abutments.</p><br>
<p>The bridge and tollhouse were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970.</p><br>
<p>Farmer&#39;s Delight was built in Loudoun County, Virginia in 1791 by Colonel Joseph Flavius Lane. The Federal style brick plantation house incorporates elements of Georgian architecture. The house is now closely associated with American oilman and diplomat George C. McGhee, who owned the property after 1948. The house is maintained by the McGhee Foundation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Lane, a member of the Virginia General Assembly in 1792-1793, was a colonel in the USA Army during the Whiskey Rebellion, and had been a member of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Lane and his wife Katharine had eight children. The family operated their property as a plantation, using slave labor, and named it "Farmer&#39;s Delight." Although Lane died in 1803, the plantation stayed in the Lane family until 1856, when it was sold to the Leith family. At this time it was known as the Gregg Farm, after Lane descendant Emily Craig Gregg, who had inherited the property. The Leiths held the property until 1919, lending their name to the nearby community of Leithtown, when the property was sold to Henry W. Frost, Jr., who renamed the farm "Frostfields," expanded the house and operated racing and hunting stables. In 1948 the house was bought by diplomat George C. McGhee, who restored its original name and renovated the house, adding wings and gardens. McGhee obtained a set of stone columns for a trellised grape arbor from a Benedictine abbey at Samaron in France that were originally brought to the United States by William Randolph Hearst to be used at the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. The house was the scene of receptions for foreign dignitaries and American politicians, including President Lyndon B. Johnson.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The original house is about 23 ft by 43 ft in two stories with five bays, with two-story additions to the north of three bays and two bays to the south. Another large wing extends to the southwest, with an additional wing to the west beyond. The original brickwork and north wing are in Flemish bond, while other wings are American bond. The original plan is a center hall with a room to each side, with a steep, narrow stairway in the center hall.</p><br>
<p>The property includes fifteen buildings on about 90 acre. Gardens cover 20 acre. The McGhee Library is housed in a structure reputed to be the oldest on the property, built about 1750. The bank barn-like structure was first used as a childrens playroom, then converted to a library. A garage, built by the McGhees, houses an archive and research facility. Other structures include seven barns and agricultural buildings, two of which have been made into museums for McGhees collections of artifacts from Africa, South America, the Middle East, southern Asia and the Pacific. A tenant house, built between 1880 and 1920, remains a residence for the farm supervisor. A small log cabin was relocated from its original location near The Plains. A small stone chapel is a replica of a chapel that the McGhees had admired in Bonn while McGhee was ambassador to West Germany.</p><br>
<p>McGhee altered the grounds extensively to resemble an informal English garden, primarily using conifers, with 162 trees of 122 species. Four terraces were designed for the garden by Washington landscape architect Boris Timochenko, of which three were built. The garden includes a boxwood maze.The front of the property is landscaped as an open, informal English park.</p><br>
<p>Farmer&#39;s Delight was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1973.</p><br>
<p>The Chicora Wood Plantation  is a former rice plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The plantation itself was established sometime between 1732 and 1736 and the 1819 plantation house still exists today. In 1827, Robert Francis Withers Allston  resigned as surveyor-general of South Carolina to take over full-time management of Chicora Wood, which he had inherited from his father. Chicora Wood served as a home base for his network of rice plantations, which produced 840,000 pounds of rice in 1850 and 1,500,000 pounds by 1860. 401 slaves worked the plantation in 1850, increasing to 630 by 1860.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in Greek Revival style, on a raised basement typical of the region. A number of outbuildings still survive on the complex, including the rice mill complex. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973. It is located in the Pee Dee River Rice Planters Historic District.</p><br>
<p>The Charles Nelson Schmick House is located at 110 Walnut Street, Leetonia, Ohio. The three-story, 16-room house contains 5,700 square feet. There are stained glass windows, a wraparound porch, gingerbread detailing and a tower. The house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The Victorian home was completed in 1871. It exhibits Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, Italianate, and Empire architecture styles. The house was built by David A. Gerrish. The home was sold to Edwin J. Warner in 1874. Warner lived in the house from 1874 until 1879 while he was president of the Leetonia Iron & Coal Company.</p><br>
<p>Charles Nelson Schmick purchased the house in 1879. Schmick was a banker, industrialist, and school board member in Leetonia. He and his wife resided in the home with their children until 1900, when they moved to Cleveland.</p><br>
<p>In 1987, the house was purchased by Robert and Barbara Hendricks. The Hendricks began a complete restoration of house. The project was completed in August 1996. The home was restored from the basement foundation to the rooftop and was furnished with authentic antiques and reproduction Victorian wallpapers and window treatments.</p><br>
<p>The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 for its significant architecture and for historical person, Charles Schmick.</p><br>
<p>Today, the house is an inn furnished with authentic antiques, reproduction wallpapers, and window treatments. The inn caters to weddings, funerals,</p><br>
<p>reunions, and tourists.</p><br>
<p>The Twin Bridges Historic District is an area surrounding two closed-spandrel, concrete-deck bridges completed in 1922 by the Luten Bridge Company. These bridges are located on County Route 3412 and former County Route 11. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1994.</p><br>
<h2>Style</h2><br>
<p>The two bridges are both single-span, closed spandrel concrete deck bridges. Formerly both on the winding County Route 11, the route was straightened in 1955 and has now bypassed these bridges on a new concrete facility.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>By order of the county judge, local residents were to construct the approaches of the bridges by themselves to spare expense to the county. The Luten Bridge Company of Knoxville, Tennessee was contracted for the work and for eleven other bridges in the county.</p><br>
<p>Leipzig Riverside Forest  is a Riparian forest, which lies mostly within the city limits of Leipzig city in Germany.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Leipzig Riverside Forest is divided into separate southern and northern parts, between which is a corridor containing many parks and green areas along the banks of the White Elster. Between the two there is a certain ecological link through a corridor that comprises parks and grassland and which lies along the Elster Basin, which was constructed to provide flood protection, and Elster flood plain. The total area covered is approx. 2500 hectares.</p><br>
<p>Leipzig Riverside Forest is a nature reserve.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>* ENEDAS e. V./ Autorenkollektiv: Der Leipziger Auwald. Ein Natur- und Erlebnisführer. Edition Leipzig, 2013, .</p><br>
<p>* Gerd K. Müller (ed.): Der Leipziger Auwald – ein verkanntes Juwel der Natur. Leipzig, 1992.</p><br>
<p>* Gerd K. Müller: Die Leipziger Auen. Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Landesentwicklung, Dresden, 1995.</p><br>
<p>The Catoctin Creek Bridge crosses over Catoctin Creek in Loudoun County, Virginia.</p><br>
<p>It currently carries Virginia Route 673, also known as Featherbed Lane. The bridge was originally located at a crossing of nearby Goose Creek, carrying the Leesburg Turnpike, later Virginia State Route 7, but was relocated in 1932 to its present location at Catoctin Creek.</p><br>
<p>The Catoctin Creek Bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 1974.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Catoctin Creek Bridge is a nine-panel iron Pratt truss bridge, first erected about 1889. The bridge was fabricated by the Variety Iron Works of Cleveland, Ohio. The bridge is one span of 159 ft, with a roadway width of 11.18 ft. The deck is made of timbers.</p><br>
<p>The Catoctin Creek Bridge is one of the longest metal truss bridges of the 19th century remaining in Virginia.</p><br>
<p>Woodburn is a farm complex that was built beginning about 1777 for the Nixson family near Leesburg, Virginia. The first structure on the property was a stone gristmill, built by George Nixson, followed by a stone millers residence in 1787, along with a stable. The large brick house was built between 1825 and 1850 by George Nixsons son or grandson George. The house became known as "Dr. Nixson&#39;s Folly." A large brick bank barn dates from this time, when Woodburn had become a plantation.</p><br>
<p>The brick house is two stories with five bays, backed by a two-story seven-bay ell to the rear. The brickwork is in Flemish bond on the front and west sides, and four or five course American bond on the other sides. The house has a double-pile (two rooms deep) plan, but with a single full-depth parlor on the west side of the central hall. A "little parlor" lies on the other side of the hall. The bank barn features an overhanging forebay supported by six brick arches. A small forebay barn on a stone foundation is nearby. Down the hill from the main house lies the "patent house," whose original single-pen log structure was probably the first building on the site, erected to establish the land patent. It has since been extended twice.</p><br>
<p>An additional structure, the farm manager&#39;s house, was added to the National Register of Historic Places listing in 2008. The frame house was built in 1909 on a fieldstone foundation. The house has five rooms on each level with a large stair hall on both levels. A rear staircase connects the rearmost rooms.</p><br>
<p>The Woodburn property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976, with the farm manager&#39;s house added in 2008.</p><br>
<p>Janelia or Janelia Farm is a mansion and former farm near Ashburn, Virginia, built in 1936 for Vinton L. Pickens and her husband Robert. The farm property has become the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which surrounds the house.</p><br>
<h2>Property</h2><br>
<p>The 289 acre property was purchased in 1934 by Vinton and Robert Pickens, who were living at the time in Switzerland. Robert Pickens was a correspondent for the Associated Press and had written a book on current affairs in 1934, Storm Clouds over Asia. Vinton Pickens was a professional artist and chairman of Loudoun Countys first planning commission, established in 1941. The property was named for the Pickens daughters, Jane and Cornelia.</p><br>
<h2>Design</h2><br>
<p>The house was designed by architect Philip Smith of the Boston firm of Smith and Walker in the Normandy Manor style at the specific requirement of Vinton Pickens, who wished to avoid references to Georgian and Federal style houses that were prevalent in the Loudoun County area. The house is unusual for the area, since it was more common for the affluent in Northern Virginia to remodel Georgian or Federal houses as the center of their estates, rather than to build new.</p><br>
<p>Smith designed the house in a French country-influenced modernist style, using a reinforced concrete structure faced with brick. The house is irregularly massed with hipped slate roofs, with six prominent chimneys and a number of dormers. The brick exterior was originally painted white, but has exhibited considerable weathering. The house is entered through a heavy, somewhat recessed wood door, with a service entrance to one side. The entrance hall is paved with rubber tiles resembling marble. A curving staircase leads to the second floor. A parlor opens off the entry hall through double doors, continuing on to French doors giving onto a screened porch overlooking the swimming pool. A large marble-faced fireplace dominates the parlor. Another set of double doors opens onto the dining room, with a view of the Potomac River through large windows. Another large fireplace dominates the dining room.A service corridor runs to the kitchen and pantries. The kitchen is outfitted with rubber tiles and has a modernistic design. A service stair is nearby, running from the basement to the third floor. Two offices are close to the service stair. The service wing contains a summer kitchen, a laundry, bathroom and further pantries.</p><br>
<p>The second floor is defined by a long corridor, leading to five bedrooms, all of which have fireplaces, and three of which have bathrooms. The master bedroom has views to the north and west. The third floor comprises the servants quarters, with four bedrooms accessible by the service stair. A large bathroom and storage room complete the level. The basement includes a servants recreation room, another servant&#39;s room, three storage rooms, a large library, a walk-in refrigerator and utility rooms.</p><br>
<h2>Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Janelia Farm</h2><br>
<p>Janelia was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 20, 1987.</p><br>
<p>The Mackie River is a river in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The river is ephemeral and flows following winter and spring rains. The water discharged is saline.</p><br>
<p>The river rises east of Corriging Hill and flows in a north westerly direction crossing the York to Quairading road twice before it finally discharges into the Avon River of which it is a tributary between York and Gwambygine.</p><br>
<p>The Mackie has four tributaries of its own: Pitt Brook, Doctors Brook, Mungerding Brook and Bailey Bailey Brook. There were once permanent pools along the course of the river, most notably Marley Pool and Wonnobing Pool, but these are now shallow as a result of sediment deposition.</p><br>
<p>The area was first explored by Europeans in 1830 when Ensign Dale travelled east from Guildford. York was settled in 1831 and Beverley in 1838, the land around York was sub-divided in 1842 with the land being primarily used for agricultural purposes.</p><br>
<p>The river was named in 1836 by the Surveyor General John Septimus Roe, who named it after William Henry Mackie who was an early settler in the Swan River Colony.</p><br>
<p>Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. It was built in 1878, and is a gable-roofed Late Gothic Revival style church, three bays by eight bays, attached to the rectory by a newer wing. The brick parish hall was built in 1898. It is constructed of stone and brick and has a slate-covered gable roof. It features a corner tower with a turreted gable roof and a rose window on the front gable end.</p><br>
<p>It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.</p><br>
<p>Trinity Episcopal Church is locally renowned for the annual used book sale held each fall by its ECW (Episcopal Church Women). They are also well known for their Monday feeding ministry where they feed between 120 and 170 meals each Monday between 11:00 AM and noon.</p><br>
<p>Avery Street Historic District, is a national historic district located at Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. It is to the east of the Julia-Ann Square Historic District and south of the Parkersburg High School-Washington Avenue Historic District. Primarily residential, it encompasses 109 acres and includes churches, a school, and a small commercial area. Built as Parkersburg&#39;s first "suburb" in the late-19th and early-20th century in popular architectural style such as Colonial Revival and Queen Anne, the district exhibits 12 distinctive types of Historic architecture.</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1986.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>As Michael J. Pauley, historian, explains "The Avery Street Historic District District, Parkersburgs first "suburban" development, is highly significant for the historic role it played in sustaining the city as one of West Virginias leading cities, housing the families who were the "life-blood" of the citys growth and development, and is significant for reflecting the rich architectural legacy of this region. The decade of 1900-1910 was the real period of growth for the district. During this decade the "Avery Street Extension" as the area on Avery Street (8th Street to beyond 19th) was then called, took form as a real neighborhood; much of the built environment of todays district took place during this period."</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The National Register of Historic Places survey identified 12 distinctive historic architectural styles, with some sub-types, within the district. Michael J. Pauley notes "all of these styles were flourishing throughout the united states during the time period in which the district was developed. A strong thread of vernacularcism, however, runs through all of these styles, so that few distinctly "pure" examples of any of the historic architectural styles exist. Rather, the buildings within the Avery Street Historic District represent a creativity of ideas and tastes with often married elements of one style to the overall plan of a differing style or type."</p><br>
<p>The historic architectural styles found within the Avery Street Historic District are National Style, Gothic Revival Style, Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque, Folk Victorian, Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, Tudor/Jacobean Revival, Bungaloid-Craftsman-Prairie, International Style, and Victorian Eclectic.</p><br>
<p>Henderson Hall Historic District, is a historic home and national historic district located near Williamstown, Wood County, West Virginia. It encompasses 10 contributing buildings, 4 contributing structures, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing object. The primary building is "Henderson Hall," a three-story, Italianate mansion built between 1856 and 1859. Attached to the dwelling is a rear block, constructed in 1836. The remaining buildings are part of the associated farm complex. They include a log smokehouse , carriage barn and schoolroom , log corn crib , corncrib , scale house , cow barn , barn , tenant house , "Woodhaven"  , Henderson Cemetery, stone terrace wall, stne mounting block, and three prehistoric Indian mounds.</p><br>
<p>It was listed to the National Register of Historical Places in 1986.</p><br>
<p>Hutton Court is a country house at Hutton, Somerset, England, built in the 15th century as a manor house. It is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England. In addition to the main house, the boundary wall, summerhouse and the gates and piers to the hall are all separately Grade II listed. and stands immediately to the south of the parish church.</p><br>
<p>An earlier wooden manor house may have been on the same site or nearby. The earliest parts of the present building are the tower with its battlements and the dining room with its oak ceiling. The hall has a collar beam roof. At the house&#39;s north-east corner is a polygonal stair turret, and the chimneys of the west wing rise higher than the battlements of the main tower.</p><br>
<p>The local landowner John Payne acquired Hutton, amongst several other local manors, and by 1466 had established it as his primary residence. He died in 1496,</p><br>
<p>passing it on to his son Thomas Payne and his descendants. By 1604 Nicholas Payne was in financial difficulties, and John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells, purchased the manor of Hutton and the residence of Hutton Court. His son Nathaniel Still built the western part of the court. On his death in 1626 the estate included the Court, two gardens, 80 acre of meadow, 50 acre of pasture and 100 acre of other land. It passed via the marriage of Nathaniel&#39;s daughter Anne to the Codrington family. William Codrington (died 1728), a descendant of Nathaniel Still, lived at Hutton Court.</p><br>
<p>In 1730 the house was bought by Humphrey Brent, a Bristol lawyer, and was passed on in the Brent family until 1837 when it was sold to Henry Adolphus Septimus Payne. By 1848 the house had been let to Edward Bowles Fripp, and in 1849 it was substantially altered by Samuel Charles Fripp, a Bristol architect.</p><br>
<p>The next owner was Edward Bisdee (1802–1870), a native of Oldmixon near Hutton who had made a fortune in Tasmania. He held the house and manor from the 1850s until his death, when he left them to his brother Alfred Henry Bisdee (1819–1898). He in turn passed Hutton Court on to his son Thomas Gamaliel Bisdee (1852–1933). In 1935 the house and contents were sold by auction, when the house was bought by a Captain Stamp. In 1948 it was sold again to a Captain G. W. Gwynne, who owned it until the 1950s, when it was sold to the Palmer family who lived there until the late 1970s. Hutton Court then became a hotel, but in the 1990s a new owner returned it to use as a private residence.</p><br>
<p>The Rumely Building is a heritage building located at 244-226 Pacific Avenue in the Central Business District of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Formerly serving as a warehouse for the Rumely Company, the building has been converted into residential condominium lofts with commercial units located on the ground floor.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The M. Rumely Company (a manufacture of heavy farm equipment) in April 1912 started work on the construction of a new showroom/office/warehouse building on a railway spur line in the downtown area of Saskatoon. The 12 by 25 foot elevator and nine inch thick floor permitted heavy equipment to be stored on the upper floors.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, work started on five store addition on the south side of the building and conversion of the building into 30 condominium lofts.</p><br>
<p>The Col du Portillon   is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the border between France and Spain. It connects Bagnères-de-Luchon in France with Bossòst in the Val d&#39;Aran,</p><br>
<p>Spain.</p><br>
<h2>Details of climb</h2><br>
<p>Starting from Bossòst, the climb is 8.6 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 583 m at an average of 6.8%. The steepest section is at 8.2%, 3 km from the summit.</p><br>
<p>Starting from Bagnères-de-Luchon, the climb is 10.2 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 663 m at an average of 6.5%. The final 7.9 km is at an average gradient of 8.4%, with the steepest section being at 13.9%.</p><br>
<h2>Appearances in Tour de France</h2><br>
<p>The Col du Portillon was first used in the Tour de France in 1957, since when it has featured 18 times, most recently in 2006, when the leader over the summit was David de la Fuente.</p><br>
<p>Tygart Valley Homesteads Historic District is a national historic district located near Dailey, Randolph County, West Virginia. It encompasses 337 contributing buildings, three contributing sites, and three contributing structures, associated with a resettlement community established during the Great Depression by the Roosevelt administration. It was the largest of the three resettlement communities in West Virginia, the others being Arthurdale and Eleanor. The first dwellings were constructed in 1934, and the Civilian Conservation Corps built the public water system, draining systems, and culverts. The houses have modest Colonial Revival architecture details and have either a side gable or gambrel roof, referred to as either an "A-Frame" or "Barn House." Other notable buildings include the Dailey Community Center , gas station , The Homestead School , The East Dailey Bridge , Community Farm, The Warehouse , The Woodworking Shop , and The Weaving Shop .</p><br>
<p>It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.</p><br>
<p>Coolaburragundy River, a perennial stream that is part of the Talbragar catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Orana district of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<p>The river rises on the south-western slopes of the Liverpool Range, at the junction of the Great Dividing Range, about 15 km north-east of the town of Coolah at Pandoras Pass. Runoff from Coolah Tops National Park also flows into the river, as it flows generally south westerly and is joined by three minor tributaries, before reaching its mouth at the confluence with the Talbragar River near Leadville; dropping 265 m over its course of 69 km.</p><br>
<p>There is sufficient water for limited irrigated cropping on the fertile alluvial soils along the valley. Although the river itself is usually dry, an aquifer lies below the Coolaburragundy valley between Coolah and Dunedoo.</p><br>
<p>The Craboon-Coolah branch off the Gwabegar railway line, closed in c. 1982, ran close to the Coolaburragundy River throughout its length.</p><br>
<p>The Col de la Core  is a mountain pass in the Ariège department of France in the Pyrenees. It connects Audressein with Seix.</p><br>
<h2>Details of climb</h2><br>
<p>Starting from Audressein, the climb is 17.5 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 885 m (an average of 5.1%). The climb proper starts at Les Bordes-sur-Lez, from where it is 14.1 km at 5.7%, with the steepest section being at 8.0%.</p><br>
<p>Starting from Seix, the climb is 13.8 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 885 m (an average of 6.4%), with the steepest section being at 8.0%.</p><br>
<h2>Appearances in Tour de France</h2><br>
<p>The Col de la Core was first used in the Tour de France in 1984, since when it has featured six times, most recently in 2011, when the leader over the summit was Mickaël Delage.</p><br>
<p>Battery White was an artillery battery constructed by the Confederates during the American Civil War. Built in 1862&ndash;63 to defend Winyah Bay on the South Carolina coast, the battery was strongly situated and constructed; however, it was inadequately manned, and was captured without resistance during the final months of the war.</p><br>
<p>The battery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is located on private land, but is open to the public.</p><br>
<h2>Island fortifications</h2><br>
<p>Even before the outbreak of the Civil War, the secessionist government of South Carolina was concerned with the possibility of attack by sea in Georgetown County. Shortly after the December 20, 1860 passage of the Ordinance of Secession, an aide-de-camp to governor Francis Pickens urged Lowcountry planters to "aid in the erection of Batteries to protect and defend the entrance of Winyah Bay and the Santee River".</p><br>
<p>The area offered a tempting target to Union forces. Winyah Bay would furnish a sheltered anchorage large enough for the entire United States Navy of 1861. The city of Georgetown on the bay was the largest on the South Carolina coast north of Charleston. Georgetown County produced nearly half of the rice grown in the United States, amounting to some 54 million pounds (54,000,000 lb) in 1860; Georgetown exported more rice than any other port in the world. This production and shipping could be disrupted by gunboats moving up the Black, the Pee Dee, the Waccamaw, and the Sampit rivers, which flow into the bay; and the two distributary channels of the Santee River, whose mouths lie just below the bay. Curtailing rice production would not only damage the local economy, but would impair the Confederacy&#39;s ability to feed its armies.</p><br>
<p>In May 1861, General P. G. T. Beauregard ordered the development of coastal defenses for South Carolina, including batteries situated on three islands flanking the mouth of Winyah Bay: North Island, South Island, and Cat Island. The Federal capture of Port Royal in November 1861 lent urgency to the construction and improvement of these works, which was done under Robert E. Lee, the newly appointed commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, with Colonel Arthur Middleton Manigault in charge of the district that included Georgetown and Horry counties.</p><br>
<p>The island fortifications were never tested against a major Union attack. However, they served a useful purpose in dealing with grounded ships, both Confederate and Federal; in protecting the entrance to the bay; and in maintaining Confederate possession of the islands.</p><br>
<h2>Withdrawal</h2><br>
<p>Matters changed in early 1862. In March of that year, Lee was recalled to Richmond as military advisor to President Jefferson Davis. He was replaced by General John C. Pemberton, who ordered the withdrawal of troops and artillery from the positions around Georgetown, apparently in order to concentrate his limited manpower on shorter defensive lines.</p><br>
<p>Union naval forces were quick to take advantage of this new vulnerability. In May 1862, the gunboats USS Albatross and USS Norwich noted that the island forts were unoccupied. They landed troops to occupy North Island, which became the principal local Union base for much of the war; and they destroyed the fortifications on South and Cat Islands. They also sailed some 10 mi up the Waccamaw River, where they raided a mill and carried off 80 slaves. Settled on North Island, these freed slaves formed the nucleus of a colony of "contrabands" that grew to more than a thousand before being removed to Port Royal for fear of Confederate raids leading to their recapture or massacre.</p><br>
<p>The Federal forces made no attempt to seize territory up the rivers, and their expeditions were limited by the draft of their vessels. Nevertheless, they conducted a number of raids in which they damaged facilities, seized rice, and released slaves; and these raids severely disrupted the region&#39;s economy. Rice production in particular suffered, since it depended on a labor force of skilled slaves performing carefully timed tasks.</p><br>
<p>Pemberton still refused to move artillery and men to the Georgetown area, maintaining that all of his resources were necessary for the protection of Charleston. However, his superiors ordered him to construct new fortifications at Winyah Bay. Since the Union now controlled the islands, it was necessary to find sites further up the bay. On August 3, 1862, Pemberton visited the area and selected Mayrants Bluff and Fraziers Point as the sites for the new batteries.</p><br>
<h2>Battery White</h2><br>
<p>Later in August 1862, Pemberton was promoted to lieutenant general and sent to the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, where he would eventually surrender Vicksburg. He was replaced in the Department of South Carolina and Georgia by Beauregard, who assumed command on September 24, 1862. The new commander supported the fortification of Winyah Bay: on October 8, 1862, he assured Governor Pickens that he had ordered the construction of a battery of five or six pieces of artillery at Mayrant&#39;s Bluff; on November 10, he wrote Colonel James Chesnut, Jr. that the battery was "armed and completed", and that he had sent a new regiment of the State Reserves to General James H. Trapier, in command of the Georgetown District.</p><br>
<p>Trapier was less than pleased with the troops and artillery that he had been given. The new regiment, he noted, arrived at the battery without arms and ammunition; and as Reserves, would only be in service for 90 days, not enough time to make effective soldiers of them even had they been armed. He had also been given fairly light guns; what he wanted was Columbiads, suitable for defending the battery and the bay against incursions by ironclads.</p><br>
<p>Despite the paucity of men and weaponry, the new battery proved effective. On November 11, 1862, two Union gunboats entered Winyah Bay and began firing on the Mayrant&#39;s Bluff works. The Second South Carolina Artillery, which had set up nine guns in the fortification, responded; and within a few minutes, the Federal vessels were forced to retire.</p><br>
<p>In February 1863, Trapier reported that the Mayrant&#39;s Bluff fortification, now named Battery White, was occupied by only 53 men and nine guns. Even this small force sufficed to stop Federal incursions up the rivers of Winyah Bay. However, rice production in the Georgetown area did not recover: the raids had destroyed too much of the physical plant, carried off too many of the slaves, and created too much uncertainty for planters to return to anything near full production.</p><br>
<p>The battery continued to lose manpower, despite Trapier&#39;s ongoing calls for more troops and guns. In October 1864, a body of eleven deserters from the Confederate German Artillery reached the gunboat USS Potomska; they reported that there was great discontent among the troops, and that many would desert were they not so strongly guarded. They also reported that there were ten guns at the battery; the captain of the Potomska concluded that the bay was too well defended for him to render aid to prospective deserters.</p><br>
<h2>Capture</h2><br>
<p>In November 1864, Trapier was ordered to bring most of his forces to Mount Pleasant, just north of Charleston. Only a company of the German Artillery was left to defend the Georgetown district. By the end of January 1865, only a small crew commanded by a lieutenant remained at Battery White.</p><br>
<p>In January and early February 1865, Union forces under General William Tecumseh Sherman moved northward from Georgia into South Carolina. On February 2 and 3, they defeated a Confederate force in the Battle of Rivers&#39; Bridge, clearing their pathway into the state. After a feint at Charleston, they marched to Columbia, which they entered on February 17; on the same day, Charleston was evacuated, and on the 18th, it was surrendered.</p><br>
<p>From Charleston, Union naval forces under Admiral John A. Dahlgren moved up the coast to Georgetown, which Dahlgren thought might be a useful point of communication with Sherman&#39;s land forces. On February 23, deserters told the captain of the gunboat USS Mingoe that Battery White had been or would soon be evacuated. The Mingoe fired four rounds into the battery. When no response was made, a party was sent ashore; they found the battery abandoned and its guns spiked. The sloop-of-war USS Pawnee and the gunboat USS Nipsic continued up the bay and landed a party of Marines to take possession of Georgetown; the intendant and wardens of the city formally surrendered it on February 25.</p><br>
<p>Soon thereafter, Dahlgren inspected the battery, and was impressed. The fortification, he wrote, was well situated and designed, laid out to defend against both shipborne bombardment and attack by landing parties. Eleven guns bore on the channel: two 10 in Columbiads, three banded rifled 32-pounders, four smoothbore 24-pounders, and two banded rifled 12-pounders. A 6-pound smoothbore flanked the ditch. The rear was defended by a "formidable" rampart and ditch, with a 24-pound smoothbore at either end; in the fort were numerous traverses and magazines. The approach along the beach to the battery&#39;s right flank was covered by a 24-pound and a 12-pound smoothbore. "If the works had been sufficiently manned", wrote Dahlgren, "it would have required good troops to take the work."</p><br>
<h3>Sinking of the USS Harvest Moon</h3><br>
<p>By the fall of 1864, the Union fleet had effectively closed Winyah Bay to blockade runners. Accordingly, the Confederate command had elected to lay mines, at the time known as "torpedoes", in the bay. Eighteen mines had been constructed in Georgetown by Captain Thomas West Daggett and Stephen W. Rouquie and placed strategically in the bay.</p><br>
<p>As early as January 1865, Union sympathizers in Georgetown had warned Dahlgrens forces about the existence of mines in the channel. While approaching Battery White, the Mingoe had sent its boats out to sweep for such devices. However, their efforts may have been perfunctory: according to Dahlgrens report, "...so much has been said in ridicule of torpedoes that very little precautions are deemed necessary, and if resorted to are probably taken with less care than if due weight was attached to the existence of these mischievous things."</p><br>
<p>On the morning of March 1, 1865, Dahlgrens flagship, the side-wheel steamer USS Harvest Moon, sailed from Georgetown toward Battery White, which Dahlgren intended to inspect. En route, the vessel struck one of Daggett and Rouquies mines, which blew a large hole in it, killing one sailor; the boat quickly sank in two and a half fathoms of water.</p><br>
<h2>Battery White postbellum</h2><br>
<p>For over a century after the Civil War, the grounds on which Battery White stood were part of the Belle Isle Plantation. During the late 19th century, extensive landscaping was undertaken on the plantation. The United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a memorial stone on the site in 1929. In about 1946, the plantation gardens, including the battery, were opened to the public, and remained thus until 1974.</p><br>
<p>In the 1970s, the plantation was developed as a condominium complex. Portions of the 100 acre complex of fortifications were lost to construction. However, the owners elected to preserve Battery White itself. In 1977, a 3 acre area encompassing the battery was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, the site was re-opened to the public.</p><br>
<p>The battery&#39;s earthworks are for the most part well preserved. The powder magazines have deteriorated, owing to collapse of the earth mounds following decay of their wooden interior shoring. The two Columbiads have been re-mounted and once again point out over Winyah Bay.</p><br>
<p>Three of the battery&#39;s guns have been placed in Georgetown. A 24-pound gun has been mounted in front of the National Guard Armory, and two cannon are displayed in Constitution Park on the Georgetown waterfront.</p><br>
<p>The Harvest Moon was never salvaged, and has gradually sunk deeper into the mud of the bay. In the mid-1960s, the top deck lay under an estimated six feet (6 ft) of mud. A Georgetown group attempted to salvage and restore the vessel as a tourist attraction, and in 1964 the USA Navy formally abandoned it, rendering it eligible for private salvage; but the attempt failed for lack of funds. As of 2011, the ship&#39;s boiler stack was still visible at low tide.</p><br>
