By Tom Adkinson Ancient Babylonians and Greeks peered into a dark night sky and started naming constellations. Copernicus observed enough in cloudless night skies to move Earth from the center of the universe to its rightful place orbiting the Sun. Slaves on the Underground Railroad depended on the North Star Polaris to guide them to…
By Liz Campbell The room is full, and every foot is tapping. One musician plucks an unusual double bass made from a steel drum. A dozen others play their fiddles, guitars, accordions and drums. This is the weekly Saturday afternoon jam session at Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park in Lafayette, Louisiana. The historic…
By Chuck Cecil America’s newest National Park in West Virginia’s New River Gorge offers an enticing reason to discover the Appalachian Mountains. Railroads, coal mining, and logging were the original engines of growth in this frontier area of America, which opened to settlement only in the late 1700s. By the beginning of this century, these…
Last week, two old friends stopped by for a visit. French President Emmanuel Macron dropped into Washington, where he was greeted by a fife and drum corps garbed in colonial uniforms with tri-cornered hats. Some 430 miles to the north, the Prince and Princess of Wales (aka William and Kate) were in Boston discussing climate change with the descendants of colonialists who fought the American Revolution. It was only the third time that British royalty has visited the city. Unmentioned amid the pomp of the two diplomatic visits was the name Paul Revere. His midnight ride in 1775 initiated the armed struggle against the British and inspired a second revolution 14 years later in France. Yet Revere is not regarded as one of America’s founding fathers. His image has never appeared on U.S. currency and his story seldom is mentioned in European texts.
Gone is the presumption of “roughing it” when it comes to vacation travel in a camper. Today’s recreational vehicles can tote all the comforts of home. Think full-sized kitchen appliances, queen beds, one or more bathrooms plus a WiFi-enabled office with a big-screen TV and electric fireplace.
It’s the first Saturday in October at Bauman’s Harvest Festival in Gervais, Oregon and dozens of children have broken free from their parents and are running for the petting zoo. Petting zoos are probably the most popular attractions at autumn harvest celebrations now occurring across the U.S. and Canada. On the other side of a tent selling hot coffee, apple tarts and pumpkin scones more parents and kids are scrambling up a hay bale pyramid or crowding expectantly around an above ground pool to watch local farmers weigh their pumpkins. In a few moments some of the biggest pumpkins will be sacrificed.
There’s a small brick basement in Philadelphia that is to mystery and horror fiction what the basement clubs of Liverpool are to rock n’ roll and the Beatles. Stories penned here portray drunken insanity, deprivation, axe murders, dismemberment and premature burial. This is, of course, the house of Edgar Allan Poe.
Nearly half of all American vehicle trips are under three miles, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Most people consider five miles a reasonable distance to travel on a bike. But thanks to their motors, e-bikes make even ten-mile errands easy.There’s no doubt the switch to e-bikes is picking up speed. According to the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA), which tracks e-bike imports to the U.S., 880,000 e-bikes came into the country in 2021, up from about 450,000 in 2020. Data from Bloomberg and Deloitte show that e-bikes outsold electric cars in the U.S. and in Europe in 2021. Indeed, U.S. e-bike sales are expected to reach three million annually by 2025.
After two years of pandemic-induced inactivity, the War of 1812 erupts anew the first weekend in August when hundreds of historically costumed reenactors take the field to recreate the Siege of Fort Erie. The 210-year old battle, the bloodiest in Canada’s history, was one of a series of skirmishes along the Niagara River at the end of the War of 1812. America hoped that seizing the British fort might lead to the annexation of Upper Canada. Unfortunately, the US advance into Ontario coincided with Britain’s burning of Washington.
By Jian Huang Subiaco, Arkansas is small even for a small town. Located about 100 miles northwest of Little Rock, Subiaco is surrounded by winding country roads and open pastures with grazing cattle and horses. According to the 2020 census, the town has a population of 401 people. The closest interstate is an hour’s drive…