April 21, 2022

MUSIC TO OUR EARS  Saving Early 20th-Century Sounds  What does the past sound like? A dip into the New York Public Library’s wax cylinder collection—which comprises about 2,700 recordings—might reveal the answer. Only a small portion of those cylinders, around 175, have ever been digitized. The vast majority of the cylinders have never even been played in the generations since the library acquired them. But that’s all about to change.  READ MORE → HOLIDAY TREATS Coconut Macaroons and Passover During the Passover Seder, Jews eat from a table filled with symbolic food, such as bitter herbs and matzoh, contemplating the dishes’ relationships to Jews’ escape from Egypt. For most Ashkenazi Jews, who trace their ancestry to Central and Eastern Europe, the rest of the meal includes traditional favorites such as potato kugel, gray lumps of gefilte fish, and other dishes evoking a European motherland. But at the end of the Seder, most Ashkenazim indulge in a more recent addition: the coconut macaroon. READ MORE → AFTON, VIRGINIA Crozet Tunnel In the mid-19th century, Virginia Central Railway wanted to connect to the Shenandoah Valley. To do that, they needed to build a rail line across the Blue Ridge Mountains. To do THAT, they needed to employ the services of civil engineer Claudius Crozet. His Blue Ridge Tunnel, as it was originally called, measures 4,273 feet (1,302 meters) and, at the time of its completion in 1858, was the longest tunnel in the United States and one of the longest in the world. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Learn to Decode A Building's History Unlock the language of buildings, drawing from architectural history, microscopy, historic preservation, and archaeology. We’ll look at buildings across the U.S., from halls that hold the histories of people who were enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, to buildings erected within Cherokee communities displaced by European colonization—learning how physical structures that have been preserved or destroyed can be central to understanding the history of a place. STARTING TONIGHT—ENROLL TODAY → EASTER FEASTS The Symbolism of Ukraine’s Easter Bread Sweet, egg-laced breads are part of nearly every European country’s celebratory menu, especially around Easter. But paska in Ukraine is special. Ukrainian bakers go all out, covering their breads with tiny floury birds, braided shapes, and curved crosses, occasionally baking them into towering domes with lots of icing. Easter is the country’s most important holiday, and Ukranians have long considered bread an object of reverence. READ MORE → SUDBURY, MASSACHUSETTS Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge These are concrete bunkers built by the United States Army in the woods of Massachusetts to store live ammunition. Now abandoned, they are covered with dirt and pine needles, while saplings and second-growth trees sprout from the top and sides, as well as all around them. After 63 years of military use, the bunkers now sit in Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, which bears no resemblance to its previous military incarnation. READ MORE → THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST The Louis Armstrong House Museum In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit famed jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s house in Corona, Queens, which is now a museum preserving his legacy. DID SOMEONE SAY TREASURE? Buried Treasure in San Francisco? In 1982, children’s book author Byron Preiss published The Secret, a book about a mythical treasure and its guardians—magical creatures hidden from human view. The enchanted beings, including Mugwumps, Devil Dogs, and Tinkerbelles, were a figment of Preiss’s imagination, but the treasure was not. Preiss concealed 12 ceramic keys in hand-painted casques, then buried them in public parks around the U.S. Each key could be returned to Preiss in exchange for precious jewels, collectively worth around $10,000. There was one tiny problem, though: the treasure was too well hidden. READ MORE → PADERNELLO, ITALY Castello di Padernello In the countryside near the city of Brescia stands the Padernello manor, which, towards the end of the 1300s, was a simple defensive tower protected by a moat. Over the centuries, the complex was transformed into a stately villa until it was abandoned and neglected in the mid-20th century. Luckily, the manor was rescued from obscurity by the Castello di Padernello Foundation. Today, the working drawbridge, the kitchens with the original terracotta floor, the frescoed coat of arms of the Martinengo family (i.e. a red eagle on a gold background), and many other rooms are still visible. READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA TRIPS Avant-Garde Winemaking in Catalonia Join us in Spain as we venture into the Catalonian countryside. We’ll discover unusual wines, fantastic food, unmatched hospitality, feats of human wonder, spectacular scenery, and meet the people behind the natural and biodynamic wine movement. Save 10% on the May 16–22 departure when you book before April 24th.