This Day in History: , Mount Vesuvius Erupts.<br />August 24, 79 A.D.<br />This longtime dormant volcano erupted <br />just after noon, spewing a <br />mushroom cloud of ash and <br />molten pumice ten miles up into the atmosphere.<br />The wealthy summer vacation cities <br />of Pompeii and Herculaneum <br />sat in the wake of the eruption.<br />For twelve hours, the sky rained pumice <br />and ash on the residents and <br />opulent structures of Pompeii.<br />Thousands were killed. <br />Both cities were covered under a <br />thick layer of mud and volcanic molten ash.<br />An account of the eruption was <br />captured in two letters written to the <br />Roman historian Tacitus by a witness, Pliny the Younger.<br />After being rediscovered and excavated in the 1700s, <br />the remarkably preserved city of Pompeii became <br />a popular tourist destination
