# What forgotten/neglected historic sites have you been to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 3, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496 "2013-07-03T00:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/21 "2013-07-03T13:19:18Z")
I have visited the original [Empire State Building](http://www.masseyknakal.com/news/blogs/634648092283611589.JPG), at the corner of Broadway and Bleeker Street in New York City. There was also the house where Lincoln died, across from Ford’s Theater in DC, including the “rubber room” (so-called because drawings of Lincoln’s death showed so many people present that the walls must have [expanded](http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/85-prints_as_historical_evidence_lincolns_deathbed.html) to fit them all). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/22 "2013-07-03T13:35:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There’s a thread about what famous tourist sites people haven’t been to in their own hometowns. That got me thinking the opposite. What neglected or unmarked sites have dopers gone out of their way to find out about and visit; or would like to visit? > > I’ve been to… > > …the site of the Brink’s Robbery. At least, I think I found the right spot. There was an exhibit about it at the Boston Library years ago, and they had a newspaper page that showed the location, where the robbers parked, and which door they went in through. I haven’t been able to find that picture again, but I think I remember it. The building is now a parking garage in Boston’s North End, not too far from the TD Garden. There was no marker of any kind that I found. > > . I’ve been there plenty of times, and parked in the garage. My contributions: **The Conference House/Bently Manor** – site of a conference on September 11(!), 1776 between Bejamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge for the Americans and a team of British negotiators lead by Lord Howe, in which they tried to avoid the American Revolution. They met for three hours, and the Americans rejected Howe’s terms. This is one of those events you never hear about in history classes. The house is located near the southern tip of Staten Island. > **[Conference House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_House)** > > Conference House (also known as Billop House) is a stone house in the Tottenville neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City. Built by Captain Christopher Billopp some time before 1680, it is located in Conference House Park near Ward's Point, the southernmost tip of New York state, which became known as "Billop's Point" in the 18th century. > The Staten Island Peace Conference, an unsuccessful attempt to find a swift negotiated end to the American Revolutionary War, was hosted there by his... **Pilgrim Monument** – most people don’t realize that the Pilgrims didn’t land at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth – they first landed at present-day Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and briefly considered settling there, but then decided to look for more substantial land. (They signed the Mayflower Compact in Provincetoen Harbor, not at Plymouth)Today there’s a tower commemorating the landing at the highest point in Provincetown, constructed with stoes from all the Massachusetts towns (they’re labeled on the inside, if you choose to climb to the top) > **[Pilgrim Monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Monument)** > > The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing of the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown Harbor. This 252-foot-7+1⁄2-inch-tall (77.0 m) campanile is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States and is part of the Provincetown Historic District. > In 1620, the Pilgrims spent five weeks exploring Cape Cod before they sailed to Plymouth, Massachusetts. After spending weeks at sea... ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/23 "2013-07-03T16:00:33Z")
I delivered a phone book to the house where Amelia Earhart grew up. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/24 "2013-07-03T18:35:25Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I delivered a phone book to the house where Amelia Earhart grew up. I traveled to install a video projector there. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/25 "2013-07-03T18:35:30Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Within an hour of my home in Lawrence, Kansas, I’ll mention two: the site of the Battle of Black Jack, which you could argue was where the first shots of the Civil War were fired; and, the Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri – the atrium is where an appalling number of people died in 1981 when an engineering miscommunication led to the collapse of several “skybridges” (if you know where to look, you can see the blank wall where the upper one was located) – sadly, the hotel/mall owners prefer to not mention the tragedy, not even with a small plaque. A close friend of my parents lost her mother and father in the Hyatt Regency skybridge collapse. And a local mariachi band, all female, lost four of six members that had gone to KC to play a gig there. On Thursday I’d seen them play at the Mexican Fiesta in Topeka, and just over twentyfour hours later most of them were dead. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/26 "2013-07-03T20:15:47Z")
I’ve been to the building in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, where Fred Gaisberg set up the first recording studio ever in the UK. Later on, he helped to build a recording studio in a house up in north London that is probably somewhat better known. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/27 "2013-07-03T20:18:33Z")
I have visited Castleton, VT-birthplace of “Colonel” Drake-the first man to drill for oil in the USA! I also have visited the Cobb’s Corner Inn (Sharon, MA), where George Washington slept for the night. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/28 "2013-07-03T20:39:02Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > …the site of the Hindenburg crash. It’s on an active U.S. military base (used to be Lakehurst Naval Air Station, but the designation has probably changed), so visiting it might be difficult under the current security rules. They let civilians into Fort Leavenworth with just an ID, so I would think it wouldn’t be much, if any, more restrictive to get into Lakehurst. My contribution: I’ve been to the [‘Day the Music Died’](http://members.clearlakeiowa.com/list/member/plane-crash-site-of-buddy-holly-ritchie-valens-jp-the-big-bopper-richard-7383) crash site north of Clear Lake, Iowa. It’s a long hike and there’s not much there and it’s on private land. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/29 "2013-07-03T23:38:02Z")
I’ve visited a few old pa sites and battlegrounds around New Zealand. Probably the most impressive is [Te Porere](http://www.historicplaces.org.nz/placestovisit/central-bayofplenty/te%20porere%20redoubt.aspx). It’s on a desolate hillside in the shadow of Mount Ngauruhoe and you can walk around all the earthworks. It’s well worth a visit. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/30 "2013-07-04T00:13:46Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Within an hour of my home in Lawrence, Kansas … The Quantrill’s Raid 150th anniversary is coming up – does that take it out of the “forgotten/neglected” category? > **[Quantrill's Raid the Lawrence Massacre self guided tour](http://www.kansastravel.org/quantrillslawrenceraid.htm)** > > Self guided tour of the scenes of Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas in August of 1863. 200 men were killed during Quantrill's Lawrence Raid. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/31 "2013-07-04T00:34:01Z")
I sailed through the Surigao Strait forty years after the US navy blasted the Japanese there, the last capping of the t in history. I thought “I’d hate to be coming through here getting shot at like that!” I visited the Fallen Timbers battlefield outside Toledo Ohio. It had been fought in a forest that had been knocked down by a tornado, hence the name; and the Indians, not wanting to get peritonitis from abdominal wounds, abstained from eating. Mad Anthony Wayne let them starve for days until attacking. I remember thinking “I’d hate to go in there!” Cowardice abroad, that’s me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/32 "2013-07-04T00:38:45Z")
> [@FeAudrey](#): > > The Quantrill’s Raid 150th anniversary is coming up – does that take it out of the “forgotten/neglected” category? > > [Quantrill's Raid the Lawrence Massacre self guided tour](http://www.kansastravel.org/quantrillslawrenceraid.htm) Ha! Not “forgotten or neglected” here! In my little neighborhood, for example, there are several privately installed plaques that say “so and so hid out here during Quantrill’s Raid, but was gravely wounded…”. There are walking-tour maps readily available. It’s enough a part of the local consciousness that, when a friend who has lived here for most of her fifty years mentioned that she worked in a local McDonalds decades ago when it was at the edge of town (but now the city is much larger), I joked, “Yeah, I heard that that was the only McDonald’s in Lawrence that survived Quantrill’s Raid!,” and everyone laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/33 "2013-07-04T00:56:15Z")
I’ve been to Merdon Castle (this was a long time ago in my youth, and I was trespassing, as the land is privately owned). Merdon Castle is the place where King Cynewulf of the West Saxons was murdered c790AD, and Aethelred and Alfred (the Great) were defeated by the Danes in 871AD. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/34 "2013-07-04T02:17:00Z")
I once drove over a hundred miles out of my way to see [Lucy the Elephant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_the_Elephant) - and I’m glad I did. It was completely worth the visit. One surprising thing is Lucy is in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. You’ll be driving by ordinary suburban houses and then there’ll be this giant elephant. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/35 "2013-07-04T03:14:53Z")
I’ve been to the spot where [Leo Frank](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank) was lynched. I’ve also been to a hotel in Utah where Ted Bundy kidnapped and killed one of his victims. There’s not a lot of tourist traffic at either place. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/36 "2013-07-04T03:22:55Z")
[Fort Stevens](http://www.nps.gov/cwdw/historyculture/fort-stevens.htm) It’s not out of my way at all, I live 5 minutes from there, but it’s definitely a pretty obscure site. It’s right on a major street in DC but it’s very small (roughly the size of a single city block) and you’d never know it was there, even if you drove right past it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/37 "2013-07-04T04:10:47Z")
I’ve been to [Titusville, PA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titusville,_Pennsylvania), where the first oil well was drilled by Colonel Drake. There’s a park and museum commemorating the event, of course. After that, I went to [Pithole, PA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pithole,_Pennsylvania), the world’s first oil boom 'n bust town. Check out these stats: May 1865: No town, 0 residents July 1865: 2,000 residents September 1865: 15,000 residents December 1865: 20,000 residents and 54 hotels December 1866: 2,000 residents January 1870: 237 residents August 1877: Town charter was revoked 1879: Remnants of city was sold back to the county for $4.37 Wasn’t able to make it to the visitor center as it’s only open during the summer. I’ve also been to Crawford Hill, NJ to view the telescope that discovered the Big Bang. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/38 "2013-07-04T04:32:14Z")
There’s an old building near my daughter’s apartment that has a couple of bulletholes in the side of it. You have to know what you’re looking for and duck under a fire escape to see 'em. It was the bank in Northfield, MN… [and also the site](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James#Downfall_of_the_gang) of the townspeople standing up to Jesse James and his gang. As [one site](http://www.death2ur.com/northfield_minnesota_bank_raid.htm) says: “We prefer to call this event THE GREAT NORTHFIELD ASS KICKIN,’ for it was on the streets of Northfield that the James/Younger gang were taken to task by your average citizens”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/39 "2013-07-04T05:00:43Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > My contribution: I’ve been to the [‘Day the Music Died’](http://members.clearlakeiowa.com/list/member/plane-crash-site-of-buddy-holly-ritchie-valens-jp-the-big-bopper-richard-7383) crash site north of Clear Lake, Iowa. It’s a long hike and there’s not much there and it’s on private land. I found a site with instructions on how to hike to the location where Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash. Maybe next time I’m in Vegas I’ll make the trek. I’ve heard that there is some preserved graffiti from World War II still on the Reichstag. When I was in Berlin I went all the way around the building; couldn’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/40 "2013-07-04T06:47:11Z")
I remembered another one. I took the tour down the steps inside the Washington Monument several years ago. As part of the fundraising to build it, states and other civic groups donated stones, carved to commemorate the donors, and they’re only visible on the inside. I don’t know if the Park Service even does that tour anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496.md?page=3)