Category: National Monuments, National Historic Sites, Memorials, Battlefields, National Forests etc.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Kelly

Date: February 18, 2023

This cemetery is the 2nd largest cemetery in the United States and the most beautiful cemetery and arboretum. Established in 1845, the cemetery has 44 miles of winding roads and 733 acres with over 220,000 people interred there. The landscaping, architecture, history and 15 lakes are beautiful. Spring Grove is considered one of the magnificent examples of landscape design in the country. It is one of only five cemeteries in the USA that is designated a National Historical Landmark. It has many State & National Champion Trees. Famous Cincinnati families such as Taft, Proctor, Gamble, Kroger and Civil War officers are just a few of the famous people buried here. We spent several hours driving through the huge cemetery took photos of unique tombstones, Jacque by a Johnny Appleseed statue, a tombstone for Mr. Coffin, controversial tombstones of SpongeBob Square Pants and a tomb that looked like the Egyptian Sphinx.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: May 8, 2009

In the Charleston Navy Yard, a suburb of Boston, I visited the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat. It was constructed in Boston in 1797. The three masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate ship is called “Old Ironsides”. It is nicknamed “Old Ironsides” because the USS Constitutions crew defeated four British ships in three battles during the War of 1812 and it appeared as if no enemy cannonballs could penetrate the ships strong oak hull. Navy crew members gave me a tour of the ship on deck and below deck. I enjoyed the interactive exhibits in the park museum and also toured the haunted Navy Fletcher Class Destroyer, the D793 USS Cassin Young which was built in 1943.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: May 6, 2009

This memorial and museum in lower Manhattan commemorate the September 11, 2001, attacks which destroyed both Twin Towers killing 2,977 people and also commemorates the 1993 World Trade Center bombing which killed six people.  Construction started in March 2006 at ground zero of the World Trade Center site. I visited in 2009 (Photo #1) as work was still going on. Workers were building the world trade center south and north tower pools (set within the original footprints of the twin towers), each would have a 30-foot waterfall. A pear tree that survived the destruction is named “the survivor tree”. The museum has over 60,000 artifacts and historical records. Photo #2 shows the twin towers taken from the Statue of Liberty in 1990 as I was filmed a Moraine TV show segment there. Photo#3 sadly shows what was left of the towers after the terrorist attack. The Memorial & Museum site was completed and opened to the public in May 2014.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: November 1, 1986, November 1990, May 6, 2009

The first visit to the Statue was the day before Rosie and I ran the 1986 New York Marathon. We went sightseeing in lower Manhattan. At Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan, we saw this circular sandstone fort built from 1808 to 1811. It was America’s first immigration station, and eventually turned into an aquarian, exhibition hall, theater and now houses the ticket office for the Statue of Liberty. The Castle is just west of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Next to the Castle, after purchasing tickets, we hopped on a Statue of Liberty Ferry. The last visit to the Castle was when I was with a group of seven City of Moraine co-workers and friends to catch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and also at the New York Mets stadium. Our group randomly toured lower Manhattan. The Moraine gang did not go into the castle but sat outside on a bench resting (photo #2) and snacking as we enjoyed the view looking south at Ellis Island and Liberty Island.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Scott Golden, Tim Clark

Date: November 1, 1986, November 1990

Rosie and I first visited this National Historic Landmark two days before we ran the 1986 New York Marathon. The Empire State Building is also listed as one of “The Seven Wonders of the Modern World”. The 1,452 foot tall, 102 story building was completed in 1931 and is featured in over 250 films and TV series since the movie King Kong in 1933. The ESB was the world’s tallest building until the first tower of the World Trade Center was completed in 1970. The ESB is so big it has its own zip code.

We entered the lobby and immediately were impressed with the Art Deco architecture. Since I was in 7^th grade, I have read 210 Doc Savage pulp adventures novels and this 1930s and 1940’s fictitious globetrotting crime fighter allegedly had his headquarters and laboratory in the top floor of this building. So, it was cool imagining a gunfight against gangsters here in the lobby, outside on the street and a dirigible attached to the top of the building. We rode one of the 73 elevators up to the 80^th floor. Then got on another elevator to go up to the 86^th floor outside observation deck. We had incredible views of Manhattan, the East River & Hudson River, all the boroughs of New York City and west into New Jersey.

The second photo is my ticket receipt to the observation deck. Photo’s 3 & 4 came from my VHS movie camera and are a little blue in color. The third photo shows the curved bars to keep skydivers from parachuting off the deck. In 1990, Tim, Scott and I visited the ESB since we were in town for an Old-Time Radio Convention.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: November 2, 1986

Opened in May 1883, the bridge crosses the East River and once was the World’s Largest Suspension Bridge in the World and the first to use steel for its cable wire. Rosie and I ran across the 1,600-foot main span of the bridge during the 1986 New York Marathon. The view crossing it from Brooklyn to Manhattan is incredible. You can even see the Statue of Liberty to the south. The bridge is named one of the 7 Wonders of the Industrial World.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: August 9, 1974

Not designated a US Monument but is part of President’s Park and is considered a National Registered Landmark administered by the National Park Service. After visiting the Lincoln Memorial, by coincidence, I visited the White House the evening that President Richard Nixon resigned. There were great crowds and television networks everywhere airing live reports. It was very chaotic at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW but although my black and white photos did not do justice, the White House lit up at night was very majestic looking. The construction on the famous building was finished in 1800 and many additions since then have taken place.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Shane Miller, Holly Miller, Jacque Miller

Date: August 2009

A top roadside attraction, this bridge is listed as one of the “Engineering Seven Wonders of the Modern World” and is a National Historic Landmark. Completed in May 1937 after 4 1/3 years of construction, over 2.4 million vehicles have crossed the one-mile-long bridge. It is named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. At one time it was the world’s longest suspension span bridge and is one of the world’s most beautiful ridges. The bridge’s color is right red-orange and not golden. My family did not drive over the bridge but bicycled north across the bridge.  

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Shane Miller, Holly Miller, Jacque Miller

Date: August 2009, July 2022

This unique monument covers the entire 840 miles of coastline of the state of California plus 12 nautical miles out to sea to protect the 20,000 reefs, islets, and rock outcroppings. Driving the beautiful Route 1 Pacific Coast Highway we visited parts of the national monument coastline from San Diego to San Francisco in the south and Klamath to Crescent City in the north. The area of Big Sur with its winding turns, seaside cliffs, misty coastline and beautiful beaches exemplify this national monument. We sprinted down long hills of sand to the Pacific Ocean, found large starfish in tide pools and saw beautiful sea stacks in the water.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller

Date: August 2009

The historic cable cars are the only “moving” or “mobile” National Historic Landmark in the USA. Cable cars were invented in San Francisco. A cable line was established, and public service began in September 1873 and has been running ever since. It cost me $8 for a ride but was worth it. I learned there are two types of cable cars, one that can be operated from either end or doesn’t need to turn around at the end of the line (route). The other cable car operates only from one end and needs a turntable at the end of the line to reverse its route. In the Pacific Heights area, I took a photo of the cable car looking down the steep hill towards Fishermans Wharf with Alcatraz Prison on the island in the background. I hopped on the cable car at Lombard and Hyde Streets and enjoyed this slow but scenic ride.