Blog Historic Aerials

Aerial view of Koziar’s Christmas Village in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, illuminated with extensive holiday light displays at night

Christmas Towns in America: Santa Clause, IN and Bethlehem, PA

Christmas Eve Origins Some places celebrate Christmas. Others were, according to local legend, named by it. Among the most distinctive Christmas towns in the United States are Santa Claus, Indiana

1928 aerial photograph of Manhattan showing the island, surrounding waterways, and dense urban development.

Edith Keating: Aerial Photography’s First Woman Pioneer

In 1925, Edith Keating was hired to type memos at Fairchild Aerial Surveys in New York City. It was a standard administrative role, but Keating proved to be a distracted

An illustration contrasting modern football players from Michigan and Ohio State facing off in the foreground against a sepia-toned background of 19th-century militias with pitchforks and muskets.

From the Toledo War to The Game: How a Misdrawn Map Fueled the Michigan–Ohio State Rivalry

Three days from now, when Ohio State and Michigan line up for The Game, millions will tune in for a football rivalry. What they’ll actually be watching is the latest

The Secret Places Where New Cars Are Sent to Be Broken

As a new resident of Arizona, I’ve spent some time scrolling through aerial imagery of the surrounding landscape, examining the evolution of cities like Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa over the

Trump’s White House Ballroom: Latest Chapter in 200 Years of Renovations

To understand the significance of this latest addition, it helps to remember that the White House has been a work in progress since the early 19th century. Most presidents who’ve

How HistoricAerials Helps Authors Rebuild The Past

There’s a certain poetry to seeing the past from above. The faint outline of a gravel lot, the ghost of a screen’s shadow, the looping pattern of old car ramps.

Let’s Get To Know Each Other From Arizona With Aerials

Just a little announcement to make: my boxes have been packed and I’m heading west. The headline isn’t the highway, though. It’s the destination: I’m currently on my way to

How America’s Earliest Airfields Live On

Many of America’s earliest airfields and airports are now decommissioned or repurposed. Looking at modern satellite imagery, you might never know they existed without a closer examination of a place’s

Tracing U.S. Horse Racing History in Historic Aerial Imagery

Once you learn the shape, you can’t unsee it. A clean oval ghosting beneath cul-de-sacs, stitched into golf fairways, hiding behind warehouse rows. From above, the outline snaps into focus

Collapsed beach house on an eroding bluff along the shore of Lake Michigan near Montague, Michigan.

The Truth About Owning Waterfront Property

So you’ve found the perfect waterfront property and you’re already imagining the dock you’ll build, the backyard barbecues, the early‑morning kayak trips, and the long, quiet evenings by the water.

Drone view of flood-damaged roadways and bridges along the Guadalupe River near Comfort, Texas, after flash flooding.

Aerial History of Flash Floods: Texas 2025 to SoCal 1938

Flash floods have shaped American history for generations. Each one reminds us that we cannot stop extreme rain, but we can reduce its impact. After every major event, local agencies,

Labeled historic aerial image showing three generations of the National Road near West Alexander, Pennsylvania, including the original pike, U.S. Route 40, and Interstate 70.

The National Road: America’s First Highway

Tomorrow morning, many of us will slide behind the wheel without a second thought. Coffee secure in the cup holder. Climate-controlled air humming quietly. A familiar podcast filling the car