If you were a western settler in the 1870s looking for a home where the buffalo roamed, you might have had a hard time finding one.  Homes on the range saw ever-dwindling numbers of buffalo (officially known as American bison), due to systematic campaigns of extermination that targeted not only bison, but gray wolves and cougars as well. Enter William Temple Hornaday, a hunter and taxidermist who witnessed the near extinction of the bison and decided that “preservation . . . is an imperative duty, for otherwise it will be too late.”

"If you were to ask the first comer you meet in the street whether he knew 'Hiawatha' he would immediately be able to whistle it," wrote the Washington Post in 1904. Read about one of the most anticipated musical events of that year, featuring Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and his namesake Choral Society.

In 1847, seventy slaves went to the Maryland courts to enforce a deed of manumission granting them their freedom. What should have been a simple matter exploded into a nine-year court case that spun furiously around the ominous question at its core: if a man frees his slaves on moral conviction, does that make him insane?

Warren G. Harding, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone were some of the biggest names of the early 1920s. You'd expect these men to meet at some point, but when they finally did, it was in an unexpected place: in the remote hills of western Maryland! Read about the President's camping trip in the summer of 1921.

For those who have visited the Arlington National Cemetery, or simply know a lot about its origins, Arlington House is a recognizable feature of the historic site. However, before it became a dedicated national cemetery, it served multiple purposes once it was no longer a plantation both during and after the Civil War.

A woman accuses a powerful man of manipulating and taking advantage of her for years in a secret relationship. Sensational accusations emerge, causing a media frenzy. Lawyers on both sides prepare a protracted case which is followed in its every detail by the press and public. A popular Congressman faces a fall from grace. But this isn't a modern scandal—it happened a century ago in DC, and the woman at its center wanted only to see justice done.

It's no secret that the CIA sometimes thought more about whether it could and less about whether it should. Project Acoustic Kitty was one of those times. Does "trained cat" sound like an oxymoron to you? It should, but it cost the CIA $15 million to find out the same thing!