If you want a serious tour of Pittsburgh, don’t go on the Just Ducky tours. But if you want to see a little of Pittsburgh by land and by river and have some fun laughing at some corny jokes and quack-quack-quacking at people you drive past, then this is the tour for you! I enjoyed […]
Author: Jody Arneson
Native American Heritage Month
My employer asked me to write an internal newsletter blog about a Native American site in Maryland in honor of Native American Heritage Month. In a state and region with river names such as Monocacy, Potomac, Patapsco and Patuxent, I thought it would be easy to find a native American heritage site. I grew up […]
Gunston Hall, George Mason’s Retreat
One of the most famous men of his time is now one of the least known: George Mason. His Virginia Declaration of Rights anticipated and most certainly influenced what became the Bill of Rights. In fact, he is often referred to as the “father” of the Bill of Rights. Mason was a colonial Virginia planter, politician, […]
Come for the Battlefields, Stay for Dinner
Exploring Gettysburg and its famous Civil War sites will make a visitor hungry! And where better to go than to one of the region’s 16+ restaurants (discounting fast food joints and chain establishments)? Of course, Gettysburg and Adams County is well known for its agritourism, with its orchards, farm stands, and vineyards. Now, local restaurants […]
Benjamin Parry Mansion
Right in the center of New Hope is a conspicuous and lovely stone mansion — clearly an old building (and therefore, incredibly interesting to me!). We were visiting Bucks County and staying across the street in the Logan Inn, so I was excited when I realized that the Benjamin Parry Mansion was open to the […]
Visiting our Ice Age Past at Cranesville Swamp
Cranesville Swamp Preserve is a 1,600-acre preserve situated in Preston County, WV and Garrett County, MD. The swamp formed 15,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, when glaciers inched close but never reached Maryland. The climate warmed and the glaciers retreated but many of the boreal plants remained. Nestled in a mountain valley bowl […]
Fort Washington Stood Sentinel Through Multiple Wars
Fort Washington is a War of 1812-era fort which has stood sentinel, guarding Washington DC through most of this nation’s history, although it didn’t always look like it does now. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was originally called Fort Warburton, but later renamed. During the War of 1812, […]
The Ghosts of Historic Savage Mill
Those aren’t orbs — those are raindrops! Very close to home is the ghost tour of historic Savage Mill, in Savage, Maryland. Savage Mill is a historic cotton mill complex in Savage, Maryland, which has been turned into a complex of shops and restaurants. Buildings in the complex date from 1822 to 1916. Led by […]
Try the Cider and Wine
The region around Gettysburg — Adams County — is known for the Civil War battle that raged there in 1863. But if you confine yourself to the just an exploration of Adams County’s Civil War sites, you’ll be missing out on a whole array of other wonderful day trip destinations. Long time readers of this […]
Ringing Rocks: One of Pennyslvania’s Natural Wonders
The thought of rocks that do more than just lie around on the forest floor doing nothing more than, well, looking like rocks lying on the ground kind of intrigued me. I learned about the ringing rocks through one of those corny Facebook notifications, which promised, if we visited, that we’d encounter a fascinating “field” […]
Go For Apples!
Adams County, PA is apple country — so go for the apples! During the harvest season, I feel the pull to explore farmers markets and farm stands — fruits and vegetables freshly picked is just exponentially tastier than what we find in most large grocery stores. So why not make it your day trip destination as […]
C&O Canal: From Swains Lock to Seneca Aqueduct
It was one of those rare, incredibly gorgeous summer days: 75 degrees, low humidity. As any Marylander will affirm, those kind of days are to be treasured indeed. In fact, any beautiful summer day is likely to find me either biking on the C&O Canal or thinking about biking on the C&O Canal. I wish I […]
Harpers Ferry, Town of Ghosts
Not quite living history, the ghost tour of Harpers Ferry brings the history of the town alive again. Billed as the oldest existing ghost tour in the United States, the Ghost Tours of Harpers Ferry began more than 40 years ago by local restauranteur Shirley Dougherty. After opening “the Old Iron Horse” restaurant in an […]
Greeting the Morning Sun at Bear Rocks
How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! — environmentalist and author, John Muir We got up at the ungodly hour of 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to take the long and somewhat nerve-wracking drive up Laneville Road from Canaan Valley, where we were staying just off of Route 32 in a rental cabin, to […]
A Tough Hike with a Worthy Payoff: Pen Mar to High Rock
Fellow blogger J. Hammer graciously agreed to guest blog for the Mid-Atlantic Day Trips Blog about hiking along the Appalachian Trail. So I’ve been trying to chip away at sections of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, and since I’ve done a couple of the middle sections, including the hike to Annapolis Rocks, and a hike […]