I’m back with more questions from blog readers. While I try to answer all questions individually, I also share some here occasionally. Q. In your Author Spotlight, you ask people if they are a plotter or a pantster, and I’ve also heard them refer to being a planster. I keep trying to figure out what […]
The small town of Fredericksburg, Virginia was witness to terrible suffering during the Civil War war when Union and Confederate troops clashed there not once but twice. Much of the town was destroyed on December 11-15, 1862, when Union troops of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Ambrose Burnside, attacked the town in […]
Did you ever stop to think how often things happen in life just by chance, and what might have happened if they didn’t? What if you hadn’t driven through an intersection on a green light, like you do every other day of the week? Would that careless driver texting on their phone and running the […]
In over 18 years of fulltime RVing, not to mention our travels away from the RV lifestyle, we have been to so many interesting places. Historic cities, battlefields, mountains, deserts, and seashores. And we have found that one of the best ways to get an overview of a place is by taking a trolley tour. […]
Note: This story is from my book Highway History and Back Road Mystery. The long, horrible war was finally over and the weary men of the 70th Ohio Infantry Regiment were headed home. These battle-hardened men had seen the worst war had to offer, including the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman’s March to the Sea. They […]
When it comes to supplying men who would go on to hold the highest office in the land, only the state of Virginia has been the birthplace of more future presidents than Ohio. Seven men from the Buckeye State would eventually live in the White House. One of the most colorful them was unquestionably Ulysses […]
In our days exploring the country as fulltime RVers, we were always drawn to historic cemeteries. The human interest stories that you can find in them are amazing. All you have to do is spend an hour or so wandering through an old cemetery reading the headstones of children who died young and mothers who […]
Today being Veterans Day, I thought I would tell you a story about two old veterans who were once enemies but eventually became best friends. During the Civil War, a young man from Tennessee named Frank Alonzo Chick joined the Confederate Army in 1861 when he was 18 years old. He was assigned to the […]
We have all heard the stories about how the children of celebrities often cannot seem to adapt to life, all too often falling victim to alcohol or drug abuse while living in (and trying to live up to) the shadow of their famous parents. Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon, as the tragic story […]
For a small town, Larned, Kansas has a lot to offer visitors, including the Central States Scout Museum and Fort Larned National Historic Site, both of which we have featured in the Gypsy Journal. Another stop worth making in Larned is the nationally acclaimed Santa Fe Trail Center Historical Museum and Library. Here visitors will […]
Note: This story about the youngest Civil War soldier in the Union Army is from my book Highway History And Back Road Mystery II. When President Abraham Lincoln called for 100,000 volunteers to fill the ranks of the Union Army in 1861, long lines of men and boys streamed into recruiting centers across the nation. Local […]
Note: This story if from my book Highway History And Back Road Mystery II. Just outside of Mount Airy, North Carolina, we discovered the final resting place of two of history’s most famous medical oddities, Eng and Chang Bunker, known to most people as the Siamese Twins. Born near what is now Bangkok, Thailand (then […]
The mid-1850s was a period of rapid growth in America. The railroads were pushing west and opening up huge new territories, and millions of people were flocking to this wonderful new land of milk and honey they had heard about back in Europe, lured by the promise of free land and a bright future for […]
Mobile, Alabama has a long and colorful history. The first Europeans to visit the area were Spanish explorers who came to Mobile Bay as early as 1500. Hernando de Soto clashed with the local Indians in 1540, burning their town of Maubila, from which we get the name Mobile. For the next century the Spaniards […]
In Richmond, Virginia we toured the home of a woman who truly lived before her time, a visionary who struggled to blaze a trail for generations who came after her to follow. Maggie L. Walker was born during the Civil War on July 15, 1864, in the Richmond home of Elizabeth Van Lew, where her […]
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 […]
Tucked away on a side street near the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort, I discovered the delightful Capital City Museum, which tells the story of the City of Frankfort from its earliest days as a frontier settlement to today’s position as the State Capital. (And by the way, trying to figure out which word […]
We all know a lot about George Washington, the Father of Our Country, but how much do you know about his mother, Mary Washington? Would she be called the Grandmother of Our Country? Born November 30, 1708, in Lancaster County, Virginia, Mary Ball was the only child of Joseph Matthäus Ball and his wife, Mary […]
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was one of the world’s best-loved personalities during his lifetime, and even though he died over 100 years ago, he remains an icon in American literature today. Born in the small settlement of Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835, Samuel Clemens was the sixth of seven children born […]
Note: This story is from my book Highway History And Back Road Mystery II. Arizona’s frontier history is populated with some of the best known names from the Old West. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Curly Bill Brocius, the Clanton gang, Johnny Ringo, Cochise, and Geronimo all wrote their stories with lead and blood on the […]