With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

Nine year old girl Barsati reacts while walking on a tightrope in Mumbai on February 11, 2014. Barsati, and her younger brother Rajababu, (4) earn an average of around 2000 rupees (32 dollars) per day from pedestrians and tourists performing various acts on the tightrope near the city's iconic landmark Gateway of India. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP Photo)

A prototype battery-powered plane, called Greased Lightning or GL-10 is pictured flying at NASA's Langley Research Center in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters May 1, 2015. The plane, which has 10 engines and can take off like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an aircraft, is currently in the design and testing phase. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

In this Sunday June 13, 1988 file photo West German police officers arrest an English soccer hooligan who sticks out his tongue. Rioting broke out between some 100 hooligans and the police in downtown Stuttgart, West Germany following the European Soccer Championships match between England and Ireland. England was defeated by Ireland 0-1. (Photo by Kraufmann/AP Photo/File)

My name is Jakub and I’m a painter, illustrator & concept artist who lives and work in Poland. My speciality is dark fantasy, character design, concept art and portrait. Since several years I work and paint digitally, but I never gave up traditional drawing and painting. For me the most important in my work, is create unique atmosphere and tell some kind of story through my creations.

“Sunward”. When the Mediterrenean Mantis opened its wings, It seemed very impressive at the sunshine... Photo location: Nicosia, Cyprus. (Photo and caption by Hasan Baglar/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Nimbus, the 2 month old clouded leopard cub, who was hand reared at the home of curator Jamie Craig. Photographed sitting in her hammock at Cotswold Wildlife Park, Burford, Oxfordshire, UK on September 2014. Jamie Craig the curator of the Cotswold Wildlife park has hand reared the baby clouded leopard in his family bathroom after he was rejected by his mother. Now two months old Nimbus is been fed a cat milk replacement diet by bottle and is given soft toys to play with. It is hoped that the leopard will re-join others at the park and eventually join their breeding program. (Photo by SWNS/ABACAPress)