Gadsby’s Tavern was a central part of the social, economic, political and educational life of Alexandria between 1785 and the mid-1800s. Here, the likes of George Washington, the Lee family, Dolly Madison, and Thomas Jefferson conversed, dined, and danced. Founded in 1785, Gadsby’s Tavern consisted of two buildings — the older tavern building and the […]
museums
Discovering the Beauty of Nature at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl
Red-Breasted Merganser Pair, date unknown, A. Elmer Crowell, East Harwich, MA The story of how the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art got started is really cool, actually, and started with two brothers, who began carving in their childhood in the early 1900s. Flying Canvasback Pair, 1963, Lem Ward, Crisfield, MD Lemuel T. Ward (1897–1984) and […]
Missing Soldiers Office: Clara Barton’s Mission in Washington DC
The Clara Barton Missing Soldier Office Museum all started with a ghostly tap on the shoulder in 1996. Clara Barton was an amazing woman, and the more I learn about her, the more impressed I am. She is most well known for founding the America Red Cross, but she devoted most of her adult life […]
Lynchburg’s Link to the Harlem Renaissance: The Anne Spencer House
There is a house on Pierce Street in Lynchburg. A two-story modified Queen Anne style shingle residence, it’s cute, but like most middle-class homes, not a home you’d look at more than once, if passing along the street. What makes this house so cool, and worth your second and third glance, is that Anne Bethel […]
Gaining Insight into our Fifth POTUS at the James Monroe Museum
There’s a curious little museum in Fredericksburg dedicated to the fifth President, and the last Virginia president. James Monroe, who was born in 1758 and lived until 1831, served in the Continental Army and as a governor of Virginia; he also was a statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father. He is perhaps best known for […]
American Visionary Art Museum Revisited
Bluebird of Happiness, Dick Brown. The American Visionary Art Museum is an unusual art museum. There are no Picassos, no Monets, no Chagalls to be found within its walls, but don’t let that stop you. Black Icarus, Andrew Logan. Instead, you’ll find art made by “every day folk” but these artists didn’t go to school […]
Learn about Baltmore’s Industrial Past at the Baltimore Museum of Industry
Baltimore was never a one-industry town. If you think of Pittsburgh, you naturally think of steel. If you think Detroit, cars. But Baltimore? Think straw hats and umbrellas. And boots, space capsules, and schooners. And Linotype machines. And cigars, seaplanes, and refined sugar. And radios and sail cloth and toilets…. the list goes on. Baltimore […]
How Kids Can Science at the Maryland Science Center!
I kinda wished I was a kid again. Or had young kids again (my kids are all grown). Because the Maryland Science Center is all about kids and science and teaching kids things by simply making it fun to explore ideas and concepts. Yes, I visited the Maryland Science Center as an adult. And without […]
Percival Island Rail Trail — Biking a Portion of the James River Heritage Rail Trail
Lynchburg offers more than 40 miles of bike and walking trails. which visit various parts of the town’s historic neighborhoods and parks. We didn’t have our bikes on this ride — the first day of a seven-day whirl-wind of daytrips, so we rented bikes — very comfortable Townies — at Bikes Unlimited, before heading off […]
Explore the Odd and Creepy at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium
3D masks that look as if they’re looking at you. You have permission to stare. This T-Rex sculpture is made out of Pop-Tart foil…believe it or not! Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium has the weird, bizarre and just plain odd. Looking for a life-sized T-Rex made out of pop-tart foil? Then look no further, […]
24 Things to Do in 24 Hours in Lynchburg
Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the “City of Seven Hills.” It’s a city nestled in its surroundings. If you’re a history buff, you’ve come to the right place — there’s history galore here. Interestingly, it’s a Southern city grappling with […]
Reflecting Absence: 9/11 Memorial and Museum in NYC
Every American, if they are old enough, has their own memory of that day, the 11th of September, 2001. A surprising number remember, of all things, the incredibly deep blue sky that yielded the planes which were the instruments of terror that day. A view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn, taken around 8:30 a.m. September […]
Nine-Eleven Memorials
There is America pre-9/11 and America post-9/11, and a world of difference in between. The targets of the 9/11 terrorist attacks were the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington DC and, most likely, the Capitol Building — symbols of America’s financial, military and political influence on the world. The magnitude […]
Rediscovering the Arts and Crafts Movement at the Moravian Pottery
A wall of tiles in Fonthill Castle. No visit to Doylestown, PA would be complete without a visit to the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works, adjacent to Fonthill Castle, which local archeologist, collector, creative genius Henry Chapman Mercer designed and built. In fact, both the Moravian Tile Works and Fonthill Castle came out of Mercer’s […]
Historic Jamestowne
A model of the Susan Constant. In 1607, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery landed, carrying 104 men and boys. These first colonists constructed a fort to protect themselves from the nearby Virginia Indian tribes and from a potential attack from the Spanish settlements in Florida. The following year, young women were recruited from England to travel […]