Tag: Discover
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Fruit Bat
While most bat species feed on insects, fruit bats feed on fruits. That’s not the only thing that distinguishes fruit bats. Some species are large, sometimes two pounds or more, and some have wingspans of more than five feet. There are a number of species distributed across the Old World tropics (they are sometimes called…
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James, a Slave Spy for Lafayette
James was a slave in Virginia who was granted permission to serve with General Lafayette. Lafayette was the French officer who became vitally important to George Washington as friend and also became an important commander in Washington’s Continental army. James was not Lafayette’s slave. James served Lafayette as a spy, readily entering the British lines,…
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Fire Hydrants
Fire hydrants are one of those technologies that remain useful, even if there has been no real change in the basic design in more than a century. Prior to the invention of fire hydrants, fires were fought by bucket brigades or horse drawn equipment that could pump water from a nearby open water source, if…
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Armed Liberty
She is 19 feet, six inches tall and weighs 15,000 pounds. She wears a helmet with a crest of eagle feathers. Her right hand rests on the hilt of a sword, and her left hand holds a laurel leaf (symbolic of victory). This is a formidable woman. She’s known as “Armed Liberty,” and also as…
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The Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg is a small city in Pennsylvania known today for its college and its natural beauty. And also for being the site of the most important battle in the American Civil War. In late June of 1863, the Confederacy’s greatest general, Robert E. Lee, invaded the North. The hope was that defeating Northern armies in…
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Bungalow
The usual definition of a bungalow is a one-story wood frame house with a low-pitched roof, often with a large veranda or porch. Bungalows are particularly associated with architectural styles from around 1900 into the 1920s, and remained popular through the 1930s. Bungalows tend to be small, a few hundred square feet. Part of the…