Countries – nation states recognised by the UN. Culture and people groups lay on a spectrum that changes gradually across geographies, borders just don’t do people justice. When I was a kid I’d tag along on family trips to sunny resorts and theme parks, but as I grew older I Read more…
I’ve lived in Europe and been all over New England. New Haven is a little bit of both. It has that classic British colonial layout with green church squares interlaced with criss crossing paths, an intimate streetscape with mixed commercial and residential use, and a Yale University campus that looks Read more…
Hartford was named after Hertford in England in 1637, but the Dutch settled the first colonial village in 1633. The native Americans called the place Suckiaug. The first Western constitution was written here in Hartford in 1639 and served as the sole capital of the Connecticut colony until 1701. The Read more…
I was immensely impressed by Springfield during my short visit there. The Springfield Museums system punches well above its weight with a balanced portfolio of five museums in arts, history, and science. Famous children’s book author Dr. Seuss was also from Springfield, this city’s main peacetime claim to fame. During Read more…
First things first – the Empire State Plaza is an exceedingly uncomfortable place to be. Aside from that, it has enough history and culture to keep a family interested for an afternoon. The New York State Museum with free admission is the only museum in town worth a visit, but Read more…
Szczecin is really mouthful for anyone who doesn’t speak Polish so it’s better known as Stettin to Germans. Stettin is actually a huge city with nearly a thousand years of history, it used to be the largest German port in the Baltic Sea and printed a lot of Bibles. You Read more…
I’ve been to the Canadian side of Sault Ste. Marie before I visited the American side because COVID-19 meant that the borders were closed. The Soo Locks on the American side are more difficult to access, so head up the Tower of History to see it after visiting the largest Read more…
Charlottetown is the provincial capital of the smallest province in the confederation, Prince Edward Island, which is several times smaller than Vancouver Island. Though small, it played the biggest part in confederation by hosting the meeting that led to the confederation of Canada. In 1964, the city built a replica Read more…
Philanthropist steel baron Andrew Carnegie spent much of his career building the steel industry in Pittsburgh, also known as Steel City. There are more than a dozen yellow steel bridges crisscrossing the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, skyscrapers mirroring each other’s steel grids, and light rails grinding on steel tracks. Pittsburg Read more…
Downtown Dayton is entirely skippable. There are no restaurants, no shops, no street life, and few interpretive plaques on the city’s history. Not even the Second Street Market is open daily like the ones in Colombus and Cincinnati. It’s so boring that it even erected a statue of Lincoln in Read more…
Cincinnati is home to William Howard Taft’s family, he was the 27th US president. It’s also home to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the best place to begin an educational trail to learn all about the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada. Liberty Street used to be the northern Read more…