Weekend Road Trip: The Mark Twain Stump
5/9/202621 min
In 1891, a knot of men murdered a 1,300-year-old tree to prove it wasn’t a "tall tale." We visit the Mark Twain Stump, a 16-foot-wide wooden stage that serves as a monument to early American hubris, the cost of disbelief, and the bittersweet birth of the conservation of the Sequoias.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
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First 90 secondsKelly McEvers· Host0:01
Today's special episode of Atlas Obscura was made possible by T-Mobile. There's something different about being connected in the places you least expect. T-Mobile's partnership with the National Park Foundation is helping people stay connected while connecting with our national parks, making America's backyard a little bigger. With America's best network and off-grid satellite coverage, you are free to wander. Wander over to T-Mobile.com to switch today. Best based on analysis by Ookla of Speedtest Intelligence data for 2H 2025. T-Satellite with capable device in most outdoor areas in the US where you see the sky. Service may be limited or unavailable. Included with Experience Beyond or $10 a month. Auto renews, cancel anytime. [ding] Hey, everybody. It's Kelly Mcevers, co-host of the show. So today is Saturday, and we don't usually publish episodes on Saturdays, but for the next five weeks, to kick off the summer travel season, we are doing a special series. We're calling it our Weekend Road Trip series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States that you can see from the road. We're gonna start today on the West Coast, and we will work our way all across the country to Washington, DC. We've got some pretty great stops along the way, everything from an iconic puppet theater, to a folk art