This Walmart Hides a Major Piece of American History

[@jma.87]

So weird, my grandma lives right next to this exact Walmart and I never knew that after all this time 😅

[@Beyondthe5thPanel]

Perhaps now that l to this video, some lobbying can be done to change this

[@lindabuck2777]

So did YOU go and check it out???

[@jma.87]

@@lindabuck2777 Not yet, but I fully intend to the next time I visit her (next month - I live out of state now).

[@phantom4167]

They have a plaque in the shopping center across the parking lot from this walmart

[@3XC4L1B3R]

"Hey kid, you wanna see a major piece of aviation history? Follow me behind the Walmart..."

[@obi-ron]

Let's hope he didn't hire a van during his trip home😅

[@wingsandbladesreal]

Tempting...

[@RobertCoberly9999]

*lands first ever hot air balloon* "Golly, just imagine a Walmart parking lot. Right here."

[@josephfoulger9628]

It wasn’t the first, just the first in the US

[@imstupidbut]

@@josephfoulger9628untrue

[@bettermetal8306]

The meme is real😂

[@dchawk81]

Everyone knows the reason the hot air balloon was invented was to survey future Walmart locations.

[@Xenonthenoblegas]

@@dchawk81Planes were invented to survey new McDonalds locations

[@Tindog81476]

I have found so many places that no one even knew existed from playing Pokemon Go. Because a lot of players want pokestops near their homes, but can't submit anything unless it is culturally significant. Pogo players look under every rock and bush trying to find stuff. I've learned about geomarkers, historic sites, buildings, trails etc... people are often surprised by what is in their backyard, but is so overlooked no one really knows it's there.

[@Code7Unltd]

>Pogo needing landmarks to be 'stops' Quite a bit of the Pokemon Go stops were also imported from developer Niantic's earlier phone game 'Ingress'.

[@Tindog81476]

@@Code7Unltd I'm aware I play ingress too. But you can add them from any game now.

[@RichGurska]

@@Code7Unltd I was a day one Ingress player. I (richlost) was the first known player in the New England area to reach 10 million AP. I retired because the game was just destroying the batteries on my phones.

[@The_Top_Gun.]

I knew a kid whose house was a pokestop because it used to be a historic girl’s school.

[@dursty3226]

Pokemon Go, Geocaching, and possibly Randonautica are the only things keeping local exploration alive today. i'm grateful for them, but it's still sad that we need a third-party telling us "hey, go here!" instead of just exploring ourselves. i don't know *anyone* who just wants to randomly explore anymore.

[@JasonTurk85]

I've only heard this second hand, but the city of Waukesha Wisconsin wanted to cash in on the fact that it was the birthplace of Les Paul. They went searching for his childhood home so they could turn it into a museum, only to realize they grabbed it via eminent domain so a Walgreens could be built in its place just a few years earlier.

[@Fetidaf]

That’s a myth… its a strip mall lol

[@BiLkesCS]

@mid.west2 Les Paul was a guitarist who helped designed the Gibson Les Paul, if you've ever seen a picture of any rock band you've likely seen one

[@Mr._Mints]

@mid.west2Hello from Dayton, fellow Ohioan!

[@sfkdsxzjkcfjldskaf99sddf809sdf]

@mid.west2 Lol this mong has never seen a guitar before

[@jakeyt153]

He straight up invented the electric guitar among many other music production stuff

[@MillsterUK]

Evan out here gunning for Tom Scott's job now that he's semi-retired. Even down to the "I'm at..." style intro xD

[@stevebailey805]

Wrong colour T-shirt

[@jmarino715]

Wow... such a pessimistic mindset. So what if the intro style is similar? Do you know how many influencers mention their location at the start of videos? Do you even know if it was Tom Scott who first thought of that idea? The answers are: "a CRAPTON" and "NO - not even remotely close".

[@bruh6984]

​@@jmarino715I think OP was making a joke

[@frkieran]

@@bruh6984 and if it wasn't a joke, it's still a complement

[@bruh6984]

@@frkieran My thoughts exactly

[@freakandproudalways]

building a walmart that hides this landing space and important tree feels a little more intentional a hiding of history than a king dying in battle, buried by/ in a monastery grounds and the knowledge of where being lost to time when monasteries were dissolved

[@hublanderuk]

I was looking for this place on Google maps I can find first flight park and I can find a Walmart. Not even a geocache to show where it is. I guess historical accuracy got in the way of town planning. 😃

[@vavorr]

​@@hublanderuk its behind the walmart on clements bridge road. the location on google maps is the tree behind it, called The Clement Oak, which fell due to a small tornado in 2021

[@nwerd7584]

It would be hilarious if 200 years later the historic marker there is to note the walmart. lol

[@seijika46]

Disrespect for history is all too common.

[@faithlesshound5621]

Henry Ford famously declared, "History is bunk." Now History has decided that Henry Ford is bunk.

[@adamk.7177]

Is it disrespect, or just ignorance?

[@vast9467]

history can’t fight back

[@gateauxq4604]

It’s the American way! 🦅

[@nwerd7584]

@@adamk.7177 generation after generation is ignorance, you have to know it exists and where it exists to disrespect it when talking about historic sites. The funny part is the town still making the historic happening a part of their advertisement and image, but not enough to actually preserve the location. Its likely trying to get richer and richer people to move there since living in NJ is a dystopian hell hole legally now.

[@coasternut3091]

I put a post on my city's subreddit about needing to change some of our infrastructure to be more human based and less car based. I received almost exclusively backlash. From people telling me that I don't know how cities work to people saying "move to the EU then commie" It was a very eye-opening lesson about my town and its people Edit: It's worth noting that I live in The South of the US

[@no_name4796]

As an european, it is basically the same here, except we skilped the phase where we build highway and parking lot in every single meter of land lol And now it is easier to fix cities here, because the damage isn't as crazy aa that done to US cities

[@durabelle]

I'm not surprised really, people living there are probably so used to things being that way that many don't even know what they're missing, especially younger people. And since they're so dependent on cars anything that threatens that will be resisted. I grew up in Helsinki, Finland in the 80's and 90's and the whole city was (and still is) extremely walkable. They're still building new paths and even bridges for pedestrians and better cycleways, plus developing the public transit system. (Sure, not all the decisions have been brilliant, but the general direction is good.) Now I live in the UK and still walk and cycle everywhere, and have never owned a car in either country, although you'd definitely find one useful in the countryside. I don't think I'd survive in the US for very long, the suburbs just sound depressing and the bigger cities scary, noisy and too busy.

[@kitsuneneko2567]

The problem is too many people want to destroy and then rebuild, but have no viable solution for what happens in between, progress will need to be incremental, and sometimes progress isn't progress. Care is needed and too many activists just want to have revolution.

[@coasternut3091]

@@durabelle The younger people want to because they're the ones exposed to it online. Unfortunately, we're run by older people

[@mlu007]

Not just in the US. I'm in Canada and I live in a prime suburb immediately adjacent to the big city. Our mayor approved a transit oriented development but allowed the developer to include a 3100-spot multi-level underground parking lot. The project was supposed to be a mixed-use neighbourhood anchored around a brand new light rail transit station. As a result, people just drive there. The whole neighbourhood looks very generic but is walkable. We've just shoved the cars underground to give the place the appearance of a city centre.

[@jarv998]

Having never been to the US I found these insights and comparisons fascinating

[@WookieWarriorz]

I completely feel you, i get this weird eerie feeling when i was outside in a lot of places when i lived in the usa, theres just a giant expanse of road networks everywhere, its like being stranded in the ocean almost sometimes and also feels like if any sharks attack those cars are too detached from the pedestrian reality to help. Obviously some areas and cities are different but im very much glad to be back home in ireland now where everything feels more real and lived in and for people.

[@mrrandom55951]

mmmk

[@docgeoffrey877]

@@mrrandom55951 the cars ARE the sharks. significantly more deadly, too

[@ogvektor]

2 weeks in ireland is all it took me to see the same. i've really begun to notice just how.... out of place a lot of my hometown is

[@itsPenguinBoy]

One of my favourite discoveries when I was in the Midwest was that the word 'camping', the quintessential "leave technology & civilisation behind activity" over there means to have a luxury apartment on wheels and largely remain inside it while parked in a campsite. We had to specify "tent-camping" to clarify what we were doing - turns out 'Camping World' doesn't sell tents.

[@DennisWurster]

Some folk call the wheeled-apartment kind "glamorous camping" or 'glamping'. I am not making this up.

[@itsPenguinBoy]

@@DennisWurster LOL, I suppose at least glamping knows its different from camping with a 'c'! The big shock for me was that in some places this was the *default* meaning of the word camping. I think glamping is a thing here too, but the bar is definitely lower! Slightly fancier onsite showers & bathroom, power outlet, maybe a picturesque and spacious pre-erected yurt instead of a traditional tent, and other amenities = glam. We also have "Caravanning" as a verb, for holidaying with a camper trailer aka caravan. Which makes the distinction clear. ... Caravans were also traditionally seen as a way for working class families to take cheap cheerful vacations, and where travellers lived, so the association was never quite glamorous, but now with housing issues causing difficulty in affording/keeping a caravan, rainy British summers, highway traffic, cheap flights from undertaxed budget airlines, more people now vacation in cheapresorts/hotels in Southern Europe. Fancier versions of which are pretty much what wealthy brits have always down. It's not uncommon to see old caravans from the 80s full of gardening equipment sitting on bricks in someone's garden in a housing estate. I don't want to crap too much on US road trip culture and the vast beautiful landscapes, and quirky roadside attractions you can experience on the interstate system as a result of that culture.

[@dchawk81]

@@itsPenguinBoy Yep you buy a trailer and a truck that cost more than your house to get away from your house while still having the same amenities and chores. Because what else are you gonna do on vacation. Even more awesome is many people tow their camper to a campsite near their house and pay a fee to have it there for a few days. Then pack everything up and go home.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

There was a recent study that found a focus on history when regenerating and developing an area is actually the most successful way to do do developments or regeneration. Which makes sense

[@Spiritof1955]

Well said. The US need to wake up to what they have hidden away. They are often heard saying, "We're a young nation and have very little history", but the US won't have any at all if they don't preserve what they already have. Even today is tomorrows history, build on it and get out on foot and go exploring. 😊

[@wombatpandaa9774]

I'm so glad to hear you talking about this. Having lived outside of the US very recently, I am absolutely chafing to get out again because these cities are not built for people and it feels so wrong. I'd recommend City Nerd, Not Just Bikes, and Strong Towns to anyone who wants to learn more about why American city planning doesn't work via video!

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

I subscribed and am now waiting till next video when he finds out its actually not even efficient, and is actually seemingly just a product of trying to make redlining function more effectively

[@SportPlusDad]

That’s so funny I was just trying to list some of the other channels that touch on the sad state of US land use planning and came up with the exact same three. Interestingly my epiphany on this came after living in London, having grown up in suburban Washington DC.

[@sammymarrco2]

my fav is Oh the Urbanity tbh

[@sammymarrco47]

@@SportPlusDadDC Arlington and ALX are some of the best places in the US for urbanism too!

[@garryferrington811]

You guys are depressing me. Especially as you're right. Suburbs are awful! Why do I want to drive twenty minutes for a quart of milk?!

[@isabellepatnode]

I really loved this style of video. Like I love the normal style, but this was something different.

[@jarv998]

Agree, I have only discovered this channel a couple of weeks ago so I have been doing a lot of catching up! but I agree the composition/ framing of shots and sound quality in these videos is superb

[@evan]

@@jarv998ah thank you! I spend a lot of time on the sound, colour grading, and composition (and lighting when I can control it)! My friend Kim is the super skilled one with the crazy good editing abilities of weaving things together as a satisfying narrative (and took my drone shot and composited that cool balloon!!)

[@doriancostley9075]

I live near a historic place in the US that used to have a nice trolley. Places are themed after it. The actual trolley is gone because they paved over it and squeezed in a road for cars. There isn’t any room for this road either; the sidewalks are VERY thin and claustrophobic. It’s very clear that the place was not designed to have cars.

[@spotty_socks]

The editing in this video is fantastic!!! My hometown has quite the history, it was one of the first huge oil boomtowns in Texas, and the downtown area is very walkable with lots of historical stuff to see up close (oil derricks, murals, shop displays). It's very walkable in the area surrounding downtown, but the sidewalks tend to disappear the further away you get, and the sidewalks on the outskirts aren't very safe to walk on. I think this is normal in Texas, but it is quite difficult to get anywhere without a car since the only other option for walking is grass and the side of the road.

[@dylnpickl846]

Lacking a human element; I really appreciate you talking about this. When I was a teenager I used to wander a lot, and when I was younger my dad would take me wandering. Walking around without a particular purpose, opening oneself to the possibility of discovering something new, is so human. I miss those times. No one just wanders anymore, not for fun, and it IS suspiscious to see people wandering around behind Walmarts or overgrown parks. And that sucks. Because I yearn to wander.

[@RM-ti8nf]

Me too ❤❤❤

[@dursty3226]

there still must be *some* yearning people have for wandering, because the word "coddiwomple" was coined recently (late 2010s) and it means "to travel purposefully toward a vague destination." or as you said, waking around without a particular purpose, opening oneself to the possibility of discovering something new.

[@Doug_Dimmadome]

2:20 That has to be the first pilot's license

[@TomAlger.]

What the heck lol I drive by here twice a day and I had no idea about this😂 thank you!

[@stevepuffery8918]

Here’s some cannon fodder for you. In the Denver area, we have “green belts”. These are grassy foot/bike paths mostly devoid of trees, leading to someplace where hopefully you want to go, but most often not. They are usually under power lines and or following a drainage ditch. They are in places where houses cannot be put, so they throw us a bone? A little bit better than nothing.

[@Voicesofdoom_legacy]

My town has a greenbelt too. It used to be rails for a train, but now it’s kinda pretty. There’s an owl and hawk that live there

[@robbiegarber898]

The last time I really "found" something was a couple years ago, in Granville OH, the small town surrounding my university. There's a library in town you have to enter from the side, and directly across the side entrance is a plaque for the Victoria Woodhull Clock. Every hour, the clock opens, and pushes out a small statue of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President (she ran in 1872). She wasn't born in Granville, but in a another town in the same county. According to the plaque, it is one of the only two physical memorials to her.

[@suburbanbanshee]

Victoria Woodhull, who ran on a platform of "free love" (ie, sex with whoever).

[@MalachiFrazee222]

Big business always gets priority over history. We had a most haunted children cemetery from 1800s, but Walmart was more important. That cemetery got destroyed. Construction used it as a parking lot. Gravestones got smashed, and a truck got stuck in one of the graves.

[@invisible683]

Is that Walmart now haunted?

[@MalachiFrazee222]

@@invisible683 I hope so.

[@indigobunting5041]

There's a mysteriously ending sidewalk along a busy street in my town. After about a block it starts up again. I learned recently that the block with no sidewalk is a pocket within the city which belongs to the township. The township doesn't mandate sidewalks.

[@kathrynredmond5294]

In my area, it's that sidewalks weren't mandated until the mid 2000s. Up till then, if you were building, you could choose not to have a sidewalk. So every once in a while you have a new housing development that has to put sidewalks in right next to an older house that hasn't been updated since then and therefore required to have a sidewalk.

[@meliana751]

I love the fact that the car park and nearby council building, where King Richard III was found has been preserved, and turned into a museum. Well worth a visit!

[@nikofoto]

Ha! My wife is from Deptford. I lived there for a year, over a decade ago. If you frequented Best Buy, we may have crossed paths once. I wasn’t a huge fan of Deptford though, for all the reasons you listed, but I’m a pilot, so this is a cool fun fact for me. Great video as usual.

[@evan]

The best buy where I bought a laptop back in the day

[@AndrewRoberts11]

Deptford doesn't exist, hasn't since 1965, it's either Lewisham or Greenwich, as you'll find when you try to interact with London's officialdom (Ignoring foreign knockoffs).

[@thxdeeply]

​@@AndrewRoberts11 Did we watch the same video? They're obviously talking about Deptford New Jersey.

[@AndrewRoberts11]

@@thxdeeply Surely if the genuine, original, authentic Deptford is eliminated, all the knock offs / clones are too 🤪

[@thxdeeply]

@@AndrewRoberts11 Ohhhh ok. So this is just bait. Gotcha.

[@MaxLovesNascarOfficial]

As an aviation lover and Philadelphian, this is really cool! Never knew the first manned hot air balloon flight took off from where I live! Weird how there’s a Walmart there and there’s basically no effort for making at least one little area to learn about it with like a statue or something 🤷

[@raystewart3648]

The Cartoon (Over The Hedge) "Those are Cars, People use them as they are Slowly losing the ability to Walk" sums up America big time. Its something like that (said) not seen it for a while now.

[@HumbleWooper]

I loved the line where one of the forest animals asked "how many people fit in those things?" while staring up at at a giant SUV, and got the answer "Usually? One." [To be clear for anyone who hasn't seen the film, this wasn't commentary on people being huge or overweight. It was about folks buying giant cars that could easily hold several people then mostly driving around alone in them.]

[@NotThatOneThisOne]

I've wondered before whether that's a big reason why NYC is such a popular tourist destination. You pretty much have to walk there, so you find so many things.

[@lucienz1846]

3:08 You can actually scan that QR Code! QR Codes are meant to be hardy and have built-in error correction, and it actually does take you to an information website still.

[@someoneelse6934]

Thank you and than you to the scout Kyle Furey for your project. I am the proud father of an Eagle Scout who also did a history based Eagle Scout Project.

[@KTibow]

I couldn't scan it without drawing on it in an image editor. It takes you to a Google Site.

[@alexreid1173]

I grew up in an area of Ohio that was kind of an outer suburb (arguably semi-rural considering how close the corn was, but we were close to a major interstate highway). Some things were close enough together that you could walk there in ~30 minutes. The problem was that there were barely any sidewalks, so I spent a lot of time walking on the sides of roads (with cars going like 45 mph), on random gravel paths, or through the woods. It definitely didn’t feel like something you were *supposed* to do, but there wasn’t a whole lot else to do there as a kid/teen. I wouldn’t say that I ever found anything especially interesting, unless you consider an abandoned kiddie pool interesting. There was an unmarked 19th century cemetery about a mile from my school though…

[@evan]

That sounds like where I lived as a teen. Lots of corn. No sidewalks. But it was peaceful and had lots of nature! But ye

[@klimtkahlo]

@@evanI am an European that lived / worked in the states for decades. My office moved to a location in NJ that was only really accessible by car otherwise you had to walk on a highway that had no sidewalk to wait for a bus! Seemed incredibly dangerous but most people taking the bus were immigrants so seemed classist… Before that the office was located in englewood cliffs, which was incredibly beautiful and had some nice expensive houses. I found a little park with a gazebo in walking distance and would have my lunch there on summer days! The park was always empty so it was great! You would see deer and sometimes you would get a fax saying we shouldn’t be walking because of bears! Also on of the streets was called Elm street and there was also a proper Japanese home!

[@EDKguy]

I drive by a historical marker every day. I have no idea what it is for. I have meant to stop and look at it for about 25 years. Maybe I will stop this weekend but it may involve getting out of my car, so there's that.

[@ctsoundsy]

YES. I quit my job recently and decided to walk everywhere I could instead of drive. I have infinite time til I move in 2 months and I thought it would be a good way to get some easy exercise. Luckily I live in a very old (for the south) town, with lots of history, but even then it’s crazy how you don’t notice anything. I’ve been here 2 years and I feel like I’ve had a more fulfilling time in the past month than I did just from stopping and walking.

[@Judymontel]

What you're talking about reminds me of when I first learned the term "footfall" used by a shop owner in a city commercial center. They were explaining why rents might be higher if lots of people walked by and would therefore be more likely to come into the store. Basically, a mall tries to create that as well, a place where people walk by the shops and will go in, sometimes because they planned to, but other times, because they were walking by and saw something they might need or want in a shop window. Part of planning a community of any size is creating avenues for people to walk, and then having things there for them to see - whether it's commercial, natural, historical, cultural... yeah.

[@IVR02]

I find the idea of historical sites hidden in parking lots equally fascinating and depressing. One example, not from my hometown but still in New Jersey, is the grave of Mary Ellis in New Brunswick. She had a house on a hill overlooking the Raritan River in the early 19th century, where she was eventually buried. A department store was built on the site in the 1960s, and the decision was made to keep the grave in the middle of the parking lot. Today, there's an AMC movie theater on the site, with the grave still very much behind the theater. It's a bit macabre, but definitely an interesting piece of local history. I really appreciate the urbanist aspect of this video. Because you're right, the tragic element of the average American town is that we prioritize cars over everything else, to the point where the landscape becomes a blur of parking lots, chain stores and fast food restaurants, and stepping out of your car to examine something on foot feels like either a crime, a death wish, or both.

[@Crazyguy_123MC]

The fact that they let that Walmart get built on such an important location is so sad. It would have been more meaningful to be a public park. A place for people to walk around and visit a historic site. Maybe put a little fountain or monument in the shape of a hot air balloon with benches and picnic tables around for people to sit and admire. My town has so much history remaining but so much was also lost. A few historic homes were bulldozed within the past 50 years and a few of those lots still sit empty even today. One was demolished 100 years ago and not one thing has been placed on that plot. To me it feels like a waste of history that was lost for nothing. And in the past few years a local gas station demolished a 100+ year old church and house just to pave a parking lot. Those two buildings were very iconic to the main street and were visible in many of the historic photos. Now they are lost just for more parking space. The street they sat on looks so empty now without them. A historic creamery was also demolished in my town and the historic brewery was left to rot and was ultimately demolished. The historic high school which was the tallest building in the area was torn down with nothing major taking its place. It all feels like a waste when places let the historic sites waste away until they are paved over or sit vacant for countless decades.

[@meghanhause9435]

As somebody that grew up in that area, that Walmart used to be an RCA production building, while RCA was three, they maintain the spot, all the way to the point that they sold spot. The Oak Tree was destroyed in a storm.

[@baldingatheist7555]

I never thought I'd hear an American use the word, "Nowt." This makes me very happy for some reason

[@evan]

It was Peter Kay

[@webbpaje]

I remember a bit of culture shock I experienced first moving to London. When crossing the road, drivers almost seemed to get upset if pedestrians didn't cross first. I was so used to drivers not putting pedestrians first and having to wait patiently for the crossing signal to change. I'm from San Marcos, California. After going back to visit, I realised there is literally nothing near my house shorter than a 38 minute walk (including the nearest bus). The nearest cafe other than a Starbucks is an hour walk. Also the production value on this vid wowie (as always)!

[@evan]

Danke!

[@hypotheticalaxolotl]

To be fair - it's not going up that's special about flight, we've been able to do that for thousands of years. It's coming back down again in one piece that's novel and new!

[@OriginalPiMan]

I was going to refute this, since prior to the hot air balloon in 1783, I was only somewhat aware of gliders being used to get in the air but they were universally incapable of bringing people meaningfully higher than their starting point. But reading up on it, there are reports of man-lifting kites going back over 2000 years. These attempts rarely went well, but they did get people airborne, albeit tethered to the ground.

[@hypotheticalaxolotl]

@@OriginalPiMan Neat! I wasn't even thinking about kites when I wrote that, so that's cool! I was thinking about explosions.

[@weetyskemian44]

Also trebuchet!

[@OriginalPiMan]

@@weetyskemian44 Living people were not often transported that way.

[@weetyskemian44]

@@OriginalPiMan But you could, if you really wanted to.

[@donnellalouise]

Evan, in case you haven't found it yourself, I recommend the KZbin channel Not Just Bikes. The host, a Canadian urban planning expert living in The Netherlands, talks about infrastructure that supports alternatives to car travel; gives good and bad examples and has some hilarious stories. He has a great sense of humor and has opened my eyes to ways the rest of world (outside of the U.S.) have approached local travel that is more comfortable and safer for pedestrians and bikes.

[@sylenzos6869]

i wouldn't just recommend it to evan, any other people coming by this comment should check it out too

[@DeckedSneeze709]

See, I have issues with not just bikes. I have watched _part_ of one of their videos and it was so actively bad that I decided that I am not going to watch any more of their videos.

[@JustAGooseman]

NJB is notorious for being overtly biased and borderline just making up statistics to argue his viewpoint that cars should be outright banned. This isn't even touching on the fact he has openly smeared US firefighters for "killing pedestrians" because he doesn't like the fact they use big trucks, you know, the ones they need just like they do everywhere else on earth including the Netherlands.

[@shanroxalot5354]

@@DeckedSneeze709 Which video did you have a problem with? I know that he occasionally exhibits an abrasive tone especially compared to other Urbanist creators, but its a shame that it put you off some really good urbanist information.

[@evan]

@@JustAGoosemanI think that video from NJB was actually excellent and his title was a great way to get people interested. I think his points are all logically made tbh

[@ThatEntityGirl]

It's interesting seeing him rant about the lack of third places in America and how everything is built for cars instead of people, but without the proper vocabulary or knowledge to explicitly grasp these urban planning concepts. It goes to show that most people can actually tell that something is wrong, and have a desire for things to be different. People don't want to live in a car dependent, concrete wasteland that's 70% parking lots, with nothing to do or to see when traveling between the few pleasant places that actually exist.

[@itsPenguinBoy]

It's infuriating sometimes visiting the U.S. as a Brit, and how "This is just the way it is" feels like a national mantra. It feels so claustrophobic to be told you have no right to transport your own body, with your own legs, and you need be in a metal box to be permitted. Part of keeping footpaths active is by walking them. If you do enough "j-walking" a crossing gets built. Rambling is a vital tradition, some rules are made for breaking and it takes public self-belief to actually shape society for the better. For all the talk of freedom, independence and movies, rebels, cowboys and revolutionaries the culture is extremely conformist.

[@doomsdayrabbit4398]

I hate that mantra with every fiber of my being. It's a bullshit excuse that's just done everything to halt any and all progress.

[@TheDesertMonk]

Thanks for bringing this up, it is sad that the fun of "finding" is lost, just exploring your town. it is all about the car now. I was a Scout, Eagle, that was my get-out-of-town card, my right to explore. But even back in the day, I would find the same problems you are finding now.

[@crazyash1999]

I lived in the uk for 6 years until this may, and man has this video hit the nail on the head. I went from being somewhere liveable like west London to us suburbia and everything here just feels depressing and far away, especially since I don’t have a car

[@elbowache]

Hey, I grew up with the "Berlin Mall" if that's more authentic or whatever. Depford has one of the last "good" malls. It was (still is) an institution of 20th century suburbia. We used to pile into the car (as you're saying) to go visit every weekend. That was our internet.

[@BellePullman]

Also unformed thoughts, but how popular cruise holidays are... those big ships are 5000, 8000 people, they're floating cities and while the entire place is effectively transport, the only movement within the floating city, besides walking, is elevators. Why are people so excited to vacation somewhere so far from car-based life? Why is it only for vacations?

[@42Freeway]

I understand your comments on the lack of town effort.... related note the first found Dinosaur was in Haddonfield and it was forgotten for decades until an Eagle Scout in 1984 rediscovered the site. The non-connected cross walks are because of ADA rules which dictate that when you do road projects the curbing needs to be accessible.. but building the sidewalks arent mandated! hmm.. I may do a follow up video.

[@dshan111]

A number salient points about urban design and human connections in the built environment. But most exciting of all was the promise of a major new video on pedestrian crossings! So exciting! Who doesn't salivate at the idea of a video on such a popular and significant subject. 😉 Ok, jokes aside, I am fascinated to see what you come up with on pedestrian crossings. Looking forward to it. 👍

[@evan]

I’ve spent an absolute age on it and nearly get hit by multiple cars crossing some streets when told I could walk (and cars had a red light) so it’s good!

[@dshan111]

@@evan Damn, you're like a war reporter or something! 😂

[@Zomerset]

This is so true. I love visiting places and just aimlessly wondering around. The little surprises you encounter along the way. You get to learn so much about places from having the time to observe. Dunster (Somerset) and Colyton (Devon) were so much fun to explore.

[@AbeniBamidele]

As a Deptford NJ resident...I approve this message.

[@znaflhr]

Glad I live in a corporation pretending to be a city ran by a select few business owners

[@Obi-Wan_Pierogi]

I randomly stumbled on this video (thanks, algorithm) I'm also American born, but I moved to Poland 10 years ago. What you said hits the nail on the head so hard -- especially the point about going to the mall because it was the only place to walk around. Every time I go back to the States I have horrible jet lag so I wake up at like 4am... and then I find myself driving to McDonald's for breakfast and then walking around WalMart because there's nowhere else to just walk.

[@evan]

Yeah that clocks! For me as a jersey native, you wake up at 2am, do a 2am wawa run, grab a hoagie, then maybe drive to a field… or go to a 24 hour diner. Nowhere to walk tho

[@Obi-Wan_Pierogi]

@@evan Virginia native here :D

[@Obi-Wan_Pierogi]

Going to McDonald's for breakfast to sit and listen to the rural pensioners chatting It was so funny last time hearing a table full of boomers talking about Kim Kardasian and Kanye lol

[@kennethroberts8568]

I've had both the exact experience you are talking about, and the opposite experiences, fundamentally both align with your point. I grew up in suburbs in Maryland, and it's exactly the same as suburbs in NJ, there was an old dairy farm owned by the navy, and interesting historical relic, but not really mentioned. Outside that just roads and houses. For the past decade I've lived in Austin, Texas. Austin isn't the most walkable city, but various areas are. You can actually wander around, go to the lake, stroll through various parks, random historical sites, and finish it off with a swim in the springs, the free side of course. I've also lived in rural areas in Mass and Texas, while there is often less to see you do tend to know everyone and develop that sense of community still. While the issue isn't only in suburbia, as I said Austin isn't super walkable, there is a fundamental issue with the nature of a car based suburb. Austin is spreading out more and more, but we should be getting more internal mass transit, maybe that will hold back the tide of car living. Btw the wheelchair ramp leading to grass, peak design right there.

[@anthonyminimum]

Thank you for making this video, my mother told me about this years ago when I was a child and I finally got the chance to visit it when I got my license back in 2023. Can you please make a video on the Gabriel Davies Tavern in Glendora, NJ, the Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ, the Clements Bridge and Ashbrooks Burial Ground in Glendora, NJ?

[@TheErador]

Oh the sidewalks that go nowhere and crossings that a) take forever to stop the traffic and b) then go nowhere. That's absolutely my experience when I've been to the US with work. Near Chicago

[@evan]

Exactly! I think you’ll like my big crosswalk vid coming up haha

[@CineSoar]

When I worked in Santa Clara, California, there was an excellent Pho restaurant within walking distance of our office. On the four block walk, there were two partial sidewalks, which forced us to walk the equivalent of one of those blocks on the street (35 MPH divided 4 lane). In order to legally cross the cross streets we encountered, we had to cross perpendicular to our path twice (turning left and crossing the four lanes, then right to cross another four lane-er, and then right again, to get back to the side we started from (but had no marked crossing). Our path looked like the old Enron logo.

[@HumbleWooper]

There's some places in my area with bike lanes like that, too. They show up seemingly randomly, go a few blocks or maybe a mile, then end nowhere in particular. Or they only exist in a wealthy neighborhood (where they're less needed in the first place because the speed limit is low and there's plenty of room) and end at the busy intersection just outside.

[@destelpa]

I lived in Iceland for a couple years and it was so so nice just walking everywhere i needed to go. You would pass people you knew on the streets and wave, or stop and chat. The sense of community was so much stronger and it's one of the main things i miss now that im back in the US. That, and not having to worry about getting sh*t lol

[@montyollie]

I'm a Canadian whose claim to fame is I've roadtripped to 49 US states and DC. I'm only missing Hawai'i. I usually use the National Parks passport to find locations to visit or sometimes Geocaching or Pokemon Go to find places of interest to visit. I'm also an avid camper, so I like the National forests and State forests and parks for camping. I OFTEN find things off the beaten path to see and enjoy. But you are right... I would do and see none of that if I didn't have a car.

[@evan]

Pokemon Go did help me find so many interesting things around London!

[@montyollie]

@@evan It's wild how gamification is how people find the great outdoors now! I have that National Parks passport, and every National Park, Historical Site, Seashore or whatever usually has a kiosk and a place to stamp your passport book. Whenever I was on my mammoth road trips, I had approximately a $5 budget or less for souvenirs, so either a fridge magnet or a passport stamp it was! I have over 400 stamps in my book. My fridge door is also about to fall off from the weight of the magnets. LOL

[@DevonExplorer]

What a lovely little piece of history and very sad that it's been hidden away like that. A big kudos for the scout who made it into a site of interest and to you, Evan, for highlighting it and the differences between here and there. Nice one. :)

[@mollyapteros]

As someone who has worked in local heritage in the US and UK, your observations are 100% spot on (as usual).

[@evan]

what's local heritage? As in promoting local history?

[@CharlieH1863]

Thanks for sharing this. I always knew there were markers behind the Walmart, but never got back there to see those. There's also a marker that's more accessible in the shopping center between Walmart and Sam's Club -- near the Five Guys. Also shout out to Troop 62, that was my Scout Troop as well, though probably long before you were there! My Eagle project was not as historically interesting...

[@Takosaga]

Not only built for efficiency but for people to disconnect from places in between distinations.

[@MilesTippett]

I was actually able to scan the QR code off my TV with my phone! Still works perfectly!

[@autumnsalsberry1275]

I'm from Tacoma, Washington and we have lots of green spaces that can be explored and are used frequently for hikes, walks, or generally hanging out. My mom recently moved to a new neighborhood we didn't go to when I was a kid and I was able to explore a new park and got some of the most beautiful shots I've ever taken there. Before I was working age, I used to walk through the neighborhoods and explore the different architecture and living experiences of Tacoma. As US cities go, Tacoma is quite walkable, but the public transport is as awful as expected.

[@AdavidPT]

Evan back across the pond to the rebel colonies of the new world. oh boy, can't wait for the reverse culture shock videos

[@timglennon6814]

Evan. You have a joke on our word Car Park, but a Parking Lot sounds like a Car Auction. 😂

[@jadecraft4]

0:44 Yall should come to Albuquerque, NM in October just sayin

[@beauthestdane]

Yep, the US is most definitely built for cars, not for people for the most part.

[@wessexdruid7598]

The US is run for businesses, not people.

[@derschwartzadder]

anything build after 1948, for sure. The older places are far more walkable. Just often too expensive for those with time to walk to live there.

[@beauthestdane]

@@derschwartzadder Even a lot that was built before has been "updated".

[@katecoffee4744]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing this chunk of history 👍🏻

[@KellyS_77]

You. have to go around the back where the deliverires, trash bins are..... and the bicycle rack because clearly THAT was the most convenient place for people arriving by bike to park.

[@michaelmarrerowx]

9:50 honestly you also lose touch on life too with everything always being in motion. I live in a small town where my friends live 30 minutes away, work is 20 minutes away. Plus I chase storms 😂 That constant moving is weird to digest. I’m always on the go

[@jlajlajlajla]

It seems to me that it would pay Walmart to to actually make it a picnic spot and draw attention to it, so that people would come to see the sight, have something to eat, and while they were there check out Walmart.

[@BBKing1977]

I recently moved to a new city, and I live downtown. I walk around far more now than I used to, and I really enjoy walking around as a form of transportation. I do find new places (small shops) doing this. It’s great!

[@gabe-dub]

They found some old stuff when building a Lidl here in Dublin, so they build it anyway but at least you can look the old stuff through a glass when shopping

[@evan]

I was considering visiting for that very place!

[@durabelle]

We have a spot like that in Gloucester too on one of our main shopping streets, some old roman ruins underground (iirc, I'm not good with history..) that you can look at through a glass cover on the street. Of course there's lots of historical buildings, statues etc. in most British cities anyways, so something being even older isn't quite as noticeable as it is in countries where all architecture is relatively new, but it's still cool to see history being preserved and displayed in an accessible way rather than hidden and forgotten.

[@RosLanta]

In Chester there's a Roman hypocaust in the basement of what used to be Spudulike (it closed, I'm not sure what shop is there now). You could visit it but it was a weird way to get to it, walking past all the people eating baked potatoes! (Though to be fair, the building itself is Tudor, so they discovered the Roman remains under an existing shop)

[@Showsni]

@@durabelle That's the old gatehouse outside Boots - you can see the Roman city walls, and the medieval gatehouse. Sometimes they open it up and let you go down and look around. There's also the King's Bastion under King's Walk - those metal panels in the floor are trapdoors, that they occasionally open up and let you go down to see more of the walls and the bastion.

[@durabelle]

@@Showsni Thanks for the extra info! I wasn't wrong about the Romans then, even though I was lacking a lot of knowledge 😄

[@brianbarker2551]

You've reached Peak America when your "place" is the mall. Literally, that's the summit, nothing else.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Australia also sometimes does things like this. It is a very car focused culture. Thank you for the video!

[@Scuzzlebutt142]

Same with New Zealand, mainly newer spaces, more influenced by American development. Older Spaces feel more British/European influenced, and do have a degree of walkability in them.

[@OriginalPiMan]

I see Australia as a bit of a mixed bag on that. Yes, the vast majority of travel is done by car, but also the vast majority of streets (at least in the cities and suburbs) have footpaths on both sides of the road, and public transport is for many at least a possible option, albeit usually not the fastest or preferred option.

[@evan]

Thanks for watching!

[@BleuSquid]

I used to play an AR game called Ingress. Most of the gameplay elements required you to visit specific in-game locations called portals, many of which were user-submitted historical markers. You could visit as many or as few as you wanted, and your ability to play hinged on how many you'd visited. Thanks to that game, I discovered hundreds of places that I'd never seen, even in areas I'd walked past dozens of times on foot. My favourite one? The location of the first phone call in Boston.

[@Draksyl]

Would be great to see you do a collab with either 'strong towns' or 'not just bikes' youtube channels whose whole focus is on some of the issues you raised 👍

[@tmatar6345]

Loved how heartfelt this video felt ❤

[@tmatar6345]

This reminds me of the video Eddy Burback just made on AI...we need that "glue" inbetween everything to maintain our humanity. Otherwise, what are we?

[@evan]

@@tmatar6345I do love Eddy Burback and his recent vid!

[@Cohors1316]

I’d argue that the landing was more important than the takeoff. The first part is historically easier, pulling off the second part in one piece not so much.

[@NateKennard]

This makes me appreciate my city for preserving much of our past history. During peace negotiations between native Americans and Texans, Sam Houston camped here and the treaty was signed here. Luckily this site has been preserved and artifacts have been found

[@garryferrington811]

It's so nice that they put up a nice memorial of this. Oh, they didn't? I see...

[@kriggitch.5855]

It's incredible how much more connected to your surroundings you feel when you experience them at human scale and speed. I grew up in suburbs, and it wasn't until I moved downtown as an adult and started walking that I realized I actually love where I live, rather than seeing it as a collection of destinations that I had to go through Scary One-Way Streets to visit. I started taking pictures of even mundane parks and buildings, learning about how and why they came to be there, and now I'm making out-of-town friends jealous just by making things sound interesting. Because they are interesting!

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Funnily enough I just went on a recent trip to York and experienced that tight nit and historical environment and it was great. Every street you walked down there was brilliant architecture interesting vistas, places to explore. Even the open areas were great as there was well placed focal points from bridges, castle, to part of a priory. It was a lovely trip apart from the trains as Northern Rail are bafflingly incompetent.

[@jacquespoulemer]

Hi Evan, I'm 72, orginally from Linden (way up in the frozen north) I've never owned a car (ahen I was 16 I got annoyed learning to drive and said to myself "Let's see how long I can go without a car" So far I've never owned one. I retired in 1986 and moved to Mexico. Wherever I go London, San Diego, San Antonio, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and my college years in Nashville, I've always loved walking about. sometimes getting lost. But always enjoying the 'view' and meeting folks. I'm chuffed to see that the Hindenberg isn't our only NJ Balloon landing. Tnanks for this. All the best Jacques

[@vanandrewschrisanddione]

As a long standing fan of your vlogs this is one of the most insightful yet sad topics. I'm a Brit who lives full time in a motorhome and spends every day travelling around our beautiful country discovering all the history and wonderful interesting things around every corner. It seems so sad that most Americans will live their lives never appreciating the wonders that are probably right on their doorstep. ✌️

[@SilverHeist]

Now if you visited the Gettysburg PA Walmart you’d find that “They’ve paved the battlefield and put up a parking lot”.

[@CiscoWes]

3:46 that looked like Virginia creeper so I think you were safe

[@evan]

Look closer next to the Virginia creeper

[@petermercury]

Evan, Cold Norton Essex UK here. I grew up in South Woodham Ferrers which in the 70's had a disused railway track that once led to Maldon. Now there are countless railway bridges between the two points which 90% of the surrounding population have now idea what they are there for. They're very historical, plus the old rail stops have pubs and roads named after their usage (Station Drive, Railway Arms etc). There are trails along the old lines but I never see anyone on them. Bloody cars with their A to B!

[@MatthewJBD]

Shows how poor the USA is at retaining history... They've barely got any as it is! We have National Trust... English Herritage etc, very lucky and we have thousands of years preserved.

[@radude4763]

Me seeing the title: my thought either the McDonald’s, the fishtanks, the lobsters? This Video: Airplanes Me:😮

[@camplays487]

Hot air balloons

[@CrashGordon42]

This is a valid point about the walk ability of places. But like many things there's different perspectives. For example, a cross country road trip is a more engaging way to see the country than an airplane trip. On the other hand there were KZbinrs in the old west who complained about having to walk all the time and how uncomfortable the backs of horses were.

[@ObabasHut]

I know the store with the spinny lights was Spencers. I grew up a few miles North of Deptford and never knew much about the area EXCEPT that it was historic. The Deptford Mall was my Main Street. I think we traded walkable towns for walkable malls. They offered shopping but also a variety of services and entertainment as well. But so many that shuttered over the last decade, many communities lost their third spaces and sense of community. Places like Walmart moved in to fill those spaces, they did not make as many services available as well as less variety. There are few places to rest gather and chat with others. The Deptford, Echelon, Moorestown Malls were not perfect, but we had adventures there that stuck with me that had nothing to do with shopping. I met my best friend, watched my cousins in a dance competition and met my spouse for the first time.

[@ryano.5149]

Malls were, in some cases very literally, the catalyst that destroyed a lot of towns' walkable main streets.

[@DKash02]

Being a Deptford resident I’ve known about this for years and agree fully that a Walmart shouldn’t have been put there but when it comes to walking places we got the Delsea pits and that’s about it the forest behind narraticon is connected to that if u know where that is

[@evan]

The Delsea pits I’ve been to on occasions. I actually walk from the Johnson memorial library. There’s a hidden trail across highland road. 50% of the time when I’ve traveled through those trials, I wind up out by a farm near Gateway High School. 25% of the time I come across a giant hill and a very long log swing hanging from a tree on top. 25% of the time I find my way to the pits. I’ll have to see if I can get my way there when I’m there next using my phone. I always wished the trails were mapped! I’ve seen some people ATVing back there before. Now that I think about it, when I walked from a trail at the very end of Narraticon and over a small creek that I spent 4 hours damming up to cross, I did find my way! Unlocked a memory there

[@MrSinclairn]

Is your hometown of Deptford,NJ,as good as our Greater London's Deptford !?! 😏😏

[@evan]

It’s less sketchy but has worse cycle paths

[@MrSinclairn]

@@evan 😂

[@Irishharper]

I love this... it's so true... the only place that it seems to encourage walking are tourist traps... living in Connecticut, I miss town centers where you could walk and shop. Now it is drive here and there.. I used to live in Cheltenham Gloucestershire UK...I could walk for hours either in the town centre or in the hills... I so miss that back in the states..

[@bubblesculptor]

I enjoy just randomly exploring during travels. Truly never know what you may find. Also, youtube is pretty great for finding out about interesting places too. Your behind-walmart location may not get noticed much in person, yet here we are learning about it now!

[@francisdv]

Thank you for shining light on this little known piece of history. 🙂

[@apemanhill]

Pokémon Go is useful when looking for historical landmarks. I have used it visiting places in the UK and abroad on holiday. It is great shame that this historical landmark you focus on in your video is now tucked away and overshadowed by a supermarket. Great video! 🙂👍

[@durabelle]

Niantic's earlier game Ingress is even better to be fair since you can see much further on the app itself, but also use the intel map. Plus it at least used to have lots of portals that were never made into PokeStops. But PoGo isn't bad either!

[@minarchisttrucker2775]

The walmart my grandma managed used to be an outdoor theater in like the 1920s

[@DataPlumber]

You should watch some videos from "not just bikes"

[@RipVanFish09]

This! I love his channel.

[@durabelle]

It's a wonderful channel for sure! GeoWizard is another favourite of mine that I could recommend for anyone who likes this video, since Tom's all about exploring new or even familiar places in unconventional ways. Not at all similar to NotJustBikes really, more experiencing and less explaining, but entertaining and educational in a different way 😊

[@RipVanFish09]

@@durabelle I’ll be sure to check it out!

[@durabelle]

@@RipVanFish09 Hope you find it interesting 😊 I especially recommend checking out his straight line missions, no roads missions, tenner in a pocket trips and how not to travel -series.