L. Frank Baum had an inspiration for the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz, and it's in Peekskill, New York, according to historian John Curran, who writes in the WSJ:
Mr. Baum was born in Chittenango, east of Syracuse, in 1856. At the age of 12, the frail child was sent to the now-defunct Peekskill Military Academy on a fall day in 1868. That's all fact.
The lore is what happened next. Mr. Curran believes the 12-year-old took a steamboat down the Hudson. When he got to the dock, he asked for directions to the military academy and was told, "Just follow the yellow brick road."
Maps show the road led from the river up the hill to the academy. Most of the road has been paved over, but a stretch near the river is still made of the original brick.
Curran has been fighting to preserve the last vestiges of it. Read more about the battle here.
(via gizmodo)
