travel
-
As we drove across Nebraska, we followed the Platte and North Platte rivers. It became very obvious just how vital the river systems were in this region. The towns, rivers, railroads, roads, and farms were all clustered along the river, and I was surprised at the amount of woodland. I recognised some of the cottonwood
-
We have been driving across Nebraska. On my first trip in 1984, the drive across Nebraska is etched into my memory. The Greyhound bus took Route 30 — the route we had been following — and I remember being shocked by the size of the state. It took us a whole day to cross it,
-
As we neared Kansas City, we decided to detour and visit the restored nineteenth-century Fort Osage. Perched on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River in Jackson County, Missouri, Fort Osage is a reconstruction of the original fort providing a representation of what the site would have looked like in the early 1800s. It is striking how
-
Driving through St Louis we had to stop and visit the Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch was initially called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It was established in 1935 by Executive Order 7253, according to the National Park Service. The park’s name was officially changed to Gateway Arch National Park in 2018 by Congress to
-
We visited Cahokia. The site, located about 8 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis, stands as one of the most remarkable pre-Columbian archaeological sites in North America. It was once the epicenter of a powerful Native American civilization, and around the time of the Norman Conquest, it had a population larger than that of London
-
We spent this morning in Louisville shopping for some Kentucky Bourbon. While I confess that I do prefer Scottish Whisky, and that is really my favourite tipple, it is good to taste some local specialities, and Kentucky bourbon can make a nice change. This history of bourbon is also quite interesting. It’s not clear why
-
We drove from Cass across West Virginia, stopping at the New River Gorge National Park. When I lived in the USA 40 years ago there was no national park here has helped to promote the beauty of this region. Designated as a National Park and Preserve in 2020, and covering over 70,000 acres, the park
-
We drove on down into West Virginia and stopped at the Cass Scenic Railroad. We took the ride to Bald Knob, the third-highest point in West Virginia, which offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. It was a four-and-a-half-hour round trip climbing over 2,300 feet, twisting through dense forests. Where there was
-
Our journey from Charlottesville to Rockfish Gap, and then along the 105-mile-long Skyline Drive to Front Royal, was not just a scenic drive. It was a journey through history, a road that was a product of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. So the road itself is a piece of history. The Harry F Byrd
-
One issue that was clearly very predominant at both Williamsburg and Monticello was how to interpret the stories of enslaved people and how to depict the relationship between the Founding Fathers and slavery. I thought the presentation at Williamsburg, which is the story of all the people who lived here, not just the famous ones,
Early American Musings 