National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
Part of taking in the history of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., meant going to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Although you can’t tell it from the name, the museum is focused on …
Category: History
Mineral Springs in Saratoga Springs, NY
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was known once upon a time as “the Queen of the Spas” for its numerous natural mineral springs and their supposed health benefit (from both drinking and bathing) for treating things such …
Park-McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion
The Park–McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion in North Bennington, Vt., is a 35-room Victorian “country house” set on 200 acres today, down from 700 acres at its peak. Built in 1865 by attorney and entrepreneur Trenor …
Hancock Shaker Village
We visited the former Shaker commune Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass. It was an active Shaker community from the late 1700s until the middle of the 20th century. The community’s peak was in the …
Architecture / Art / Authors / Books / History
A Few Sites along the Lower Hudson River in New York
Nestled right along the Hudson River in Tarrytown, N.Y., sits Washington Irving’s Sunnyside home. The home, purchased as a small stone farmhouse in 1835, sits on 10 acres, and is a mixture of Dutch Colonial …
United States Military Academy (West Point)
On our travels up the Hudson River we stopped in to the United States Military Academy, commonly known as West Point. Though the West Point Museum was closed, the Visitors Center was open and had …
Sites in Central & North Jersey
While meandering our way from Central New Jersey up towards the New York border, we listened to Blind Faith by Joe McGinniss; this is a true crime book that took place near where I grew …
Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore
Doug and I went all in on the Edgar Allan Poe sites in Baltimore. Poe died at just 40 years of age under mysterious circumstances in Baltimore, Md. We listened to an excellent book, A …
Architecture / Flowers / History / Museums
The Nemours Estate
The last of the du Pont-related visits we made in Wilmington, Del., was also the most opulent – the Nemours Estate (the other visits were Hagley and Winterthur). This 200-acre “country estate” has a 77 …
Francis Scott Key Memorial and Grave Site
As a kid, I remember on numerous family trips from our home in southern Pennsylvania passing by a historical marker in Carroll County, Md., that announced the location of the birthplace of Francis Scott Key. …