The Logan Inn is a stand out. You could go on a day trip there for dinner, as the inn’s restaurant offers excellent choices on its menu, and then enjoy browsing through New Hope’s antique and boutique stores, or explore other Bucks County, PA attractions. The Logan Inn, one of the five oldest inns in America, […]
heritage tourism
High Bridge Rail Trail
High Bridge Trail State Park in Southside Virginia is a rail trail converted from a railway line, last belonging to Norfolk Southern and having originated as a portion of the South Side Rail Road. Norfolk Southern’s last train crossed High Bridge on October 26, 2004. Just two years later, in December 2006, the company wonderfully […]
New Hope — a Bucks County Jewel
New Hope lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Auqetong Creek. It is an old town — colonial era — and is located along the route of the Old York Road, the former main highway between Philadelphia and New York City. Because it was the halfway point, its inns and hotels would […]
Taking Pride in the C&O Canal and a Couple of Recipes
This year the Blog officially volunteered for the Ninth Annual Canal Pride Days, a program sponsored by the C&O Canal Trust to work on projects, in coordination with the C&O Canal National Park, to improve or help the park. Projects such as pulling out invasive plants, planting gardens for the lockhouses, cleaning garbage and debris […]
Reaching for the Moon: the Story of Barbara Johns and Prince Edward County Public Schools
Photo of a photo displayed in the museum shows Farmvile in the 1950s. Each winter, school children celebrate snow days. But despite missing many days in a row, when the snow again begins to fall, school children again celebrate. But what if the schools simply closed and didn’t reopen? What if the “snow day” was […]
Six Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses You Need to See!
These are six of my favorite lighthouses in the Mid-Atlantic region — from a variety of locations, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay. During the summer months you can find boat tours of both the Chesapeake and Delaware bays that will take you to the various lighthouses; many lighthouses you can drive […]
The Doctor Mudd House
Dr. Samuel Mudd was a lucky man: he missed swinging on the gallows by one jury vote, although he was sent to Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas, for over 3 years. The jury pivoted on a key fact: whether he knew the man he treated that dark and stormy night in April was John […]
Day Trip on a Budget: Checking Out an Historic Mansion in a State Park
If you’re trying to day trip on a budget, your best bet is to check out the state parks. Nominal entrance fees — even if you’re from out of state — make these a great go-to resource for anyone watching their bottom line. One of my favorite day trips was to Susquehanna State Park. I […]
Mary Surratt: Guilty as Charged? Or Innocent?
You don’t have to be a history buff to be interested in exploring some of the places that figure in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. If you haven’t traveled down to Washington DC to see Fords Theater and the little house across the street where Lincoln died, you really should try to do […]
Living History at Lander Lock House
From 1828-1924 the C&O Canal functioned as a transportation route for goods and passengers on the 184.5 mile route from Cumberland, MD to Washington, D.C. Now it’s a great day trip destination for millions of people each year. They come to bike or hike along the canal while enjoying the beauty of the Potomac River. Locks, lock houses, such as […]
A Visit to Hell House in Howard County, MD
This morning my husband surprised me with an adventure I probably wouldn’t have gone on alone. A view over the Patapsco River valley to St Mary’s hill. Many mornings we grab our beagles and go walking along the Grist Mill Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park — we usually access it from the swinging […]
Ghost Hunting at Belmont Manor
We visited historic Belmont Manor, in Elkridge, MD, in search of ghosts, as part of Howard County Parks & Rec programs one evening in March. This wasn’t a ghost tour, where you’re led around and told ghost stories. This was a ghost hunt. We were excited about the opportunity to see this lovely historic manor, […]
Disturbingly Informative, Not for the Faint of Heart
I finally got to visit the Mutter Museum, in Philadelphia. I’ve wanted to visit it for a couple of years, but something always intervened with my plans to do so. Finally, the stars aligned a few weeks ago; I wrote this post the same day I’d visited, so the reactions are very real, but raw. […]
Where You Should Go to See Ruins in the Mid-Atlantic
Because all but one of these sites are in Maryland. I am challenging myself over the next year to find some good daytrips to ruins or ghost towns OUTSIDE of Maryland! By the way, I don’t do breaking and entering, so I’m not into sneaking into abandoned asylums or hospitals. If it’s fenced off and posted […]
The Field of Lost Shoes
New Market Battlefield State Historical Park is a historic American Civil War battlefield and national historic district located near New Market, VA, in Shenandoah County. The park is also the site of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, which is operated by the Virginia Military Institute. Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant designed a “grand strategy” to […]