Have You Found Any HIdden Treasures?

The Thaddeus Kosciuszko Memorial is a hidden treasure. It's the smallest U.S. National Park - .02 acres. Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish-born, American Revolutionary War hero, whom Jefferson described as the purest son of liberty he'd ever known. The memorial is one room in a narrow, Philadelphia road house, where Thaddeus lived for seven months in 1797 when he petitioned Congress for back pay. If he'd known he was going to have his own national park, I doubt he'd have asked his secretary to find a place "as small, as remote and as cheap" as possible. His memorial teaches us history and to be careful what we ask for.



The Eiffel Tower, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, isn't hidden and it wasn't meant to be a treasure. Gustave Eiffel originally planned to build the tower in Barcelona, as part of Barcelona's Exposition Universal. After Barcelona turned him down, Eiffel submitted his plans to those in charge of Paris' Exposition Universal, who were having a design contest for the exposition's entrance arch. Although Eiffel won the contest, the contest terms stipulated "the arch" would be torn down in twenty years. When the time came, however, France didn't have "de Gaulle".



What Texas Monthly has every five years is a search for the state's best barbeque. After traveling over 15,000 miles and trying 341 barbeques, they found Snow's Barbeque in the small town of Lexington. What they found at Snow's was Miss Tootsie. Miss Tootsie, who's a school custodian during the week, has been cooking barbeque for forty-two of her seventy-three years. She says the secret to her barbeque is the combination of heat, smoke, salt, pepper and time. Now that Snow's is #1, Miss Tootsie has gone from cooking 300 pounds of meat to 1,000 pounds - and Snow's is only open Saturdays. Because they often sell out in two hours, the locals think Snow's has gotten too big for its ... brisket.



Before 1972 Gunnison Beach in Sandy Hook, NJ was a military base, where soldiers occasionally skinny dipped. When the base was decommissioned, it officially became a clothing-optional beach. On summer weekends as many as 5,000 people go there. Bathers are all races and ages, but most are over 50. Most bathe nude, many are topless and a few are in swimsuits. Even at a hidden treasure not everyone wants to reveal their hidden treasures.