The Iron Lighthouse
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Where folklore meets freeway. A guide to the strange heart of the American backroads...
Stories (65)
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The Sweet and Sticky History of Fun, Part 4 Finale: The 1990s
Fog Horn Blast 🚨 Welcome to the 1990s: a decade of Tamagotchis beeping for food, AOL chat rooms screeching through dial-up, and Nickelodeon dumping slime on anyone within a five-mile radius. For adults, it was the rise of the internet, grunge, and Bill Clinton playing saxophone on late-night TV. For kids, though, the 90s were defined by two forces of nature: board games and candy.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in History
The Sweet and Sticky History of Fun, Part 3: The 1980s
Fog Horn Blast 🚨 The 1980s weren’t subtle. They were a decade of shoulder pads the size of satellite dishes, hair sprayed into the ozone layer, and MTV blasting music videos into living rooms 24/7. For kids, though, the 80s were less about Wall Street greed and Cold War paranoia and more about two sacred things: board games and candy.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in 01
The Sweet and Sticky History of Fun, Part 2: The 1970s
Fog Horn Blast 🚨 Welcome to the 1970s... A decade of polyester leisure suits, lava lamps, and a suspicious number of products shaped like avocados. While adults were wrestling with the Vietnam War aftermath, an energy crisis, and Richard Nixon’s resignation, kids were too busy losing their minds over exploding candy and board games that either tested your brain or unleashed absolute plastic chaos on the dining room table.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in History
The Sweet and Sticky History of Fun, Part I: The 1960s
Fog Horn Blast 🚨 The 1960s were a decade of civil rights marches, psychedelic rock, men in skinny ties debating nuclear war, and astronauts trying not to get incinerated on the launch pad. But for millions of kids sprawled out on shag carpet in wood-paneled basements, the real battle of the decade was between Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. Forget the space race; this was the snack race, and it involved dice, spinners, and enough artificial sugar to power a Saturn V rocket.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in History
The Towns That Time Zones Forgot: Where Lunch Happens Twice and Nobody Knows What Day It Is
Fog Horn Blast 🚨 There are some towns in America where you can walk out of a gas station, cross the street to a diner, and discover you are now one hour older. You didn’t drink too much coffee. You didn’t step into a black hole. You simply had the misfortune (or delight) of visiting one of America’s most chronologically confused communities... those precariously perched on the jagged seams of our nation’s time zones.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in History
Forgotten Highways & Lost Gas Stations
I. Prelude of Asphalt & Dust There’s something haunting about a two-lane highway that doesn’t quite go anywhere anymore. The paint is sun-faded, the asphalt cracked like an old leather boot, and the weeds creep through with the persistence of time itself. You drive past it on the interstate... your GPS urging you to stay in the fast lane... but your eyes wander. Off to the side, a rusting sign with missing neon tubes still flickers in the evening air: EATS.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in Wander
Scenic Trains of America: Riding the Rails Through Beauty and Time
Most people board a train because they need to get somewhere. But in America, there’s a special group of travelers who ride the rails not for the destination, but for the view. Scenic trains have quietly become one of the last refuges for slow travel. A way to sink into the landscape, sip a coffee, and watch mountains, deserts, and coastlines roll past like living postcards.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in Wander
Oddball Cemeteries of the U.S.: Where Americana Refuses to Stay Buried
America is famous for its highways, diners, neon signs, and baseball diamonds. But if you want a true look at the nation’s eccentric soul, don’t just look at where people lived, look at where they’re buried. From clowns and cowboys to frozen dead guys and epitaphs that double as comedy routines, cemeteries in the U.S. are less about quiet reflection and more about eternal Americana.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in History
Top 10 Family Camping Spots You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Camping with family isn’t just about pitching a tent or parking an RV. It’s about kids chasing fireflies with sticky marshmallow hands, parents sipping campfire coffee while swapping stories, and a whole crew snuggling under the same stars. For generations, family camping trips have been the glue of summer memories... but here’s the catch: most folks flock to the same old hotspots. Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon. Gorgeous, yes. But also crowded, noisy, and anything but intimate.
By The Iron Lighthouse4 months ago in Wander
The Top 10 RV Campsites You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
There’s a freedom in RV camping that tent camping just can’t match. Your home travels with you. You can chase the sunset, wake up beside a mountain lake one night and under desert stars the next. For decades, Americans have taken to the highways in their motorhomes, trailers, and camper vans, carrying that uniquely American dream of the open road.
By The Iron Lighthouse5 months ago in Wander
10 of the Best Tent Camping Spots You’ve Never Heard Of
The tent shivers in the night wind. Beyond its thin walls, you hear the ripple of a river, the distant cry of an owl, and the sigh of pines bending under the stars. It’s not a resort, not a crowded campground with neon lanterns and RVs stacked bumper to bumper. This is tent camping... raw, quiet, stripped-down Americana.
By The Iron Lighthouse5 months ago in Wander
The Magic of America’s Drive-In Movie Theaters....
The air is warm, the fireflies are dancing, and the gravel crunches under your tires as you pull into the lot. Ahead, a giant white screen rises against the twilight, and a row of cars glows with the soft red of tail lights. Kids tumble out in pajamas, parents crack open coolers, and a crackly speaker box hangs from your car window. Then the projector whirs to life, the screen lights up, and for a few hours the world feels perfect.
By The Iron Lighthouse5 months ago in History
