Delaware made assisting slave escapes illegal, so participants had to be very clever about the Underground Railroad or risk getting caught. If caught, the penalty included a year in prison, a fine of $100, and being sold into slavery—a high price. Abolitionists sometimes managed to redeem the freedom of their Read more
Delaware’s Old State House in the state capital Dover served its purpose from 1791 to 1933. The new state house is located across the street. Visiting and parking is free with guided tours available several times a day. Today, it is an education centre on the constitutional contributions of Delaware Read more
I didn’t have much of an incentive to visit. After all, how can an art museum in a small town like Dover in a small state like Delaware wow me? But I decided to visit anyways because admission is free for students and the museum said it was on American Read more
The State Museum of New Jersey in the state capital Trenton is free of charge and has a strange interpretation of native people. Although Native Americans are still very much alive, their history is interpreted through archeological ethnography instead of their living cultural experiences. The State Museum of New York Read more
Everyone should be able to enjoy art—focus on the word enjoy. Some art museums started banning photography in the late 2000s when smartphones started having quality cameras to boost gift shop revenue and protect delicate works from automatic flashes, but the decision has been reversed in the mid-2010s partly from Read more
The Museum of Modern Art in New York is severely overrated. Don’t go, don’t waste your time, there is better art out there available with more dignified treatment with more democratic access. Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum is free and has a better viewing experience than MoMa, the Art Institute of Read more
The first time I saw this aircraft carrier docked at New York City I was driving along 12th Avenue heading downtown. It wasn’t until my third visit to the city that I got to experience how deeply mismanaged this attraction is. The security procedures are only for show, the staff Read more
Underneath the two square waterfalls where the twin towers once stood in New York City lies the memorial to the 3,000 who died. It sits in the original basement space of the towers with fragments of the mangled structure on display. I had previously seen one such fragment in Albany Read more
Baltimore doesn’t have a history museum or a municipal museum, but its growth has been so closely tied to the industrialization of food, machines, and trade that the museum of industry might as well be its history museum. In the mid 20th century, Baltimore had plenty of vegetable, meat, and Read more
Their use of a side-by-side comparison of perspectives confronts the Manifest Destiny narrative of American expansionism. Start your visit at the fourth floor and work your way down to get state-by-state and issue-by-issue highlights of what went wrong at every step of the way. The second and third floors are Read more