# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/41 "2013-07-04T12:57:40Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I don’t know if this qualifies, but I had a few drinks at the [Marquee Club](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquee_Club) when it was still on Wardour St. Reading that link, I see that I had dinner there a few months ago, or at least on the same site (it’s now a restaurant). ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/42 "2013-07-04T13:30:16Z")
For out of the way and neglected, I’ve been to [Dura Europos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dura-Europos) and [Mari](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari,_Syria) in Syria. One was completely deserted and the other was guarded by a 10 year old boy selling crappy postcards. ---
**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 4, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/43 "2013-07-04T14:15:16Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > 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. as I said above, they did this on the interior of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, as well. It’s also an obelisk-shaped structure with a spiralling stair. The Pilgrim Mnument was built after the Washington Monument, so they evidently lifted the idea from Washington. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/44 "2013-07-04T14:24:24Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > It was also the[epicenter](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1129/1326940151_c9050e09ff.jpg) of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. > [URL=“[The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forest_of_Nisene_Marks_State_Park)”] I love that the sign has apparently been hit by moment magnitude scale loving vandals. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/45 "2013-07-04T15:13:47Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > I’ve also been to a hotel in Utah where Ted Bundy kidnapped and killed one of his victims. I used to hit the Sunday brunch buffet at the hotel where David Carradine later erotically asphyxiated himself. Back when I was hitting it, it was a Hilton and had arguably the best Sunday brunch in the city. Lots of good ones in town now, and that hotel is no longer even worth going out of your way for. I’ve also been through Checkpoint Charlie on my way to East Berlin. That ain’t even around anymore, not to mention the Berlin Wall. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/46 "2013-07-04T15:40:28Z")
I’ve visited Bonnie and Clydes death scene. It’s about thirty miles from Lake Claiborne where my parents had a fishing trailer. Not much there except a vandalized plaque/marker. It was still a very rural area when I visited twenty years ago. Heres the directions. Its a state highway in Louisiana. > **[Gibsland, LA - Bonnie and Clyde Death Site](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/12813)** > > Visit reports, news, maps, directions and info on Bonnie and Clyde Death Site in Gibsland, Louisiana. > [@](#): > > Eight miles south of Gibsland on Hwy 154/Par Rd 300. Watch for monument on southbound side of road. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/47 "2013-07-04T16:11:15Z")
When I was in the south of France, in [Les Eyzies, the prehistoric capital of France](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil). This little village is where part five and six of Jean Auels Earth Children’s series are set. It is a lush river valley with lots of abris, natural rock overhangs that provided prized living space for prehistoric man. We stayed in hotel Cro-Magnon. “Yeah right” I thought. But it turns out that right next to the hotel, there’s a little dark abri that is called Cro-Magnon, after an old hermit that lived there and who’s name was Cro Magnon. When the hermit died about hundred years ago, some buried bodies were found under his abri. It turned out the bodies were tens of thousands of years old, and belonged to people now known as the [Cro Magnon people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro-Magnon), the earliest and oldest form of Homo sapiens sapiens. So there I was, at the back of my hotel, right next to the service entrance. It had a fence and an Unesco world heritage sign next to it. I had goosebumps, man. I must admit, I didn’t come to Les Eyzies for that particular site, but to visit the caves mentioned in the Ayla books. Still, that site made a deep impression on me. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/48 "2013-07-04T16:23:45Z")
The Alben Barkley Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. It has some nice displays on Truman’s Vice President: [http://www.aboutpaducah.com/articles/alben-w-barkley-museum.html](http://www.aboutpaducah.com/articles/alben-w-barkley-museum.html) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/49 "2013-07-04T16:54:32Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > 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. It is much more restrictive. Without a military escort you are not going on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Civilians are let on for reason but you can’t just show up and say you want to go in. I’ve been there many times. Trained at Lakehurst and Dix. Flew in and out of McGuire. My brother has worked at Lakehurst for over 20 years. I’ve been to the crash site many times. They do supposedly give base tours every now and then so the site might be on there. Hanger #1 is very impressive. A modern blimp could easily fit in a corner of the hanger. The Hindenburg barely fit. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/50 "2013-07-04T17:32:26Z")
I once put my hand on the table (where the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 was signed). Its in a Hotel in Portsmouth, NH. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/51 "2013-07-04T18:01:31Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > When I was in the south of France, in [Les Eyzies, the prehistoric capital of France](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil). This little village is where part five and six of Jean Auels Earth Children’s series are set. > > It is a lush river valley with lots of abris, natural rock overhangs that provided prized living space for prehistoric man. > > We stayed in hotel Cro-Magnon. “Yeah right” I thought. But it turns out that right next to the hotel, there’s a little dark abri that is called Cro-Magnon, after an old hermit that lived there and who’s name was Cro Magnon. When the hermit died about hundred years ago, some buried bodies were found under his abri. It turned out the bodies were tens of thousands of years old, and belonged to people now known as the [Cro Magnon people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro-Magnon), the earliest and oldest form of Homo sapiens sapiens. > > So there I was, at the back of my hotel, right next to the service entrance. It had a fence and an Unesco world heritage sign next to it. I had goosebumps, man. > I must admit, I didn’t come to Les Eyzies for that particular site, but to visit the caves mentioned in the Ayla books. Still, that site made a deep impression on me. This is a good [description and picture](http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=6334410) of that sad little site. [Here’s me with a guide in the Ninth cave of the Zelandonii from the Ayla books.](http://avanarum.hyves.nl/fotos/?ga_campaign=photoAlbumEntry_ProfileHeader#mb=940422321.3.%7C6%7C%7C6782975%7C%7C%7C19%7C%7C26644901%7Cd-zRsHOM%7C%7C8%7C%7C940422321%7C0lIk%7C& __state__ =1)(now named [Laugerie Haute](http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=6334412)). It is the largest abri in Les Eyzies, and has been inhabited continuously for over fifty thousand years. That makes it a good candidate for oldest city in the world. But even that site was pretty much closed to the public. I had to pay a guide extra and I was the only one visiting. All tourists go to the nearby [Lascaux caves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux). ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/52 "2013-07-04T20:08:20Z")
Fort Hartsuff and Museum of the Fur Trade, in NE; and Brewster Higbee’s cabin (author of “Home on the Range” and the geographic center of the 48 states, in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/53 "2013-07-04T20:15:01Z")
Last time I was in Gibraltar, I got a tour of some of the tunnels carved into the Rock during World War II. I’ve been to Buffalo Bill’s grave, in Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/54 "2013-07-04T21:00:09Z")
I visited Cambodia in 1998 and went to the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek, outside of Phnom Penh. That doesn’t sound particularly obscure, but the roads there weren’t especially maintained at the time and it took our taxi maybe 45 minutes to go the last couple miles. We were the only people there - no one working there, no one else visiting. There was a central pagoda-style tower full of skulls and very little signage. There were some cattle grazing on the fields. If you walked around a little, you could see bits of cloth and bone fragments poking out of the shallow mass graves. It was profoundly eerie. I gather from a google image search that it’s better maintained and perhaps more visited these days. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/55 "2013-07-04T21:07:30Z")
Man, you guys have been to some obscure places. Best I can come up with at the moment is [Hovenweep National Monument](http://www.nps.gov/hove/index.htm) on the border of CO and UT. Maybe more later. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/56 "2013-07-04T23:27:58Z")
In my ongoing, “Tragical History Tour”, I stop at famous car-crash and plane crash sites. (James Dean, Patsy Cline, others) Riots and murder scenes, too. Also, down every dirt road in Nevada you eventually come to some abandoned site to check out. There are a few whole run-down towns out there to roam around in. Good fun! > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > 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. Your Welcome! 😉 I didn’t make (or even seen) the site, but I might have supplied the instructions. Typed 'em up years ago at somebody’s request. Guy really had a hard-on for Carole Lombard for some reason. I wouldn’t bother. Hard to get to, and _nothing_ to see. But be sure to grab a beer at the bar in Goodsprings. That place oozes cool! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/57 "2013-07-04T23:34:38Z")
Jayne Mansfield car wreck site. I need to go by there sometime. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf_jNf5xwKQ) ---
**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 5, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/58 "2013-07-05T00:40:07Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Your Welcome! 😉 I didn’t make (or even seen) the site, but I might have supplied the instructions. Typed 'em up years ago at somebody’s request. Thanks. The trip isn’t always about the destination. Sometimes it’s just a reason to learn stuff, be active, and get off the beaten path enough to see things I otherwise wouldn’t. > [@](#): > > Guy really had a hard-on for Carole Lombard for some reason. She was lighthearted and quite adorable in _My Man Godfrey_. Good enough for Clark Gable is good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/59 "2013-07-05T00:49:12Z")
Old Stone Fort State Park > **[Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Stone_Fort_%28Tennessee%29)** > > The Old Stone Fort is a prehistoric Native American structure located in Coffee County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The structure was most likely built between 80 and 550 AD during the Middle Woodland period. It is the most complex hilltop enclosure found in the South and was likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than defense. > The structure is now part of Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, one of two archaeological parks in Tennessee (the other being at Pinson Mou... I’d explain what it **is** , except nobody knows that. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496/60 "2013-07-05T02:15:36Z")
[The Battle for Adobe Walls, Texas, in 1874.](http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Veteran-Recounts-Battle-of-Adobe-Walls.htm) There’s a little monument there recounting the exploits of a small trading post that held off an Indian attack that far outnumbered the defenders. Although not really a significant battle, what’s interesting about it is the Indians withdrew after Billy Dixon killed one of the Indian leaders with a shot at a distance in excess of 1500 yards. Not bad for 1874. [From _The Sound of Bullets_, by Lucien Haag:](http://www.firearmsid.com/Feature%20Articles/soundofbullets/soundofbullets2.htm) > [@](#): > > The author’s first formal experience in this regard occurred during his work on a historical long range shot made on June 27, 1874 at Adobe Walls, Texas. [Note: readers interested in this remarkable event should read Ruprecht Nennstiel’s article in the July 1995 issue of the AFTE Journal] The original shooter was Billy Dixon and the gun was a “Big 50” Sharps. This writer went to the actual location (if this historic long shot and positioned himself in a protected area very near the site where the unlucky Indian sustained his fatal injury from Billy Dixon’s 1538 yard shot. As a result of Ruprecht Nennstiel’s computations and some actual firings at the Yuma Proving Grounds with the author’s .50 Sharps, Mike Haag was able to deliver three successive .50 caliber 438 gr. lead bullets to the same small mesa on which the Indian was killed. He fired each of these from the actual site of Adobe Walls-still recognizable after the passage of more than 120 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-forgotten-neglected-historic-sites-have-you-been-to/662496.md?page=4)