Unusual American History
There are many strange or unusual events in America and relating to Americans. One not thought of very often is that Americans throw away over 4 pounds of trash daily. Figure the number of people in America in 2020 that is about 1.4 billion pounds of trash daily. Overall, a very wasteful nation.
Everyone thinks of the Statue of Liberty as being in New York City, when in fact it is technically in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was a gift from France to America in 1886.
The state official animal for the state of California is the grizzly bear. In the mid-1800s, there were thousands of such bears all across California. With thousands of people coming to California after 1848, looking for gold, all the grizzly bears have been captured or killed. So by 1924 there were none remaining.
Only two states as of 2020 do not follow daylight saving time. Those two are Hawaii and Arizona.
A favorite alcohol that was solely created in the United States is bourbon. It came from Kentucky and still 95% of all the bourbon in the world is made in Kentucky. It is made of corn, aged in charred oak barrels and at no more than 125 proof and bottled at 80 proof.
The oldest university in the United States is Harvard, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston. It was founded in 1636.
The state of Kansas produces enough wheat to bake 36 billion loaves of bread a year. That is enough bread to feed nearly 9,000 people for one day.
The 16th US President, Abraham Lincoln, was a wrestling champion as a young man in Illinois in the 1830s. He won 299 wresting matches out of 300.
The Territory of Alaska was sold by Russia to the United States in 1867 for about 2 cents per acre.
Some Americans from certain areas can speak faster that others. For example, most people in Oregon will say six words faster than those who speak five words in the same amount of time. Also, fast talkers are from Massachusetts and several Midwest states. The slowest talkers are from Louisiana.
With the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, there were a total of 56 signers. Most of those men were native-born Americans but 2 were born in England, 1 born in Wales, 2 from Scotland, 2 from Ireland and 1 born in Northern Ireland.
Photos: Statue of Liberty in New Jersey; grizzly bears gone from Calif., but this one is in Alaska; Harvard in the 1700s; and Abraham Lincoln wresting and defeating, Jack Armstrong a champion.
Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:
Unusual Aspects of Our Ancestors
Railroad Systems Moved America
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