Located at the entrance to the Hampton Roads Harbor, Fort Wool, originally named Fort Calhoun, was built to maintain a crossfire with Fort Monroe, located directly across the channel, thereby protecting the entrance to the harbor. Along with Fort Monroe, Fort Wool was constructed following the War of 1812 to protect Hampton Roads from the […]
ruins
Eastern State Penitentiary Update
I first visited Eastern State Penitentiary about 10 years ago, and wrote about it in MidAtanticDayTrips in 2014, several years after the actual visit. It haunted me then, and still does. Even as the cell blocks high arched ceilings evoke a cathedral-like reverence, the cells still hold their secrets, and they’re not giving them up. […]
Biking the Butler – Freeport Rail Trail
On the southeastern side of Butler County, about an hour northeast of Pittsburgh, is a delightful bike trail, the Butler – Freeport Community Trail, which runs 20 miles through a scenic wooded valley, along the corridor of the diverse Buffalo Creek Watershed. In fact, in several sections, the trail parallels Little Buffalo Creek to Buffalo […]
Mt Hebron Cemetery Holds 35 Thousand Stories
It’s a cliche, but still true, that you can discern much about a town by its cemetery; Mount Hebron Cemetery reveals Winchester’s secrets. Mount Hebron Cemetery, in Winchester, VA started modestly, in 1844, adjacent to two much older cemeteries: the German Reformed Church Cemetery, chartered more than a hundred years earlier, and the Lutheran Church […]
Baltimore – Washington Area’s Best Urban Oases
When the urban jungle becomes too much for us, we naturally seek an oasis of peace and calm amidst the asphalt and pandemonium. I’ve found eight surprising urban oases offering us the promise of lovely vistas, green relief, or a pleasant walk. These are all near or in Washington DC and Baltimore. Check them out […]
Returning to Hell House and Finding Everything AND a Kitchen Sink
Last year my husband and I climbed the steps from the still-active train tracks just above Ilchester Road to the old St Mary’s Seminary site, adjacent the Patapsco River Valley State Park. Where once there was a thriving men’s Catholic seminary, now — as it was a year ago — is just a pile of […]
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 […]
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 […]