Sources & corrections
55 figures across 41 towns, each with the public source it came from. The complete list for every book is added here when that book is published.
Key West voters approved three cruise-ship limits in November 2020: 63% for a 1,500-passenger daily cap, about 60% for banning ships over 1,300 passengers.
The Florida Legislature overturned the Key West vote through SB 1194, signed into law in 2021.
In 2019 the Port of Key West handled 417 cruise ship calls and nearly 965,000 passengers.
Palm Springs Ordinance 2075, adopted 28 Nov 2022, caps vacation rentals at 20% of homes in each neighborhood.
Ten Palm Springs neighborhoods were already over the 20% cap when it passed.
Robert McCulloch bought London Bridge from the City of London on 18 April 1968 for $2,460,000 and rebuilt it at Lake Havasu City by 1971.
In August 2026 Lake Mead, upstream on the Colorado River, fell below its July 2022 record low, its lowest level since it was filled in 1937.
Arizona, California and Nevada agreed with the federal government in 2023 to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of Colorado River water through 2026.
Arizona's SB 1350 (2016) stopped cities from banning short-term rentals, ending Sedona's ban on home rentals under 30 days that dated to 1995.
Sedona, a town of about 10,000 residents, drew about 3 million visitors a year before the pandemic.
Four Atlantic City casinos closed in 2014: the Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza.
South Lake Tahoe's Measure T, phasing out vacation rentals in residential areas, passed in 2018 by 58 votes.
A county judge struck down Measure T in its entirety in March 2025.
The Chimney Tops 2 fire burned into Gatlinburg on 28 Nov 2016, killing 14 people and destroying or damaging more than 2,400 structures.
Niagara Falls, NY had over 102,000 residents in 1960 and 48,671 in the 2020 census.
The Port of Galveston recorded 3.4 million cruise passenger embarkations and debarkations in 2024, a 25-year record.
The 1900 Galveston hurricane killed an estimated 8,000 people, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
At its late-1950s peak the Salton Sea drew about 1.5 million visitors a year, more than Yosemite.
The Borscht Belt peaked in the mid-1950s with 538 hotels, 50,000 bungalows and 1,000 boarding houses.
Grossinger's, the best-known Catskills resort, closed its main hotel in 1986.
By 2014 Laughlin's annual visitor volume had fallen about 60% from its peak, to about 2 million.
Miami Beach launched its 'breaking up with spring break' campaign in 2024, with curfews, bag checks and $100 parking.
Arches National Park visits rose 74% from 2011 to a record 1.8 million in 2021, leading to timed-entry reservations from 2022.
Arches National Park dropped timed-entry reservations for 2026 after Grand County officials said the system was hurting Moab's economy.
Teton County, Wyoming ranks as the most unequal county in the U.S. by top-1% income share.
55% of Nantucket homes are for seasonal or part-time use, and homeownership is out of reach for 90% of year-round residents.
Bar Harbor voters approved a 1,000-passenger daily cruise cap in November 2022 with 58% of the vote.
In November 2024, Bar Harbor residents voted to keep the 1,000-passenger daily cruise cap rather than loosen it.
From 2026 Juneau caps cruise passengers at 16,000 a day, and 12,000 on Saturdays, under an agreement with the cruise lines.
Hurricane Helene's 2024 floods damaged about 80% of the buildings in Asheville's River Arts District.
Florida's state-backed insurer of last resort, Citizens, peaked at about 1.4 million policies in September 2023 as private insurers pulled back.
Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by car fell 30.2% year over year in October 2025.
After the bay's oyster fishery collapsed in 2013, Florida suspended wild oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay from late 2020 through 2025 to rebuild the reefs.
Limited commercial wild oyster harvesting returned to Apalachicola Bay on 1 January 2026 after the five-year closure.
The Myrtle Beach area welcomed 18.2 million visitors in 2024, spending $13.2 billion.
Branson grew to more than 50 theaters in the 1990s, most on Highway 76, with star performers who owned their own venues.
Panama City Beach bans alcohol on its beaches for the whole month of March to end its spring-break party era.
Daytona Beach once drew about 400,000 spring breakers a year; after the city stopped advertising to them, the numbers fell to a trickle.
Whiskey Pete's closed in December 2024 and Buffalo Bill's stopped 24-hour operations, as traffic at the state line proved too weekend-heavy to support three casinos.
The Buckstaff Bathhouse has operated continuously since 1912, the only bathhouse on Bathhouse Row never to close.
Wildwood's Doo Wop motels were demolished so fast for condos in the early 2000s that they were named to the National Trust's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006.
Astroland, Coney Island's amusement park since 1962, closed on 7 September 2008 after its land was sold to a developer.
The Sundance Film Festival is leaving Park City, its home since 1985, for Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027.
Pocono Palace, a couples resort famous for heart-shaped tubs since 1976, closed in May 2024 after being sold.
Nearly 40% of Old Orchard Beach's summer visitors come from Canada, and Canadian travel to Maine fell about 25% in 2025.
Video of a packed Memorial Day 2020 pool party at the Lake of the Ozarks was viewed about 17 million times.
Wisconsin Dells, a city of about 5,500 people, has more than 20 waterparks and calls itself the Waterpark Capital of the World.
Pitkin County's median home sale price reached $8.73 million in the first half of 2025.
The share of Vineyard residents earning under $50,000 fell from 40% in 2012 to 23% a decade later, as workers were priced off the island.
Eagle County's housing assessment found a shortfall of about 4,500 homes for its workforce.
Disney's own on-site hotels and restaurants drew visitors away from Kissimmee's US-192 tourist strip, contributing to its decline.
Ocean City has about 7,000 year-round residents and up to 8 million visitors a year; summer weekends bring more than 300,000 people.
South Padre Island is shifting from college spring break toward a family-friendly season, with visibly smaller March crowds in 2025.
After Tesla's Gigafactory was announced near Reno, median home prices in neighboring Sparks rose nearly 42% by 2016.
Dollywood drew nearly four million visitors in 2025, the biggest ticketed attraction in Tennessee.
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