A relatively recent addition to the area, the National Museum of Industrial History, just opened in late 2016 and is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution; it seeks to preserve, educate, and display the industrial history of the nation. It’s not just a cool place to visit — it’s in a cool place, an old building […]
museums
Grave Creek Burial Mound: Last Remnant of an Ancient American Culture
Long before the European invasion, in what is considered to be the “Early Woodland” period, there was a remarkable, pre-Columbian Native American culture, which existed between 1000 to 200 BCE, referred to as the Adena. Although all those who are considered Adena shared cultural similarities — such as sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system […]
7 Places in Pennsylvania You Don’t Want to Miss in 2017!
Over the four years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve discovered unexpected castles, rocks that sing, places of incredible beauty or incredible historical significance — and sometimes both. I’ve ridden bikes along rivers, hiked to mountain tops, and explored underground — all in the great state of Pennsylvania. Now that school is out, here […]
Pittsburgh’s Toonseum
It’s a catchy name for it — and I had high hopes of spending an afternoon exploring the history of cartoons and comics, and seeing some quirky examples from years past and perhaps an exploration of how cartoons and comics have evolved. Plus the art form — going from black and white to color, where […]
Top Nine Mid-Atlantic Region Summer Day Trips for Kids
It’s that time again — when school ends for the year and kids cheer and parents groan (just a little, because, you know, we really love our kids). If you’re looking for some great ideas for day trips with your little cherubs — the kind of daytrips that will keep their imaginations active and expand […]
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 […]
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. […]
Oh Say Can You See… Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key was always sort of a hometown hero for me: I grew up in Frederick, MD, where Key is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery as he desired, “in the shadows of the Catoctin Mountains.” Thus, Fort McHenry has always been a favorite destination for me. It’s a lovely place to walk along the […]
Annamarie Sculpture Garden: Exploring Art Outdoors!
“The Gateway,” by Peter King and Marni Jaime, 1995, Stonehaus Pottery. Permanent collection. Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center is located near Solomons, Maryland, where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The sculpture garden features a short walking path that meanders through the woods past a variety of sculpture, including over thirty works on […]
Working in the Coal Mine!
Coal fired America’s Industrial Revolution, and helped shaped the country we live in today. Anthracite coal was the heating and iron-making fuel of choice, and Pennsylvania’s coal mines, which produced anthracite coal, thrived in the late 19th and early decades of the 20th century. To fill all the jobs necessary to mine coal, companies employed […]
Tredegar Ironworks and the Confederate White House
When we were planning our time in Richmond, I put visiting the Confederate White House on “the list.” I’d toured it years (and years) ago, but wanted to see it again — I love old houses, and an old house with some history attached is like icing on the cake. The Museum of the Confederacy […]
Winterthur
Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”) is one of the last of the original Wild Gardens. Downtown Abbey is one of our favorite shows, so when we learned that there’s a “Costume’s of Downton Abbey” exhibit at Winterthur (already on our list for visiting), we knew it was time to plan a day trip there. The exhibit “Costumes […]
Exploring Two Castles of Whimsy and Treasures
There once lived a man who, in the early part of the 20th century, built two castles. He was a visionary, for he recognized the importance of preserving items of a fading way of life for future generations. He was a artist, creating tiles that were reknown for their beauty. And he was a bit […]
Eastern State Penitentiary
How do you describe a place that is intentionally ugly, intentionally horrible, intentionally built that way? How do I describe a place that having visited a couple of years ago, still haunts me? The Eastern State Penitentiary Museum and Historic Site initially captured my interest in the early 1990s, when I worked at the American […]
I Spy a Change of Plans: International Spy Museum
We awoke to a morning of steady and heavy rain fall. Today our plans were to join in on the 150th Anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Gettysburg, walking Pickett’s Charge, although not as re-enactors, at the exact time of day as the original. Then, as the Confederate side met the Union lines, Taps would […]