jodiebaby:

The transparent shells of tiny Cypridina hilgendorfii, found in the coastal waters and sands of Japan, hold a creature that emits a luminous blue substance when disturbed. During World War II, the Japanese harvested these creatures for soldiers to use when reading maps and messages at night.

Japan, Bioluminescent Organisms, Photo of the Day, Picture, Photography, Wallpapers - National Geographic

thewordsalloverme:

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fuckyeahghosttowns:

Cahaba, Alabama (via flickr)

Cahaba was the first permanent state capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1825. Cahaba’s low elevation at the confluence of two large rivers gave it a reputation for flooding and having an unhealthy atmosphere. A major flood struck the town in 1825, causing a portion of the statehouse to collapse. People who were opposed to the capital’s location at Cahaba used this as an argument for moving the capital to Tuscaloosa, which was approved by the legislature in January of 1826.

The town would remain the county seat of Dallas County for several more decades. The town eventually recovered from losing the capital and reestablished itself as a social and commercial center. Cahaba became a major distribution point for cotton shipped down the Alabama River to the port of Mobile. The addition of a railroad line in 1859 triggered a building boom in the town of Cahaba. On the eve of the American Civil War, more than 3,000 people called Cahaba home.

In 1866 the county seat was moved to nearby Selma, Alabama. Businesses and families followed. Within 10 years, even many of the houses and churches were being dismantled and moved away. A new rural community of former slave families replaced the old urban center. These families turned the vacant town blocks into fields and garden plots. Soon, even this community largely disappeared. Prior to the turn of the century a former slave purchased most of the old town site for $500. He had the abandoned buildings demolished for their building materials and shipped by steamboat to Mobile and Selma. By 1903 most of Cahaba’s buildings were gone, only a handful of structures survived past 1930.

Although the area is no longer inhabited, the Alabama Historical Commission maintains Cahaba as a state historic site and as an important archaeological site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Visitors to this park can still see many of the abandoned streets, cemeteries, and ruins of this former state capital.

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