Are you one of those people who pulls off of the highway to read historical markers?
Me, too.
That’s why I think you’ll like Markeroni, a site run by fellow wanderer (and motorcycle enthusiast) Linda Gentile.
It’s a catalog of various historic landmarks in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, with entries by ”landmark snarfers” who just like finding and logging those informative little signs and spots.
You’d think that on a 3000-ish mile Midwest road trip like the one we’re on, I would have remembered to log in a few landmarks myself, but I guess my mental RAM is simply too full to remember to do that on top of blogging, photographs, research and driving.
Please, check out the site and make up for my organizational inadequacies by entering some of your favorite landmarks.
It’s free and fun.
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Wow–what a lovely write-up! Thank you so very much.
Here’s a tip: next time you see a historical marker, just photograph it and read the text later. That way, you get the benefits of the history *and* it’s a lot quicker. I find that they can help to put some of the places I go in context. For example, last year I rode around Nevada for a month, ostensibly to find historical markers, and it helped to “place” the other pictures I took if I had a marker in the middle.
For travelers in Texas, there’s a wonderful book called “Why Stop?: Texas Roadside Markers: A Guide to Texas Historical Roadside Markers, 5th Edition” by Betty Dooley. Time-stressed travelers can get the scoop on historical markers without actually having to stop and read. The book’s available at Amazon and other places for under $20.
Mike (and others): Cool! Actually, there is a series of WhyStop–off the top of my head, Texas, Mississippi and California, at the very least. There are also many guide books for the various states, and some of them put their links online. If you check the Markeroni Resources pages (I linked to it from this comment) you can find links to many of them (both online listings of markers and books)–where they exist.
Hi Linda, Hi Mike,
Gee, get away from the computer for a day and people move in, sit down and start visiting!
Thanks to both of you for the suggestions; Mike, I think my Mom may actually have that book, so I’ll have to go see if I can borrow it from her….
Heh. Getting away from the computer makes life 3-dimensional.
My pleasure.
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