The purpose of this post office was entirely so that philatelists could get a cancellation mark from Antarctica. Post Office, Little America, South Pole"). Robert Byrd set up the first Little America in 1928, expanded it in 1933-'35, and started a new Little America further north in 1940 two more would eventually follow.Īs part of the 1933 Little America, Charles Anderson was sent to run a post office (the Smithsonian has his safe, labeled "U.S. In fact, the only odd part was that it was in Antarctica. One of them even featured an American post office and had a newspaper documenting the goings-on. There were five Little Americas over the course of several decades. Working with the school’s janitor and a mechanic, they found several archaeological sites, and excavation continues today. Eventually, the site was forgotten-until the 1950s, when a local high school principal decided to rediscover it. After some initial excavation work, focus was concentrated on Pompeii, and Stabiae was reburied to protect it. In the mid-18th century, archaeologists discovered the ruins of both Pompeii and Stabiae. At some point afterwards, the area was turned into luxury villas-that is, until the eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed it once again. Pliny the Elder recorded that the town had been destroyed by Sulla during the Social War in 89 BCE so completely that only a single farmhouse remained. The one with the oddest story though is Stabiae.
![ancient cities that no longer exist ancient cities that no longer exist](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/170b5b_b20bd2887c8e4407b49f3bd3f212f99f~mv2.jpeg)
When Vesuvius exploded in 79 CE, its most famous victims were the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but other towns and villas were buried as well, places such as Boscoreale or Oplontis.