Note: This story is from our days as fulltime RVers. Just a half hour drive south of busy and modern Tampa, Gamble Plantation Historic State Park preserves the historic Gamble Mansion, the last surviving antebellum plantation home in South Florida. Major Robert Gamble built his beautiful home between 1845 and 1850 as the center of […]
Note: This is a repeat of a blog post from our days as fulltime RVers. As soon as the first European settlers arrived in the New World, conflicts for control of the land began between the newcomers and the Native people who had always called what would become America home. Conflicts that would result in […]
While watching a documentary on the Civil War a few days ago, there was mention of an act during that bloody conflict that shows us that no matter how cruel and inhumane war is, there can also be amazing acts of sympathy and love for one’s fellow man. The small town of Fredericksburg, Virginia was […]
On a two-lane road on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, we came across the ruins of a historic church that looked like it could be the setting for one of Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre stories. A bit of research revealed that the old church has an interesting history. The St. Helena Parish Chapel of […]
We love getting off the interstate highways and taking the two-lane roads whenever we can. As I have said many times before, a Denny’s or a chain hotel at an interstate exit in Kansas is no different than one in Michigan or California. But the two-lane roads will take you to the real America. Small […]
Note: I was busy all day yesterday making edits to my new John Lee Quarrels book and ran out of time for a blog, but here is a repost of a chilling blog from 2017. In my blog He Created Horror a few days ago, I told you about the life of Edgar Allan Poe […]
Note: We find some of our best stories wandering around in old cemeteries. This one began with a visit to the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Animal mascots have been an important part of military life for centuries. Mascots became symbols of loyalty and courage and provided lonesome soldiers far from home something to care […]
Note: This is a blog post about one of our favorite places from our days as fulltime RVers. Terry and I drove to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Most people think that the aviation pioneers made their first flights at nearby Kitty Hawk, but it was actually a couple of miles south at Kill Devil […]
Society in the 1800s made very clear distinctions between what was considered men’s work and what was women’s work, and policing and law enforcement were definitely men’s work. So when a young woman told Allan Pinkerton, the owner of the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency that she was looking for a job in 1856, he told […]
Florida has seen its share of outlaws, brigands, pirates, cutthroats, and smugglers, too. And I doubt few were as popular as Bill McCoy. Even today, old-timers who spent their life on or near the water remember hearing stories about him. Born in New York in 1877, William Frederick McCoy was the son of a man […]
Today we take our cell phones and e-mail for granted, but there was a time not too long ago when none of that was conceivable to most people. During my own youth, a telephone was something that hung on a wall or sat on a stand in the living room, connected to a cord. If […]
Note: This is a repost of a blog from 2014, about a visit to our favorite city. Miss Terry says I am head over heels in love with the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia, but I think that’s an exaggeration. Enthralled? Yes. Enamored? Sure. But head over heels? Yeah, that’s an exaggeration. A tiny exaggeration […]
Free land! 160 acres of prime farmland to any man who wanted it! Who could resist such an offer? To millions of Americans stuck in crowded, dirty cities, many of them recent immigrants, it was the chance of a lifetime. The Homestead Act of 1862 has been called one of the most important pieces of […]
Judge Roy Bean, the famous Hanging Judge from Langtry, Texas, was a larger than life Old West figure, and it is sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction when talking about his adventures. This is further complicated because Bean was a shameless self-promoter who made up plenty of wild tales about his exploits, and then […]
Born into slavery, Sojourner Truth was a remarkable woman who threw off the shackles of oppression to become a leader in social reform in a time when any woman, let alone a black woman, had no business making a public statement. Named Isabella Baumfree when she was born near Kingston, New York in approximately 1797, […]
Montgomery, Alabama’s MOOseum offers a fun and interactive way for people of all ages to learn about Alabama’s beef cattle industry. Each year 10,000 school children and adults tour this unique hands-on educational museum, where they learn about the history of the beef cattle industry, the contributions the industry makes to society, and the many […]
Note – This is a repost of a blog from six years ago today. Whenever we are going to a new area I spend a lot of time researching places to visit that will be of interest to our readers and making contact with the various attractions to arrange visits. Here in southern Virginia, there […]
High on a hill overlooking Frankfort, Kentucky, are the remains of two little-known forts that time has almost forgotten. Life was difficult in Old Frankfort during the Civil War years. Trapped between the North and the South, Kentucky was divided, as was the state capital. These conflicting loyalties caused hardship and ill feelings not only […]
We love getting off the interstate highways and taking the two-lane roads whenever we can. As I have said many times before, a Denny’s or a chain hotel at an interstate exit in Kansas is no different than one in Michigan or California. But the two-lane roads will take you to the real America. Small […]
On one of our trips through Missouri, we discovered one of the most unusual state parks we ever visited, a narrow 225-mile long corridor that stretches across the state from east to west. Along the way, Missouri offers people of all ages and interests unique recreational opportunities. If you are a hiker, bicyclist, history buff, […]