<p>The Elk Mountains are a high, rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of west-central Colorado in the United States. The mountains sit on the western side of the Continental Divide, largely in southern Pitkin and northern Gunnison counties, in the area southwest of Aspen, south of the Roaring Fork River valley, and east of the Crystal River. The range sits west of the Sawatch Range and northeast of the West Elk Mountains. Much of the range is located within the White River National Forest and the Gunnison National Forest, as well as the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness and Raggeds Wilderness. The Elk Mountains rise nearly 9,000 ft. above the Roaring Fork Valley to the north.</p><br>
<p>The highest peaks in the range are its fourteeners, Castle Peak (14,265 ft), Maroon Peak (14,156 ft), Capitol Peak (14,130 ft), Snowmass Mountain (14,092 ft), Pyramid Peak (14,018 ft), and North Maroon Peak (14,014 ft). Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak are collectively known as the Maroon Bells, a popular destination for recreation alpinism. Mount Sopris (12,953 ft) sits at the northwest end of the range and dominates the skyline of the lower Roaring Fork Valley and the town of Carbondale, Colorado, serving as an unofficial symbol of the area.</p><br>
<p>Additional notable peaks in the range include:</p><br>
<p>Cathedral Peak, 13,943 ft (4,250 m), near Pyramid Peak</p><br>
<p>Hagerman Peak, 13,841 ft (4,219 m), near Snowmass Mountain</p><br>
<p>Snowmass Peak, 13,620 ft (4,151 m), near Hagerman Peak</p><br>
<p>Clark Peak, 13,580 ft (4,139 m), near Capitol Peak</p><br>
<p>Treasure Mountain, 13,528 ft (4,123 m), southwest of the Maroon Bells</p><br>
<p>Mount Owen, 13,058 ft (3,980 m), high point of the Ruby Range</p><br>
<p>Mount Sopris, 12,965 ft (3,952 m), north west of Capitol Peak</p><br>
<p>Chair Mountain, 12,721 ft (3,877 m), high point of The Raggeds</p><br>
<p>Crested Butte, 12,162 ft (3,706 m), home of Crested Butte Mountain Resort</p><br>
<p>Whitehouse Mountain, 11,975 ft (3,650 m), northwest of Treasure Mountain</p><br>
<p>The range provides a formidable barrier to travel and is traversed only by backroad passes and trails, including Schofield Pass, Pearl Pass, and Taylor Pass. State Highway 133 traverses McClure Pass, at the western end of the range. The range has been the site of mining activity since the days of the Colorado Silver Boom, which saw the founding of mining towns such as Aspen and Ashcroft. In the late 19th century, the western and southern flank of the range became the site of intense coal mining activity which continues to the present day. Treasure Mountain, overlooking the town of Marble, is home to the famous Yule Marble Quarry. Quarried marble was used to create The Tomb of the Unknowns, the Lincoln Memorial, Denver Post Office and other buildings. The range receives a great deal of snowfall due to its position to the west of the continental divide and the westerly origin of many winter storms. This is exploited by the ski areas in the vicinity of Aspen, which are located on the flanks of smaller mountains alongside the Roaring Fork Valley.</p><br>
<h2>Prominent peaks</h2><br>
<p>Pyramid Peak is a fourteen thousand foot mountain in the USA state of Colorado. It is the 47th highest mountain peak in Colorado, and 78th highest peak in the United States. It is located in the Elk Mountains in southeastern Pitkin County, approximately 12 mi southwest of Aspen. The summit somewhat resembles a ragged square pyramid and is visible from the Roaring Fork River valley north of Aspen along the canyon of Maroon Creek.</p><br>
<p>Like many of the peaks in the Elks, Pyramid Peak is quite steep, especially compared to more gentle fourteeners such as Mount Elbert. For example, the peak&#39;s summit rises 4,000 ft above Crater Lake to the northwest in only 1.2 mi, and 4,400 ft above East Maroon Creek to the east of the peak in the same horizontal distance.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>The standard climbing routes on Pyramid Peak are the northeast and northwest ridges (the latter is also known as the "Keyhole Route"). These routes involve difficult route finding (very difficult, in the case of the northwest ridge), high exposure, and a great deal of loose rock. Hence they are two of the most difficult and dangerous of all of the standard routes on the Colorado fourteeners.</p><br>
<p>Capitol Peak is a high and prominent mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 14,137 ft fourteener is located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest, 14.0 km east by south  of the community of Redstone in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain</h2><br>
<p>Capitol Peak lies on the long ridge connecting the heart of the Elk Mountains with Mount Sopris to the northwest. Capitol Peak is notable for its impressive vertical relief, rising nearly 9,000 feet above the Roaring Fork Valley.</p><br>
<p>Capitol Peak is one of the most difficult of Colorado&#39;s fourteeners to climb. The only non-technical route, the Northeast Ridge, requires crossing the famously exposed "Knife Edge," the northeast ridge of Capitol. Fatalities have occurred on this route. Other routes require technical rock climbing, for example, the Northwest Buttress Route (Grade IV, Class 5.9). These routes have significant rockfall danger due to a great deal of loose rock; however, the rock is substantially more solid than on the more famous Maroon Bells or on Pyramid Peak.</p><br>
<h2>Historical names</h2><br>
<p>Capital Peak</p><br>
<p>Capitol Peak - by Hayden Survey who thought it looked similar to the USA Capitol building</p><br>
<p>Mount Sopris is a twin-summit mountain in the northwestern Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 12,965 ft mountain is located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest, 10.7 km northeast by north  of the community of Redstone in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain</h2><br>
<p>Mount Sopris is located in western Pitkin County, south of Carbondale and southwest of the confluence of the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers. Mount Sopris is notable for having two summits, East Sopris and West Sopris, that are one-half mile (0.8 km) apart and have the same elevation of 12,965 ft.</p><br>
<p>It is named for Richard Sopris, a former mayor of Denver and part of the first European expedition in the Roaring Fork Valley. In 2011 J.P. McDaniels petitioned to rename East Sopris "Mount John Denver" after the Colorado singer. A local poll in Aspen and Carbondale said 74 percent of the respondents were against the proposal.</p><br>
<p>Mount Sopris is believed to have been formed by an igneous intrusion 10,000 feet below the earth&#39;s surface, geologically referred to as a pluton, that occurred around 30 million years ago, after the initial uplift of the modern Rocky Mountains. Mount Sopris is not a volcano, but it is possible that an ancient volcano sat above it, with the current rock forming the magma chamber far below. Due to subsequent continued erosion, any evidence is now gone. In either case, the rock that makes up Sopris never reached the surface, cooling and crystallizing in situ, and later becoming exposed due to erosion. Nearby prominent peaks Mount Gunnison and Crested Butte are believed to have formed similarly.</p><br>
<p>Mount Sopris dominates the skyline of Carbondale and the lower Roaring Fork Valley, serving as an unofficial symbol of the area. It is prominently visible from State Highway 82 in the vicinity of Carbondale. In terms of local relief, it is one of the largest peaks in the state of Colorado. For example, West Sopris rises 6,400 ft (1,905 m) above the valley to the west in only 2.7 mi (4 km). (One can compare this to the corresponding vertical rise of the more well-known Maroon Peak in the heart of the Elks: it rises only about 4,300 ft (1,310 m), at best, in the same horizontal distance.) In fact a vertical rise of over 6,000 feet in less than 3 miles is rare and impressive anywhere in the contiguous United States.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking/Climbing</h2><br>
<p>The Mount Sopris Trail ascends to East Sopris via its east ridge. It starts near Dinkle Lake, on the northeast side of the mountain, and passes between the two Thomas Lakes just before reaching timberline. The ascent involves about 4,300 ft (1,300 m) of vertical gain (plus 600 ft/180 m for a round-trip to West Sopris, if desired) and 12 mi (20 km) of hiking (plus 1 mi/1.6 km for West Sopris); it is a strenuous trail hike, with some scree.</p><br>
<h2>Historical names</h2><br>
<p>Mount Sopris</p><br>
<p>Sopris Peak</p><br>
<p>Snowmass Mountain is a fourteen thousand foot mountain in the USA state of Colorado and the thirty-fourth highest mountain peak in the state. Located in the Elk Mountains, within the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of the White River National Forest, it lies along the border between Pitkin and Gunnison counties, west of Aspen and southwest of the town of Snowmass Village.</p><br>
<p>Snowmass Mountain is named for the large snowfield that lies on its eastern slopes. Snowmass Mountain should not be confused with the Snowmass ski area, located outside Snowmass Village; nor with nearby Snowmass Peak, a lower but more visually striking peak that towers over Snowmass Lake. Hagerman Peak sits between Snowmass Mountain and Snowmass Peak and is also often mistaken for Snowmass Mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking/climbing</h2><br>
<p>The route most commonly used to climb Snowmass Mountain is the Snowmass Creek approach. The route to the summit starts at Snowmass Lake, which is itself an 8.1 mi hike up Snowmass Creek from the parking area. Most people hike to the lake, camp the night and then proceed to the top. This route is recommended in the spring and early summer when the snowfield still covers much of the route; however an ice axe is recommended for travel on the snowfield. Later in the summer there is more travel on talus (scree) and more danger from rockfall. An alternative in snow-free conditions is to hike up to the saddle between the peak and Hagerman Peak. From that point there are climbers&#39; trails which proceed on the opposite (west) side of the ridge to the summit.</p><br>
<p>A different and much less used route climbs the west side of Snowmass Mountain from Geneva Lake, which is accessed from the North Fork of the Crystal River.</p><br>
<h2>Historical names</h2><br>
<p>Snowmass Mountain</p><br>
<p>Snowmass Peak</p><br>
<p>Aspen Mountain is a mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 10,705 ft peak is located in White River National Forest, 2.2 km south-southeast  of downtown Aspen in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The north face of the mountain is the location of the Aspen Mountain ski area, one of four adjacent ski areas operated collectively as Aspen/Snowmass.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain</h2><br>
<p>Aspen Mountain is not particularly high, relative to other mountains in Colorado, but nonetheless looms over the town of Aspen because of the proximity of the town, which was founded as a silver mining camp in 1879 during the Colorado Silver Boom. The mountain flank was the site of intense mining activity in the late 1880s and early 1890s, with many remains of mining activity below and on the surface of the mountain. In the middle 20th century it became the site of recreational downhill skiing. In 1946, the newly formed Aspen Skiing Company, founded by Walter Paepcke, built the first chairlift to the top of the mountain and opened the ski area that bears the name of the mountain. Nowadays, people use a modern gondola, which holds six people, to get to the top of the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Aspen Mountain is alternatively called Ajax by the locals.</p><br>
<p>The McKee Botanical Garden ) is a non-profit, subtropical botanical garden in Vero Beach, Florida. It is located at 350 USA Highway 1, Vero Beach, Florida. It was founded in 1929, when Waldo Sexton and Arthur G. McKee purchased an 80 acre tropical hammock along the Indian River. Tropical landscape architect William Lyman Phillips was hired to design its streams, ponds, and trails. Its indigenous vegetation was augmented with ornamental plants and seeds from around the world. In 1932, they proceeded to open the garden, then known as McKee Jungle Gardens, as a tourist attraction. Although the Garden was successful for several decades, it shut down in 1976, and most of its land was sold for development. The site remained vacant for twenty years until the Indian River Land Trust purchased it in 1995. The current Garden was formally dedicated in 2001. It is now a Florida landmark and on January 7, 1998, it was added to the USA National Register of Historic Places under its former name of McKee Jungle Gardens. Currently, there are several buildings on the garden including the office, gift shop, education center and a restaurant.</p><br>
<h2>Flora</h2><br>
<p>The Garden&#39;s collections currently include:</p><br>
<p>Adenium obesum, Aechmea Blue Tango, Aechmea leuddemanniana Mend, Aechmea pineliana var. minuta, Aechmea Lil Harvey, Aleurites moluccana, Alpina purpurata Eileen McDonald, Alpinia calcarata, Alpinia zerumbet, Ananas comosus, Annona glabra, Annona muricata, Anthurium White Gemini, Ardisia crenata, Ardisia escallononioides, Aristolochia gigantea, Aristolochia grandiflora, Asclepias species, Bambusa chungii, Barleria micans, Bauhinia punctata, Bauhinia species, Begonia Beefsteak, Belamcanda chinensis, Billbergia species, Bixa orellana, Bromelia pinguin, Brugmansia species, Brunfelsia jamaicensis, Caladium Aaron, Caladium Florida Starburst, Caladium Florida Sweet Heart, Caladium Freda Hemple, Caladium Ginger Land, Caladium June Bride, Caladium White Queen, Caldium Scarlet Pimpernel, Calliandra haematocephala, Callicarpa americana, Callicarpa americana alba, Canna species, Carica papaya, Chamaedorea tepejilote, Citharexylum spinosum, Clerodendron fairchildianum Musical Note, Clerodendron speciosissimum, Clerodendrum bungii, Clerodendrum quadriloculare, Clerodendrum thomsoniae, Clerodendrum ugandense, Clivia species, Congea tomentosa, Cordia lutea, Cordia boissieri, Costus barbatus, Crinum americanum, Crinum asiaticum, Crinum species (dwarf), Curculigo capitulate, Curcuma species, Delonix regia, Dendrobium × hybrid, Dichromena species, Dombeya wallichii, Dracaena fragrans, Epidendrum Kauai Sunrise, Eucalyptus deglupta, Ficus benghalensis, Ficus natalensis leprieurii, Gigantochloa pseudoarundidacea, Glandularia tampensis, Grewia caffra, Habranthus brachyandrus, Hamelia cuprea, Hamelia macrantha, Hamelia patens, Hedychium gardnerianum, Heliconia rostrata, Hibiscus coccineus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Hoya carnosa, Ipomoea carnea, Jacquemontia penthantha, Jatropha podagrica, Justicia species, Kaempferi pulchara, Laelia pacavia, Lagerstroemia speciosa, Lantana trifolia, Lonicera sempervirens, Megaskepas erythrochlamys, Mussaenda Dona Aurora, Myrsine guianensis, Nelumbo Mrs. Perry Slocum, Nelumbo species, Nymphaea species, Odentatum stricta, Oxalis Montana&#39;, Passiflora citrine, Passiflora hahnii, Passiflora species, Passiflora × violacea, Pentas lanceolata, Petrea volubilis, Phoenix hybrid, Plumbago scandens, Plumeria species, Podranea ricasoliana, Pseuderanthemum alatum, Pseudobombax ellipticum, Rondeletia leucophylla, Ruellia brittoniana, Russelia equisetiformis, Russelia sarmentosa, Sagittaria lancifolia, Stachytarpheta urticifolia, Vachellia farnesiana, and Victoria cruziana.</p><br>
<p>Forestville is a ghost town in section 13 of Forestville Township in Fillmore County, Minnesota, United States. The nearest communities are Wykoff, to the northwest, and Preston, to the northeast.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The town of Forestville was settled in 1852 and organized in 1855, receiving this name in honor of Forest Henry, the first probate judge of Fillmore County. Henry settled in Forestville in 1854. The town was incorporated in 1891 and had a post office from 1855 until 1902.</p><br>
<p>Brothers-in-law William and Felix Meighen were some of the first settlers. Felix saw the need for a general store and stocked it with $700 worth of goods from Galena in October 1853. As more people arrived in Minnesota territory, the town gained a blacksmith shop, a cabinet shop, saw mills, farms, stores, grist mills and hotels.</p><br>
<p>The towns population began to drop after the railroad bypassed Forestville in 1868; many families began leaving for more prosperous areas. By 1880, the towns population was only 55 and most businesses had closed. As families left town, the Meighen family began buying up cheap property, and by 1889, they owned the entire town and its surrounding area. By the early 1900s, even the Meighen family had left Forestville, and their general stores doors were closed in 1910, marking the end of the towns life.</p><br>
<h2>State Park</h2><br>
<p>In 1949 the Minnesota State Legislature authorized the creation of Forestville State Park, with the intent to preserve what remained of the abandoned townsite. Mystery Cave was added to the state park in 1987.</p><br>
<p>Today Historic Forestville is operated as a historic site of the Minnesota Historical Society.</p><br>
<p>Apollonia  was an ancient Greek city located on the right bank of the Aous river . Its ruins are situated in the Fier region, near the village of Pojani , in modern-day Albania. Apollonia was founded in 588 BCE by Greek colonists from Corfu and Corinth, on a site initially occupied by Illyrian tribes and was perhaps the most important of the several classical towns known as Apollonia. Apollonia flourished in the Roman period and was home to a renowned school of philosophy, but began to decline in the 3rd century AD when its harbor started silting up as a result of an earthquake. It was abandoned by the end of Late Antiquity.</p><br>
<p>The name of the city is mentioned among the modern bishoprics of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (Apollonia and Fier). Apollonia is also a titular see of the Latin Church.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The site of Apollonia lay on the territory of the Taulantii, a cluster of Illyrian tribes that remained closely involved with the settlement for centuries and lived alongside the Greek colonists. The city was said to have originally been named Gylakeia after its founder, Gylax, but the name was later changed to honor the god Apollo.</p><br>
<p>It is mentioned by Strabo in his Geographica as "an exceedingly well-governed city". Aristotle considered Apollonia an important example of an oligarchic system, as the descendants of the Greek colonists controlled the city and prevailed over a large serf population of mostly Illyrian origin. The city grew rich on the slave trade and local agriculture, as well as its large harbour, said to have been able to hold a hundred ships at a time. The city also benefited from the local supply of asphalt which was a valuable commodity in ancient times, for example for caulking ships. The remains of a late sixth-century temple, located just outside the city, were reported in 2006; it is only the fifth known stone temple found in present-day Albania.</p><br>
<p>Apollonia, like Dyrrachium further north, was an important port on the Illyrian coast as the most convenient link between Brundusium and northern Greece, and as one of the western starting points of the Via Egnatia leading east to Thessaloniki and Byzantium in Thrace. It had its own mint, stamping coins showing a cow suckling her calf on the obverse and a double stellate pattern on the reverse, which have been found as far away as the basin of the Danube.</p><br>
<p>The city was for a time included among the dominions of Pyrrhus of Epirus. In 229 BC, it came under the control of the Roman Republic, to which it was firmly loyal; it was rewarded in 168 BC with booty seized from Gentius, the defeated king of Illyria. In 148 BC, Apollonia became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, specifically of Epirus Nova. In the Roman Civil War between Pompey and Julius Caesar, it supported the latter, but fell to Marcus Iunius Brutus in 48 BC. The later Roman emperor Augustus studied in Apollonia in 44 BC under the tutelage of Athenodorus of Tarsus; it was there that he received news of Caesar&#39;s murder.</p><br>
<p>Apollonia flourished under Roman rule and was noted by Cicero in his Philippicae as magna urbs et gravis, a great and important city. Christianity was established in the city at an early stage, and bishops from Apollonia were present during the First Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). Its decline, however, began in the 3rd century AD, when an earthquake changed the path of the Aoös, causing the harbour to silt up and the inland area to become a malaria-ridden swamp. The city became increasingly uninhabitable as the inland swamp expanded, and the nearby settlement of Avlona (modern-day Vlorë) became dominant. By the end of antiquity, the city was largely depopulated, hosting only a small Christian community. This community (which probably is part of the site of the old city) built on a nearby hill the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, (Shën Mëri), part of the Ardenica Monastery.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery and excavation results</h2><br>
<p>The city seems to have sunk with the rise of Vlora. It was "rediscovered" by European classicists in the 18th century, though it was not until the Austrian occupation of 1916–1918 that the site was investigated by archaeologists. Their work was continued by a French team between 1924–1938. Parts of the site were damaged during the Second World War. After the war, an Albanian team undertook further work from 1948 onwards, although much of the site remains unexcavated to this day. Some of the team&#39;s archeological discoveries are on display within the monastery, known as the Museum of Apollonia (opened in 1958) and other artifacts from Apollonia are in the capital Tirana. Unfortunately, during the anarchy that followed the collapse of the communist regime in 1990, the archeological collection was plundered and the museum was temporarily closed. The ruins were also frequently dug up by plunderers for relics to be sold to collectors abroad.</p><br>
<p>In December 2011, a new museum opened, under the directorship of Marin Haxhimihali. It replaced an older museum dating from 1985, and was funded by UNESCO&#39;s MDG-F Joint Programme ”Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development”.</p><br>
<p>In August 2010, a French-Albanian team of archaeologists unearthed a bust of a Roman soldier, 50 years after the discoveries of other full body statues in the 1958-1960 period expeditions, led by Albanian scholar Selim Islami and Russian Professor Blavatski.</p><br>
<p>A German-Albanian team has been working on the Hellenistic theatre at Albania, throwing light on the development of Greek theatres and also local variants</p><br>
<h2>Episcopal history</h2><br>
<p>A bishopric was founded there circa 400 AD but usspressed around 599.</p><br>
<p>One of the participants in the Council of Ephesus in 431 was a Felix who signed once as Bishop of Apollonia and Byllis, at another time as Bishop of Apollonia. Some assume that the two towns formed a single episcopal see, others suppose he was, strictly speaking, Bishop only of Apollonia, but was temporarily in charge also of Byllis during a vacancy of that see (apostolic administrator). One of the participants at a council held in Constantinople in 448 signed as Paulus Episcopus Apolloniada al. Apolloniatarum, civitatis sanctae ecclesiae, but it is uncertain whether he was associated with this Apollonia. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Eusebius subscribed simply as Bishop of Apollonia. In the letter of the bishops of Epirus Nova to the Byzantine Emperor Leo I in 458, Philocharis subscribes as Bishop of what the manuscripts call "Vallidus", and which editors think should be corrected to "Byllis". Whether Philocharis is to be considered Bishop also of Apollonia depends on the interpretation of the position of Felix in 431.</p><br>
<h3>Latin titular see</h3><br>
<p>The Annuario Pontificio lists Apollonia as a titular see, thus recognizing that it was once a residential diocese, a suffragan of the archbishopric of Dyrrachium, It grants no such recognition to Byllis. Metropolitan of the Roman province of Epirus Novus.</p><br>
<h2>Notable locals</h2><br>
<p>Isocrates of Apollonia (born before 368 BC) Greek rhetorician and pupil of the elder Isocrates</p><br>
<p>Lake Martin is located in Tallapoosa, Elmore and Coosa counties in Alabama. It is a 44,000-acre  reservoir with over 750 miles  of wooded shoreline. Lake Martin is a reservoir, formed by the construction of Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River. The Martin Dam powerhouse is used to generate hydroelectric power for the Alabama Power Company. Construction on Martin Dam began in 1923 and was completed in 1926, creating what was at that time the largest man-made body of water in the world. Originally known as Cherokee Bluffs for the geological formation upon which it was built, the dam was renamed in 1936 in honor of Thomas Martin, the then-president of Alabama Power Company. Alabama Power and Russell Lands own the majority of the shoreline.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>One of the largest man made lakes in the United States, Lake Martin is a popular recreation area for swimming, boating, water skiing, camping, and golfing. The Dixie Sailing Club operates on Lake Martin. Many waterfront neighborhoods and luxury homes are located on Lake Martin. The cities of Alexander City, Dadeville, Jacksons Gap, and Eclectic are nearby.</p><br>
<p>Lake Martin hosts many events throughout the year, including fishing tournaments, a fireworks show on the Fourth of July, and the Alexander City Jazz Festival, an annual event every June in downtown Alexander City and at the Lake Martin Amphitheatre. Since 2009, the lake hosts the annual AquaPalooza.</p><br>
<p>Lake Martin includes many popular attractions, including eagles nest, sand beaches, restaurants, camping areas and popular islands. The lake has several landmarks, such as the Kowaliga Bridge, and several marinas, but perhaps the most recognized landmark on the lake is Chimney Rock, a large rock formation that resembles a chimney. Chimney Rock is located several hundred yards away; the formation which most people call Chimney Rock is Acapulco Rock. The area was the Tallapoosa River gorge before Martin Dam was built, and the water is more than 150 ft deep. The spot is visited by thousands of boaters yearly, who park in front of "The Rock" to watch people climb up 60 ft and jump off into the water. In July 2006, a teenager died after his jump from the rock.</p><br>
<p>Lake Martin has become a weekend getaway for many families from around the South. Many exclusive multimillion-dollar residences are located on the lake; among the best-known is that of Richard M. Scrushy, the founder and former chairman and CEO of HealthSouth Corporation located in the Willow Point area of Parker Creek. Built in 1998, together with a guest/boathouse, the residence contains over 15,000 ft&sup2;. HealthSouth bought the home in late 2009 for $7.4 million as part of a $2.8 billion civil judgement against Scrushy for his fraudulent practices at HealthSouth from 1997 until 2003. Many other CEO&#39;s from Birmingham and Atlanta have homes on the lake.</p><br>
<p>Alabama has a lake of a similar name, the Logan Martin Lake on the Coosa River, but Lake Martin and Logan Martin Lake are not part of the same river system.</p><br>
<h2>Islands on Lake Martin</h2><br>
<p>Small islands are popular spots on Lake Martin:</p><br>
<p>Chimney Rock Island - Chimney Rock Island has long been a famous landmark on Lake Martin. Its name came from a tall rock resembling a chimney that protrudes from the top of the island.</p><br>
<p>Acapulco Rock Island - Acapulco Rock Island is adjacent to Chimney Rock Island at the Tallapoosa River Gorge. It is often mistaken for Chimney Rock.</p><br>
<p>Doctor&#39;s Island - So named because a group of doctors used the island as a base camp to fish.</p><br>
<p>Goat Island - Goat Island is north of Martin Dam. It has become the residence for a family of goats.</p><br>
<p>Graveyard Island - A small county graveyard from before the construction of Martin Dam is located on what is now a tiny island in Lake Martin. About 30 by 30 yd around, it is in the Bay Pine area.</p><br>
<p>Real Island - Not an island or distinct community, residents named it for "Real Island Road," which runs through it, and a nearby marina.</p><br>
<p>Sand Island - Sand Island is a small island located between Willow Point and Kowaliga Marina. Over the years erosion has taken its toll on the island, but rocks have recently been placed around the island to prevent it from being completed washed away. Boats frequently park on its sandy shallow beach. It is likely the smallest island on the lake.</p><br>
<p>Youngs Island - The Young residence (of Youngs ferry) was here and was destroyed by fire in the early 1990s. The foundation remains and there are historic markers for the graves of the family&#39;s children.</p><br>
<p>Weed Hill Island - Weed Hill is a small island almost directly across from the Pleasure Point Marina boat ramp. Although at one time it was much larger, erosion has reduced the landmass.</p><br>
<p>Woods Island - Woods Island is a larger island, connected to the mainland by a land bridge during low water times. It has several trails for hiking. It can be found at the end of Young&#39;s Ferry Rd on the West side of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Wilmarth&#39;s Island- only inhabited island on the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Lake Martin tornado</h2><br>
<p>On April 27, 2011, an EF4 tornado ripped across Lake Martin. Several valuable houses and businesses were completely destroyed along its path. Some vehicles were carried over 100 yards. The tornado resulted in seven deaths across the region. Its path through Elmore, Tallapoosa, and Chambers counties was 44.2 mi long.</p><br>
<p>The Unicoi Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Unicois are located immediately south of the Great Smoky Mountains and immediately west of the Cheoah Mountains. Most of the range is protected as a national forest, namely the Cherokee National Forest on the Tennessee side and the Nantahala National Forest on the North Carolina side&mdash; although some parts have been designated as wilderness areas and are thus more strictly regulated.</p><br>
<p>The Unicoi Mountains remain one of the most primitive, undeveloped areas in the eastern United States. Human habitation in the range&#39;s river valleys and deep hollows was never more than sparse, and while logging occurred, logging operations in the Unicoi area were not as extensive as in other forested areas in the region. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, located in the northeastern Unicois, is home to one of the last remaining old growth cove hardwood forests in the eastern United States. Grassy balds and heath balds are not an uncommon occurrence atop summits in the Unicoi Mountains, the highest of which rise to elevations of over 5,000 feet. The Cherohala Skyway&mdash; a National Scenic Byway completed in 1996&mdash; traverses the crest of the Unicoi Mountains connecting Tellico Plains, Tennessee with Robbinsville, North Carolina.</p><br>
<p>The name "Unicoi" comes from the Cherokee word ᎤᏁᎦ (unega), which means "white." It refers to the low-lying clouds and fog that often drape the Southern Appalachian mountains in the early morning or on humid or moist days. The name "Unaka"&mdash; which historically refers to the mountains along the Tennessee–North Carolina border&mdash; has the same root as "Unicoi."</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Unicoi Mountains stretch for roughly 37 mi between the Little Tennessee River in the north and the Hiwassee River to the south, and for approximately 60 mi from its foothills along the Tennessee River at the range&#39;s western extreme to the Cheoah River at its eastern extreme. The range covers just over 1,000 square miles.</p><br>
<p>The sources of several rivers and major streams are located high in the Unicoi Mountains. The Tellico River rises on the slopes of McDaniel Bald in the southeastern corner of the Unicois and flows northwestward across the entire range before emptying into the Little Tennessee River near Vonore, Tennessee. Another tributary of the Little Tennessee, Citico Creek, is formed by the convergence of two streams which rise in a densely forested area of the northwestern Unicois known as Jeffrey Hell. The Bald River rises on the slopes of Beaverdam Bald in the southern Unicois and winds its way northward through a scenic gorge before plunging over an oft-photographed 90 ft waterfall en route to its mouth along the Tellico River. Santeetlah Creek rises on the western slope of Huckleberry Knob and flows down around the base of the mountain en route to the Santeetlah Lake impoundment of the Cheoah River to the east. Its tributary, Little Santeetlah Creek, drains the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.</p><br>
<h3>Major peaks</h3><br>
<p>The highest summits in the Unicoi Range rise above 5,000 feet (1,500 meters), although most fall between 4,000 and 5,000 feet along the two crests and between 3,000 and 4,000 feet beyond the crest to the east and west. Huckleberry Knob&mdash; the highest mountain in the Unicoi Range at 5,560 ft&mdash; has 3,400 ft of topographical prominence. Other summits with 1,000+ feet of prominence include Bob Stratton Bald along the southern boundary of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness and Beaverdam Bald in the southern part of the range. The Benton MacKaye Trail, a cross-country hiking trail that traverses the Southern Appalachian Mountains, passes over several summits in the Unicois.</p><br>
<h2>Natural information</h2><br>
<p>The Unicoi Mountains consist chiefly of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of a type known as the Ocoee Supergroup, formed over a billion years ago from ancient ocean deposits. Quaternary Period rocks are sometimes found in alluvial areas along streambeds. The Unicoi Mountains were formed roughly 250 million years ago during the Alleghenian orogeny, when a continental collision thrust the rocks upward.</p><br>
<p>The Unicoi Mountains are coated by a primarily second-growth mixed hardwood and pine forest. Cove hardwood forests are typically found at the lower elevations along rivers and streams, and chiefly consist of yellow poplar, white oak, red oak, hemlock, and multiple other species. A mixed hardwood-pine forest covers the mountain slopes, and chiefly consists of white oak, red oak, hickory, table mountain pine, pitch pine, and shortleaf pine.</p><br>
<p>While the vast majority of trees in the Unicoi Mountains are second-growth, the range is home to one of the few remaining stands of old growth forest in the eastern United States. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest along Little Santeetlah Creek is home to a substantial stand of virgin cove hardwood forest, and contains some of the oldest and tallest trees in the Unicoi Range. The largest trees in Joyce Kilmer are over 150 ft tall and have circumferences of just over 20 ft. The oldest trees in the forest are over 400 years old. Other stands of old growth forest include a 187 acre patch around Falls Branch Falls and a remote section of the Citico Creek Wilderness near Glenn Gap.</p><br>
<p>The understories of the mountain slopes and ridgecrests are often covered by dense thickets of rhododendron and mountain laurel. These thickets are often called "hells" due to their general impassability. The most outstanding example of rhododendron-laurel thicket is Jeffrey Hell, located in the Citico Creek Wilderness. Grassy balds&mdash;a type of highland meadow consisting of fields of thick grass and sparse tree coverage&mdash;are not uncommon in the higher elevations. The summit of the highest mountain in the range&mdash;Huckleberry Knob&mdash;is a grassy bald. Other grassy balds include Oak Knob (a subpeak of Huckleberry), Hooper Bald, and Bob Bald (a subpeak of Stratton).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>For centuries, Native Americans used a footpath in the southern Unicoi Mountains to travel from one side of the southern Appalachian range to the other. Known as the Wachesa Trail (after a later Cherokee who lived at its eastern terminus), the path stretched from modern Cowee to a halfway point near Beaverdam Creek and descended through Unicoi Gap to Great Tellico. Present-day Joe Brown Highway roughly follows the ancient trail.</p><br>
<p>By the time Euro-American explorers arrived in the region in the late 17th century and early 18th century, the Cherokee had established numerous villages in the outlying areas of the Unicoi Mountains. The Middle towns&mdash; located in the Robbinsville vicinity&mdash; included Tassetchee, Elijay, and Nequassee. The Overhill towns included Tallassee, Chilhowee, Citico, and numerous other villages in the Little Tennessee Valley at the range&#39;s northern extremes, Great Tellico along the Tellico River in modern Tellico Plains, and Great Hiwassee along the Hiwassee River at the western base of Starr Mountain. Excavations conducted at Citico (at the mouth of Citico Creek) revealed that it is a multiphase site, with periods of occupation stretching back thousands of years.</p><br>
<h3>Early Euro-American history</h3><br>
<p>16th-century Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Unicoi Mountains. In 1540, the Hernando de Soto expedition passed just west of the mountains en route from the Chiaha villages in East Tennessee to the Coosa chiefdom in northern Georgia. In 1567, the Juan Pardo expedition visited the villages of "Chalahume" and "Satapo" (later Chilhowee and Citico) in the Little Tennessee Valley while attempting to find a route between Spanish settlements on the Atlantic coasts and Spanish settlements in Mexico.</p><br>
<p>While English explorers and traders were probably using the Wachesa Trail as early as the 1690s, the first documented crossing was that of Colonel George Chicken in 1725. Chicken, a South Carolina emissary travelling to the Overhill towns in hopes of obtaining their support in the colonys ongoing struggles with the Creek tribe, left Little Tellico in the Middle towns at 10am on July 24, 1725 and proceeded approximately 25 mi across the southern Unicois to a campsite "about five Miles Short of a place called the Beaver Dam." Chickens party departed at 5am the following morning and arrived at the village of Great Tellico at 3pm, having travelled another 25 mi.</p><br>
<p>In 1730, Sir Alexander Cuming, a flamboyant English emissary, travelled from Charleston, South Carolina to the Overhill town of Tanasi in the lower Little Tennessee Valley in hopes of gaining the allegiance of the Cherokee for England (although Cumings trip was part of an attempt to scam the people of Charleston). Cuming followed the same trail Chicken had taken five years earlier, departing from Tassetchee in the Middle towns and proceeding to a campsite "3 miles from Beaver Dam Creek." The following day, Cumings party passed over "Ooneekawy Mountain" and proceeded another 12 mi to Great Tellico.</p><br>
<h3>19th century</h3><br>
<p>Although the Unicoi Turnpike&mdash; which closely followed the old Wachesa Trail&mdash; was completed in 1816, the Unicoi Mountains remained largely devoid of all but a few mountain families. The family of John Stratton (1799–1862) settled in the area now known as Stratton Meadows (atop the main crest near where Cherohala Skyway crosses the state line) in the 1830s. Johns father, Absolum, died while visiting his son in 1852 and is thus buried at Stratton Meadows. Johns son, Robert "Bob" Stratton (1825–1864) eventually moved a few miles north of Stratton Meadows to the mountain that now bears his name, Stratton Bald. Stratton lived just west of the mountain&#39;s summit in a meadow now known as "Bob Bald" until 1864, when he was ambushed and killed by bushwhackers at the height of the USA Civil War.</p><br>
<p>Sometime after the Civil War, the family of John and Albertine Denton moved to Little Santeetlah Creek, where they built a log cabin. According to family lore, the Dentons lived in a hewed-out giant chestnut tree log while they were building their cabin. The log had a diameter of over 6 ft and housed the entire family of seven in two rooms. The Denton family remained in the area until around 1900. The cabin was dismantled by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and today only a chimney fall remains.</p><br>
<h3>20th century</h3><br>
<p>Around 1911, George Gordon Moore&mdash; an official for the Whiting Manufacturing Company&mdash; attempted to establish a boar hunting reserve atop Hooper Bald in the southeastern Unicois. The reserve consisted of a 500 acre enclosed lot stocked with Russian blue boars imported from Europe. Most of the boars were able to escape from the lot, however, and fled to the remote slopes and stream bottoms. The introduced boars continue to thrive in the Appalachian environment to this day. The boars are considered a nuisance by forest officials due to the erosion damage they cause to the local watersheds.</p><br>
<p>In 1915, the Babcock Lumber Company began a massive logging operation in the northern Unicoi Mountains. The company logged nearly two-thirds of the Slickrock Creek watershed until 1922, when the construction of Calderwood Dam along the Little Tennessee River threatened to flood the railroad tracks leading into the area and forcing an end to the companys logging operations in what is now the Joyce-Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness. That same year, however, Babcock began logging the Citico Creek watershed on the Tennessee side of the mountains. This operation continued until 1925, when a massive forest fire destroyed the companys logging tramways and wiped out nearly half the forest. The company continued low-scale logging in the Doublecamp area until 1929. The logging practices of Babcock and other logging companies proved extremely detrimental to the forest environment of the Unicoi Mountains, and the USA Forest Service began buying up the land in the 1930s. The forest service&#39;s policy of letting natural processes heal the forest has allowed the forest to recover to a great extent.</p><br>
<p>In 1958, Sam Williams&mdash; a resident of Tellico Plains&mdash; led a well-publicized covered wagon train across the Unicoi Mountains to Murphy, North Carolina, which became an annual event to promote the construction of a highway linking the Tennessee and North Carolina side of the Unicois. The original path of the highway would follow the ancient path of the Wachesa Trail and Unicoi Turnpike, although organizers chose a more feasible route over the Unicoi crest to Robbinsville. The highway&mdash; named "Cherohala Skyway" (a fusion of "Cherokee" and "Nantahala")&mdash; was completed in 1996.</p><br>
<h2>Protected areas within the Unicoi Mountains</h2><br>
<p>Along with the Cherokee National Forest and the Nantahala National Forest, several designated areas protect various parts of the Unicoi Mountains.</p><br>
<p>The Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness, designated as a wilderness area in 1975. It consists of 17,394 acre, 13,562 of which are located in North Carolina, with the rest lying just across the border in Tennessee. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest consists of roughly 3,800 acre of old growth hardwood forest along the Santeetlah Creek watershed. The forest&#39;s namesake, Joyce Kilmer, was a poet and journalist killed in World War I.</p><br>
<p>The Citico Creek Wilderness, designated as a wilderness area in 1984, protects the upper watershed of Citico Creek and consists of 16,226 acre.</p><br>
<p>The Bald River Gorge Wilderness, designated as a wilderness area in 1984, consists of 3,721 acre. It protects the Bald River and its immediate watershed.</p><br>
<p>The Gee Creek Wilderness, designated as a wilderness area in 1975, consists of 2,493 acre. It protects the Gee Creek watershed on the eastern slopes of Starr Mountain.</p><br>
<p>The Upper Tellico Off-Road Vehicle Area, purchased in 1980. The upper watershed of the Tellico River in the southeastern Unicois is criss-crossed by multiple old logging roads and paths popular with 4x4 enthusiasts. In 2009, the USA Forest Service announced a decision to permanently close the Tellico Off-Road Vehicle Area when studies showed that erosion along the trails was damaging valuable brook trout waters along the river.</p><br>
<h2>Photo gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Florence Mill, known later as the U. S. Envelope Building after being absorbed by the U. S. Envelope Company, is a former industrial facility located at 121 West Main Street in the Rockville section of Vernon, Connecticut. It is a four story brick structure, more than 200 ft in length, with a Second Empire-style mansard roof and an Italianate tower. It was built in 1864 to replace an earlier textile mill which was destroyed by fire. In 1881, it was described as the largest brick building in Rockville. After purchase by White & Corbin, the building was expanded and became the largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the United States. The building was used for the manufacture of envelopes until 1975. Currently, the building is used as an independent living retirement home and has 113 apartments.</p><br>
<p>The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.</p><br>
<p>The Saxony Mill was a historic textile mill complex at 66 West Street in Rockville section of Vernon, Connecticut. It consisted of seven connected structures, most of brick and masonry, built between 1836 and the 1970s. The main  mill building was a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure with a distinctive five-story bell tower rising from the center of its front facade. The remaining structures, all built with load-bearing masonry walls, were added after c. 1870.</p><br>
<p>The mill complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, as a rare well-preserved example of an early wood-frame mill building. Most recently operated by Plastifoam, a suspicious fire on July 25, 1994 did extensive damage to the then-vacant building and surrounding buildings, and disrupted power to thousands of people. The remaining structure was demolished a short time later. The site is now a municipal park.</p><br>
<p>The Ziggurat  of Ur  is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure was built during the Early Bronze Age , but had crumbled to ruins by the 6th century BCE of the Neo-Babylonian period when it was restored by King Nabonidus.</p><br>
<p>Its remains were excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by Sir Leonard Woolley. Under Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, they were encased by a partial reconstruction of the façade and the monumental staircase. The ziggurat of Ur is the best-preserved of those known from Iran and Iraq, besides the ziggurat of Dur Untash (Chogha Zanbil). It is one of three well preserved structures of the Neo-Sumerian city of Ur, along with the Royal Mausolea and the Palace of Ur-Nammu (the E-hursag).</p><br>
<h2>Sumerian ziggurat</h2><br>
<p>The ziggurat was built by King Ur-Nammu who dedicated the great ziggurat of Ur in honour of Nanna/Sîn, in approximately the 21st century BCE (short chronology) during the Third Dynasty of Ur. The massive step pyramid measured 64 m in length, 45 m in width and over 30 m in height. The height is speculative, as only the foundations of the Sumerian ziggurat have survived.</p><br>
<p>The ziggurat was a piece in a temple complex that served as an administrative center for the city, and which was a shrine of the moon god Nanna, the patron deity of Ur.</p><br>
<p>The construction of the ziggurat was finished in the 21st century BCE by King Shulgi, who, in order to win the allegiance of cities, proclaimed himself a god. During his 48-year reign, the city of Ur grew to be the capital of a state controlling much of Mesopotamia. Many ziggurats were made by stacking mud-bricks up and using mud to seal them together.</p><br>
<h2>Neo-Babylonian restoration</h2><br>
<p>King Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BCE, after "finding little left but the last stage and nothing to guide him as to the monument&#39;s original appearance", had it restored in seven stages rather than three.</p><br>
<h2>Excavation and preservation</h2><br>
<p>The remains of the ziggurat were first discovered by William Loftus in 1850. The first excavations at the site were conducted by John George Taylor (mistakenly credited as "J. E. Taylor") in the 1850s, leading to the identification of the site as Ur.</p><br>
<p>After World War I, preliminary excavations were performed by Reginald Campbell Thompson and Henry Hall. The site was extensively excavated in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Woolley by appointment of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum in the period of 1922 to 1934.</p><br>
<p>The remains of the ziggurat consist of a three-layered solid mass of mud brick faced with burnt bricks set in bitumen. The lowest layer corresponds to the original construction of Ur-Nammu, while the two upper layers are part of the Neo-Babylonian restorations. The façade of the lowest level and the monumental staircase were rebuilt under the orders of Saddam Hussein.</p><br>
<p>The ziggurat was damaged in the Gulf War in 1991 by small arms fire and the structure was shaken by explosions. Four bomb craters can be seen nearby and the walls of the ziggurat are marred by over 400 bullet holes.</p><br>
<p>As of 2008, the site is under the supervision of curator Dief Mohssein Naiif al-Gizzy.</p><br>
<p>Butser Hill is a chalk hill and one of the highest points in Hampshire. It is also the highest point on the chalk ridge of the South Downs and the second highest point in the South Downs National Park after Blackdown in the Western Weald. Although only 271 m high, it qualifies as one of England&#39;s Marilyns. It is located within the borders of the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, situated about three miles south of the historic market town of Petersfield, Hampshire.</p><br>
<p>The name Butser comes from the Old English Bryttes Oran meaning Briht&#39;s slope. Oran or Ora is Old English for flat topped hill and/or steep slope.</p><br>
<p>The flat summit is surrounded by a number of spurs. Iron Age ditches and banks divide the spurs from the summit although the purpose of these earthworks is unclear.</p><br>
<p>There are aerial masts on the hill.</p><br>
<p>The hill was purchased by Hampshire County Council in 1966. Prior to the purchase the summit was used for growing wheat but now the only farming activity is grazing.</p><br>
<p>Most of the park, including Butser Hill, is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and since 1998 as a National Nature Reserve. At 2.312 km&sup2; this is large when compared against other lowland terrestrial SSSIs and is the second largest area of calcareous grassland in Hampshire.</p><br>
<p>Butser Hill SSSI has been proposed by the Government as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), recognising its importance from a European perspective. This is due to the rich variety of flora and fauna located upon the hill. Butser Hill is in the top twenty Hampshire chalk grassland sites for its rich vascular flora, and is the richest chalk grassland site in Hampshire in terms of its bryophyte (125 species) and lichen (82 species) flora. As well as this, over 30 species of butterfly have been recorded, including populations of Duke of Burgundy and the Silver-spotted Skipper, making the area an important conservation area for many butterfly species.</p><br>
<p>Butser Hill has also hosted entertainment events. Since 2007 it has hosted butserfest and has hosted various country fairs in the past.</p><br>
<p>There is an annual Fell Run called the Butser Hill Challenge that involves running up and down the hill three times.</p><br>
<h2>Miscellanea</h2><br>
<p>A spur of Butser Hill known as Little Butser was the original home of the Butser Ancient Farm experimental archaeology project.</p><br>
<p>In Only Fools and Horses; The hang glider scene in the episode "Tea For Three" was filmed on the western slopes of Butser Hill. Butser Hill was a primary hang-gliding site from the early-1970s until its closure to the sport in February 2001.</p><br>
<p>Phaselis  was an ancient Greek and Roman city on the coast of Lycia. Its ruins are located north of the modern town Tekirova in the Kemer district of Antalya Province in Turkey. It lies between the Bey Mountains and the forests of Olympos National Park, 16 km south of the tourist town of Kemer and on the 57th kilometre of the Antalya–Kumluca highway. Phaselis and other ancient towns around the shore can also be accessed from the sea by daily yacht tours.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The town was set up by the Rhodians in 700 BC. Because of its location on an isthmus separating two harbours, it became the most important harbour city of eastern Lycia and an important centre of commerce between Greece, Asia, Egypt, and Phoenicia, although it did not belong to the Lycian League. The city was captured by Persians after they conquered Asia Minor, and was later captured by Alexander the Great.</p><br>
<p>After the death of Alexander, the city remained in Egyptian hands from 209 BC to 197 BC, under the dynasty of Ptolemaios, and with the conclusion of the Apamea treaty, was handed over to the Kingdom of Rhodes, together with the other cities of Lycia. From 190 BC to 160 BC it remained under Rhodeian hegemony, but after 160 BC it was absorbed into the Lycian confederacy under Roman rule. Phaselis, like Olympos, was under constant threat from pirates in the 1st century BC, and the city was even taken over by the pirate Zekenites for a period until his defeat by the Romans. In 42 BC Brutus had the city linked to Rome. In the 3rd century AD, the harbor fell under the threat of pirates once again. So it began to lose importance, suffering further losses at the hands of Arab ships, until totally impoverished in the 11th century. When the Seljuqs began to concentrate on Alanya and Antalya as ports, Phaselis ceased to be a port of any note.</p><br>
<p>There was a temple of Athene at Phaselis, where the lance of Achilles was exhibited. It was the birthplace of the poet and orator Theodectes. It was also renowned for its roses, from which the essence was extracted.</p><br>
<h2>Bishopric</h2><br>
<p>Phaselis became a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Mira, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia. Its bishop Fronto took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451. His successor, Aristodemus, was one of the signatories of the letter that in 458 the bishops of Lycia sent to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian concerning the murder of Proterius of Alexandria. The bishop of the time of the Second Council of Nicaea (787) did not attend, and the acts were signed in his name by a deacon called Ioannes.</p><br>
<p>No longer a residential bishopric, Phaselis is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.</p><br>
<h2>Phaselis today</h2><br>
<p>Phaselis has three harbours: the Northern Harbour, the Battle Harbour and the Protected (Sun) Harbour, of which the last is the most important today. A 24-metre-wide ancient street runs through the middle of the city. The Hadrian Waterway Gate is on the southern part of the street. There are ruins of shops and stores on the sides of the street and near these are ruins of public places such as Roman baths, agoras and theatres. These structures are dated to the 2nd century BC. There are water canals between the town centre and the 70 m plateau. There are also numerous sarcophagi.</p><br>
<p>The Almendares River is a 45 km river in the western part of Cuba. It originates from the east of Tapaste and flows north-west into the Straits of Florida. The river acts as a water supply for Havana.</p><br>
<p>The final stretch divides the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución (Miramar district) and Playa (Vedado district). Part of the river valley forms the Almendares Park or Metropolitan Park of Havana (PMH), a few kilometers upstream from the ocean.</p><br>
<p>Several industrial plants line the river banks (paper mills, gas production plants, breweries, food production plants, construction plants).</p><br>
<p>One of the three major projects by the Havana authorities is to continue the rehabilitation of the PMH (the other two being the restoration of the Old Town and the depollution of the Havana Bay): monitor and control water pollution, reduce and rationalize</p><br>
<p>industrial occupation, maintain the old trees and the vegetation in the park. The area is gradually becoming a green oasis with playground, a few restaurants, foot paths.</p><br>
<p>Titov Vrv  is the highest peak in the Šar Mountain at 2,748 m. It is located about 13 mi northwest of the Macedonian city of Tetovo near the border with Kosovo. The summit was named after former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. Its original name was Голем Турчин/Golem Turčin . In 1934 the peak was renamed Mount Aleksandar after the name of the Yugoslav King Aleksandar, who was assassinated in the same year. During the World War II the Bulgarian authorities restored its traditional name. After the establishment of Communist Yugoslavia the peak was renamed after Tito. The name has remained unchanged since Macedonian independence in 1991.</p><br>
<h2>Activity</h2><br>
<p>Each year on the last weekend of May, mountain club "Ljuboten" organises a climb to this peak.</p><br>
<p>Alban Towers is an apartment building on Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is considered to be one of the best examples of Gothic Revival architecture in Washington.</p><br>
<p>It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue (Embassy Row) and Wisconsin Avenue, and occupies the 221,000 square foot (21,000 m²) block between those two avenues and Garfield Street, Cathedral Avenue, and 38th Street. Diagonally across the Massachusetts-Wisconsin intersection is the St. Albans School, which occupies the southwestern corner of the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral. Built atop Mount Saint Alban, it is located on the highest point in Washington.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>The land Alban Towers is situated on was purchased by its developer from the Washington National Cathedral in the early 1920s. It opened in 1929 as the largest apartment building in Washington, D.C. By today&#39;s standards, however, it is modest in size at six stories tall.</p><br>
<p>Its prominent architect/developer team, Robert O. Scholz, designer, David A. Baer, builder, designed the building in the Gothic Revival with tan-colored brick and limestone employed to simulate the monochrome composition of Gothic style architecture; popular in the 1920s and because it would complement the Washington National Cathedral. (Together Scholz & Baer were responsible for the construction of at least eight apartment buildings between the years 1922 and 1931. As a result, they earned a reputation as one of the more important apartment house architect/developer teams of the post-World War I decade. Representing the product of the collaboration, both whom specialized in 1920s apartment building construction, Alban Towers reflects the work of notable planners and architects who influenced the evolution of apartment construction in Washington, D.C.)</p><br>
<p>The lobbies and hallways, with their richly ornamented Gothic/Art Deco elements, were integral to the exterior scheme. Paved in quarry tiles of brown, orange, and ocher laid in a geometric pattern, the lobby is topped by plaster crown molding composed of rope and infilled with alternating roses, acorns, and thistles. These symbols of Great Britain serve to reinforce the English Gothic tenor of the building. The walls of the upper-floor hallways are covered in rough-finished stucco, lending a “sumptuous texture that is rarely found in apartment buildings.”</p><br>
<p>The building represents an exceptionally fine example of superior design, construction, and craftsmanship characterizing luxury apartment buildings erected in Washington during the 1920s. Alban Towers’ highly decorative interior complements and reinforces the architectural style of the exterior.</p><br>
<p>Offering several amenities first introduced to Washington apartment buildings in the 1920s, Alban Towers is a testament to the changes in apartment design and construction after World War I. Billed as an apartment hotel, Alban Towers offered its residents 24-hour maid service and a public dining room. Indeed, on the ground floor of the building were housed a beauty shop, a travel agency, a grocery store, and a lunch counter. Each of the upper floors contained a maid’s lounge and a bathroom facility. Constructed during the decade in which apartment construction exceeded that of single-family houses, Alban Towers attempted to compensate for smaller family space by furnishing its tenants with luxurious amenities and public areas. The relative modesty of individual apartments is offset by the grandeur of the public spaces.</p><br>
<p>Originally, the building featured 132 units, mostly of lavish one-bedroom apartment homes, as well as a number of hotel suites. In 1930, responding to the large demand for apartment in the building, the number of units was increased by 84 with the construction of an additional two wings on the south side of the building in 1930.</p><br>
<p>In the 1960s, neglect of the owners to afford proper care and maintenance to the building led to its decline in status. In 1973 it was sold to Georgetown University for use as housing for some 450 students. In the 1980s and 1990s the building lay vacant, and fell into a state of serious disrepair. During this time it continually changed ownership. In 1994, amidst plans to demolish the building, area residents successfully lobbied for its recognition as a historic place to spare the destruction of a building of such grand architecture and historic past.</p><br>
<p>Finally, in 1999, it was purchased by Charles E. Smith Co. Residential Realty, which undertook a costly restoration effort. Particular attention was paid to the preservation of the building&#39;s original architectural elements. The restoration included restoration architects and artisans to ensure that the original character of the building was retained. The exterior, lobby and hallways were restored, while the actual apartments &mdash; which had been demolished by previous owners &mdash; were completely rebuilt to serve modern demands. The total cost of the restoration was $63 million. The building was reopened in 2001.</p><br>
<p>Today, the building provides residence to many diplomats and government officials, as well as to a lesser number of American University students, known to some as The AParty.</p><br>
<h2>Building</h2><br>
<p>Alban Towers exterior comprises Limestone Tracery, bas-relief panels and brick, and has much Gothic-inspired ornamentation, including arched balcony openings, gargoyles, and rising spirals on the roof. The main entrance on Massachusetts Avenue features an crenelated porte-cochere with carved spandrels and corbel stones supporting its gothic arches. Also featured on the porte-cochere are six carved heads; five of medieval males and the sixth of an aviator inspired by Charles A. Lindberghs historic flight.</p><br>
<p>The grand lobby is spacious and designed using Tudor ideals, featuring Tudor strapwork and plaster ceilings.</p><br>
<p>The hallways (which are protected under historic preservation laws) are designed with a rough plaster finish, pointed arches, and sculptural plaster pilasters and brackets. Sculptured plaster arches and panels and friezes in the public corridors resemble the signs of the zodiac.</p><br>
<p>Today, the building offers 229 units in the form of studio and one, two and three bedroom luxury apartments between 486 and 1,521 ft&sup2; as rental properties.</p><br>
<p>There are two indoor garages for the buildings residents; attached and detached. The attached garage is incorporated into the buildings basement level and accommodates a limited number of cars. The detached garage is located opposite the building on the building&#39;s access drive, and features two underground heated levels of parking spaces. Additionally, the detached garage serves as access to the private garages of a number of luxury townhouses &mdash; Alban Row &mdash; located above the garage on 38th Street.</p><br>
<p>The building includes a grand lobby, a party room, fitness center, swimming pool, conference center, business center and rooftop garden.</p><br>
<h2>Grounds</h2><br>
<p>An access drive runs behind the building from Cathedral Avenue to Garfield Street. Originally, a large park was located behind the building, but under the current ownership, it was scaled down into a nationally recognized butterfly garden, which was designed in coordination with the Washington Area Butterfly Club. The purpose of the scaling down of the park was to provide land for the Alban Row townhouses, which were built to offset the costs of the expensive restoration of 1999&ndash;2001.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Alban Towers was the Washington, D.C. headquarters of supporters of the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Its hotel suites were frequented by such celebrities as Bette Davis and Frank Sinatra. During World War II it was discovered that Japanese spies had used the Alban Towers residence of the Japanese Naval attaché as a lookout point to the city as well as a place to tap into official radio frequencies.</p><br>
<p>Its apartments were leased by the embassies of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and others to house their diplomats. However, during the 1950s, this created controversy when the embassies of the newly independent African states attempted to lease some of its apartments; Washington was still a racially segregated city and the African diplomats were refused residence in Alban Towers and other area apartment buildings.</p><br>
<p>Oinofyta  is a village and former municipality in eastern Boeotia, Greece. Following the local government reform of 2011 it is now part of the municipality of Tanagra, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 77.273 km, the community 18.643 km.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit of Oinofyta is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Agios Thomas</p><br>
<p>Kleidi</p><br>
<p>Oinofyta (Oinofyta, Dilesi)</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Pollution</h2><br>
<p>In December 2007, official tests revealed that drinking water in Oinofyta was contaminated with high levels of the carcinogen hexavalent chromium, which is used as an anti-corrosive in the production of stainless steel, paint, ink, plastics and dyes. For decades, factories had been dumping waste in the Asopos River, whose waters run from red to black and ripple with bubbling sludge.</p><br>
<p>The Msta  is a river in Vyshnevolotsky, Udomelsky, and Bologovsky Districts of Tver Oblast and in Borovichsky, Okulovsky, Lyubytinsky, Malovishersky, Krestetsky, and Novgorodsky Districts, as well as in the town of Borovichi of Novgorod Oblast of Russia. It is a tributary of Lake Ilmen. It is 445 km long, and the area of its basin 23,300 km&sup2;. The principal tributaries of the Msta are the Berezayka , the Uver , and the Kholova . The town of Borovichi and the urban-type settlement of Lyubytino are located on the banks of the Msta.</p><br>
<p>The source of the Msta is in Lake Mstino in the Valdai Hills immediately north of the town of Vyshny Volochyok. The river flows north, accepts the Berezayka from the left, and enters Novgorod Oblast. There, it accepts the Uver from the right and turns northwest. Downstream from the town of Borovichi, it forms the border between Borovichsky and Okulovsky District, and still downstream between Okulovsky and Lyubytinsky District. It departs from the border to the north, and downstream of the settlement of Lyubytino sharply turns southwest. It makes one more curve at the border with Krestetsky District and has its mouth downstream of the settlement of Proletariy.</p><br>
<p>The river basin of the Msta is vast and comprises the eastern part of Novgorod Oblast and the areas in the northern part of Tver Oblast. The towns of Borovichi, Bologoye, Udomlya, Okulovka, and Valday lie in the river basin of the Msta.</p><br>
<p>Up to mid-19th century, Msta, which belongs to the river basin of the Neva, had been a part of an important water trade route connecting the Baltic and Black seas due to the very short distance between the Tsna, then the tributary of Lake Mstino, and the Tvertsa, a left tributary of the Volga. The portage between these lakes existed from the Middle Ages. In the beginning of the 18th century, Vyshny Volochyok Waterway was constructed, connecting the Msta and the Tvertsa. By the middle of the 19th century, after opening of the Volga-Baltic Waterway and the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway, the significance of the Msta River as a transport route has decreased.</p><br>
<p>It is also notable for the rapids in a 30 km section between Opechensky Posad and Borovichi, and is a popular rafting route.</p><br>
<p>The lowest 134 km of the Msta, downstream of the selo of Mstinsky Most, are listed as navigable in the State Water Register of Russia.</p><br>
<p>Kirkdale Cave is a cave located in Kirkdale near Kirkbymoorside in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire, England. The cave was discovered by workmen in 1821, and was found to contain fossilized bones of a variety of mammals not currently found in Great Britain, including hippopotamus, the farthest north any such remains have ever been found, elephant, and the remains of numerous cave hyenas. William Buckland analyzed the cave and its contents in December 1821. He determined that the bones were from the remains of animals brought into the cave by hyenas who had been using it for a den, and not a result of the biblical flood floating animal remains in from distant lands as had first been thought. His reconstruction of an ancient eco-system from detailed analysis of fossil evidence was admired at the time, and considered to be an example of how geohistorical research should be done.</p><br>
<p>The cave was extended from its original length of 175 m to 436 m by Scarborough Caving Club in 1995. A survey was published in Descent magazine.</p><br>
<h2>Contents of the cave</h2><br>
<p>The fossil bones found in the cave included elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, hyenas, bison, giant deer, smaller mammals and birds. This is the northernmost site in the world where hippopotamus remains have been found. It also included a considerable amount of fossilized hyena faeces. The fossilized remains were embedded in a silty layer sandwiched between layers of stalagmite.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery and analysis</h2><br>
<p>The discovery at Kirkdale occurred in the wake of new forms of stratigraphic dating developed during the Enlightenment. As was the case for many nineteenth century fossils, the bones in Kirkdale were originally found by local inhabitants. The entrance to the cave was found by limestone quarry workers in the summer of 1821. The quarry workers assumed that the abundant bones buried in the cave floor were the remains of cattle that had been dumped in the cave after dying from some past epidemic. They used some of the bones to fill potholes in a nearby road, where an amateur naturalist noticed them and realized that they were not the remains of livestock. This attracted the attention of numerous fossil collectors. Some of the fossils were sent to William Clift the curator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons; he identified some of the bones as the remains of hyenas larger than any of the modern species. At the same time William Buckland was told about the cave and shown some of the fossils by a colleague at Oxford.</p><br>
<p>Buckland began his investigation believing that the fossils in the cave were diluvial, that is that they had been deposited there by a deluge that had washed them from far away, possibly the Biblical flood. However, upon further investigation he realized that the cave had never been open to the surface through its roof, and that the only entrance that had ever been open to the outside world was too small for the carcasses of animals as large as elephants or hippos to have floated in. He began to suspect that the animals had lived in the local area, and that the hyenas had used the cave as a den and brought in remains of the various animals they fed on. This hypothesis was supported by the fact that many of the bones showed signs of having been gnawed prior to fossilization, and by the presence of objects Buckland suspected to be fossilized hyena dung. Further analysis, including comparison with the dung of modern spotted hyenas living in menageries, confirmed the identification of the fossilized dung.</p><br>
<p>He published his analysis in an 1822 paper he read to the Royal Society. A few days before reading the formal paper he gave the following colourful account at a dinner held by the Geological Society:</p><br>
<p>He developed these ideas further in his 1823 book, challenging the belief that the bones were brought to the cave by Noah&#39;s flood and providing detailed evidence that instead hyenas had used the cave as a den into which they brought the bones of their prey.</p><br>
<p>Calcite deposits overlying the bone-bearing sediments have been dated as 121,000 ± 4000 yr BP using uranium-thorium dating, confirming that the material dates from the Ipswichian interglacial.</p><br>
<h2>Impact and legacy</h2><br>
<p>The specimens were an original part of the archaeology collection of the Yorkshire Museum and it is said that "the scientific interest aroused founded the Yorkshire Philosophical Society". While criticized by some, William Bucklands analysis of Kirkland Cave and other bone caves was widely seen as a model for how careful analysis could be used to reconstruct the Earths past, and the Royal Society awarded William Buckland the Copley Medal in 1822 for his Kirkdale paper. At the presentation the society&#39;s president, Humphry Davy, said:</p><br>
<h2>Region</h2><br>
<p>The cave is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Geological Conservation Review site.</p><br>
<p>The Saxon St Gregory&#39;s Minster with its unusual sundial is nearby.</p><br>
<p>The Metauro is a river in the Marche region of central Italy. It rises in the Apennine Mountains and runs east for 110 km or 121 km if the Meta is included as its uppermost reach.</p><br>
<p>The name of the river in Latin is Metaurus or Mataurus. In Ancient Greek, the name of the river is Métauros, Μέταυρος which stems simply from the union of the two torrents: Meta, running from the Apennine pass Bocca Trabaria, at an elevation of 1,044 m, and Auro, flowing from Monte Maggiore, at an elevation of 1,384 m.</p><br>
<p>The source of the river is located near Monte dei Frati in the border region between the provinces of Pesaro e Urbino, Arezzo and Perugia. It flows east through Pesaro e Urbino near Mercatello sul Metauro, Sant&#39;Angelo in Vado (where the river forms the Cascata del Sasso, "Waterfall of the Stone"), Urbania, Fermignano, Fossombrone (in whose territory it receives the waters of the Candigliano), and, after flowing into a tight valley, the Gola del Furlo, Montemaggiore al Metauro, from which it starts to flow in a plain area. The river flows northeast near Calcinelli, Saltara, Lucrezia, Cartoceto and Cuccurano before flowing into the Adriatic Sea near Fano.</p><br>
<h2>Battles</h2><br>
<p>Two battles were fought on the banks of Metauro in ancient times.</p><br>
<p>in 207 BC, Hasdrubal Barca, while marching to the aid of Hannibal, was defeated and slain by a Roman army led by the consuls Marcus Livius Salinator and Gaius Claudius Nero. The Battle of the Metaurus was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War. The exact site of the battle is uncertain; tradition places it between Fossombrone and the Furlo, but it is probable that it occurred nearer the Adriatic coast</p><br>
<p>in 271, Roman Emperor Aurelian defeated in the Battle of Fano, fought near the river, the Alamanni, who had invaded the northern part of Italia the previous year.</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis  is the highest point in Pennsylvania. Located in the 5,685 acre Forbes State Forest near the hamlet of Markleton in Elk Lick Township, Somerset County, it lies on a gentle crest of a 30 mi ridge line extending from central Somerset County southward into Garrett County, Maryland known as Negro Mountain.</p><br>
<p>The high point was named for John Nelson Davis, an early settler, American Civil War veteran, surveyor, and naturalist known for his studies of the mountain&#39;s flora and fauna. During the Civil War, Davis served in Company E, 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry.</p><br>
<p>The summit of Mt. Davis may be ascended by car or a number of hiking trails. Its surrounds are noted for their patterns of unusual circular stone formed by periglacial action. A metal observation tower with a relief map of the region stands near the true high point. Mount Davis ranks 33rd on the list of highest natural points in each USA state.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1921 the USGS established that Mount Davis (3,213 ft) was the highest peak in Pennsylvania. Previously the highest peak was believed to be Bedford County&#39;s Blue Knob. On June 18, 1921 the local chamber of commerce held a ceremony to celebrate the newly named highest point in Pennsylvania.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the observation tower a cabin once stood at the top of Mount Davis as seen in the photo below (circa 1939). The summit is identified by the arrow in the picture.</p><br>
<h2>Trails</h2><br>
<p>Trails in the park include:</p><br>
<p>High Point Trail: 0.8 mi</p><br>
<p>Mt. Davis Trail: 0.1 mi</p><br>
<p>Shelter Rock Trail: 1 mi</p><br>
<p>Tub Mill Run Trail: 2.8 mi</p><br>
<p>Timberslide Trail: 0.5 mi</p><br>
<p>Laurel Run Trail: 1.9 mi</p><br>
<p>Wolf Rock Trail: 0.8 mi</p><br>
<p>Shelter Rock Road: 1.6 mi</p><br>
<p>Livengood Trail: 1.1 mi</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis, Pennsylvania - 11.JPGBeginning of Tub Mill Run Trail</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis, Pennsylvania - 10.JPGCross country skiing on Tub Mill Run Trail</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis, Pennsylvania - 13.JPGBeginning of Shelter Rock Trail</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis, Pennsylvania - 14.JPGShelter Rock along Shelter Rock Trail</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis, Pennsylvania - 12.jpgForest in the winter</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Climate on the peak is warm in the summer, and cold in the winter. Like much of Pennsylvania, Mount Davis can experience heavy winds, rain, and hail in the summer, with ice storms and blizzards in the winter. Temperature extremes range from -33 to 84 F, though frosts have been recorded in every month of the year. Summer conditions are generally mild and winters are characterized by a lot of snowfall. Average annual precipitation ranges from 38 to 42 in.</p><br>
<p>Mount Davis has a humid continental climate that is affected by the high elevation significantly enough that the area feels slightly more like a cooler version of the climate zone during the winter months. Due to its high elevation, the area is colder much of the winter than Altoona, Johnstown, or State College, despite being well south of those locations. During the summer months, the area is a retreat for other Pennsylvanians with high temperatures averaging around 15 degrees cooler than Pittsburgh and eastern portions of the state. Mount Davis recorded many impressive record lows and is quite close to the state&#39;s all-time coldest temperature.</p><br>
<p>The Lovat  is a river in Vitebsk Oblast of Belarus, Usvyatsky, Velikoluksky, and Loknyansky Districts, as well as of the city of Velikiye Luki, of Pskov Oblast and Kholmsky, Poddorsky, Starorussky, and Parfinsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast in Russia. The source of the Lovat is Lake Lovatets in northeastern Belarus, and the Lovat is a tributary of Lake Ilmen. Its main tributaries are the Loknya , the Kunya , the Polist , the Redya , and the Robya  Rivers. The towns of Velikiye Luki and Kholm, as well as the urban-type settlement of Parfino, are located on the banks of the Lovat.</p><br>
<p>From the source, the Lovat flows in the southeastern direction along the border between Russia and Belarus, the it turns north and enters Pskov Oblast of Russia, crossing the border as Lake Sesito. In this area, the Lowat flows through the lake district, passing, in particular, Lake Vorokhobskoye. Downstrean of Velikiye Luki, in the selo of Podberezye, the Lovat turns northwest and enters Novgorod Oblast. Close to Lake Ilmen, the Lovat shares a river delta with the Pola and the Polist, though technically Polist is counted as a tributary of the Lovat.</p><br>
<p>The river basin of the Lovat comprises vast areas in the south of Novgorod and Pskov Oblasts, as well as some areas in Tver Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast of Belarus.</p><br>
<p>The Lovat is listed in the State Water Register of Russia as navigable between Parfino and the mouth, however, there is no passenger navigation. Until the 1990s, it was used for timber rafting.</p><br>
<p>The Lovat served as a stretch of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, the most important trading route of medieval Rus. From Lake Ilmen, ships wen upstream the Lovat and then the Kunya, before ending up in the Western Dvina and the Dnieper, from where they could reach Constantinople via the Black Sea.</p><br>
<p>Efyra  is a village and a community in the western part of Pineia municipal unit, Elis, Greece. It lies at an altitude of 121 metres, and covers an area of 12 km², of which 55% is arable and 20% is forest. It is situated southeast of the Pineios reservoir, and west of the river Pineakos Ladonas, which also flows into the Pineios reservoir. Efyra has a church dedicated to St. George. In 2001 the population was 266 for the village, and 268 for the community, which includes the village Pirio. Efyra is 2 km southeast of Kampos, 5 km west of Simopoulo and 21 km northeast of Pyrgos.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Ephyra was a city of ancient Elis, located on the river Selleeis (the present Pineakos Ladonas), and on the road to Lasion. Ephyra is mentioned by Homer as the home of the mother of Tlepolemus (Iliad) and as the place from where Telemachus brought poison (Odyssey).</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Pallini  is a suburban town in Greater Athens Area and a municipality in East Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Gerakas. It is the seat of administration of the East Attica regional unit.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Pallini is situated in the eastern part of the Athens conurbation, at about 150 m elevation. It lies in a plain between the mountains Penteliko and Hymettus. It is 2 km east of Gerakas and 14 km east of Athens city centre. Its built-up area is continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Gerakas and Anthousa. Pallini station, west of the town centre, is served by commuter trains and Athens metro. Greek National Road 54 (Athens - Rafina) passes through Pallini. The municipal unit Pallini includes the subdivision of Leontari.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Pallini was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Anthousa</p><br>
<p>Gerakas</p><br>
<p>Pallini</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 29.430 km, the municipal unit 18.932 km.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Dimitri Nanopoulos (1948-), physicist</p><br>
<p>Angie Pallini (2002-), heroin addict, cello player, thought the world was ending in 2012</p><br>
<p>The Pola  is a river in Andreapolsky and Penovsky Districts of Tver Oblast and in Maryovsky, Demyansky, and Parfinsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast of Russia. It is a tributary of Lake Ilmen. It is 267 km long, and the area of its basin 74,200 km&sup2;. The principal tributaries of the Pola are the Maryovka, the Kamenka, the Yavon, and the Polomet, all from the right.</p><br>
<p>The source of the Pola is located in the Valdai Hills, at the border between Andreapolsky and Penovsky Districts of Tver Oblast, southwest of the village of Pyatygino. It flows north, making the border between these districts, and enters Novgorod Oblast. The Pola accepts the Maryovka River from the right and turns east, then it accepts the Kamenka River from the right and turns north. In the village of Veliky Zavod the river makes a loop, and at the tip of the loop, in the village of Novoye Sokhnovo, it accepts the Yavon River from the right. In Novoye Sokhnovo the Pola turns west and in the village of Kostkovo it accepts the Polomet River, also from the right. Downstream from the mouth of the Polomet, the Pola turns northwest. Close to Lake Ilmen, the Pola shares a river delta with the Lovat and the Polist.</p><br>
<p>The Pola provides the main drain from the northwestern slope of the Valdai Hills to the river basin of the Neva. In particular, many of the lakes in Valdaysky and Demyansky Districts of Novgorod Oblast drain into the Pola. The upper course of the Polomet, the major tributary of the Pola, is located in Valdaysky National Park. Along with the Msta, the Lovat, the Polist, and the Shelon, the Pola is a principal tributary of Lake Ilmen.</p><br>
<p>The several lowest kilometers of the course of the Pola are listed in the State Water Register of Russia as navigable.</p><br>
<p>Hardknott Roman Fort is an archeological site, the remains of the Roman fort Mediobogdum, located on the western side of the Hardknott Pass in the English county of Cumbria .</p><br>
<h2>Location and name</h2><br>
<p>The fort was built on a rocky spur giving a superb view over the River Esk in both upper and lower Eskdale, and protecting Hardknott Pass. At an altitude of 800 feet, it isn&#39;t the highest fort in the Roman province of Britannia, the highest fort is Epiacum or Whitley Castle, also in Cumbria, at an altitude of 1050 feet.</p><br>
<p>The ruins have been commonly known in recent times as Hardknott Fort or Hardknott Castle, but are identified from the Ravenna Cosmography as the Mediobogdum fort, situated along the road between the forts of Galava (Ambleside) and Glannoventa (Ravenglass).</p><br>
<h2>Classical history</h2><br>
<p>Built between about 120 and 138, the fort was abandoned during the Antonine advance into Scotland during the mid-2nd century. The fort was reoccupied around 200 and continued in use until the last years of the 4th century. During this time, an extensive vicus developed outside the fort. The Roman garrison here was a detachment of 500 cavalry of the 6th Cohort of Dalmatians from the Dalmatian coast.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The fort is square with rounded corners, 114 metres long externally, or 105 metres internally, the rampart wall being about 1.7 metres thick with ditches adding to the total width of the rampart. The low walls of the fort were "restored" some years ago, a slate course showing the height of the walls before their rebuilding.</p><br>
<p>The outer wall has four gates, at the centre of each side, and lookout towers at each corner. Within the walls are the remaining outlines of several buildings: two side-by-side granaries, the garrison headquarters building and garrison commander&#39;s villa, or Praetorium. In addition to these stone buildings, timber structures would have housed barracks for the mounted auxilia.</p><br>
<p>Outside the square of the fort is the remains of the bath house (which has a rare circular sudatorium), and the levelled parade ground, which is considered to be the finest surviving example in the Western Empire.</p><br>
<p>The parade ground is approximately two hundred yards higher up the slope to the east of the fort. A track led up to it from the East Gate of the fort. A plan of the fort by R. G. Collingwood in 1930 shows the parade ground to have been as big as the fort, with embanked edges to ensure a level surface.</p><br>
<h2>Modern site</h2><br>
<p>The fort is on land owned by the National Trust, part of the Trust&#39;s Wasdale, Eskdale and Duddon property, and maintained by English Heritage.</p><br>
<h3>Archeological activity</h3><br>
<p>Leather objects from Roman occupation have been found at the site. A 1965 excavation found a piece of leather near the granary, thought to be part of soldier&#39;s jerkin. Another excavation in 1968 uncovered more leather, including several shoes.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural influence</h2><br>
<p>Hardknott is the eponymous fort in the Jack Whyte novel, The Fort at River&#39;s Bend.</p><br>
<p>Bolmsö is an island located in lake Bolmen near Växjö in Småland. It had 382 inhabitants in 1998.</p><br>
<p>It presents 530 ancient remains, including dolmens and cobble-clad graves in various forms, especially large triangular ones. The dominating graves are large barrows from the Iron Age with the addition of stelae, stone circles and a large stone ship. A farm with the name Hof reveals that it was once a pagan blót temple (see Temple at Uppsala).</p><br>
<p>In the Hervarar saga, it is related that Arngrim and his twelve wild sons, who fought against Hjalmar, lived on Bólmr and it is believed to refer to Bolmsö. The identification is supported by Saxo Grammaticus who described Arngrim as a Swedish berserker. Although, according to the later versions, H and U, of Hervarar saga, it was the island Bolm in Hålogaland).</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>Nationalencyklopedin</p><br>
<p></revision></p><br>
<p>Clevedon Court is a manor house on Court Hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, England, dating from the early 14th century. It is now owned by the National Trust. It is designated as a Grade I listed building.</p><br>
<p>The house was built and added to over many years. The great hall and chapel block are the earliest surviving parts of the structure with the west wing being added around 1570, when the windows and decoration of the rest of the building were changed. Further construction and adaptation was undertaken in the 18th century when it was owned by the Elton baronets. The house was acquired by the nation and was given to the National Trust in part-payment for death duties in 1960. The Elton family is still resident in the house, which is now open to the public.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the main house, the grounds include a selection of walls and outbuildings, some of which date back to the 13th century. The gardens are listed (Grade II*) on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Much of the present house was built in the early 14th century by Sir John de Clevedon. There is speculation that it may lie on the site of a Roman building, based on excavations to the south of the house in 1961/62. The house incorporates remnants of a 13th-century building which lie at an angle to the rest of the house. It was situated nearly two miles inland from the parish church of St Andrew, which stands on the coast.</p><br>
<p>After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the manor of Clevedon was granted by the King to Matthew de Mortagne, who in turn granted it to his sub-tenant, Hildebert. It is thought that Sir John was a descendant of either Matthew or Hildebert. Perhaps because of the distance to the parish church, the manor house included a chapel dedicated, in the 1320s, to Saint Peter. The house has undergone considerable change since it was built, almost every century seeing structural alterations, but it still retains many features of a mediaeval manor house.</p><br>
<p>The de Clevedon family line ended in 1376, and the manor eventually passed, by marriage, to the Northamptonshire family of Wake, who were Lords of the Manor until 1630. John Wake made major additions to the house in the late 16th century, including a new west wing. The manor was sold by Sir John Wake to Sir John Digby in 1630. Digby&#39;s estates were confiscated during the English Civil War, but were recovered after the Restoration by his heir. In 1709 the house was bought by Abraham Elton, a merchant from Bristol.</p><br>
<p>The Eltons were a prominent Bristol family, and Abraham 1st was Sheriff of Bristol in 1702, a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers becoming Master in 1708, Mayor of Bristol in 1710, and High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1716. He became a member of parliament for the five years preceding his death in 1728. He was created a baronet in 1717 as the first of the Elton baronets. The family wealth originally came from copper and brass (including mining in the Mendip Hills) and other commerce, and property. His descendants, not only at Clevedon, also profited from the slave trade.</p><br>
<p>Sir Abraham Elton was succeeded by four further Sir Abraham Eltons. Sir Abraham Elton, 2nd Baronet, and his son Sir Abraham Elton, 3rd Baronet, were also Sheriff and Mayor of Bristol in their time, and the second Baronet was also MP for Taunton 1722–1727, succeeding to his fathers seat of Bristol in 1727 until his own death in 1742, despite being nearly ruined in the South Seas Bubble crisis. The third Baronet died bankrupt, and the estate (which had been entailed to protect it from his creditors) passed in 1761 to his brother, Sir Abraham Isaac Elton, 4th Baronet. He made substantial changes to the house and grounds in the then fashionable Gothic revival style, and was succeeded in 1790 by his son, Sir Abraham Elton, 5th Baronet. He was ordained as a young man, and was a curate in West Bromwich before inheriting the title. He was a supporter of Hannah More, and a fervent opponent of Methodism, at one time inducing the vicar of Blagdon to sack his curate, causing a national scandal. His second wife, Mary, made further alterations to the house in the early 19th century, and also made many improvements to the town, including a school. One of the towns modern primary schools is named after her.</p><br>
<p>The line of Abrahams came to an end in 1842 when Sir Charles Abraham Elton, 6th Baronet, succeeded his father. Sir Charles was a writer, and contributed to several periodicals including The Gentlemans Magazine. Sir Charles sister Julia was married to the historian Henry Hallam, and his nephew Arthur Hallam is buried in the Elton family vault at St Andrews church. Arthur Hallam is the subject of Alfred Tennysons poem In Memoriam A.H.H. Tennyson visited Clevedon Court in 1850, the year in which the poem was published, and also in which he was created Poet Laureate. William Makepeace Thackeray was a visitor to the court during Sir Charles&#39;s time and it was the inspiration for the house Castlewood which featured in his novel The History of Henry Esmond although, contrary to common belief, it is improbable that he wrote any of it at Clevedon Court. Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived in Clevedon briefly during this period and may have visited the Court.</p><br>
<p>Sir Arthur Elton, 7th Baronet, inherited the house and title in 1853 and, like his father, was a writer. He resigned as MP for Bath in 1859 and spent the rest of his life improving the town, setting up a lending library and allotments, and building and funding the cottage hospital (still in existence). All Saints Church, near the Court, was built in 1860 on the orders of Sir Arthur, and he also made additions to the fabric of the Court itself. The West Wing of the house was largely destroyed by a fire in 1882. It was rebuilt, with C. E. Davis as the architect. During these building works, the chapel was rediscovered, the East window having been filled and altar broken off (perhaps during the English Protestant Reformation), and the room having been known until then as the "Ladys Bower".</p><br>
<p>Sir Edmund Elton, 8th Baronet, nephew and son-in-law of Sir Arthur, inherited the estate and title in 1883. He was an enthusiastic voluntary fireman, and inventor of one of the first forked bicycle brakes, as well as a device to prevent ladies skirts from becoming entangled in bicycle wheels. He was also a well-known potter, setting up his "Sunflower Pottery" in the Court grounds with the help of a local boy called George Masters. "Elton ware" became popular, especially in America where it was marketed by Tiffany & Co. Elton and Masters work typically has a variety of rich colours, bas-relief decoration of flowers in a style similar to Art Nouveau, and in the later works metallic glazes are often used.</p><br>
<p>Sir Edmunds son Sir Ambrose succeeded him in 1920. His son Sir Arthur was one of the pioneers of documentary film making in the years prior to, during and after the Second World War, working with John Grierson. He inherited the title on his fathers death in 1951. The house was acquired by the Nation, and was given to the National Trust, in part-payment of death duties, in 1960. The West Wing was immediately demolished, being considered to have no architectural or historical significance, to reduce running costs and to return the house to its supposed mediaeval ground plan. Sir Arthur died in 1973 and was succeeded by his son Sir Charles. The Elton family is still resident in the house, which is now open to the public.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture — the house</h2><br>
<p>The site faces south, with its back to Court Hill, and the road may have passed east-west within 15 m of the front door. The great hall, screens passage, porches and chapel blocks have all survived from the early 14th century and the square headed chapel windows contain reticulated tracery of the decorated period. These buildings were probably complete by 1322 although the parapets of the porches and chapel may have been remodelled at a later date. The 14th-century building embodied older structures including a small four-storey tower that dates, perhaps, to the mid to late 13th century, and the building that became the 14th-century kitchen (now the museum) was probably the earlier hall.</p><br>
<p>Alterations during the late mediaeval period were limited to the addition of a two-storey latrine tower at the rear of the house and some rearrangement of the rooms around it. In about 1570 a substantial west wing was added, adjoining and parallel to the solar wing. Apparently typical of its period, it would have transformed the living arrangements of the Wake family who built it. Presumably at the same time, the front of the solar block and east wing were "Elizabethanised" with new windows, and the gable end of the kitchen block at the eastern end was decorated with finials.</p><br>
<p>There is little evidence of the building work that must have been done in the early 1700s following a period of near-disuse and it may have been restricted to repairs. Substantial alterations in the 1760s and 1770s included the replacement and repitching of the great hall roof, the new gothic south window of the great hall complete with the ogee parapet above it and the provision of a ceiling within the hall. At the same time, the west wing façade was remodelled in "Chinese Gothic" style.</p><br>
<p>Sir Arthur Elton (7th Bt) began updating the house before 1850 (and the lodge at the gate dates from 1851) but it was in 1860s that he made major changes. The west wing was extended and remodelled, this time with an Elizabethan style façade. Less obvious alterations to the east end (where the servants lived and worked) probably also date to this period. The fire of 1882 destroyed much of the western end of the house. In the rebuilding that followed, an even larger west end was constructed but Sir Arthur took pains to ensure that its Elizabethan south front was conserved and retained. Postcards of Clevedon reveal that the last change to the great hall window was made in about 1912, when it was given a square head again, in Elizabethan style.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1950s, when the National Trust agreed to take on the house, the Victorian west wing (but not its Elizabethan south front) were demolished as were a plethora of minor 18th- and 19th-century buildings at the rear. The new west front was given a stonework façade and incorporated the Elizabethan south front.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture — outbuildings</h2><br>
<p>In the grounds, the only certain survivor from the medieval period is the small crenellated drum tower. Its original purpose is unknown. It adjoins a substantial wall that may also have origins in the 13th century. The other garden walls have unknown dates of origin but mostly pre-date around 1730, when the stables were built. All of the other buildings, including the lodge at the South entrance (1851) are Georgian or Victorian. The medieval appearance of the eastern barn resulting from incorporation of stone from the former medieval barn that stood in front of the house.</p><br>
<p>An early picture of the court shows a building known as Wakes Tower on Court Hill. It is included in Saxtons map of 1570 but was demolished before 1738. Towers such as this were popular Elizabethan features and were lookouts or summer houses. A summerhouse was built on the site but this too was in ruins by the early 19th century.</p><br>
<h2>Interior</h2><br>
<h2>Gardens</h2><br>
<p>The gardens of Clevedon Court are listed (Grade II*) on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.</p><br>
<p>Nestling at the foot of Court Hill, on a sheltered south-facing site largely protected from the winds which blow off the Bristol Channel, the front lawns of Clevedon Court run gently down to the perimeter wall. The bulk of the house conceals the dramatic architectural quality of the garden behind, carved out of the hillside in a series of terraces, which rise steeply back to merge with the woodland above. They are surrounded by what Gertrude Jekyll described as "One of the noblest ranges of terrace walls in England."</p><br>
<p>Although a court roll of 1389 mentions two gardens, there is no record of where these were sited, nor is there any record of when the terraces were constructed. The basic layout as known today was certainly in place by about 1730, as can be seen in a portrait of the house from that period. Later in the 18th century, the space behind the great pilastered wall was infilled to make the top terrace, which has wide views across the valley to the Mendip Hills beyond. The Octagon, a garden pavilion, was built about the same time, as was the more rustic summer house which faces it down the long grassy walk of the Pretty Terrace. Further modifications involved facing the lower retaining wall with rosy pink bricks, which were also used to build a double flight of steps below the Octagon. The garden is still largely in its 18th-century form, though small ponds and fountains were added in the 19th century and the once open hillside behind is now thickly wooded. A single rose arbour remained from the Edwardian garden but was on the verge of collapse when it was replaced with a new one in 2009, marking 300 years of the Elton family&#39;s presence at Clevedon Court.</p><br>
<p>Very little is known about the mid-18th century planting, although there remains, in front of the house, a gnarled black mulberry tree, which was described as ancient in 1822. However, 19th-century drawings and photographs record increasingly elaborate and fussy bedding schemes, finally swept away in the 1960s. Today there is a more informal style, emphasising the architectural character of the garden with its long straight sweeps of wall; it is also an easier style to maintain. In recent years, native wild plants have been allowed to mingle with rare and exotic specimens and continual thought is being given to contrasting textures and colours of foliage. The lower garden, below the front of the house, now has the air of a small arboretum with a number of fine specimen trees, such as a splendid late-leafing catalpa (an oriental plane tree) dominates this part of the garden and the grass at its foot is left uncut during the Spring, allowing camassias and bluebells to make a fine showing.</p><br>
<p>As with many English gardens, this one is at its best in May and June, when the magnolias are in bloom and luxurious plants, such as peonies and alliums, are flowering. An ongoing initiative is being made to put in plants which provide interest throughout the season or are at their best in the late summer. There are now many species and colours of lavender and plenty of agapanthus, crinum, nerines and day lilies, together with such rarities as a Heptacodium and an Arbutus menziesii.</p><br>
<p>Poros , is a picturesque small town located in the municipal unit of Eleios-Pronnoi, some 40 km SE of Argostoli, 28 km SE of Sami and 12 km NE of Skala, in the southeast of Cephalonia, one of the Ionian Islands of Greece.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The community of Poros consists of the villages:</p><br>
<p>Poros, pop. 930</p><br>
<p>Asprogerakas, pop. 12</p><br>
<p>Kampitsata, pop. 41</p><br>
<p>Riza, pop. 34</p><br>
<p>Tzanata, pop. 159</p><br>
<p>Poros is effectively divided into three parts. Poros port, with its couple of tavernas and bars, connects the island with Kyllini on the Peloponnese area of mainland Greece via regular year-round ferry service. During the summer months a ferry may connect Poros with Zakynthos and a couple of tourist caiques offer cruises to Ithaca and the Blue Caves of Zakynthos. The harbour is also home to the local fishing boats which supply the area with fresh fish.</p><br>
<p>Separated from Poros port by a small hillock lies the shingle town beach, backed by a taverna-fringed square and main services: bank, chemist (pharmacy), doctor’s surgery, post office, police station and local shops. More tavernas and bars lie along the award-winning Blue Flag beach, Aragia, separated from the centre of Poros by the Vohinas river which, although used as a car park in summer, can be a raging torrent in winter.</p><br>
<p>The Vohinas almost certainly gave Poros its name. The word ‘poros’ in Greek means ‘ford’ or ‘crossing’ and where the Vohinas enters the sea is the only natural crossing point, although two bridges now cross the river further upstream where the Vohinas exits the impressive Poros gorge, an 80-metre deep rugged ravine which, until a road was cut through to Skala around 1996, was the only land route out of Poros. Local legend has it that the gorge was ‘cut’ by Heracles when he stood on, and flattened, this part of the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Another local legend concerns the large rocks just off the beach between Poros and Skala. Apparently these were thrown at early invaders by the Cyclops. The coastline on the other side of Poros, facing Ithaca, is one of the last refuges of the endangered Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus).</p><br>
<p>Just out of the Poros gorge a rough vehicular track leads to the Atros monastery, the oldest on Cephalonia, with impressive views across Poros. Further along is another track leading to the Mycenaean tomb of Tzanata.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological finds from the Drakaina cave in the beautiful gorge of Poros, which was excavated in recent years, confirm human habitation in Poros since 5,700 B.C. Interesting finds brought to light - tools made of stone and bone, figurines, pottery - tell us a good deal about the use of the cave in prehistoric and historic times. Finds from the Classical period indicate that the cave was then associated with the cult of the Nymphs. The name Drakena (She-Dragon) refers to the local legend of a dragon that lived in the gorge of Poros. In the popular imagination certain marks in the rocks on the side of the gorge were believed to be the dragon&#39;s foot prints.</p><br>
<p>The area around Poros was certainly inhabited during the period when Mycenae was all-powerful, evidenced by the discovery, in 1991, of a tholos (Beehive tomb) in nearby Tzanata. The size of the tomb, the nature of the burial offerings found there and its well chosen position point to the existence of an important Mycenaean town in the vicinity. In the Archaeological Museum of Argostoli one can admire the major findings of the tholos tomb like golden bull horns, a golden double axe and engraved seals of precious stone.</p><br>
<p>Although other tombs from the Mycenaean period have been found on the island, notably at Mazarakata and Lakithra, the Tzanata tomb is the most impressive yet to be discovered on Cephalonia or Ithaca.</p><br>
<p>During the classical period Poros was probably the port for the city of Pronni (above present-day Pastra, administrative centre for the area).</p><br>
<p>Successive occupiers - Romans, Franks, Venetians, Italians, French, Russians, Turks (very briefly) and finally the British (until 1834) - controlled Cephalonia and, under the governorship of Sir Charles Napier, settlers from Malta were re-located into the fertile area around Poros in an attempt to implement a model agricultural settlement and re-populate this part of the island. However, the plan didn’t work and Poros remained no more than a small cluster of fishermen’s huts until 1953, when people built new homes there following the earthquake which devastated the surrounding villages, establishing Poros as a village community and, subsequently, an important port for the island.</p><br>
<h2>Agriculture</h2><br>
<p>Situated beneath steep mountains, there is virtually no arable land in Poros. However, through the Poros gorge lies a fertile valley stretching between Tzanata, Agia Eirini and Agios Nikolaos.</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>Poros is a working fishing port, albeit for a handful of local ‘caique’-type boats which supply the local area. A new ice producing unit was added in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Year-round car-ferry service to Kyllini (mainland), (possible) summer service to Zakynthos.</p><br>
<p>Fairly reliable but infrequent bus service to Argostoli. Reliable bus service to Athens, via Kyllini, Patras and the Corinth Canal bridge. Infrequent summer bus service to Skala and, possibly, on to Katelios.</p><br>
<p>Taxis tend to work out of Skala during summer. Car and motorcycle/scooter hire in Poros.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Serifos  is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos regional unit. The area is 75.207 km&sup2; and the population was 1,420 at the 2011 census. It is located about 170 km ESE of Piraeus.</p><br>
<p>In Greek mythology, Serifos is where Danaë and her infant son Perseus washed ashore after her father Acrisius, in response to an oracle that his own grandson would kill him, set them adrift at sea in a wooden chest. When Perseus returned to Serifos with the head of the Gorgon Medusa, he turned Polydektes, the king of Serifos, and his retainers into stone as punishment for the king&#39;s attempt to marry his mother by force.</p><br>
<p>In antiquity the island was proverbial for the alleged muteness of its frogs. During the Roman imperial period, Serifos was a place of exile. After 1204 it became a minor dependency of the Venetian dukes of the Archipelago. In the late 19th century Serifos experienced a modest economic boom from exploitation of the island&#39;s extensive iron ore deposits. The mines closed in the 1960s, and Serifos now depends on tourism and small-scale agriculture.</p><br>
<h2>Antiquities</h2><br>
<p>Worked blocks of island marble built into the walls of the medieval castle crowning Chora, the hilltop main town of Serifos, show that the ancient capital was there as well. Chance finds, primarily marble funerary sculpture, are displayed in the Archaeological Collection in Chora (open Tues.-Sun.).</p><br>
<p>The most impressive ancient monument is the (Άσπρος Πύργος), a Hellenistic marble watchtower (c. 300 BC) with walls preserved to 2 m. and an interior staircase, standing on a hilltop just east of the road from Chora to Mega Livadi, near Mega Chorio. Work began in 2011 to study the fallen blocks for an eventual reconstruction.</p><br>
<p>At least four other ancient towers have been located, including the megalithic Psaros Pyrgos (Ψαρός Πύργος) or "Couch of the Cyclops" in the SW corner of the island. The so-called "Castle of the Old Lady" (Κάστρο της Γριάς) above Ganema and Koutalas preserves scant remains of a collapsed dry-stone construction in a notch below the twin rocky summits. Rough fragments of white marble and rooftile, and archaic fine-ware potsherds on the SE terraces of the hillside, suggest the existence of an ancient sanctuary.</p><br>
<p>The fortified Monastery of the Taxiarchs, dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, was built in 1572 just outside the village of Galani. The sole monk is Archimandrite Makarios, who entered the monastery as a youth in 1958 and continues (June 2012) to maintain it with admirable devotion.</p><br>
<h3>Churches gallery</h3><br>
<h2>The miners' strike of 1916</h2><br>
<p>In the 20th century, the mines of Serifos were exploited by the mining company "Societe des mines Seriphos-Spiliazeza," under the direction of German mineralogist A. Grohmann (died 1905). In the summer of 1916, in response to low pay, excessive working hours, poor safety conditions, and the company&#39;s refusal to rehire workers who had been drafted into the Greek army and recently demobilized, the 460 miners formed a union and organized a strike. Their leader was Constantinos Speras, a Serifos native educated in Egypt, who was an anarcho-syndicalist with long experience of labour struggles on the Greek mainland. In response to the strike, Grohman asked for the help of Greek authorities, who sent a 30-man gendarmerie (Χωροφυλακή) detachment from nearby Kea. After detaining Speras and the strike committee, the gendarmerie lieutenant ordered his men to fire on the workers, who had gathered at the ore loading dock at Megalo Livadi and refused to permit a cargo ship to be loaded. Four workers were killed and a dozen wounded. The workers, supported by their wives, attacked the gendarmes with stones, killing three of them and routing the others. The freed leadership took control of island institutions and send a message placing Serifos under protection of the French fleet at Milos. This effort at collective proletarian self-organisation was cut short by the refusal of the French navy to intervene, and by the arrival of a Greek warship. Speras was arrested and charged with high treason, but released a few months later when the royalist government was ousted. Grohmann was given once again the control of the mines, after granting improved working conditions and an 8-hour workday. Speras would return to Athens and resumed his labor activities, but was assassinated in 1943, allegedly by Communist Party (KKE) maximalists.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Communities</h2><br>
<p>Galani</p><br>
<p>Kallitsos</p><br>
<p>Koutalas</p><br>
<p>Livadi Serifou</p><br>
<p>Mega Chorio</p><br>
<p>Mega Livadi</p><br>
<p>Panagia</p><br>
<p>Sykamia</p><br>
<p>Serifos (town) or Chora</p><br>
<p>Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from May 18 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Delta, Louisiana , also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign which led up to the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson, farther south in Louisiana, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.</p><br>
<h2>Battlefield</h2><br>
<p>The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 mi of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16 mi tour road, a 12.5 mi walking trail, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, the restored gunboat USS Cairo (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River), and the Grant&#39;s Canal site, where the Union Army attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate artillery fire.</p><br>
<p>The Cairo, also known as the "Hardluck Ironclad," was the first USA ship in history to be sunk by a torpedo/mine. It was recovered from the Yazoo in 1964.</p><br>
<p>The Illinois State Memorial has 47 steps, one for every day Vicksburg was besieged.</p><br>
<h2>Campaign against Vicksburg</h2><br>
<p>Battle of Chickasaw Bayou</p><br>
<p>Battle of Arkansas Post</p><br>
<p>Battle of Grand Gulf (April 29, 1863)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Snyder&#39;s Bluff (April 29 – May 1)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Port Gibson (May 1)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Raymond (May 12)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Jackson (May 14)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Champion Hill (May 16)</p><br>
<p>Battle of Big Black River Bridge (May 17)</p><br>
<p>Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4)</p><br>
<h2>Cemetery</h2><br>
<p>The 116.28 acre Vicksburg National Cemetery, is within the park. It has 18,244 interments (12,954 unidentified).</p><br>
<p>The time period for Civil War interments was 1866 to 1874. (Grave space is not available today.)</p><br>
<p>This cemetery has only one airman of Royal Australian Air Force war dead burial in World War II.</p><br>
<h2>Grant's Canal</h2><br>
<p>The remnants of Grant&#39;s Canal, a detached section of the military park, are located across from Vicksburg near Delta, Louisiana. Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant ordered the project, started on June 27, 1862, as part of his Vicksburg Campaign, with two goals in mind. The first was to alter the course of the Mississippi River in order to bypass the Confederate guns at Vicksburg. For various technical reasons the project failed to meet this goal. The river did change course by itself on April 26, 1876. The project met its second goal, keeping troops occupied during the laborious maneuvering required to begin the Battle of Vicksburg.</p><br>
<h2>Administrative history</h2><br>
<p>The national military park was established on February 21, 1899, to commemorate the siege and defense of Vicksburg. The park sprawls over 1,800 acre of land. The park and cemetery were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service (NPS) on August 10, 1933. Of the park&#39;s 1,736.47 acres (not including the cemetery), 1,729.63 acre are federally owned.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1950s, a portion of the park was transferred to the city as a local park in exchange for closing local roads running through the remainder of the park. It also allowed for the construction of Interstate 20. The monuments in land transferred to the city are still maintained by the NPS. As with all historic areas administered by the NPS, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Over half a million visitors visit the park every year.</p><br>
<p>Sloppy Joe&#39;s Bar is a historic American bar in Key West, Florida. It is now located on the north side of Duval Street at the corner of Greene Street, .</p><br>
<p>Sloppy Joe&#39;s also has a location in Treasure Island, Florida and a third location in Daytona Beach, Florida opened in February 2010.</p><br>
<h2>History and present day</h2><br>
<p>Founded on December 5, 1933, the bars most famous patrons were Ernest Hemingway and the infamous rum runner Habana Joe. The original location at the time Hemingway frequented Sloppy Joes is a few doors down to the west, just off Duval Street, at 428 Greene Street, and is now called "Captain Tony&#39;s Saloon".</p><br>
<p>The bar went through two name changes before settling on Sloppy Joes with the encouragement of Hemingway. The name was coined from the original Sloppy Joes bar in Old Havana, that sold both liquor and iced seafood. In the Cuban heat, the ice melted and patrons taunted the owner José (Joe) García Río that he ran a "sloppy" place.</p><br>
<p>The bar is the site of the Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest, started in 1981. It is well known as a tourist attraction, with live bands and slushy drinks. On November 1, 2006, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The bar is also referenced to in the famous film Citizen Kane, as the reporter Thompson interviews Kane&#39;s old friend and dramatic critic:</p><br>
<p>Sloppy Joe&#39;s Bar, Key West, FL, US (05).jpgThe bar, 2017</p><br>
<p>The Varangerfjord  is the easternmost fjord in Norway. The fjord is located in Finnmark county between the Varanger Peninsula and the mainland of Norway. The fjord flows through the municipalities of Vardø, Vadsø, Nesseby, and Sør-Varanger. The fjord is approximately 100 km long, emptying into the Barents Sea. In a strict sense, it is a false fjord, since it does not have the hallmarks of a fjord carved by glaciers.</p><br>
<p>Its mouth is about 70 km wide, located between the town of Vardø in the northwest and the village of Grense Jakobselv in the southeast. The fjord stretches westwards inland past the town of Vadsø to the village of Varangerbotn in Nesseby Municipality.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Kven residents of Varangerfjord are largely descendants of Finnish immigrants who arrived to the area during the 19th century from Finland and northern Sweden.</p><br>
<p>During the first half of the 19th century, the possibility of Russia demanding the cession of a stretch of coast along the Varangerfjord was for some time on the European diplomatic agenda, inducing King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway to conclude an alliance (1855) with Britain and France in order to forestall this possibility.</p><br>
<p>Lake Fidler is a meromictic lake beside the Gordon River in the Wilderness World Heritage area of the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The lake has a layer of fresh water overlying an anoxic salt water layer.</p><br>
<p>The meromictic lakes and ponds of the Gordon River were discovered by D.A. Hodgson and Professor Peter Tyler (reported 1996).</p><br>
<p>It became evident that, following the establishment of a hydro-electric power industry on the Gordon River, the flows of fresh water into the lake were disturbed and the anoxic salt layer was declining in depth. Previously, low river flows at certain times of the year allowed salt water to migrate upriver and occasionally spill into Lake Fidler through a narrow channel joining it to the river, thus recharging the salt water layer.</p><br>
<p>In 2004, Hydro Tasmania gained state and federal approval to recharge the lake with seawater drawn from the sea outside Macquarie Harbour at the mouth of the Gordon River. This involved having a sea-going tug draw up around 1.4 million litres of salt water in lots of around 100,000 litres, and discharge the water through a diffuser that allowed the seawater to settle into the lower salt layer. (See diagrams at Hydro Tasmania press release, 18 June 2004) This was completed and the results confirmed in April 2005. However, it was noted that, if no natural recharging occurs, the process of recharging may need to be repeated in about 10–15 years.</p><br>
<p>The Stagecoach Inn in Newbury Park, California, originally known as the Grand Union Hotel, was used as a resting area for people who traveled from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Besides a hotel and stagecoach stop, it has also been used as a post office, church, restaurant and military school. It is California Historical Landmark no. 659 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Union Hotel was built in 1876 near what is now the Ventura Freeway and Ventu Park Road. Its redwood lumber came by sea and was freighted up the steep Conejo Grade (between Thousand Oaks and Camarillo) by multiteam wagons. From 1887 to 1901, the hotel served as a regular depot for the Coast Stage Line, which carried both passengers and mail.</p><br>
<p>Following the drought of 1877- 78 Hammell no longer owned the hotel. After passing through several owners, it was purchased in 1885 by Cecil Haigh, an Englishman. H. Allen Hays, grandson of Cecil Haigh, gave the building and about four acres of land at the present location to the CVHS, who later deeded the property to the Conejo Recreation and Park District in return for a 50-year renewable lease to operate the facilities for cultural and educational purposes. In the 1960s, the hotel was threatened with demolition by the expansion of the Ventura Freeway, but it was granted Historical Landmark status and moved to its present location in 1965. On April 25, 1970, a fire entirely destroyed the museum and its contents. Although the reconstructed museum was dedicated and opened on July 4, 1976, the second floor was not completed until 1980. The structure was rebuilt using the original Monterey style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.</p><br>
<p>Today, the inn is owned by the Conejo Recreation and Park Department and operated as a historic museum. The museum includes a replica of Timber School (originally built in 1889), the carriage house and blacksmith shop, a nature trail, and the Tri-Village, a small group of three houses: the pioneer house, the adobe, and the Chumash village. There is also a gift shop located inside the museum. Volunteers operate the museum, although it is run by the Conejo Valley Historical Society. There is also a Jr. Docent program for children and teenagers aged 8–18.</p><br>
<p>The Stagecoach Inn is allegedly haunted, and is considered one of California&#39;s most famous haunted places.</p><br>
<p>The Stagecoach Inn is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 1-4 pm., in Newbury Park, CA.</p><br>
<h2>Names and owners</h2><br>
<p>The Stagecoach Inn has had a variety of names and owners:</p><br>
<p>1876-1878: James Hammell (Grand Union Hotel)</p><br>
<p>1878-1885: J.B. Redfield (Hammell House)</p><br>
<p>1885-1926 Cecil- and Cicelie Haigh (Conejo Hotel at Timberville, later Big Hotel)</p><br>
<p>1926-1957 Simon- and Ethel Hays</p><br>
<p>1957-1964: H. Allen Hays (Conejo Recreation and Park District took over operations in 1964)</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>El Grande Hotel was constructed in 1876 and was a stopover for travelers between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It was constructed using redwood from Northern California. When it arrived in Port Hueneme, it was freighted up the Conejo Grade when brought to Stagecoach Inn. It originally operated as a health resort.</p><br>
<h2>Historic designation</h2><br>
<p>It was designated Ventura County Historical Landmark No. 30 in 1965, and designated California Historical Landmark No. 659 and placed on the USA National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It is City of Thousand Oaks Historical Landmark No. 1.</p><br>
<h2>Current usage</h2><br>
<p>The hotel is home to permanent exhibits such as the Carriage House and Blacksmith Shop, Anderson Exhibit Hall, Tri-Village and The Timber School. It is home to the Tri-Village which represents three historic eras in the Conejo Valley: the Newbury Pioneer House, a Spanish Adobe, and a reconstructed Chumash village. The exhibits are changing routinely.</p><br>
<p>Minerals, shells and fossils have been on display here. Chumash pictographs have also been on display here. The 4-acre surrounding park contains a collection of carriages, stagecoaches and wagons.</p><br>
<p>The Volcán Barú  is an active stratovolcano and the tallest mountain in Panama, at 3,475 m high. It lies about 35 km off the border of Costa Rica.</p><br>
<p>Due to its height and the narrowness of the isthmus of Panama, it is possible (though relatively rare) to see both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea from Volcán Barú&#39;s peak on a clear day.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The small town of Volcán at the base of Volcán Barú sits on the remnants of a huge lahar that appears to have breached the caldera. A small river has eroded the lahar exposing an ancient forest below dated to about 1000 years old (Stewart, pers. communication).</p><br>
<p>Volcán Barú is surrounded by a fertile area of cool highlands drained by the Chiriquí Viejo and Caldera Rivers. The towns of Volcán and Cerro Punta can be found on its western side, while Boquete is on the eastern flank.</p><br>
<p>The occasional fall of hail or ice pellets has been reported on the summit, where the minimum temperature can be below 0 °C (32 °F) and the formation of frost is frequent during the dry season. The peak is host to a large installation of broadcast towers.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>De Boer et al. were the first to show that El Barú volcano is active and part of the extension of the Central American Volcanic Arc in Panama. Further detailed work on the geochemistry of the lavas from El Barú and other volcanoes in Panama was completed by Defant et al. They substantiated, based on geochemistry, that the lavas were derived by subduction (calc-alkaline). Radiometric dates also showed that the volcanism falls into two groups that range from 20 million years to recent. They also showed that the youngest volcanism consists primarily of adakites (partial melts from the subducted slab) whereas the older volcanism is normal calc-alkaline lavas.</p><br>
<h3>USGS Volcano-Hazards Assessment Study</h3><br>
<p>In 2006, an earthquake swarm was registered in the Volcán Barú area. This was not the first one; researchers cite at least three other seismic events of the same nature recorded in the recent past (1930, 1965, 1985).</p><br>
<p>In 2007, the USA Geological Survey (USGS), in coooperation with Panama&#39;s Science, Technology and Innovation Secretariat () and the USA Agency for International Development (USAID), published a study on different aspects of Volcán Barú. The 33-page report outlined potential hazard areas, rock composition, and areas affected by previous eruptions; there is evidence that during the last eruption, which occurred in the 16th century, the debris avalanche deposits covered a volume of 20–30 km³, reaching as far as the Pacific Ocean (the largest documented in Central America and nearly 10 times the area covered by the Mt. St. Helens debris avalanche in 1980).</p><br>
<p>Data collected at several locations from four previous eruptions which occurred during the last 1600 years indicate that a new eruption would last several years, putting at risk population and costly infrastructure in the areas surrounding the volcano. Typical events during such volcanic episodes include pyroclastic flows, super-heated gas clouds rapidly descending the volcano’s east flank, conceivably reaching as far as Boquete, Alto Boquete, and the Caldera River, and fallout of ash and other particles ranging in size from dust to 1-meter blocks, known as tephra, causing fires, roof collapses, water contamination, crop damage and eye and lung irritation, especially among elders and infants. A third type of event, mud and debris flows, known as lahars, create landslides, obstruct rivers courses, and could have long-term effects in the zone. The severity of these events is directly related to the lava flows and their interaction with underground water deposits.</p><br>
<p>A comprehensive set of maps is included with the study, clearly showing the most likely affected areas in Boquete, Volcán, Bambito and other towns in vicinity of the Volcán Barú. The study recommends local authorities should make the population aware of the potential risks, and create a response system in preparation for the eventual onset of an eruptive episode.</p><br>
<h2>National park</h2><br>
<p>The volcano was declared Volcán Barú National Park in 1976, with an area of 14,325 hectare. It is a part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Fauna include the black guan, black-and-white hawk-eagle, Underwood&#39;s water mouse, volcano junco, wrenthrush, and yellow-thighed finch. Over 250 species of birds have been identified within the park, and all five species of big cats live here as well. The national park protects a range of habitat, including humid montane forests, low humid montane forests, and montane rainforests.</p><br>
<p>The park&#39;s most popular hiking trail is the Sendero Los Quetzales (Los Quetzales Trail), which connects Boquete with Cerro Punta and wraps around the side of the volcano. The trail takes around 6 hours to hike. There is another trail to the top of the volcano, but this is long, steep and strenuous. You can, however, see both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea from the summit on a clear day.</p><br>
<p>Shoshone Falls is a waterfall on the Snake River in southern Idaho, United States, approximately 3 mi northeast of the city of Twin Falls. Sometimes called the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 ft high—45 ft higher than Niagara Falls—and flows over a rim nearly 1,000 ft wide.</p><br>
<p>Formed by catastrophic outburst flooding during the Pleistocene ice age about 14,000 years ago, Shoshone Falls marks the historical upper limit of fish migration (including salmon) in the Snake River, and was an important fishing and trading place for Native Americans. The falls were documented by Europeans as early as the 1840s; despite the isolated location, it became a tourist attraction starting in the 1860s. At the beginning of the 20th century, part of the Snake River was diverted for irrigation of the Magic Valley. Now, the flows over the falls can be viewed seasonally based on snowfall, irrigation needs and hydroelectric demands. Irrigation and hydroelectric power stations built on the falls were the primary contributors to early economic development in southern Idaho.</p><br>
<p>The City of Twin Falls owns and operates a park overlooking the waterfall. Shoshone Falls is best viewed in the spring, as diversion of the Snake River often significantly diminishes water levels in the late summer and fall. The flow over the falls ranges from over 20,000 cuft/s during late spring of wet years, to a minimum "scenic flow" (dam release) of 300 cuft/s in dry years.</p><br>
<h2>Characteristics</h2><br>
<p>Shoshone Falls is in the Snake River Canyon on the border of Jerome and Twin Falls Counties, 615 mi upstream from the Snake River&#39;s confluence with the Columbia River. It is the tallest of several cataracts along this stretch of the Snake River, being located about 2 mi downstream from Twin Falls and 1.5 mi upstream from Pillar Falls. Directly above the Shoshone Falls, the Snake River narrows to less than 400 ft wide and rushes over a series of rapids split by islands, before plunging over a vertical, horseshoe-shaped cliff 212 ft high and 925 ft wide. The appearance of the falls varies significantly depending on the amount of water in the Snake River. During high water, the falls appear as a single block stretching the full width of the river. In low water, the falls split into four or more separate drops; the widest, northern section is also called Bridal Veil Falls.</p><br>
<h3>Flows</h3><br>
<p>Located in an arid region, Shoshone Falls naturally received most of its water from snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho and Wyoming near Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and to a lesser extent springs in the Snake River Canyon above Twin Falls. A large number of reservoirs, and massive diversions for the irrigation of nearly 2,000,000 acre of farmland, have greatly reduced the volume of water reaching the falls, such that the canyon springs are now the primary water source. The average Snake River flow at the Twin Falls stream gaging station is 3,530 cuft/s. For comparison, the average Snake River flow at Idaho Falls – 190 mi upstream – is 5,911 cuft/s. The average flow below Milner Dam, 24 mi upstream, is just 884 cuft/s, and is frequently zero in the late summer and fall.</p><br>
<p>Idaho Power&#39;s Shoshone Falls Dam is located directly upstream from the falls and diverts water to the Shoshone hydroelectric plant, further reducing the water volume. Idaho Power is required to maintain a minimum daytime "scenic flow" of 300 cuft/s from April through Labor Day, although even this small flow can be difficult to achieve due to a lack of water in the Snake River. Further complicating the issue is that most irrigation water is needed in the summer, which coincides with the peak tourist season. The Shoshone power plant draws up to 950 ft&sup3; of water per second; thus, the flow of the falls will only increase if the Snake River flow exceeds the combined plant capacity and scenic flow requirement. The best time to view the falls is between April and June, when snowmelt is peaking, and when water is released from upriver reservoirs to assist steelhead migration.</p><br>
<p>The highest flow ever recorded at Twin Falls was 32,200 cuft/s on June 10, 1914, and the lowest was 303 cuft/s on April 1, 2013. On a monthly basis, June generally sees the heaviest flows, at 6,280 cuft/s, and August the lowest flows, 956 cuft/s.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Most of the rocks underlying the Snake River Plain originated from massive lava flows related to eruptions of the Yellowstone hotspot over many millions of years. Shoshone Falls flows over a 6-million-year-old rhyolite or trachytf lava flow that intersects the weaker basalt layers comprising the surrounding Snake River Plain, creating a natural knickpoint that resists water erosion. The falls themselves were created quite suddenly during the cataclysmic Bonneville Flood at the end of the Pleistocene ice age about 14,500–17,500 The massive flow of water carved the Snake River Canyon in a matter of several weeks, sculpting falls such as Shoshone Falls where the local geology intersected harder underlying rock layers.</p><br>
<p>The immense Snake River Aquifer is formed in the region&#39;s porous volcanic rock and recharged each year by melting snow in the surrounding mountains. Because the Shoshone Falls canyon lies lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain, groundwater is forced to the surface via large springs in the canyon walls. Despite the almost total diversion of the river upstream from Milner Dam, these springs can provide up to 3,000 cuft/s of water to the falls. Spring flow varies widely depending on the season, although it has increased since the 1950s due to irrigation water on the surrounding plain percolating into the aquifer.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Due to its great height, Shoshone Falls is a total barrier to the upstream movement of fish. Anadromous fish (which live in the ocean as adults, but return to fresh water to lay eggs) such as salmon and steelhead/rainbow trout, and other migratory fish such as sturgeon, cannot pass the falls. Prior to the construction of many dams on the Snake River below Shoshone Falls, spawning fish would congregate in great numbers at the base of the falls, where they were a major food source for local Native Americans. Yellowstone cutthroat trout lived above the falls in the same ecological niche as rainbow trout below it, although their range has decreased since the 19th century due to river diversions and competition from introduced species such as lake trout. Due to this marked difference, the World Wide Fund for Nature uses Shoshone Falls as the boundary between the Upper Snake and the Columbia Unglaciated freshwater ecoregions. The Snake River above Shoshone Falls shares only 35 percent of its fish species with those of the lower Snake River below the falls. Fourteen fish species found in the upper Snake are also found in the Bonneville freshwater ecoregion (which covers the Great Basin portion of Utah), but not the lower Snake or Columbia rivers. The upper Snake River is also high in freshwater mollusk endemism (such as snails and clams).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Native peoples and explorers</h3><br>
<p>The Shoshone Falls are named for the Lemhi Shoshone or Agaidika ("Salmon eaters") people, who depended on the Snake River&#39;s immense salmon runs as their primary food source, though they also supplemented their diet with various roots, nuts and large game such as buffalo. Because the falls are the upstream limit of salmon migration in the Snake River, they served as a central food source and trading center for the native peoples, who fished with willow spears tipped with elk horn. The Bannock people also traveled to Shoshone Falls each summer to gather salmon.</p><br>
<p>Although the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Shoshone in 1805-06 they did not pass through the Shoshone Falls area. The 1811 Wilson Price Hunt Expedition, whose goal was to scout routes for the growing fur trade, traveled down the Snake River at least as far as present-day American Falls, but most likely did not make it to Shoshone Falls due to the increasingly dangerous river conditions downstream, ultimately turning back at a place they called "Devil&#39;s Scuttle Hole". However, the route they pioneered would become part of the Oregon Trail, which would later bring many emigrants from the eastern United States to the Shoshone Falls area. The falls were also called "Canadian Falls" by some early explorers, though the origin of this name is not certain.</p><br>
<p>John C. Frémont passed by the Shoshone Falls during his 1843 expedition, which aimed to map the country through which passed the western half of the Oregon Trail. Frémont called the waterfalls "Fishing Falls": "a series of cataracts with very inclined planes, which are probably so named because they form a barrier to the ascent of the salmon; and the great fisheries from which the inhabitants of this barren region almost entirely derive a subsistence commence at this place." He observed that the salmon were "so abundant that they merely throw in their spears at random, certain of bringing out fish." Early encounters between Europeans and Native Americans were generally friendly, but eventually brutal conflicts broke out over land ownership. After the Bear River Massacre of 1863 the Shoshone were expelled from the area to reservations.</p><br>
<p>The 1868 Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, led by later USA Geological Survey director Clarence King, was the first to closely study the geology, soils and minerals of the Shoshone Falls area. King described the country as "strange and savage", and said of the falls themselves: "You ride upon a waste. Suddenly, you stand upon a brink. Black walls flank the abyss. A great river fights its way through the labyrinth of blackened ruins and plunges in foaming whiteness." He was also the first to speculate that the falls and canyon, rather than being formed by erosion over millennia, might have been created by "moments of great catastrophe" considering the regions chaotic volcanic history. Timothy H. OSullivan was also a member of the 1868 expedition, and became the first national photographer to picture the falls. O&#39;Sullivan also returned to the area in 1874, again to photograph Shoshone Falls.</p><br>
<h3>Tourism and development</h3><br>
<p>The Shoshone Falls first became a tourist attraction in the mid-19th century, despite its inhospitable and isolated surroundings. Travelers on the Oregon Trail often stopped to visit the falls, which required only a "slight detour" to the north. Promoters of tourism to the falls cited the "lonely grandeur" of the surrounding country and the fact that the falls were not "overshadowed by a city", perhaps in reference to Niagara Falls which at this time had become infamous for the rampant commercial development adjacent to it. The first known reference to Shoshone Falls as "The Niagara of the West" was in an article from an unknown Salt Lake City paper, reprinted in the Philadelphia Bulletin in 1866, in which the falls were described as "a world wonder which for savage scenery and power sublime stands unrivaled in America". The falls were painted by Thomas Moran, famous for his depictions of rugged Western landscapes such as Yellowstone, in 1900 for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.</p><br>
<p>In 1869 gold was discovered in the Snake River Canyon in the vicinity of Shoshone Falls, and by 1872 about 3,000 miners had come to the area in search of the precious metal. The richest deposits were said to be in the area between Murtaugh, about 15 mi above Shoshone Falls, and Clark&#39;s Ferry, about 20 mi below the falls. The towns of Shoshone City, Springtown and Drytown were created as a result of the gold rush. However, the boom quickly ended as the local geology and manner of sediment deposits made it difficult to remove gold. The first miners were mainly of European descent, and were later replaced by Chinese miners who continued to work the claims into the early 1880s, in search of the fine gold particles known as "gold flour".</p><br>
<p>In 1876, Charles Walgamott, a local homesteader, foresaw the potential of the falls as a tourist destination, fenced large tracts of land surrounding the falls and began construction on a lodge, hoping to obtain title to said land through squatter&#39;s rights. In 1883 the Oregon Short Line Railroad was extended to Shoshone, Idaho, making travel to the falls much easier, and Walgamott sold the land to "a syndicate of capitalists including Montana Senator William A. Clark, who intended to replace the hotel with a far grander establishment and to place a recreational steamship on the river." In April of the following year Walgamott was granted a license to operate a cable ferry across the Snake River upstream of the falls. Not surprisingly, this ferry was one of the most dangerous river crossings in Idaho. In 1904 and 1905 boats broke loose from the cable and were swept over the falls, killing four people. Many other near misses and incidents also took place. The hazards of the crossing led to a demand for a road or rail bridge that would span the canyon just below the falls. Although Twin Falls County commissioners deemed the idea "feasible", it was ultimately dropped due to its high cost. In 1919, the Hansen suspension bridge was built across a narrower part of the Snake River Canyon about 6 mi upstream.</p><br>
<h3>Irrigation and the drying of Shoshone Falls</h3><br>
<p>Ira Burton Perrine arrived in the Shoshone Falls area in 1884 and initially homesteaded at the bottom of the Snake River Canyon, where he raised cattle and planted orchards. He later became involved in the tourist business, starting a ferry and a stagecoach service, and building the Blue Lakes Hotel. However, Perrine is best known for his role in the economic development of southern Idaho based on massive irrigation projects, and consequentially, the periodic drying of Shoshone Falls. In 1900 the Twin Falls Land and Water Company was incorporated and filed claim for 3,000 cuft/s of water from the Snake River. Perrines ultimate goal was to irrigate 500,000 acre of land. Although this would have been impermissible in other parts of the western US, due to regulations such as those under the Homestead Act which limited each settlers claim to 160 acre, Perrine&#39;s project fell under the boundaries of the 1894 Carey Act, which allowed private companies to construct large-scale irrigation systems in desert regions where the task would be far too great for individual settlers.</p><br>
<p>Perrine proposed the diversion of the Snake River at Caldron Linn, a point approximately 24 mi upstream of Shoshone Falls. Senator Clark and others who owned land at Shoshone Falls filed a lawsuit against the Twin Falls Land and Water Company, but were defeated in the Idaho Supreme Court in 1904. The Milner Dam and the major canals required to deliver water were completed by 1905. "On March 1, 1905, Frank Buhl gave a ceremonial pull on the wheel on a winch and the gates of Milner Dam were closed, and the gates to a thousand miles of canal and laterals were opened, and the Snake River was diverted, and that night Shoshone Falls went dry as the water rushed across the desert far above, and Perrine&#39;s vision was realized, and 262,000 acres of desert were shortly transformed."</p><br>
<p>The reclamation of vast tracts of desert into productive farmland practically overnight led to the regional moniker of "Magic Valley". Powered entirely by gravity, it was "a rare successful example" of private irrigation development under the Carey Act. The city of Twin Falls was incorporated in 1905, on lands originally platted for town development as part of the irrigation project. In 1913, Perrine built an electric streetcar system to transport tourists from Twin Falls to the Shoshone Falls. In part due to the intervention of World War I which resulted in short supply of iron, the rail line was never completed as planned. The post-war rise in automobile ownership also made the line obsolete, and it was de-commissioned in 1916.</p><br>
<p>The Shoshone Falls Power Plant was completed in 1907 by the Greater Shoshone and Twin Falls Water Power Company. A low head diversion dam (the Shoshone Falls Dam) was built directly upstream of the falls and diverted water into a penstock, further reducing the amount of water flowing over the falls. The plant initially had a capacity of 500 kilowatts (KW). The plant was purchased by Idaho Power in 1916. Over the years the power plant was expanded and ultimately replaced with newer units capable of generating 12,500 KW. Currently about 950 cuft/s are required to run the plant at full capacity. In 2015 Idaho Power released a plan to increase the capacity to 64,000 KW, which would increase the water diversions and consequently effect even greater reductions of the water available to flow over the falls.</p><br>
<h3>Evel Knievel's jump</h3><br>
<p>On September 8, 1974, American daredevil Evel Knievel attempted to jump over the Snake River approximately 1 mi west of the falls on a rocket-powered motorcycle, the Skycycle X-2, after unsuccessfully petitioning the USA Government to let him attempt a jump over the Grand Canyon. Knievel and his team purchased land on both sides of the Snake River and built a large earthen ramp and launch structure. A crowd of 30,000 gathered to watch Knievels jump, which failed because his parachute opened too early, causing him to float down towards the river. Knievel likely would have drowned were it not for canyon winds that blew him to the river bank; he ultimately survived with a broken nose. In September 2016, professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a replica of Knievels rocket.</p><br>
<h2>Public access and recreation</h2><br>
<p>As early as 1900, locals called for the creation of a national park at Shoshone Falls, although this proposal was never approved by Congress. In 1919 the Shoshone Falls Memorial Park Association proposed a memorial park at the falls for World War I veterans. The association hired California landscape architect Florence Yoch to design a plan for the park. However, these plans never materialized, in part due to the difficulties of obtaining the needed land from its previous owners. Frederick and Martha Adams later bought the land from Senator Clark, and donated it to the City of Twin Falls in 1932. The state of Idaho donated another tract of land in 1933 to add to the park.</p><br>
<p>Today, Shoshone Falls Park encompasses the south bank of the Snake River at the falls. A $3 vehicle fee is posted from March 30 through September 30th. The park includes an overlook, interpretive displays and a trail system along the south rim of the Snake River Canyon. The trails provide access to nearby points of interest including Dierkes Lake and Evel Knievel&#39;s 1974 jump site. About 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles enter the park each year.</p><br>
<p>In 2015 Idaho Power completed the Shoshone Falls Expansion Project, which involved reconstructing portions of the Shoshone Falls Dam to reduce its aesthetic impact on the area, and to direct low water releases to the most scenic part of the falls, the "Bridal Veil Falls" on the north bank of the river.</p><br>
<p>St. Lawrence Hall is a meeting hall in Toronto, Ontario, located at the corner of King Street East and Jarvis Street. It was created to be Torontos public meeting hall home to public gatherings, concerts, and exhibitions. Its main feature was a thousand-seat amphitheater. For decades the hall was the centre of Torontos social life, before larger venues took over much of this business. Today the hall continues as a venue for events including weddings, conferences, and art shows.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The location was previously part of the Market Square area, and had been the site of the first permanent market buildings. A fire in 1841 caused the northern portions of this building to be pulled down, leading to the building of the current St. Lawrence Market in 1850 a block south at what was then Palace Street, and today known as Front Street. The vacated area at the corner of King and Jarvis was in the heart of the growing community. The new Renaissance Revival style building was designed by William Thomas.</p><br>
<p>It was here that prominent politicians such as John A. Macdonald and George Brown, Fathers of Confederation, addressed the people of Toronto. It was the main venue for musicians and other performers who came to the city. The lower levels were integrated into the market and were home to stores and businesses. A third storey section of the building was known as St. Patrick Hall, an important meeting place for the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union.</p><br>
<p>By the 1870s the growing city had a number of larger and more suitable performance venues and the Hall entered a long decline. It continued to serve a number of roles, including several years as the home of the National Ballet. The city of Toronto fully restored the hall in 1967 to mark the Centennial of Confederation (and rebuilt the east wing which had completely collapsed). That same year it was designated as a National Historic Site. The first two Juno Awards ceremonies were presented here in 1970 and 1971.</p><br>
<p>A remote detonated explosion, standing in for the groundbreaking of Canada&#39;s Wonderland theme park in the York Region town of Maple, took place from the Hall.</p><br>
<h2>Architect and architecture</h2><br>
<p>William Thomas (c. 1799–26 December 1860) was an architect of both England and Canada. He immigrated to Toronto with his wife and 10 children from Leamington Spa, England due to the economic crisis in 1837. After his emigration to Toronto, his career as a city engineer and architect prospered. One of his well-recognized successful works in architecture after his settlement is St. Lawrence Hall.</p><br>
<p>Thomas’ work was undoubtedly influenced by 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, the central Roman temple that consists of the pediment, four engaged Corinthian columns, and the three arches underneath very closely resemble the work of an Italian Classist architect, Andrea Palladio. The symmetrical composition of building elements is also a defining characteristic of Renaissance architecture. The Renaissance Revival was a clear goal of William Thomas, but the Hall reinterpreted the Italination in a vernacular and contemporary manner. St. Lawrence Hall is designed in a Victorian composition with a French mansard roof due to abundant snowfall in Ontario. The ornamental cupola on top of the main hall is another feature of the Hall.</p><br>
<p>The Louis Penfield House is a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, located in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. It is one of Wright&#39;s nine Usonian homes in Ohio.</p><br>
<p>Louis Penfield, a painter and acquaintance of Wright, commissioned the architect to design a house that would accommodate his 6 ft frame. This house, then, built in 1955, is unique in its high doorways, as Wright preferred low entryways.</p><br>
<p>Notably long and thin in comparison to an average home, the house has a "floating staircase" supported by ceiling beams, a bottleneck entryway, and several walls made almost entirely of windows, one of which gives a panoramic view of the outside. The house&#39;s basic color scheme centers on red-stained wood and ochre walls.</p><br>
<p>Some years after Louis died, the family moved out, and maintained it as a rental property for five years. The Penfield house was restored over a period of four years by Paul Penfield, son of Louis, at a cost of some $100,000 USD. Since 2003, the Louis Penfield House has been one of a few Wright-designed homes where guests can spend the night.</p><br>
<p>Lake Khanka  or Lake Xingkai , is a freshwater lake on the border between Primorsky Krai, Russia and Heilongjiang province, Northeast China .</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>On the Delil map of 1706, the lake is named Himgon and from it flows a river with two signatures - Usurou and Ousuri.</p><br>
<p>On the map of Johann Matthias Hase 1739, the river flowing from Lake Hinka is called Ousoury and Schur.</p><br>
<p>On the map of d&#39;Anville, in 1752, the lake also has the name Hink, but from the lake the Songhachan River flows into Usuri.</p><br>
<p>On the map of the 18th century "Irkutsk governorate with the adjacent islands and the western coast of America" from Lake Hinka follows the river Usuri.</p><br>
<p>On the map of 1860, attached to the Convention of Peking, two lakes are shown: the large "Oz. Khankai "with the second signature" Quiet ", but without the Manchu signatures, and a small lake" Oz. Dobiku "with the Manchurian signature. From the big lake flows a river, which has two signatures in Russian: "Uzhu" and "Sungachan", the second name has a signature in the Manchu language.</p><br>
<p>On the map of M. Popov in 1861, a large lake is called "Kengka" and the small one is called "Ai&#39;-Kengka" and Siauhu is added in brackets, which can be understood as the transcription of the Chinese Xiaohu, that is, the Small Lake.</p><br>
<p>On the map of 1864 the captain of the case of the forest wardens of Budischeva the lake was named "Khinkai (Sinkai)".</p><br>
<p>On the ethnographic map of Shrenk are the signatures of the names "Oz. Khanka "and" Oz. Mal. Khanka. "</p><br>
<p>The explorer, traveler and naturalist and writer Vladimir Arsenyev (1872-1930) wrote about the name of the lake: "In the Liao Dynasty, Khanka Lake was called Beitsin-hai, and now Khanka, Khinkai and Sinkai-hu, which means" Lake of Prosperity and Prosperity. " It must be assumed that the name of Lake Khanka originated from another word, namely from the word "khanhai", which means "hollow". By this name, the Chinese call every low place. " ... Subsequently, the Russians remade this word in Khanka. "</p><br>
<h2>History of Lake Studies</h2><br>
<p>Lake Khanka is an ancient lake, always rich in fish and poultry. One of the old names of it - "Khankai-Omo" - "Sea of bird feathers". Khankai fish was supplied in the Middle Ages on the tables of Chinese and Jurchen emperors.</p><br>
<p>In 1868 Nikolay Przhevalsky visited here, leaving for posterity the descriptions of the animal and plant world of these places.</p><br>
<p>In 1902, VK Arsen&#39;ev made his first expedition to Khanka.</p><br>
<h2>Physico-geographical characteristics</h2><br>
<p>Lake Khanka, the largest lake in Primorsky Krai, is located in the center of the Khankan lowland on the border with the People&#39;s Republic of China in Heilongjiang Province. The northern part of the lake belongs to the territory of China. The shape of the lake is pear-shaped with an extension in its northern part. The surface area of the water is unstable, it varies depending on climatic conditions. In the maximum reaches 5010 km ², at a minimum - 3940 km ². The length of the lake is about 90 km, the maximum width is 67 km. There are 24 rivers flowing into Lake Khanka, with only one outflow - Songacha River, which connects it with Ussuri, and that in turn with Amur River System. Lake Khanka is a shallow water body with an average depth of 4.5 m and a prevailing depth of 1–3 m, the greatest depth is 10.6 m. Its average volume is 18.3 km3, though it can fill up to 22.6 km3The water in the lake is cloudy, which is explained by frequent winds and, as a result, strong mixing. On average, the flow to the lake is 1.94 km³ per year, from the lake about 1.85 km³.</p><br>
<p>On the northern (Chinese) shore there is the Malaya Khanka lake, separated from Khanka by a narrow sandy scythe. Lake Malaya Khanka belongs to China.</p><br>
<p>It freezes in the second half of November, is opened in April.</p><br>
<p>The animal and plant world of Lake Khanka is diverse. In 1971, according to the Ramsar Convention, this territory was given the status of wetlands of international importance. And in 1990 in the basin of Lake Khanka the state Khanka Nature Reserve was organized. In April 1996, an agreement was signed between the Governments of the Russian Federation and the People&#39;s Republic of China on the establishment of an international Russian-Chinese reserve "Lake Khanka" on the basis of the Khankai Reserve in Russia and the Chinese Sinkai-Hu Reserve.</p><br>
<p>The wetlands of the Lake Khanka basin represent a unique natural complex. The lowland of the Prihanka and, in fact, the shores of the lake represent a fairly swampy terrain. Characteristic for Khanka so-called melt - plant communities, formed by various species of sedge and grass. They form a solid turf covering a water mirror for many tens of square kilometers. Here are represented meadows (from marshy to steppe), meadow forest, forest-steppe and steppe plant communities. In the lake itself there are many species of fish and aquatic invertebrates, many of which are endemic. In the lake there live 52 species of fish, among them such as carp, perch, silver carp, catfish, snakehead. On the banks of the nest and stop during the flight of a variety of birds.</p><br>
<p>The lake&#39;s drainage basin covers an area of 16,890 km², of which 97% is in Russian territory. It has 4000 to 4400 km² of water surface area. It is fed by 23 rivers (8 in China and 15 in Russia), but the only outflow of the lake is the Songacha River.</p><br>
<p>The maximum monthly mean temperature is 20 &deg;C in July, while the minimum monthly mean temperature is −21 &deg;C in January. Rainfall mainly occurs in summer, with average annual precipitation of 500–650 mm annually.</p><br>
<p>The residence time of Lake Khanka is 9.9 years.</p><br>
<h2>Biodiversity and environment</h2><br>
<p>The lake is an important area for birds, and includes a number of endangered species.</p><br>
<p>See Khanka Nature Reserve</p><br>
<p>The Marquesas Keys form an uninhabited island group about 20 miles west of Key West, 4 miles  in diameter, and largely covered by mangrove forest. They are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. They are protected as part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. The Marquesas were used for target practice by the military as recently as 1980.</p><br>
<p>The total area, including the lagoon, measures 29.37 km&sup2;. The land area, according to the United States Census Bureau, is 6.58 km&sup2; (exactly 6,579,703 m²), the water area 0.17 km&sup2; (165,744 m²), giving a combined area of 6.75 km&sup2; (6,745,447 m²), not counting water areas with connection to the open sea, but including small landlocked lakes on the Keys. The group is located at coordinates 24&deg;34&prime;19&Prime;N latitude, 82&deg;07&prime;10&Prime;W longitude.</p><br>
<p>The islands are part of the Florida Keys, separated from the rest of the Florida Keys, which are farther east, by the Boca Grande Channel, which is 6 miles wide until Boca Grande Key, the westernmost of the Mule Keys. Only the Dry Tortugas are farther west, 36 miles west of the Marquesas Keys.</p><br>
<p>The central lagoon is called Mooney Harbor. The northernmost key is the largest and has a strip of sandy beach free of mangrove. In the past it was known as "Entrance Key". It surrounds the lagoon in the north and east. Adjoining in the south are smaller keys such as Gull Keys, Mooney Harbor Key, and finally about four unnamed keys in the southwest corner of the group. Older charts show that two of these keys once were named "Button Island" and "Round Island".</p><br>
<p>Six miles (10 km) west of the Marquesas Keys is Rebecca Shoal.</p><br>
<p>The islands are best known for their excellent sport fishing.</p><br>
<p>Spata , is a town 20 km east of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Spata-Artemida, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit  has an area of 55.042 km.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and economy</h2><br>
<p>Spata is situated in the middle of the Mesogaia plain, east of mount Hymettus and west of the Aegean Sea coast. Athens International Airport ("Eleftherios Venizelos") covers the eastern portion of Spata. It is located southeast of Pallini, southwest of Rafina, west of Artemida and about 22 km east south east of Athens.</p><br>
<p>The town proper is made up of residential neighborhoods. Farmland, mostly vineyards and olive groves, lie around. Retsina wine was the traditional cash crop of the whole area, complemented with olives and olive oil, figs, almonds, pistacchios, and wheat. Nowadays viticulture is dwindling as a mass occupation, albeit supplanted by the emergence of many modern wineries that mostly specialize in vinifying the local Savatiano grape. The bulk of the grape and wine business is handled by the local co-operative. In 1995, the southern portion was committed to construction of the new Athens International Airport, which was completed in March 2001. The Attica Zoological Park, or "Attica Zoo", opened in May 2001 and is Athens and Greeces largest zoo.</p><br>
<p>Spata has five kindergartens, three elementary schools, two secondary schools, a police station, Post Office, several bank offices, and a junior football/soccer team, Aittitos (Invincible). The training facilities of AEK FC are also located there.</p><br>
<p>The municipal unit of Spáta also incorporates various small exurbs: Agía Kyriakí (pop. 886 in 2011), Neápoli (584), Ágios Ioánnis (284), Velanidiá (257), Christoúpolis (518), Foínikas (113), Étos Stéko (87), Ágios Nikólaos Boúra (195), and Ímeros Péfkos (211).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The area included the ancient Athenian demes of Erkhiá (Ερχιά), the birthplace of the historian and general Xenophon, and Kýthēros (Κύθηρος); a Mycenean cemetery has been excavated at the southern edge of town, the exhibits being hosted in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Evidence of small ancient settlements abound in the area, the most notable being the Neolithic fortified settlement on Zágani hill. Several of these were excavated during works for the airport and are being exhibited in the main airport building.</p><br>
<p>Since the Medieval Ages, Spata has been inhabited by Arvanites. The town (then village) was repopulated by the medieval Tosk clan of Shpata around the 15th century, after they emigrated from Epirus. It was named after Gjin Bua Shpata, who was despot of Arta in the 14th century.</p><br>
<p>The patron saints of the town are the Sts. Peter and Paul, celebrated on July 29 at the Byzantine chapel of the same name, located near the eastern edge of the town. The feast is accompanied by the medieval custom of the distribution of the stifado, a beef-and-onions stew cooked overnight in cauldrons and distributed to the faithful outside the chapel after Mass.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Olympic Air has its head office in Athens International Airport in Spata. Goody&#39;s S.A., a Greek fast food company, is also headquartered at the airport.</p><br>
<h2>Government and infrastructure</h2><br>
<p>The Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board has an office at the airport.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Diocletians Palace  is an ancient palace built for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, that today forms about half the old town of Split, Croatia. While it is referred to as a "palace" because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian, the term can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletians personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison.</p><br>
<p>Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast, four miles from Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The terrain slopes gently seaward and is typical karst, consisting of low limestone ridges running east to west with marl in the clefts between them.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>After the Romans abandoned the site, the Palace remained empty for several centuries. In the 7th century, nearby residents fled to the walled palace in an effort to escape invading Croats. Since then the palace has been occupied, with residents making their homes and businesses within the palace basement and directly in its walls. Today many restaurants and shops, and some homes, can still be found within the walls.</p><br>
<p>After the Middle Ages the palace was virtually unknown in the rest of Europe until the Scottish neo-classical architect Robert Adam had the ruins surveyed and, with the aid of French artist and antiquary Charles-Louis Clérisseau and several draughtsmen, published Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia (London, 1764).</p><br>
<p>Diocletians palace was an inspiration for Adams new style of Neoclassical architecture and the publication of measured drawings brought it into the design vocabulary of European architecture for the first time. A few decades later, in 1782, the French painter Louis-François Cassas created drawings of the palace, published by Joseph Lavallée in 1802 in the chronicles of his voyages.</p><br>
<p>This palace is today, with all the most important historical buildings, in the centre of the city of Split. Diocletians Palace far transcends local importance because of its degree of preservation. The Palace is one of the most famous and complete architectural and cultural features on the Croatian Adriatic coast. As the worlds most complete remains of a Roman palace, it holds an outstanding place in Mediterranean, European and world heritage.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural heritage</h2><br>
<p>In November 1979 UNESCO, in line with the international convention on cultural and natural heritage, adopted a proposal that the historic city of Split built around the Palace should be included in the register of World Cultural Heritage.</p><br>
<p>In November 2006 the City Council decided to permit over twenty new buildings within the palace (including a shopping and garage complex), although the palace had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Monument. It is said that this decision was politically motivated and largely due to lobbying by local property developers. Once the public in 2007 became aware of the project, they petitioned against the decision and won. No new buildings, shopping center or the underground garage was built.</p><br>
<p>The World Monuments Fund has been working on a conservation project at the palace, including surveying structural integrity and cleaning and restoring the stone and plasterwork.</p><br>
<p>The palace is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 500 kuna banknote, issued in 1993.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The ground plan of the palace is an irregular rectangle (approximately 160 meters x 190 meters) with towers projecting from the western, northern, and eastern facades. It combines qualities of a luxurious villa with those of a military camp, with its huge gates and watchtowers. The palace is enclosed by walls, and at times, it housed over 9000 people. Subterranean portions of the palace feature barrel vaulted stonework.</p><br>
<p>Only the southern facade, which rose directly from, or very near to, the sea, was unfortified. The elaborate architectural composition of the arcaded gallery on its upper floor differs from the more severe treatment of the three shore facades. A monumental gate in the middle of each of these walls led to an enclosed courtyard. The southern sea gate (the Porta Aenea) was simpler in shape and dimensions than the other three, and it is thought that it was originally intended either as the emperor&#39;s private access to the sea, or as a service entrance for supplies.</p><br>
<p>The design is derived from both villa and castrum types, and this duality is also evident in the arrangement of the interior. The transverse road (decumanus) linking the eastern gate (the Silver Gate or Porta argentea) and western gate (the Iron Gate or Porta ferrea) divided the complex into two-halves. In the southern half were the more luxurious structures; that is, the emperors apartments, both public and private, and religious buildings. The emperors apartments formed a block along the sea front and were situated above a substructure because the sloping terrain demanded significant differences in level. Although for many centuries almost completely filled with refuse, most of the substructure is well preserved, and indicates the original shape and disposition of the rooms above.</p><br>
<p>A monumental court, called the Peristyle, formed the northern access to the imperial apartments. It also gave access to Diocletian&#39;s mausoleum on the east (now Cathedral of St. Domnius), and to three temples on the west (two of which are now lost, the third having become a baptistery, originally being the temple of Jupiter). There is a temple just to the west of the Peristylum called The Temple of the Aesculapius, which has a semi cylindrical roof made out of hand carved stone blocks which did not leak until the 1940s, and was then covered with a lead roof. The temple was restored recently.</p><br>
<p>The northern half of the palace, divided in two parts by the main north-south street (cardo) leading from the Golden Gate (Porta aurea) to the Peristyle, is less well preserved. It is usually supposed that each part was a residential complex, housing soldiers, servants, and possibly some other facilities. Both parts were apparently surrounded by streets. Leading to perimeter walls there were rectangular buildings, possibly storage magazines.</p><br>
<p>The Palace is built of white local limestone and marble of high quality, most of which was from Brač marble quarries on the island of Brač, of tuff taken from the nearby river beds, and of brick made in Salonitan and other factories. Some material for decoration was imported: Egyptian granite columns, fine marble for revetments and some capitals produced in workshops in the Proconnesos. The Palace was decorated with numerous 3500-year-old granite sphinxes, originating from the site of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III. Only three have survived the centuries. One is still on the Peristyle, the second sits headless in front of Jupiter&#39;s temple, and a third is in the city museum.</p><br>
<h2>Filming location</h2><br>
<p>Diocletian&#39;s Palace was used as a location for filming the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones.</p><br>
<p>Galang  is an island of 80 km located 25 m  southeast of Batam, belonging to a group of three islands called Barelang . Part of the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia, Galang is located just south of Batam and Rempang which themselves are just south of Singapore and Johor. The nearest city to Galang is Tanjung Pinang on Bintan, about a 30-minute boat ride away. The island is connected by the Barelang Bridge to Rempang and Batam.</p><br>
<p>There was a UNHCR administration office established in Galang to run the Galang Refugee Camp during the 1979-1996 period. Many Vietnamese Boat People and asylum seekers were temporarily accommodated in the Galang camp during the determination of their refugee status and their subsequent resettlement in the United States, Australia and some European Countries. Many Vietnamese from their new resettled countries have come back to visit Galang.</p><br>
<p>Today, Galang Island (and the former refugee area known as Sinam Camp) is managed by Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA). In 1992 according to Indonesian Presidential Decree No. 28/1992, the expanded BIDA Working Area includes Rempang Island, Galang Island and several small nearby islands. BIDA built 6 bridges which were inaugurated on 25 January 1998. They provide a land connection between Batam Island - Tonton Island - Nipah Island - Setoko Island - Rempang Island - Galang Island - Galang Baru (New Galang) Island in order to develop all these islands.</p><br>
<p>The Arkansas State Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the Arkansas General Assembly, and the seat of the Arkansas state government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the Capitol Mall in Little Rock, Arkansas.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1899, the St. Louis architect George R. Mann visited the governor of Arkansas Daniel W. Jones, and presented his drawings of his winning competition design for the Montana State Capitol, which had not been built. They were hung on the walls of the old Capitol to generate interest in a new building. The drawings attractiveness eased the passage of the bills for the new building, and also drew attention to the architect. In 1899, Mann was selected as architect by a seven-member commission that included future governor George W. Donaghey. Donaghey opposed Manns selection and advocated a national design competition, but the majority of the commission voted for Mann. After Donaghey was elected governor in 1908, he forced Mann off the project and selected Cass Gilbert to finish the Capitol.</p><br>
<p>Construction took 16 years, from 1899 to 1915. The Capitol was built on the site of the state penitentiary and prisoners helped construct the building. They lived in a dormitory that was left on the Capitol grounds while construction was taking place.</p><br>
<p>The Capitol foundations were aligned incorrectly by their original builder, future Governor George Donaghey. He centered the building on the centerline of Fifth Street (now Capitol Avenue), but he aligned the building north-south using the still-standing penitentiary walls as a guide without recognizing that Fifth Street was not aligned east-west; like other "east-west" downtown Little Rock streets, it runs parallel to the Arkansas River at a slight angle off true east-west. Therefore, the structure is in a north-south manner from end-to-end, which does not fit the grid street pattern of Little Rock&#39;s downtown. This also led to a slight S-curve in the formal entrance walkway between the foot of Capitol Avenue and the front steps of the Capitol.</p><br>
<p>As a scale replica of the US capitol, the Capitol has frequently been used as a filming location. In 1990 the Capitol grounds were featured extensively in external and internal photography for the action film Stone Cold starring Brian Bosworth.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The exterior of the Capitol is made of limestone, which was quarried in Batesville, Arkansas. Though it was initially stipulated a total cost for the envisioned capitol would not to exceed $1 million, total construction cost was $2.2 million or $320 million in 2014 dollars. The front entrance doors are made of bronze, which are 10 feet (3 metres) tall, four inches (10 cm) thick and were purchased from Tiffany&#39;s in New York for $10,000. The cupola is covered in 24 karat gold leaf. The government was formerly located in the Old State House. The structure also used Yule marble.</p><br>
<h2>Monuments and memorials</h2><br>
<p>The Arkansas State Capitol grounds has multiple monuments and memorials representing various parts of the state&#39;s past and present. They include the Monument to Confederate Soldiers, Liberty Bell replica, Bauxite and Granite Boulders, Confederate War Prisoners Memorial, Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Arkansas Medal of Honor Memorial, Memorial Fountain, Monument to Confederate Women, and Little Rock Nine Civil Rights Memorial.</p><br>
<p>Montana state capitol 2.jpgThe winning competition design from 1896 for the Montana State Capitol by George R. Mann, became the model for the Arkansas State Capitol.</p><br>
<p>Arkansas State Capitol Building.jpgThe entrance to the capitol building</p><br>
<p>Arkansas State Capitol Dome Interior.jpgInterior view of the Arkansas State Capitol Dome</p><br>
<p>Monument to Confederate Women.jpgMonument to Confederate Women May 1, 1913 The statue was designed by J. Otto Schweizer, The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.</p><br>
<p>Little Rock Nine and Capital.jpgLittle Rock Nine with Capitol</p><br>
<p>The Toba Kakar Mountains  are a southern offshoot of the Himalayas in the Balochistan region of Pakistan. The historical route through the mountains is known as the Bolan Pass.</p><br>
<p>The mountains originally received media attention in August 1979; when evidence emerged that Pakistan may be using them as a potential workspace towards development of nuclear weapons. Again in April 1981, the United States government raised concerns, this time with Senator Alan Cranston referring specifically to a nuclear test site, built into the side of the mountains, 40 kilometres from Afghanistan. As a result of this, Congress amended existing legislation that would terminate financial assistance to Pakistan in the event of any nuclear test, so that it could not be waived by the President.</p><br>
<p>In late 2004, John Lehman announced that the United States now had the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden narrowed down to a 16-square kilometre area in the Toba Kakar mountains; though they were hesitant to enter the area, Lehman using the reference that it would be "another Vietnam". Pakistan&#39;s Major General Shaukat Sultan commented the claims of bin Laden being in that mountain range were "ridiculous" and without basis.</p><br>
<p>Table Rock Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in The Ozarks of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. The lake is impounded by Table Rock Dam  constructed in 1954-1958 on the White River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</p><br>
<p>It is one of the popular draws for the nearby town of Branson, Missouri. There are several commercial marinas along the lake, and Table Rock State Park is located on the east side, both north and south of Table Rock Dam. Downstream from the dam, the Missouri Department of Conservation operates a fish hatchery, which is used to stock trout in Lake Taneycomo. The cold water discharged from the dam creates a trout fishing environment in Lake Taneycomo.</p><br>
<h2>Lake temperature</h2><br>
<p>The lake area temperature varies according to season:</p><br>
<p>* Spring: 56 to 77 &deg;F</p><br>
<p>* Summer: 85 to 90 &deg;F</p><br>
<p>* Fall: 71 to 82 &deg;F</p><br>
<p>* Winter: 42 to 47 &deg;F</p><br>
<h2>Lake data</h2><br>
<p>Dam and Outlet Measurements</p><br>
<p>*Length of dam- 6,423 ft</p><br>
<p>*Length of concrete section- 1,602 ft</p><br>
<p>*Maximum height of dam above stream bed- 252 ft</p><br>
<p>*Concrete in dam- 1,230,000 cubic yards</p><br>
<p>*Earth in embankment- 3,320,000 cubic yards</p><br>
<p>*Length of spillway- 531 gross feet</p><br>
<p>*Spillway crest gates size- 45x37 feet</p><br>
<p>*Outlet conduits size- 4x9 feet</p><br>
<p>Dam elevations above mean sea level</p><br>
<p>*Top of dam- 947 ft</p><br>
<p>*Spillway crest- 896 ft</p><br>
<p>Lake elevations above mean sea level</p><br>
<p>*Top of flood control pool- 931 ft</p><br>
<p>*Top of normal pool- 915 ft</p><br>
<p>Surface area of lake</p><br>
<p>*Flood control pool- 52,300 acre</p><br>
<p>*Normal pool- 43,100 acre</p><br>
<p>Maximum storage capacity</p><br>
<p>*Flood control pool- 760,000 acre.ft</p><br>
<p>Shoreline length</p><br>
<p>*Flood control pool- 857 mi</p><br>
<p>*Normal Pool- 745 mi</p><br>
<p>Other</p><br>
<p>*Power drawdown and dead- 2,702,000</p><br>
<p>*Lake total- 3,462,000</p><br>
<p>Power generating data</p><br>
<p>*Number of generating units- 4</p><br>
<p>*Rated capacity for each unit- 50 megawatts</p><br>
<p>*Station installed capacity- 200 megawatts</p><br>
<h2>Flood control</h2><br>
<p>The original purpose of the reservoir was for flood control on the White River. The dam had been authorized a month earlier under the Flood Control Act of September 3, 1943. The reservoir has a fluctuation of 16 ft. When the reservoir is above the maximum flood pool, excess water goes over the auxiliary overflow spillway at the north end of the dam.</p><br>
<p>The worst-case scenario of a catastrophic floodwater discharge from Table Rock Lake using the auxiliary floodgates would roughly resemble this:</p><br>
<p>At elevation 931 Table Rock Lake is at full flood capacity. The ten Tainter gates are opened to accommodate additional lake inflow from the White River Basin including the James River and Beaver Lake discharge.</p><br>
<p>At elevation 937 Table Rock Lake is 6 feet above flood capacity. The ten Tainter gates are opened wider in an effort to stabilize reservoir rise. Outflow from the Lake under these circumstances will be nearing 200-300 thousand cubic feet per second (CFS).</p><br>
<p>At elevation 942 Table Rock Lake is 11 feet above flood capacity and at its "design pool", or the maximum elevation that the reservoir is engineered to reach, under "probable maximum flood" scenarios. The dam’s ten Tainter gates will be fully raised to their maximum height of approximately 30 feet letting loose 550 thousand CFS into Lake Taneycomo. This scenario would effectively submerge and destroy the powerhouse, power transmission grid, hatchery, and wreak serious destruction down stream. An illustration of how Table Rock’s ten spillways might appear under these circumstances mimics this: the floodgates will extend up and out from the structure, like eyebrows, shadowing the concrete spillways!</p><br>
<p>At elevation 947 Table Rock Dam would be at its maximum capacity and water would be at the very top of the dam. The auxiliary spillway would be brought online, in concert with Table Rock’s fully opened floodgates. This catastrophic or "last resort" protocol releases 1 million CFS of lake waters into Taneycomo and deals dreadful destruction to Branson, Hollister, Point Lookout and possibly the Powersite Dam. At this point there is a danger of water overtopping the concrete dam and breaching the earthen structure, which imminently leads to cataclysmic structural failure and the uncontrolled release of the Table Rock Lake impoundment—nearly 3 million CFS of water.</p><br>
<p>Record crest 935.47 feet on 4/27/11</p><br>
<p>In December 2015, the dam released 72,000 CFS at its peak. This is the highest amount ever released.</p><br>
<p>SOURCE:</p><br>
<h2>Facilities and State Park</h2><br>
<p>Table Rock State Park (Missouri) provides public access to the lake. Six miles from Branson and located just south of the dam and outlet, facilities include a boat launch and full service marina (including cafe, boat rental and scuba dive shop), campground (including full RV hookups and a yurt), fishing access, swimming access (no beach), picnic area, amphitheater, hiking and mountain bike trails, and dump station.</p><br>
<p>Area71 is a recreational vehicle (RV) resort, restaurant, and general store on Table Rock Lake in Shell Knob, Missouri. The store and restaurant were completely rebuilt in 2016 with an expanded menu and bait shop. The RV park features views of Table Rock Lake with long term site rental agreements.</p><br>
