Here's looking at you: Our favorite 2024 stories from all corners of America
At Paste BN, we take the "USA" part of our name to heart: We do our best to cover the nation from coast to coast, from north to south and as many places in between that we and our colleagues in the Paste BN Network can reach.
Part of that mission is to explore the things that make us, us. Who are we? What do we love? What are some of our shared experiences, the things we can all understand and appreciate? From ice cream trucks to drive-in theaters, one-of-a-kind personalities to enduring traditions, we tried to capture the spirit of this vast, diverse and amazing place we all call home and those topics that inspire our collective imagination.
Here are some of our favorite pieces of Americana from 2024:
Celestial sightseers and eclipse enthusiasts
A rare total solar eclipse, visible along a swath that cut across the country from Texas to Maine, captivated people across the country and around the world in April. While many in the East and Midwest could see part of the eclipse, others traveled hundreds of miles to see it in its entirety.
Umbraphile Michael Radov told Paste BN in the spring that seeing an eclipse, which he'd also done in 2017, is "something you don't know how profound it will be until you go through it," comparing it to a religious experience.
Everyday Americans help tell Revolutionary stories
We've all heard the stories of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and all the other Founding Fathers who made our country possible. But few of us know about the infantrymen, soldiers and militiamen who fought for our freedom.
In May, we profiled a joint project between the National Archives and the National Park Service to transcribe pension applications from Revolutionary War soldiers and their survivors. Nearly 2 million pages of handwritten pension applications have already been scanned and digitized, but historians are hoping to create a searchable database for researchers and genealogists to search by names, battles, locations and other information.
The goal is to have as many of the applications, which include details such as interactions with dignitaries, generals and other men serving, battle narratives and clues about ordinary soldiers' daily lives, transcribed so they can be integrated into exhibits and events marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.
"This is a particularly revealing snapshot of America's first veterans as they aged into their 60s, how hard the service was on their bodies, and how little they improved in their station," Jason Wickersty of the National Park Service said.
For the citizen archivists who've volunteered for the project, it's an opportunity to be a part of history as well, he said: "How often can you say you worked on something that’s part of National Archives?"
A night at the movies and under the stars
It's a fixture of 20th century American life: the drive-in movie. But our movie-viewing habits have changed over the last few decades as mall megaplexes and at-home streaming entertain most of us.
Is there still a place for people to open up the windows, spread out in their truck beds or set up a lawn chair and take in a flick? Absolutely.
In August, we visited drive-in theaters in New Jersey and Florida and talked to owner-operators and moviegoers in three states about the enduring allure of outdoor theaters. We also explored some of the history of drive-in theaters and looked ahead at their collective future.
John Watzke, owner of Ocala Drive-In in Florida, called the theaters "kind of a time warp," a place where people put away their phones and just enjoy the show.
"You talk to someone of my generation," Watzke said, "and if they go to a walk-in theater, they remember the movie and not much else. But you ask them about going to a drive-in, they remember the car they drove, the people they were with. It's so much more than a movie. It's a memory."
The coolest trucks around
If we say "Mister Softee," chances are the familiar twinkling melody of those ice cream trucks pops into your mind. But is the soundtrack of our childhood memories disappearing from suburban streets?
Not really, we discovered in July. The trucks are more in demand than ever, but where they can be found and how they're being deployed has changed over the years. We checked in with Mister Softee at its headquarters and found out how this family-run business and other mobile ice cream vendors have evolved with the changing times.
"We try to do a really simple thing: Give people ice cream and make them happy in the moment," Mike Conway, a third-generation co-owner of Mister Softee, said. "And that's what we push for. Every day our drivers are dealing with people who are happy to see them. Not many jobs give you that."
A story that's just our type
Kids are always on their phones. Millennials are the first fully online generation. Only boomers and the odd older GenXer really remembers using a typewriter, right?
Well... In November, we took a look at how typewriters, those clacky, clunky machines of offices past, are making a comeback among creative people such as artists, poets, writers and even a cohort of high school students. We visited a shop where a community is sprouting around the people who love the sound of a manual keyboard and who appreciate the workmanship that went into these engineering marvels and work to keep the running smoothly.
"Typewriters never really went away," said Bill Rhoda, co-owner and lead mechanic at Philly Typewriter; they're still used by police departments, courts, those who record birth and death certificates and title companies.
"We use them to connect with younger people who are so lost on their screens, who are used to seeing everything instantly," said Fred Durbin, a creative writing teacher at a high school in Pennsylvania. He wants students to think of themselves as artists, "using our senses and focusing on one thing at a time."
This story was a little corny
One of our favorite stories had a lot of twists and turns: In October, we navigated through some of the country's most challenging, oldest and most well-known corn mazes.
All over the country, groups of families and friends find their way through corn mazes of all kinds, from historic farms to sprawling agritainment complexes. We were a-mazed (see what we did there?) to learn some of the history behind these labyrinthine attractions and the lengths planners and farmers go through to bring giant puzzles to life.
"It's the thrill of getting lost," said Kevin Watson, assistant director at Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. "It's a unique experience, something you can do on the farm with your friends or your family, something that's great with people of all different ages."
A new chapter for independent bookstores
Sure, we get a lot of books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But when we really want to connect with other bibliophiles, there's no better place to be than an indepedent local bookstore.
We checked in with some of the country's most beloved bookstores and talked to owners and others about why bookstores still matter to so many people, whether they're looking for niche titles, a sense of community or just more personalized service.
"Connecting communities has been our saving grace," said Jeannine Cook, who owns two bookstores, Harriet's (named for Harriet Tubman) in Philadelphia and Ida's (named for Ida B. Wells) in Collingswood, New Jersey.
"It's one thing to buy a book and it's another to know buying that book has an impact," Cook said. "We engage with young people, we provide jobs and a positive outlet, we bring authors in not just to sell books but to address gaps: What hole can we fill that might not be filled otherwise?"
Do you want to share a slice of Americana with Paste BN? Contact Phaedra Tretthan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra