Extra Credit Questions

[Anita]

The Astor House in NYC ?

[Eva Elisabeth]

This is an outstanding guess, Anita, but not the place either.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #2: It may be helpful to try to narrow down the geographic location.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #3: Regarding hint #2, Anita has come the closest so far.

Hint #4: Another road to Rome is probably trying to determine when Abraham Lincoln stayed there. (Everyone can help with #2+4!)

[RJNorton]

OK, then I will guess the Cataract House??

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Roger, that is correct! These views would probably have been more revealing:
       
The Cataract House Hotel, originally built in 1825 on the river bank, was for decades Niagara's largest hotel, and the favorite on the American side. It burned down in 1945.  

The Cataract House registrar has Lincoln's signature in it for the date of July 24, 1857. There is also a letter from Mary Lincoln to her sister Emily, dated Sept.20, 1857,  in which she states that "This summer … was spent most pleasantly in traveling east, we visited Niagara, Canada, New York and other points of interest."

Roger, your prize is a piece that IMO perfectly matches the flow of cataracts, and some history trivia on it's composer that I'm afraid doesn't have to do anything with the Lincolns other than that the gentleman shared one of Mary's peculiarities - when he died 160 velvet suits of exactly the same kind were found in his Spartan Parisian one-room apartment. This year (today in a month) will be his 150th anniversary, his music is probably better known than his name - Erik Satie:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RyFhsG8Ip4E

Some of Satie’s various, different compositions are considered to have laid the groundwork for today’s so-called “ambient music”.

In 1920 Satie reintroduced his "musical scenery" idea as "Furniture Music", deliberately banal scores to function as background noise in social settings, and not to be listened to; this was the origin of Muzak and the now ubiquitous "aural wallpaper" that greets us in shopping malls and other public spaces. Ironically, its debut during a Paris art exhibition was a failure; people stopped to listen to the music, causing the distraught composer to run around the gallery shouting "Talk! Talk! Don't pay attention!"

Despite composing, Satie published many articles, also in the US society magazine "Vanity Fair" (that in 1936 merged into the "Vogue").

(I apologize for leaving the course once again...)

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Eva. Love that piece by Satie!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Whose home was this?
   

[RJNorton]

Eva, I have a book that has a photo of this home. I will withdraw from this one, at least for now. I will be curious if anyone gets it. Good question!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #1: It stands in the Bay State. (I love the educational opportunities on the forum...)

[L Verge]

Home of one of the earlier generations of the Lincoln line?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Excellent, Laurie. This is the Samuel Lincoln House in Hingham:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMCXX...sachusetts

[L Verge]

What and where is the smallest federal cemetery in the nation?

[Eva Elisabeth]

In Alaska? Or on an island? (BTW, at least a dozen places claim to be the smallest post office...)

[RJNorton]

Puerto Rico?