Tower of Voices Dedicated at Flight 93 Memorial: At the Flight 93 Memorial just north of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a 93-foot tall Tower of Voices was dedicated earlier this month—on the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people when terrorists commandeered four passenger jets and crashed two of them at the World Trade Center in New York and another at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The terrorists had planned to crash a fourth jet aircraft at the U.S. Capital, but passengers banded together and, instead, United Flight #93 went down a rural part of Pennsylvania about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The 2,200-acre Flight 93 National Memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. For more information on groups and other matters, visit: https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/permitsandreservations.htm.
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n a move that seems certain to accommodate greater visitor numbers, including groups, the Motown Museum in Detroit will begin restoring three historic homes adjacent to the Hitsville USA house in Detroit’s New Center following approval for the project from green light from Detroit’s Historic District Commission. The home restoration is the first phase of a $50 million expansion project that will add 40,000 square feet to the museum and transform it into a 50,000-square-foot campus. The enhanced center will have interactive exhibits, The Ford Motor Company Theater (which will feature live entertainment on a regular basis) recording studios, meeting spaces, a cafe and expanded retail facilities. For more information, visit: www.motownmuseum.org, or call 318.875.2264.
The widely anticipated Fashion District Philadelphia, a mall which is a joint venture by Macerich and PREIT is expected to open in September 2019 at the site of the former Gallery on 9th and Market Streets. Some stores are open now. The new mall will feature designed label favorites, dining options that range from fast food to linen-tablecloth options, an entertainment zone that includes movie theatres and event space. Located in Center City Philadelphia, the Fashion District will be within walking distance of many of the city’s famous attractions. International visitors who visit the mall are reminded that, in Pennsylvania, there are no sales taxes on the purchase of shoes or clothing. For more information, visit: http://www.fashiondistrictphiladelphia.com/Development.
Lake Tahoe Opens Underwater Trail to Sunken Ships—it is one of the most photographed sites in the state—is opening an underwater trail to four sites where there are more than a dozen sunken ships resting in a boat graveyard that dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. The collection is the largest, most diverse group of sunken small watercraft of their type, in their original location, known to exist in the nation, says Denise Jaffe associate state archaeologist with the California State Parks and a scuba diver who helped develop the project. While it seems that it would be a tour that would be especially interesting to scuba divers—and it is, as divers can pay from $50 per dive and more to get up close—boat passengers will also be able to see the sunken boats because of the clear, see-through water for which Lake Tahoe is famous. As well, waterproof interpretive cards created for divers, with GPS locations, are be available at the park’s visitors center, local dive shops and online at the state park website: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=506.
