There's a park in downtown Providence, Rhode Island named after Ambrose Burnside, an industrialist, inventor, senator, governor and Civil War general from Rhode Island. Two things stand out about him: he was a pretty awful general and he had one heck of a face full of hair. Militarily, he's most known for the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of the Crater, two disastrous lulus that were primarily his fault. He had better luck as a fashion plate, though, because his facial hair became so famous that the term "sideburns" was derived from his name, Burnside. And Providence, being a forgiving and quirky place, has a statue of General Burnside on his horse and with his face resplendent with glorious whiskers that sits in his eponymous park.
This leads us to the conclusion that Providence is missing an eccentric roadside attraction opportunity. We propose there be a Sideburns Hall of Fame, to be erected in honor of Rhode Island's facially hirsute native son, and we've rounded up some charter inductees:
The Beatles
Crosby, Still, Nash & Young
Duane Allman
Elvis Presley
Engelbert Humperdink
Jerry Reed
Ludacris
Ray Manzarek
Mike Nesmith
Michael Palin
Neil Young (I know he's up there in the CSNY photo, but his sideburns are AWESOME!)
The Blues Brothers
Isaac Asimov
