Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-snarfing

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Casa Sanchez
Monterey, CA

How It Started

Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing, began in 2003 when founder Linda Gentile's motorcycle broke two gears, making it impossible to go on the solo tour of the southwest she had planned. All the energy had to go somewhere, and she decided that if the bike wasn't up to a big trip, maybe a lot of small trips would do. She determined to visit all the historic landmarks in California and to create a web site about it--a site which quickly developed into a resource for all historical markers and designated landmarks in the USA, Canada, British Isles and, lately, Australia.

The name "Markeroni" is a pun on both "historic landmarks" and "historical marker"...not to mention pasta. Pasta is good.

What's Behind Markeroni

Markeroni is the labor of love and increasingly main project of Annwn Web Creations LLC, a company which designs and maintains web sites, especially online communities. A one-woman company owned by British citizen and U.S. permanent resident Linda Gentile, it was founded on 13 August 2003.

What On Earth Does "Snarfing" Mean?

"Snarf" is a geek/computer programmer term for "downloading data rapidly for later processing". It had been in use in the founder's household for years, and seemed to lend itself to the art of finding historical markers--signs which summarize an event, person's life or place in a few words, allowing you to absorb information rapidly, perhaps to do more research later.

For those who dislike the term, landmark-hunting is equally acceptable.

What It's About

Markeroni is a light-hearted web site dedicated to helping people find and share tales of historical markers, historic landmarks, monuments and museums. Since the founder quickly determined that the markers tended to move around at night, she made it possible for people to share notes on their finds and information about the markers via the site's three main projects:

Journals: an informal "travelers' tales" part of the site, where members ("Markeroons") share their own stories of their discoveries or simply post a picture. For each landmark visited the member, or "Markeroon", gains a point, which after a while translates into "kudos", or colored stars after one's username--a friendly and informal way of keeping score.
The Markeroni Challenge: an annual challenge to find and photograph oneself or a mascot with 25, 50 or 100 historical markers or historic landmarks. There is a fee for the Challenge.
Landmarks Visited Catalog: a more formal attempt to "catalog" the markers and landmarks, including location, photographs, notes, etc. This information is available to the public, although Markeroni attempts not to display private residences publicly where known.

Note that Landmarks Visited is not indicative of how many landmarks are entered in our database ready for members to log (104,952); it is only (somewhat) indicative of how many have actually been logged by our 580 members (17,735)...!

Markeroni also provides Resources pages which list the non-profits, preservation offices, and links to individual marker/landmark systems for each state, province and country.

How It Works

Markeroni provides a database of historical markers and historic landmarks--and links (via Resources) to where further information can be found. Generally, one of two things happens:

The member searches on Markeroni, finds a landmark, and goes out to find it, coming back to log it online;
The member finds a marker or landmark, requests it via the site, and after it's added for them, logs it then.

As such it's a two-way street; Markeroni relies on the landmark-hunters to find new markers and landmarks and to fill in blanks, such as a location, about the existing ones; the members rely on Markeroni to enter the data for landmarks that are not already entered.

What About My State/Province/Country?

We cover the USA, Canada, the British Isles, and Australia. Our data entry is not complete; people keep finding new landmarks!

To check whether your area is covered, please click the "Is My Area Covered?" link in the appropriate Resources page for your home (or just ask). If it isn't, we can get something in there for you. Again, please just ask.

Goals

It is Markeroni's goal to make history approachable and fun. Members report that they have developed a fascination for local history, and spend more time visiting museums and reading up on history than they ever have before. What starts off as a treasure hunt, a light-hearted amusement, tends to become a path to discovering history.

Markeroni aims to increase awareness of the historical resources and organizations which are out there and to encourage people to join in their local preservation efforts.

Markeroni aims to donate 10% of its profits to historic preservation--though it has yet to make a profit.