Long Now Locations

Locations, and objects that exemplify long-term thinking and planning. Created in conjunction with the Long Now Foundation.

The Last Handwoven Bridge

Keshwa chaca, the last handwoven Incan bridge, crosses Apurimac Canyon in Peru

Known as keshwa chaca, this is the only remaining example of the Incan handwoven bridges once common in the Incan road system. Made of woven grass, the bridge spans 118 feet and hangs 220 feet... »

Architectural Oddities, Long Now Locations, Incredible Ruins, Outsider Architecture | Edited by Dylan, Henry and others

Congressional Fallout Shelter at the Greenbrier Resort

America's post-nuclear-attack chambers of Congress

Known as Project X, Project Casper and eventually as Project Greek Island, and designed with relative luxury, this congressional fallout shelter remained a state secret until 1992. In the mid... »

Odd Accommodations, Long Now Locations, Subterranean Sites | Edited by LeahC, Dylan and others

Crypt of Civilization

The world's first time capsule lies behind a welded steel door in Atlanta

The Crypt of Civilization at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, is widely considered to be the first conventional time capsule intended to be opened on a specific date in the future. That... »

Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Astounding Timepieces, Long Now Locations, Repositories of Knowledge | Edited by mrobscurity, wythe and 2 others

Long Now Orrery

A modern mechanical planetary system, part of a 10,000 year clock

Inside the offices of the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco is a small museum dedicated to the art of long-term thinking. Surrounded by diagrams, molds, and assorted mechanical contraptions is... »

Unique Collections, Astounding Timepieces, Instruments of Science, Retro-Tech, Long Now Locations | Edited by Annetta and Dylan

The Sundial of Santo Domingo

The first official clock in North America, it kept time for the Spanish government of Santo Domingo

Before there were cell phones, watches, clocks, and about a million other ways to check the time, there was the sundial. The El Reloj de Sol de Santo Domingo is one of the oldest sundials in... »

Astounding Timepieces, Long Now Locations | Edited by bebeto, Dylan and others

Oklo Reactor

The world's first and only natural nuclear reactor

Many people think nuclear power is an invention of mankind, and some even think it violates the laws of nature. But nuclear power is in fact a naturally occurring phenomenon, and life could not... »

Natural Wonders, Fiery Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Geological Oddities, Long Now Locations | Edited by Alpha, Dylan and others

Georgia Guidestones

A mysterious monument meant to be a guide into "an Age of Reason."

In June of 1979, a man going by the pseudonym of R.C. Christian approached the Elberton Granite Finishing Company with the task of building a monument. He said that no one was to ever know his... »

Unusual Monuments, Astounding Timepieces, Long Now Locations, Outsider Architecture | Edited by tralfamadore and Dylan

SubTropolis

The "World's Largest Underground Business Complex," a 55,000,000-square-foot city underneath Missouri

There are a number of advantages to keeping things underground. The temperature remains near constant; energy costs are lowered; and—in the massive, 55,000,000-square-foot space known as... »

Natural Wonders, Geological Oddities, Curious Caves, Architectural Oddities, Long Now Locations, Subterranean Sites | Edited by Dylan and wythe

1908 Cistern Circles

Ancient technology adopted after hard lessons in worst-case-scenario fire control

In the spring of 1906, San Francisco all but burned to the ground. In the three days that followed the great earthquake on April 18, fires raged through the city, started mainly by ruptured gas... »

Long Now Locations, Subterranean Sites | Edited by Annetta, wythe and 2 others

Nauru

"The country that ate itself"

Known as the country that ate itself, Nauru is - along with the islands of Banaba (Ocean Island), in Kiribati, and Makatea, in French Polynesia - one of the three big "phosphate rocks" of the... »

Anomalous Islands, Disaster Areas, Long Now Locations | Edited by stanestane, cobaltbluetony and 2 others

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