Mile Markers

Tuxedo Park in New York’s Hudson Valley was one of America’s first gated communities, a playground for the super-elite. So it’s no surprise it gave its name to that most ubiquitous of formal attire for men.

Tuxedo Park in New York’s Hudson Valley has been a playground for the rich and famous for over a century. And it’s where a young Emily Post spent her summers. Tuxedo Park helped shape the woman who taught Americans the art of etiquette.

In 1885, a multimillionaire playboy called a bunch of his wealthiest friends, with names like Astor and Vanderbilt. He had a proposition: How'd you like to buy a property in an exclusive retreat in the Ramapo Mountains?

The state of Connecticut made a joint resolution in 2013 to celebrate the nation’s first powered flight, and it wasn’t by the Wright Brothers. Connecticut is the only state that recognizes a German immigrant as the first to fly. And one man built a replica to prove it.

Most of us were taught in middle school that the Wright Brothers flew the first plane in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. But some people say someone else deserves the credit: a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead. He allegedly flew his flying machine in Fairfield, Connecticut two years before the Wright Brothers

MIT debuted the first widely-played video game in 1962. It was a battle between two little spaceships that shot lasers at each other while dodging a vortex. For such a simple premise, the game has had a surprisingly long legacy, with multiple copycats, including the first game from the company that would become Atari.

The first widely-played video game wasn’t Pong, Donkey Kong or Space Invaders. It wasn’t made by Nintendo or Atari. Imagine a bunch of young MIT nerds in the early 60s, given free rein over the latest computer technology. The result was Spacewar!

Over two centuries ago, hundreds of people reported seeing a sea serpent in the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Those reports became one of the most well-documented sea serpent sightings in history.

Pirates were welcome in Newport, Rhode Island in the 1600s. They were celebrated, in fact, because they brought wealth to the city. That all changed when one of the most terrifying pirates in history started robbing ships right at Newport’s doorstep.

Newport, Rhode Island became famous as a pirate haven in the late 1600s, known as the golden age of piracy. Pirates brought their stolen booty back to the city — and some used it to become respected civic leaders and business owners.