That wisp of a smile belonged to Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island, which you find today at the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
During the colonial days of the West Indies, building supplies were much in demand. Ingenious builders looked to the sea for some of their construction materials, and came away with a particularly good item, one that started out pliable but soon turned to rock. Or at least rock-like.
Well, as much as it might be interesting to have a spot in the National Park System where we could be beamed off to another location, these pods actually were "listening chairs" in a Yellowstone National Park visitor center.
Could this be a scene out of Star Trek? Are those transporter pods? The setting certainly does have that sci-fi appeal to it, no? But where in the National Park System is it?
Change. Sometimes it's just easier to notice it from overhead. That was the point of this week's Mystery Photo, which surfaced from Voyageurs National Park.
An heirloom of the Cold War, Minuteman Missile National Historic Park is a place that both amazes and chills you. It's amazing in the sheer size of the underground missile silos. It chills you with the sheer thought of what those silos were poised to do.
If there was a trick to this week's Mystery Photo, it was that the buildings were not authentic. Rather, this the Western Town at Paramount Ranch in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
It's definitely not 21st Century architecture, but then, the National Park System is home to a wide array of architectural styles. Can you identify this location?
He was known, quite appropriately, as the "hanging judge." During his 21 years at Fort Smith, Judge Isaac C. Parker sent 160 men to the gallows, a replica of which this week's Mystery Photo depicts.
National parks weren't created only to protect spectacular scenery. Many cultural and historic treasures are protected by the National Park System. Which brings us to this week's Mystery Photo.
There are several places in the National Park System where you can find bombs. One of them is Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho.
With nearly 400 units, the National Park System harbors some incredible wonders. Some are easy to recognize, such as Old Faithful, the Everglades, and the Tetons. But every now and again you come across something that you stare at and scratch your head over.
Lady of the Woods is the figure of a woman carved from a large volcanic boulder in Crater Lake National Park. The carver was Dr. Earl Russell Bush, a physician working for the Corps of Engineers, in October of 1917.
History abounds throughout the National Park System. There are rare petroglyphs and pictographs to be found in the parks of the Southwest, American seafaring history along the Atlantic Coast, and even Civil Rights history in places like Mount Zion Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. But what about this object? Is it historic, or possibly even prehistoric?
Nature can be very geometric at times. Just look closely at snowflakes or crystals of sand. But are things always as they appear? Or are they exactly as they appear?
Ahhh Shakespeare, how much has the Bard given to literature? One character, of course, is Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Interestingly, there's at least one place in the National Park System where you can find Puck these days.
There are plenty of glacial erratics in our national parks. This particular one is not only unusually large, but also situated along a road where it can be admired by thousands every year. Do you know where this boulder is and where it came from?
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