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Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Nectar Soda
Though Cincinnati is best known for breweries, another effervescent beverage has a long history in the Queen City: the nectar soda. Home to the oldest pharmacy college in the U.S.
west of the Alleghenies, the Eclectic Medical Institute (1845-1952), and Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists , Cincinnati was long on the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry. The city had a number of apothecaries with soda fountains, as well as confectioners serving countless carbonated concoctions—some claiming to cure a variety of ailments, and others simply providing customers with something sweet and refreshing to drink.
Enter the nectar soda. The flavor is a combination of vanilla and bitter almond, and the drink is pastel pink in color—a nod to the hue of almond flowers, according to Dann Woellert , a Cincinnati food historian, etymologist, and the author of Cincinnati Candy: A Sweet History .
west of the Alleghenies, the Eclectic Medical Institute (1845-1952), and Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists , Cincinnati was long on the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry. The city had a number of apothecaries with soda fountains, as well as confectioners serving countless carbonated concoctions—some claiming to cure a variety of ailments, and others simply providing customers with something sweet and refreshing to drink.
Enter the nectar soda. The flavor is a combination of vanilla and bitter almond, and the drink is pastel pink in color—a nod to the hue of almond flowers, according to Dann Woellert , a Cincinnati food historian, etymologist, and the author of Cincinnati Candy: A Sweet History .
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
The Women Who Saved the Fasnacht Festival
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and all major podcast apps. Kelly McEvers: It’s a chilly day in a tiny town in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.
Winter is almost over. In the middle of town is this little wooden dance hall that was built in 1910.
Inside there are fiddles playing and feet stomping on the floorboards. Clara Lehmann: And then the sun starts to go down and the doors of the dance hall open.
Winter is almost over. In the middle of town is this little wooden dance hall that was built in 1910.
Inside there are fiddles playing and feet stomping on the floorboards. Clara Lehmann: And then the sun starts to go down and the doors of the dance hall open.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Atlas Obscura's Explorer Holiday Gift Guide
Explorers come in many forms. Some collect passport stamps; others collect obscure facts, or quest to see roadside oddities or try new snacks from far-flung corners of the world.
What they share is curiosity, and the compulsion to look a little closer, at maps, at landscapes, at stories that don’t always make the brochures. This year’s Atlas Obscura gift guide brings together ideas for the curious explorer in your life, whether they are in the dreaming phase or actively planning a trip.
It's for those who love the thrill of discovery, whether that means testing their geography chops, planning a national park visit or finally upgrading the gear they keep meaning to replace. You’ll find practical tools for travelers, clever challenges for the puzzle-minded and a few ways to bring a bit of global curiosity into everyday life at home.
What they share is curiosity, and the compulsion to look a little closer, at maps, at landscapes, at stories that don’t always make the brochures. This year’s Atlas Obscura gift guide brings together ideas for the curious explorer in your life, whether they are in the dreaming phase or actively planning a trip.
It's for those who love the thrill of discovery, whether that means testing their geography chops, planning a national park visit or finally upgrading the gear they keep meaning to replace. You’ll find practical tools for travelers, clever challenges for the puzzle-minded and a few ways to bring a bit of global curiosity into everyday life at home.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Kīlauea Won't Stop Erupting
This is a transcript of an episode of Untold Earth, a series from Atlas Obscura in partnership with Nature and PBS Digital Studios, which explores the seeming impossibilities behind our planet’s strangest, most unique natural wonders. From fragile, untouched ecosystems to familiar but unexplained occurrences in our own backyards, Untold Earth chases insight into natural phenomena through the voices of those who know them best.
Stacey Torigoe: Pelehonuamea, she is she who creates and destroys. She is the volcano goddess.
She's a living force on this landscape. Patricia Nadeau: Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth.
Stacey Torigoe: Pelehonuamea, she is she who creates and destroys. She is the volcano goddess.
She's a living force on this landscape. Patricia Nadeau: Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Kitchen Dispatch: A Quest to Create the Perfect Pawpaw Ice Cream
Join Gastro Obscura's Sam O'Brien each week for Kitchen Dispatch as she tests new recipes and explores wondrous foods from her home kitchen. Subscribe to get it in the Gastro newsletter .
As the weather got colder last week, I decided it was the perfect time to make pawpaw ice cream. It’s not that I needed a frozen treat; with Thanksgiving in the rearview, I wanted to bid a proper goodbye to fall.
And, for me, there’s no better symbol of the ephemeral beauty of the season than the pawpaw. I first wrote about this fruit, which grows wild across the Eastern United States, last year .
As the weather got colder last week, I decided it was the perfect time to make pawpaw ice cream. It’s not that I needed a frozen treat; with Thanksgiving in the rearview, I wanted to bid a proper goodbye to fall.
And, for me, there’s no better symbol of the ephemeral beauty of the season than the pawpaw. I first wrote about this fruit, which grows wild across the Eastern United States, last year .
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Forged by Nature: The Oldest Windjammer in the United States
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and all major podcast apps. Kelly McEvers: Becky Sigwright did not grow up on the water.
Becky Sigwright: I grew up in New Hampshire. My mom is a commercial janitor.
My dad is a forester. So very not boat-related.
Becky Sigwright: I grew up in New Hampshire. My mom is a commercial janitor.
My dad is a forester. So very not boat-related.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Forged by Nature: How Maine Shapes This Artist’s Pottery
> Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and all major podcast apps. Kelly McEvers: Hanako Nakazato says, when she was a kid, she didn’t want to work in pottery.
Hanako Nakazato: I grew up in Karatsu, which is known for history of pottery. So when I was younger, I wasn’t interested in pottery.
It was too close to home. Kelly: Karatsu is in southern Japan.
Hanako Nakazato: I grew up in Karatsu, which is known for history of pottery. So when I was younger, I wasn’t interested in pottery.
It was too close to home. Kelly: Karatsu is in southern Japan.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Forged by Nature: The Farm-to-Table Restaurant on an Actual Farm
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and all major podcast apps. Kelly McEvers: When Jason Williams was a kid in the ’80s, he had a favorite TV show.
It wasn’t a cartoon. It was more like a documentary show.
Like the educational kind. Jason Williams: I was obsessed with the show Great Chefs Great Cities , which was a program back on in the early, late ’80s, probably, where they’d go to different restaurant kitchens and make a dish.
It wasn’t a cartoon. It was more like a documentary show.
Like the educational kind. Jason Williams: I was obsessed with the show Great Chefs Great Cities , which was a program back on in the early, late ’80s, probably, where they’d go to different restaurant kitchens and make a dish.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
The Atlas Obscura Audio Guide to Maine’s Wilderness
In this Atlas Obscura series, we soak in the beauty of Maine’s wilderness. Join us in exploring its rugged coastline, lush forests, and craggy hills alongside locals who draw inspiration from these landscapes in their work—be it pottery, culinary experimentation, or guided coastal tours.
First, we set sail with Captain Becky Sigwright on the oldest windjammer in the United States: the Lewis R. French.
Out on Penobscot Bay, we get an unbeatable view of the Maine coastline, sing sea shanties, and make a pit stop to eat some fresh lobster. Next, we check out the studio of production potter Hanako Nakazato.
First, we set sail with Captain Becky Sigwright on the oldest windjammer in the United States: the Lewis R. French.
Out on Penobscot Bay, we get an unbeatable view of the Maine coastline, sing sea shanties, and make a pit stop to eat some fresh lobster. Next, we check out the studio of production potter Hanako Nakazato.
Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
20 Places to Travel and Transform Yourself in 2026, from Atlas Obscura
Looking for your next adventure? These 20 extraordinary destinations might just change how you see the world in 2026.
Each place on this list asks something of you—patience, curiosity, humility, wonder—and gives something back in return. They’re not just trips; they’re invitations to travel differently, and to come home changed.
1. Fes el-Bali in Fez, Morocco Step through the Blue Gate into the world's largest car-free medieval city—9,400 winding alleyways where 150,000 people live as their ancestors did.
Each place on this list asks something of you—patience, curiosity, humility, wonder—and gives something back in return. They’re not just trips; they’re invitations to travel differently, and to come home changed.
1. Fes el-Bali in Fez, Morocco Step through the Blue Gate into the world's largest car-free medieval city—9,400 winding alleyways where 150,000 people live as their ancestors did.
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