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 […]
Within shouting distance of the rollercoasters and thrill rides of Hersheypark we discovered a historic log cabin, the oldest in southeast Pennsylvania. Built from hand-hewn logs in 1732, the same year George Washington was born, the Derry Church Session House saw much of the history of pioneer days in the Keystone State. Local records say […]
It’s no secret that we are fans of museums, and some of the best museums that we have ever found have been in small towns. While on a brief stopover in Douglas, Wyoming we discovered one of the best historical museums to be found anywhere. The Wyoming Pioneer Museum, located at the Wyoming State Fairgrounds […]
My Mama didn’t raise me this way, and I know my Dad must be very disappointed in me, but it turns out I’m a racist. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was in myself when I got the news yesterday. I honestly never knew. This apparently stems from yesterday’s blog, when I mentioned a […]
An outpost of westward expansion, Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming was crucial in the transformation of the American West. The fort served as a fur trading post, military garrison, and as a way station for fur trappers, Indian traders, missionaries, and Oregon Trail emigrants for over 50 years during one of the most important time […]
Besides the flag, no one item symbolizes American freedom more than the Liberty Bell. Pictured on postage stamps, coins, and posters, this icon represents all that is good about our country. But there are things you may not know about the Liberty Bell. Hung in the State House in Philadelphia in 1753, the bell was […]
During the Indian Wars in the 1800s, Wyoming was a battleground as the Plains Indian tribes fought to preserve their lands and their way of life from ever increasing encroachment by white settlers. In response to repeated attacks on wagon trains, in 1867 the United States Army built Fort Fetterman eleven miles northeast of present-day […]
A couple of days ago in my blog Where The Trail of Tears Ended I told you about the hardships so many Native American suffered when they were forced to leave their homelands and relocate to what is now Oklahoma. This is a story from those days about a brave young Indian woman whose courage […]
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 bloodshed and tragedies on both sides. As colonists pushed ever inland from the coast, wars […]
It’s no secret that we are fans of museums, and some of the best museums that we have ever found have been in small towns. While on a brief stopover in Douglas, Wyoming we discovered one of the best historical museums to be found anywhere. The Wyoming Pioneer Museum, located at the Wyoming State Fairgrounds […]
Note: This story is from the January-February, 2011 issue of the Gypsy Journal. On a narrow two lane back road in Gloucester County, Virginia, we discovered the tiny cottage in which one of the most famous medical doctors of all time was born and spent his earliest days. A small sign and historical plaque were […]
An outpost of westward expansion, Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming was crucial in the transformation of the American West. The fort served as a fur trading post, military garrison, and as a way station for fur trappers, Indian traders, missionaries, and Oregon Trail emigrants for over 50 years during one of the most important time […]
Note: This story first appeared in the March-April 2016 Gypsy Journal. It seems only fitting that a place as steeped in Western history as Tucson, Arizona would be home to the Museum of the Horse Soldier, which has to be one of the most interesting museums we have visited anywhere. The museum is the brainchild […]
We spent yesterday playing tourist with Greg and Jan in Prescott, affectionately known here in Arizona as Everybody’s Hometown, because if you came here from somewhere back east, the comfortable residential neighborhoods, with their wide grassy lawns and beautiful old Victorian houses, and charming courthouse square, will make you think you’re back in the East […]