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
The state capital of New Jersey was only a small town during the American Revolutionary War when General George Washington defeated the British and their mercenaries several times and lodged his troops briefly in the barracks. It is still a small, sleepy town today with the husks of 20th century Read more
Dude, I love this place! It’s my spiritual home in Germany, I used to visit once a month just to get my fix of beer, weißwurst, and history. A shoutout to my friend Michael for letting me crash at his loft several times and to Timo for treating me to Read more
The capital of Manitoba is not very well known. If it is known to outsiders, it’s usually recognized for being the start of the prairies with the bison symbol even though the provincial animal is the great grey owl. Many mistake the bison for being a buffalo, but buffalo are Read more
While technically a part of Quebec City, Charlesbourg has a larger role to play than just being a suburb to the provincial capital. Jacques Cartier, the first European to arrive spent the winter of 1535 here, but it wasn’t until over a century later before the town was founded in Read more
A blockhouse built in the town during the War of 1812 is now a National Historic Site. I used to protect the town from American privateers, but Atlantic Canada also profited handsomely from privateering during the war. Similar Blockhouses were built in Lunenburg and Saint John, three such blockhouses with Read more
Although originally settled by the Germans, a good chunk of the city’s residents speak French, and many are bilingual. It’s not just home to Atlantic Canada’s only French-language university, the University of Moncton, it’s also host to Acadian food. The city was named after Colonel Robert Monckton, but the ‘K’ Read more
I imagine myself being Mayberry as I walked through the small town of Wolfville where everyone knows everyone else and there are no secrets beyond the first day of telling them. The two main banks in the town are still in their original 19th century buildings and the commercial area Read more
Dartmouth is the opposite of Halifax. It’s on the opposite shore of Halifax, the architecture makes no sense, it’s inconvenient to live on the schedule of a half-hourly ferry, and it’s expensive to cross on the two toll bridges to Halifax. If they put Province House in Dartmouth, it would Read more
The last remaining blockhouse in Nova Scotia is in Windsor, NS at Fort Edward National Historic Site. New Brunswick also has its own last blockhouse at St. Andrews, so there are very few of these left. Major Charles Lawrence ordered it built in 1750. In 1779, Flora MacDonald spent a Read more
Allentown in the Lehigh Valley was named after its founder William Allen. His son, James Allen, built Trout Hall that stands as the site of the county’s historical museum. Its baseball team is called the Iron Pigs, named after the city’s early steel industry that began in the 1850s, the Read more