Hidden away south of the Lincoln Memorial and just steps from the Potomac lies a monument that seems out-of-place on the National Mall. The inventor of the screw propellor may seem like a dull and undeserved choice for memorialization here. However, John Ericsson's achievements were arguably as pivotal to victory in the American Civil War as President Lincoln's leadership.

An engineering prodigy…

With a resemblance to the famous Abraham Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., this imposing statue at the Bell Telephone Company office in Brantford surprises many passersby.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone at his family's house in Brantford and made the first long-distance call there as well. This statue is one of several monuments in "The Telephone City"…

In 1870, Alexander Graham Bell, his parents, and sister-in-law moved from Scotland to a small farm in Brantford, Ontario, in hopes that the Canadian climate would help his poor health. Once recovered, Bell began teaching at the Boston School for the Deaf in the United States, returning to his parents' home for holidays and summers.

On July 26, 1874, while at his "dreaming place" on the farm…