New Deal Pointless Prize

[historygeek]

There’s so much history around us, and I, for one, am going to need biking destinations (since they can’t all be coffee shops and breweries this year). For those days when it’s too cold to stop outside for long enough to eat or drink– here’s a pointless prize for visiting New Deal projects.
What it is: During the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt promised a “New Deal” for Americans. Federal programs, including the CCC, WPA, and others, came to be collectively known as the New Deal. Projects ranged from new trails in parks to municipal buildings to recording folk music and oral histories. I’m defining this broadly– so if it’s federally funded and from the 1930s, we’ll count it.
The rules:
Take a bike-related pic at your favorite New Deal site. Post it in the “New Deal Pointless Prize” channel. Prizes awarded for:
Visiting the most New Deal sites by bike (and posting each to the channel).
Best New Deal Pic.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Prize for best historical description.

Need help getting started? Go to https://livingnewdeal.org/map/ to find a map of New Deal sites. But don’t limit yourself to these. Want to travel to a location where a famous artist lived while working for the WPA? Go for it. The site of a great music performance funded by a federal arts program? That counts. #bikenewdeal

Topic

[JoM]

Thanks for the incentives, I learned a lot about FDR and the New Deal. And thought about some of the parallels to current events. Thanks for the gift certificates! Will let you know! It was fun seeing sites from NY and when we start to travel again, I will definitely keep looking for ND sites and learning more about the history. There are still tons out in our area, so on days when I need a destination, I might just pick a point on the map! Also, keep me posted on the ER and DOI tours!

[Steve O]

@historygeek 210222 wrote:

And to any participant in the DC area– if you’d like to come along the next time I lead a tour of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Washington, let me know. I expect to do this at least once this summer (and it will be a small group rather than a big scheduled tour, since it’s for my interns and not for Atlas Obscura). When such things are possible,

Hi,
Post information about your ride here on the forum (Events thread) in advance and you will get lots of interest.
All sorts of rides have achieved success that way: Bicycle Fun Club, Midnight Saddles, history rides, dumpling rides, baseball game rides, National Cathedral tours, etc.

Here are some photos from a fun ride to the lotuses from pre-pandemic times:
@komorebi 191990 wrote:

[historygeek]

Yeah, I wouldn’t want a big group, and it’s a walking tour (not biking).

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[Author]

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