Cities like Boston, Rome, Philadelphia, and Paris all have rich histories. Even small towns have some historical significance that some small niche of the world’s population may find interesting. Shirley Massachusetts has a museum that is partially devoted to my family history. Unless your name is Longley, or you are interested in late 17th-century colonial history, it’s probably not going to be on your visit list.
When people started realizing they could work from anywhere, they swamped the hot spots like Portugal, Chang Mai, and South Florida. As these areas got over-saturated people started looking for other interesting places. Not every city or town is blessed with majestic scenery, the arts, or rich history. Part of going remote is towns discovering their identity, or in some cases creating it. Some need to pull from fiction to create a tourism-worthy destination.
Romeo Where Art Thou
Every year, thousands of tourists flock to Verona Italy to see Juliet’s house from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Aside from the play being set there, neither characters were real. This didn’t stop the city of Verona from buying a building in 1905, that looked like it would have fit the bill. They added a balcony like the story described and magically a tourist destination was created. Nothing about the building or the balcony has anything to do with real events, but it doesn’t matter. The story doesn’t have to be real for the emotions around it to be.
Cowabunga Dude
Almost as soon as the pilgrims got settled, a few of them beat feet for New Hampshire. (I think it was to set up alcohol stores tax-free.) Dover was the first place they settled. Not exactly a huge draw with the tourist crowd on that account. Thankfully, a few centuries after the pilgrims, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were living in Dover when they created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A new exhibit is bringing Turtlemania to this small New Hampshire town. The state officially recognized Dover last year as the birthplace of TMNT. There’s even a decorative manhole in front of where the building was that Kevin and Peter lived in. It’s not for everyone, but for the faithful, it’s a great excuse to head to “New Hampsha”.
To Boldly Go
We still have two centuries before James T. Kirk’s birth, but Riverside, Iowa already has a monument erected for the occasion. With a population of just over 1000 people, it’s not on most people’s tourist hotspot list. Even the town’s official website recognizes its future contribution to the universe’s safety. https://www.riversideiowa.gov/ For hard-core Star Trek fans, a small town in Iowa is on the list.
A small town in upstate New York makes the list as well. Ticonderoga has always had a rich history dating back to the Revolutionary War. Now they have a piece of the future as well. James Cawley and a couple associates decided to rebuild the original sets from the Star Trek TV series in a former grocery store https://startrektour.com/. It’s a strangely emotional place to visit if you are a Star Trek fan. Whereas the original series had people behind the scenes pulling levers and making things move on a screen, the recreated set has been updated for the 21st century. It’s the bridge of the Enterprise we wish we could have had in the 1960s. There’s no other connection between Star Trek and the area, but James and his team have taken a little bit of science fiction and improved the reality for the community and fans of the show.
Whobalation Time
Welcome Christmas come this way
Fahoo fores dahoo dores
Welcome Christmas, Christmas day
Most of us know the song from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The Whos sing it during the Whobalation. In Easthampton, Massachusetts it’s an annual occurrence. While the historical accuracy of the account is questionable, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Suess) was an avid climber and regularly hiked on Mt. Tom. (Mt Crumpit) . At the base of Mt. Tom is Easthampton (Whoville). The story goes that Dr. Suess wasn’t feeling the Christmas spirit one year, and while on one of his hikes, he had an idea. The rest is history, or conjecture, depending on who you ask. Does it matter? The fire department has shirts that say Whoville Fire Department, so it must be true. The important thing is it’s fun, and it does something good for the community.
What is Real?
There are more than a few pieces of our history that aren’t quite real. Even events as ingrained in us as Paul Revere’s ride didn’t happen the way we are told. William Dawes and Samuel Prescott were left out when the poem was written. Even though they were still riding after Paul Revere was captured by the British. I’m not sure anyone except the families of Dawes and Prescott are too concerned with the historical accuracy of those events. It doesn’t matter. I’ve run the bases on the field of dreams baseball field. Nothing real happened there except for a movie, and a bunch of lawsuits among the property owners. It’s still cool because of the story. Sometimes the real history of a place isn’t enough. But a well-told story can bring tourists and residents who just want to be part of it.
