We Remember Keiko

A cairn on the shore of Taknes Bay in Iceland, marks the final resting place of Keiko, the star okra who once was featured in the Free Willy films. He died ten years after being reintroduced into the wild just off the coast of Iceland.

Short Sands Shipwreck

In 1958, this shipwreck, embedded deep into the beach sand in York, Maine, was discovered by locals after a coastal storm had washed away a large layer of the beach's sand. Believed by historians to be a small square rigged vessel known back in its' day as a 'pink', the ribbed outline has been revealed after other similar storms in 1980 and 2007. Marine archaeologists believe this vessel to be from the Revolutionary War era.

Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge

The only surviving bridge of its' type in the country, the Bollman Truss Bridge was built in 1852 by Baltimore engineer Wendel Bollman. The 160 foot structure, which spans the Little Patexent River in Savage, MD, was closed in 1947 and restored in 1983 as part of Savage Park.

Lost Innocence

Sadly We Remember

Chain Bridge - 1865

Photographer William Morris Smith took this picture of Chain Bridge over the Potomac River near Georgetown in 1865.

Reconciliation Park

This year will mark the 150th anniversary of the largest mass execution in United States history. At 10 AM on December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota Indians were executed by the government in Mankato, Minnesota, marking the end of the Minnesota Dakota (Sioux) War. Today, a memorial statue stands in Reconciliation Park, the site of the execution.

James Meredith

Born in 1933, James Meredith, pictured here in 1962, was the first African-American admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi. 

Where It All Began

On July 2, 1962, retailer Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store, pictured above, in Rogers, Arkansas.  The company now operates 10,000 stores in 27 countries, serving 200 million customers  weekly.

Operation Crossroads

On July 25, 1946, the United States conducted Operation Crossroads, a nuclear test in the lagoon of tiny Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. Many decommissioned ships from the US Navy fleet were purposely placed in the lagoon for the test in order to study any effects a nuclear bomb would have on them. In preparation for the test, residents of the atoll were relocated to another island, and Bikini remains uninhabited to this day as a result of unsafe radiation levels.

The Last Living Civil War Widow

In 1934, 19 year old Mandie Acklin married Civil War Veteran William Cantrell, who was 86 years old.  When Cantrell passed away three years later,  Mandie became known as the last living Civil War widow. She died in 2008 at the age of 93.