The Boardwalk

The famous Atlantic City Boardwalk is pictured in the Summer of 1920.

It's A Small World

A few days before their wedding, Alex Voutsinas and his fiancee Donna were looking through her family's pictures from her childhood days. Alex was holding a picture taken at Disney World in which Donna, then 5 years old, was posing with her two brothers and a Disney character. To the left in the background, he then noticed a man resembling his father, pushing a stroller with  him in it. As it turned out, they in fact had crossed paths 20 years before they ever met.

Donna met Alex through work and not realizing their incredible coincidence, they fell in love and eventually married. What makes this even more unbelievable is that they both lived in different countries at the time; he in Canada, and her in Florida. Now, after 8 years together with 3 children, they  decided to share their story.

Avoiding Capture

On April 20, 1945, in order to avoid capture by approaching American troops, Leipzigs Deputy Mayor and Municipal Treasurer Dr. jur. Ernst Kurt Lisso (at desk), his wife Renate Stephanie (in chair) and their daughter Regina Lisso all committed suicide in the New Town Hall by taking cyanide.

Then And Now

This ad appeared in the March 19, 1979 edition of Le Point. In this simple ad that then pictured one of America's most identifying landmarks, we are poignantly reminded now of her painful history. 

World War I Color Pics

This photograph was taken on the western front of World War I. While color photography was around prior to 1903, it was the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis who would patent the process in 1903 and develop the first color photos of World War I in 1907.

President John Hanson

On March 1, 1781, our country was formed and the Articles of Confederation were adopted. With that, Congress unanimously chose John Hanson as the first president of the United States. Under the Articles, the president was allowed to only serve one term, and Hanson was succeeded by six other presidents between 1783 and 1788. Ultimately, the Articles of Confederation never worked properly, and so the Constitution that we follow today was adopted, and George Washington was elected the first president under that Constitution. In history, the first seven presidents remain forgotten.

The Kennedy Coconut

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy served as commander of the PT109 during World War II. His boat was struck and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, stranding him and his crew in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy carved a message on a coconut shell which was delivered by a native to the PT base a Rendova, and they were all eventually rescued. 

The message read:       NAURO ISL
                                   COMMANDER...NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT...
                                   HE CAN PILOT...11 ALIVE
                                   NEED SMALL BOAT...KENNEDY

Kennedy later had the coconut shell encased in a clear paperweight, which he kept on his desk in the Oval Office.

Poe House

Edgar Allen Poe's mother's house, Richmond, VA, circa 1930

Abu Simbel

The Great Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, built in approximately 1244 BC, is located in southern Egypt on the shores of the Nile River. In 1813, J.L. Burckhardt discovered the temple, but was unable to locate the entrance, because a large portion of the front of the structure was buried in sand. In 1964, because of the construction of the Aswan Dam, the temple was in danger of being submerged deep underwater in what would become Lake Nasser. It was decided that the historic structure would be completely disassembled and moved 65 meters higher up the cliff and 200 meters back in order to save it. The entire project would cost 40 million dollars and would take four years to complete. 

His Final Picture

Bill Biggart was a photo journalist working in New York City on September 11, 2001 where he was killed when Tower #2 of the World Trade Center collapsed. When his photographic equipment was recovered from Ground Zero, the digital card from  his camera was found to be intact. Shown below, Tower #2 falling, which proved to be the last image recorded on Bill Biggart's camera before he perished.