“I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree,” George Washington said as a kid, according to Parson Weems, the author of some of the best known stories about Washington’s childhood. Whether he actually chopped the tree down is debatable. But if it HAD happened, it would have happened at Ferry Farm, where […]
historic houses
24 Things to Do in 24 Hours in Fredericksburg VA
Back in the day — colonial days, that is — Fredericksburg was an important port on the Rappahannock River. At the time, it was at the farthest point navigable by large ships laden with treasured items from Europe and beyond. The city soon became a key trading center for the plantation owners and farmers nearby, […]
First State Heritage Park
The First State Heritage Park at Dover is Delaware’s first urban “park without boundaries,” linking historic and cultural sites in the historic city that has been the seat of state government since 1777. First State Heritage Park includes the Biggs Museum, the John Bell House, the Johnson Victrola Museum, Legislative Hall, the Old State House, […]
Historic Annapolis by Candlelight
Have you ever wondered what those historic homes look like inside? I do! Thus, when I hear of a tour of private residences in a historic city, I leap at the chance to tour them! A home on a previous year’s tour. Photo courtesy VisitAnnapolis.org. Once a year, you get to find out how a […]
Have a Hauntingly Great Time in Lewes DE!
Lewes, DE is rich with historic happenings, legends, and tall-tales, many of them involving a touch of the paranormal. From the founding of Lewes in 1631 and the massacre of its settlement the following year, to the unknown sailors’ cemetery at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, some residents never seem to depart. Lewes is more than […]
Poe House Museum in Baltimore
The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival will take place October 6-7 at Edgar Allan Poe Square/203 North Amity Street, Baltimore. This is exciting to me: Poe was my first favorite author — his dark tales of gothic horror resonated with me at an early age. One of Poe’s most famous poems, “The Raven” (for which […]
Riversdale House and Stories of the Stiers, Calverts and Plummers
This is another wonderful daytrip destination that’s been lurking within less than an hour’s drive of Baltimore, and 30 minutes from Washington DC but which is often overlooked. And that’s really sad — touring it helps folks understand an important part of Maryland state history. Riversdale is a five-part, large-scale late Georgian mansion with an […]
Centre Furnace Mansion
Minutes from the Penn State campus in Centre County is an historic mansion that helps tell the story of the iron industry in America, how the county got named, and Penn State itself was founded. An artist’s interpretation of Centre Furnace Mansion in the early 1800s. The mansion is a restored and furnished ironmaster’s home […]
John Dickinson Plantation
As strange as it may seem to us now to call a plantation owner remarkable, I visited the former home of a remarkable man. John Dickinson, referred to as the Penman of the Revolution, for his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, where he eloquently argued the cause of American liberty. He also was a solicitor […]
Boal Mansion and Columbus Chapel
What’s an authentic medieval European chapel doing in the middle of Pennsylvania? You’ll have to daytrip to the Boal Mansion, in Boalsburg, to find out! The Boal Estate has been the Boal family home for more than 200 years. During a tour, you learn the story of America as seen through eight generations of one […]
Lovely Discoveries at the “New” Penn State Arboretum
The only constant is change, and that’s never more apparent than when you revisit a place you lived and loved for four years. I graduated from Penn State 30 years ago, and although the bones are all still there, new buildings and new features jar the walk down memory lane. The field hockey fields and […]
The Underground Railroad in Caroline County, MD
I started exploring the Underground Railroad last year, inspired by the opening of the new Harriet Tubman Visitor’s Center in March 2017. This year, I followed the UGRR further north, into Caroline County. Whether you see it in a day or over a few years, it’s worth exploring the Harriet Tubman Byway to gain a […]
Governor Ross Mansion Brings You Back in History
The Gov. Ross Mansion was built in the 1850s by William Henry Harrison Ross for himself and his family. Ross served as the Democratic Governor of Delaware from 1851 to 1855. Extremely popular with the white community, he brought the railroad into Southern Delaware, and indeed, right past his own property. Trains running daily to […]
Hammond-Harwood House Through the Eyes of Those Enslaved There
As history tourists in America’s great mansions in the mid-Atlantic region, we often remark upon the intricate carvings around the fire-places and window and door moldings, the lovely grain of the mahogany wood of the sideboard, the fine fabrics used in the bed-curtains. I recently toured the Hammond-Harwood House, an “elegant townhouse” located on Maryland […]
Truth in History at Belle Grove Plantation
Belle Grove Plantation, in King George, VA, is a gorgeous place, high up on a bluff on the eastern shore of the Rappahanock River. James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, was born there on March 16, 1751, although the house, which was the childhood home of his mother, Eleanor Rose Conway, where […]