• Tagged architecture, historic photos, Lady Liberty, monument, rare historic photos, statue, Statue of Liberty, UNESCO World Heritage Site, US National Monument

For 127 years, she’s watched over and welcomed people to the USA. Officially, her name is ‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ but most call her the Statue of Liberty or Lady Liberty. She is surely America’s most iconic statue. Lady Liberty is made from 300 copper sheets, suspended from a steel framework, which have naturally oxidized over the years making her appear green. She is 151 feet tall, standing on a 65 foot concrete and granite pedestal upon a courtyard shaped like an 11-pointed star. Located on Liberty Island, Lady Liberty calls out, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.” On July Fourth, America’s 237th birthday, Lady Liberty reopened to the public. Here are some rare and historic photos and fun facts, mixed in with stunning shots of the Statue of Liberty. [55 Photos]

• Tagged historic photos, K-25, Little Boy, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project District Headquarters, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Lab, secret government town, security billboards, Tennessee, The Atomic City, WWII, Y-12

In 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government created a top ‘Secret Town’ aka ”The Atomic City’ now called Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The government bought up about 68,000 acres of land and about 1,000 Tennessee families were given two weeks or less to vacate. All the while, other secret towns were created elsewhere in the US as part of the race to create an atomic weapon. These photos are a flashback into World War II and a treasure trove of Oak Ridge period history. Through these pictures we can peer into the past, previously shrouded in secrecy, into the atomic city where the Little Boy bomb was created before the Enola Gay dropped it on Hiroshima. It’s a story that involves Soviet atomic spies, espionage, compartmentalization to guard secrets, and government billboards encouraging secrecy among Oak Ridge workers. [60 Photos]

• Tagged historic photos, holiday, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, mountain, Mt. Rushmore, President's Day, sculpture, South Dakota

President’s Day is always celebrated on the third Monday of February and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, a sculpture carved into the granite near Keystone, South Dakota, seemed most appropriate to celebrate it. Each of the 60 foot sculpted heads were carved into the granite, mostly by blasting with dynamite, to depict U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Together, these Founding Fathers represent the first 130 years of American history. [34 Photos]