1

The numbers behind it

Image: Melo Liu

One could say the White House is a home, but a more accurate description would be "small city." With 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, and six levels, it accommodates everyone from the First Family to visiting dignitaries.

As if that wasn’t enough in terms of numbers, add 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, seven staircases, and three elevators, and you’ve got a place that’s as grand as it is functional. The only number left to wonder about is how many people it takes to clean it! With so much going on, it’s safe to say the White House is always buzzing.

2

From "President’s House" to "The White House"

Image: Saul Rodriguez

Did you know the White House wasn’t always called that? Over the years, it’s been referred to as the "President’s Palace," the "President’s House," and the "Executive Mansion."

But it wasn’t until 1901 that President Theodore Roosevelt made "The White House" the official name. The change reflected a more democratic image, distancing the building from European-style palaces.

3

6,000 visitors a day: A popular destination

Image: Saul Rodriguez

You have probably toured the White House at least once, haven’t you? Well, on any given day, the White House welcomes around 6,000 visitors.

From local and foreign tourists on a guided tour, diplomats, to school groups, the building sees a steady stream of guests. That’s a lot of handshakes, selfies, and security checks! More than power and politics, the charm of the White House lies in the national history it holds.

4

Presidential firsts: Planes, photos, and more

Image: Jainam Sheth

Every president brings something new to the White House, but some have achieved truly historic "firsts."

For example, John Tyler was the first to have his photograph taken. Theodore Roosevelt rode in the first presidential car and became the first president to travel abroad, to Panama. Franklin Roosevelt added air travel to the mix as the first president to fly.

You may be wondering who the first president to live there was, but we’ll cover that fact later in this article!

5

A kitchen built for a crowd

Image: Odiseo Castrejon

We may not know about the cleaning crew, but we do have some facts about the chefs!

There are five full-time chefs in the White House, so the kitchen is ready for any occasion. It can serve dinner to 140 guests or hors d’oeuvres to more than 1,000 people at a time. From state dinners to casual family meals, the kitchen staff handles it all with finesse. Five stars for them, please!

6

Painting the town (or the House) White

Image: Steve Johnson

Keeping the White House pristine is no small task: Can you guess how much paint it takes to cover it? Here’s the answer: It takes a whopping 570 gallons of paint to cover its iconic exterior. This monumental paint job ensures the building remains the picture of elegance and charm. Over the years, this white coat has become a symbol of the presidency itself. Who knew painting could carry so much historical weight? Fun fact: ours is not the only presidential home with a trademark color!

7

Fun and games at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Image: Jay Wennington

When you think of the Executive Mansion, you probably picture people in suits going from one point to another, solving national and international matters, right? Well, that may be true, but the White House isn’t all business; there are some recreational rooms, too.

Residents (which range from the presidential family to diplomats to staff) enjoy a tennis court, jogging track, swimming pool, movie theater, billiard room, and even a bowling lane. Talk about a house with some serious amenities, huh?

8

George Washington never slept here

Image: Kenny Eliason

While George Washington oversaw the creation of the White House, he never got to live in it. The mansion wasn’t completed until 1800, a year after Washington’s death.

So, to answer the question from the "presidential firsts" section, John Adams became the first president to move in, and it’s been the home of every president since. Washington’s influence is still felt, but don’t expect to see his ghost wandering the halls.

9

The White House has survived two fires

Image: Cullan Smith

Well, the title pretty much covers it, right? The White House has faced fire twice in its history.

In 1814, British forces burned it during the War of 1812, though some exterior walls and the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington were saved. Then, on Christmas Eve in 1929, a chimney flue sparked a blaze that gutted parts of the West Wing. President Herbert Hoover even directed firefighting efforts during the chaos. Now, this is proof of its true Americanness: It only came back stronger and taller!

10

Teddy Roosevelt built the West Wing

Image: Srikanta H. U

Teddy Roosevelt is the man behind the West Wing. In 1902, he expanded the White House by adding this now-famous section to house presidential offices.

The project replaced some old conservatories and introduced the colonnaded gallery that connects it to the main residence. Later presidents, like Taft and Franklin Roosevelt, expanded the West Wing further, but it all started with Teddy’s vision. Today, the West Wing is the spinal cord of the presidency as it holds the Oval Office.

1

Monopoly

Monopoly is iconic. Almost everybody has played it at least once. Monopoly was created in 1935 and has since remained popular worldwide . The goal is to become the wealthiest player. How? Well, you have quite a few options.

You can buy properties, build houses and hotels, and collect rent. And you must avoid bankruptcy. Monopoly encourages you to use strategic thinking, though you’ll need a bit of luck as well. It also triggers tons of conversations and negotiations with other players, which makes playing it really fun.

2

Scrabble

If you like word games, you’ve played Scrabble. Although the game is about words, you have to think strategically with your use of allotted letter tiles. It’s the typical "easy to learn, difficult to master" situation. One of the best things about Scrabble is that, even though its rules are simple, every game feels different and you can replay it endlessly.

3

The Game of Life

The Game of Life is another staple and one of the best-selling board games in the country . The concept that its creator, Milton Bradley, came up with was pretty unique: experiencing life’s different milestones through a board game.

This means things like choosing a career, getting married, buying a home, retiring, etc. You just need to spin the colourful wheel and face the different events, making decisions that will impact your life in the game as you get closer to retirement.

4

Clue

Clue has been a family favorite for generations. It was created in 1949, inviting players to step into the shoes of a detective who has to solve a murder . Clue can offer tons of fun, as you and other players move around a mansion trying to find different clues to determine who committed the crime. Unlike other games on this list, you don’t need to be lucky here. Clue is all about studying the clues carefully, taking notes, and using your deduction skills.

5

Battleship

Who didn’t love Battleship as a kid? There was nothing like pretending to be a naval commander and trying to sink your opponent's ships. Battleship was originally a pencil-and-paper game, but in 1967, Milton Bradley released the plastic board game. The game is simple: you and the opposing player arrange your fleet of ships on a hidden grid, and then take turns calling out coordinates to try to locate and sink each other's vessels . Once all your ships have been sunk, you lose.

6

Sorry!

Hearing "sorry" while playing Sorry! was very frustrating but fun. Created by Parker Brothers in 1934 and based on the older game Ludo, the premise of Sorry! is simple: draw cards and be the first player to get all three of your pawns to their "home." But it’s not that easy, because if another player lands on your tile, they’ll say "sorry" and your pawn is sent back to its own start . It's a perfect game to play with kids and have a laugh with the whole family.

7

Risk

If you like war-themed games, you probably played Risk. When it was released in America in 1959 by Parker Brothers, Risk became the definitive world-conquest game , allowing you to build armies and engage in battles against other players to conquer territories across the world map. Risk is all about knowing when to establish alliances, when to betray your allies, and when to attack. It can get a little complex, especially in longer games that can sometimes take several hours to finish.

8

Connect Four

Connect Four can be learned in minutes, though it can have more depth than it initially seems. It was released in 1974 by Milton Bradley, and the goal is simple: dropping colored discs into a vertical grid to try to connect four in a row . It’s perfect for a quick game if you don’t want to spend time explaining rules. But the game becomes a little more complex when you realize that the key to winning is planning several moves ahead, making it almost a mathematical challenge.

9

Trouble

You may remember Trouble because of the iconic Pop-O-Matic Bubble . Unlike other games where you normally roll the dice with your hands, Trouble (released in 1965 by Kohner Brothers) had this plastic dome that was not only satisfying to press but also very practical. It was in the middle of the board, which gave the game a faster pace. Trouble’s rules were similar to Sorry!, where players have to move their four pawns around the board until the finish, though with plenty of unexpected twists along the way.

10

Mouse Trap

Released in 1963 by Ideal Toy Company, Mouse Trap was a board game that felt like a giant toy . Perfect to play with kids, this game works a little differently than most board games. The goal is to assemble different parts to capture other players’ mice. The last remaining player with an uncaught mouse wins. What made Mouse Trap actually fun was not only playing the game, but playing with the different parts and assembling and triggering the chain-reaction, Rube Goldberg-like machine.

1

Gold Rush myths bubbled up immediately

Image: Tomáš Malík

It didn’t take long for the truth to get buried. As soon as gold was discovered, the stories started to shimmer. Tales of instant wealth, golden boulders, and rivers gleaming with nuggets.

Letters home were often exaggerated, and newspapers sensationalized every find. These myths fueled the frenzy and caused proverbial FOMO all over the world. People wanted to see it for themselves.

2

The best Western business wasn’t in fact gold

Image: Stefan Münz

If you wanted to get rich during the gold rush, you had better chances opening a store than mining. That was the golden rule for smart entrepreneurs like Levi Strauss, who didn’t strike it rich in a streambed, but in a sewing room. Another legend, Samuel Brannan, made a fortune selling picks, pans, and shovels —not gold.

3

The "49ers" were actually latecomers

Image: Emilie

The famed "49ers," the nickname for those swept up in the gold frenzy in 1849, weren’t the first on the scene. There’s a plot twist. Gold was discovered in January 1848 at Sutter’s Mill.

But the news spread slowly . By the time the world caught on, most of the easily accessible gold had already been plucked from riverbeds by locals, soldiers, and early arrivals.

4

Thousands came from China and South America

Image: rc.xyz NFT gallery

The Gold Rush was a global stampede . Tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants crossed the Pacific, some bringing generations of mining knowledge with them. Others came from Chile, Peru, and Mexico, arriving in San Francisco to find opportunity.

5

Women were there not just as camp followers

Image: Michael & Diane Weidner

Women were there too, not just as wives, but as businesswomen, cooks, hoteliers, and even miners. Take Luzena Wilson, a widow who hauled her children west and set up a boarding house for miners. Her clean beds and hot meals turned into a booming business.

Others ran laundries, tended bar, or staked their own claims. In a lawless land where survival meant creativity, many women found fortune in hard work.

6

Some came from Hawaii, Russia, and Europe

Image: Trey Hollins

They called them " Argonauts ," a romantic nod to the Greek myth of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. And like the legend, the real Gold Rush was international. Adventurers came not just from the American East, but from as far as Russia’s Pacific coast, the Hawaiian Islands, and every corner of Europe.

7

Gold Rush towns became ghost towns

Image: Stefan Münz

Take Bodie, for example. A lawless hotspot where saloons outnumbered schools. At its peak, it had over 10,000 residents. A few decades later, it was all tumbleweeds and creaky wood .

Once the gold ran out, so did the people. Tools were abandoned and whole towns vanished almost overnight, leaving behind eerie remnants.

8

The "Gold Fever" spread worldwide

Image: suradeach saetang

Once word of gold reached distant shores, "gold fever" spread around the world . Australia had its own rush by 1851. The Klondike in Canada followed in the 1890s, and South Africa’s rich deposits turned Johannesburg into a boomtown in the 1880s.

Prospectors chased hope, not just gold. Each new report of found gold sparked a fresh migration, with fortune-seekers packing up and heading to the hot spots.

9

Gold mining required team effort

Image: Elena Mozhvilo

Forget the image of the lone prospector whistling by the river . That only worked for a short time.

As surface gold dried up, miners turned to hard labor, which involved blasting rock, diverting rivers, and eventually using powerful water cannons in a process called hydraulic mining. It was expensive. Teams of men pooled resources, hired help, and invested in equipment.

10

Many "Gold Seekers" never even made it to California

Image: James Lee

Getting to California in the 1840s was no stroll through the prairie. Hundreds of the hopefuls who set out never arrived. Some perished on the overland trails due to disease, accidents, or exhaustion.

The sea route around Cape Horn was no solution; it was just longer and colder. Some turned back. Others settled in Oregon or Utah. A few found fortune far from the gold fields.

11

The "Gold Rush" fueled California's statehood

Image: Emre Ayata

In 1848, California was a sleepy outpost with little U.S. oversight. By 1850, it had boomed into a booming, brawling land with more than enough people.

The rush had brought merchants, farmers, lawyers, and politicians. With them came the push for schools, railroads, and laws. California skipped the usual phase of being a U.S. territory and leapfrogged straight into statehood.

12

Women and children wrote some of the best eyewitness accounts

Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art

Some of the most vivid details of this era came from women and children who chronicled the chaos . Their letters and diaries tell of lonely cabins, muddy streets, makeshift schools, and the daily drama of camp life.

Women like Louise Clappe (aka "Dame Shirley") wrote witty, unfiltered dispatches from the Sierra Nevada. Young girls described the thrill of arriving in San Francisco and the terror of crossing the plains.

13

The Gold Rush didn't end in 1850

Image: Michael & Diane Weidner

By the time most folks arrived, the easy pickings were gone, and the story was just getting started.

The gold fever didn’t vanish in a year. Prospecting surged well into the 1850s and beyond. Some of the biggest strikes, like Nevada’s Comstock Lode in 1859, came after the main rush was supposedly over. By then, mining had evolved into an industrial enterprise, with machinery, corporations, and deeper digs.