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Travel

The Wonderland Club Hotel in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Abandoned Settlements Inside National Parks

Once vibrant places, these relics now linger inside America’s great natural treasures

How Farms Became the New Hot Suburb

A new real estate trend has developments planted around working farms. But are these communities sustainable?

Filipino Cuisine Was Asian Fusion Before “Asian Fusion” Existed

A wave of Filipino families in Las Vegas is putting a Pacific spin on fried chicken, hot dogs and Sin City itself

American-born novelist and playwright Jake Lamar says of living in Paris that life's easier when he gets in an elevator and "no one's clutching her purse."

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Paris

Is Paris Still a Haven for Black Americans?

The City of Light once drew thousands of black expats across the Atlantic, but does it still have the same appeal?

The rugged northwest coast of the island of Tristan. Winds and waves are so rough that many of past inhabitants were shipwrecked sailors who drifted ashore.

Redesigning the World’s Most Remote Human Settlement

Why architects are hosting a competition to help inhabitants keep living there—and how you can visit

The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes with the shadows of the Arctic midnight sunset, Kobuk Valley National Park.

Welcome to the Tundra: Kobuk Valley, One of America’s Least-Visited National Parks

Dramatic weather and impassable terrain shouldn’t stop you from visiting this park

Currently, the only place the public can see Einstein's brain on display is at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.

Urban Explorations

How Einstein’s Brain Ended Up at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia

Sixty years after the great scientist’s death, his gray matter is on display

Smithsonian Best Small Towns 2015

The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015

From sea to shining sea, our top picks for the most amazing American small towns to see this year

Only a Handful of People Can Enter the Chauvet Cave Each Year. Our Reporter Was One of Them.

A rare trip inside the home of the world’s most breathtaking cave painting leaves lasting memories

A stunning, modern wing of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, added in 1999.

The World’s Most Interesting (and Accessible) Library Collections

From the Magna Carta to Winnie the Pooh, what you can see at some of the world’s great libraries

Soldiers on the Union side look solemn as they carry a large flag.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

What the Final, Major 150th Anniversary Civil War Reenactment Looked Like

What war—and surrender—looked like on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War

Bob Baker in 2013.

Urban Explorations

The Curtain Hasn’t Closed Quite Yet on America’s Longest-Running Puppet Theater

Though its namesake died last year, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater is still hosting performances for audiences of all ages

The yurt, a portable, circular hut, has been a part of Central Asian nomadic culture for centuries. During the Soviet era, metal was abundant and cheap, so metallic yurts frequent Kyrgyzstan ancestral cemeteries. An Islamic crescent tops this yurt, and a Kyrgyz hunting eagle spreads its wings in the background.

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries

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Ask Smithsonian: Could the Volcano Beneath Yellowstone National Park Ever Erupt?

The good news is that an eruption there is highly unlikely, but the bad news is that it would be huge

In an eerie green hue, this upside-down Medusa head threatens to turn onlookers to stone. The color seems to come partly from a slick covering of algae.

Europe

Two Eerie Medusa Heads Watch Over Turkey’s Waterways

Why the Greek monster stares out from an ancient cistern in Istanbul

How will you celebrate National Beer Day?

Urban Explorations

Where to Go to Visit the Oldest Breweries in America

To commemorate National Beer Day, throw back a cold one for history

One of the colossal Buddha statues, before it was destroyed.

Planned Afghan Cultural Center Will Honor Ancient Statues Destroyed by the Taliban

The winning design will memorialize two ancient Buddha statues demolished in 2001

Cavers stand amongst large gour pool walls and unique raft cone formations inside Hang Va.

Journey to the Center of Earth

These Breathtaking Photos of Vietnam’s Caves Bring Out the Armchair Spelunker in Everyone

Photographer Ryan Deboodt discovers beauty in this subterranean realm

This dizzying crowd of Douglas fir trees gives off a refreshing scent.

How to Travel by Scent

We tend to privilege our sense of sight, but why not be led by your nose?

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