Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for November, 2016
New Jersey’s Industrial Age
By Linda Tancs
Just over one square mile in the heart of Florence Township, New Jersey, historic Roebling is a symbol of the state’s industrial coming of age. Unchanged for more than 100 years, the locale was built in the early 1900s as a planned community for hundreds of workers at the John A. Roebling’s Sons Co. steel plant. Once the plant closed for good in 1982 and the site was remediated, the main gatehouse to the plant was rehabilitated and now houses a museum about the community. Scheduled trolley tours of the steel town itself, which has evolved into an international tourist attraction, take visitors beyond the gates of the museum. Roebling is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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A Long Walk in Malaysia
By Linda Tancs
The world’s longest jungle canopy walkway is in Taman Negara National Park (one of the oldest rainforests in the world) in Peninsular Malaysia. The canopy walkway, 1739 feet long and 131 feet above ground level, was initially built for research purposes. So imagine their surprise when it morphed into a dazzling tourist attraction! Open year round, it can be reached via jungle trails or boat.
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The History of Coffee
By Linda Tancs
Hawaii’s Kona Coffee Living History Farm tells the story of Kona’s coffee pioneers during the years 1926–1945. America’s only living history coffee farm, it tells the story behind Kona’s gourmet crop. A self-guided experience, take a walk among the coffee trees or learn how farmers milled and dried their world-famous coffee. At the end of your visit, be sure to sample the farm’s 100% Kona coffee. No doubt you’ll pack a little extra for the trip home.
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Europe’s Largest Jewish Cemetery
By Linda Tancs
Jewish heritage abounds in Łódź, the third largest city in Poland. Jews first began settling there in the late 18th century, and the city became one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, second only to Warsaw. When the Nazis attacked, it became a ghetto, replete with death and mourning until its liberation by the Soviets in 1945. Amidst such history it should come as no surprise that the city hosts Europe’s largest Jewish cemetery (and one of the largest in the world), with about 160,000 people buried on its grounds.
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Breaking the Code
By Linda Tancs
A birthplace of modern information technology, Bletchley Park is the home of British code breaking. It was the site of the British Government Code and Cypher School, where methods were studied and devised to enable the Allied forces to decipher the military codes that secured German, Japanese and other nations’ communications during World War II, particularly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. Once one of Britain’s best kept secrets, it is now an increasingly popular museum where you’ll find a replica of The Bombe, the machine invented by Alan Turing to break the codes. Located in Milton Keynes, the museum is easily accessible via train from Euston.
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Spinning for Over 60 Years
By Linda Tancs
In New Orleans, Louisiana, there’s one carousel that requires adult admission. That’s the famous Carousel Bar & Lounge in Hotel Monteleone, a long-time favorite NOLA hotspot. It’s the city’s only revolving bar, spinning for over 60 years now. The brightly hued, circus-style merry-go-round seats 25 guests and turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, pulled by a chain powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor. Patrons circumnavigate at one revolution every 15 minutes. Prized for its whimsicality as well as its drinks, the Goody and The Vieux Carre cocktails were first concocted at the bar. Why not go for a spin!
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Women’s Power on Capitol Hill
By Linda Tancs
The Sewall-Belmont House in Washington, D.C., celebrates the history of women’s progress toward equality. Located near the U.S. Capitol, the house is the site where Alice Paul and other suffragettes fought for equal rights for women. It’s been home to the National Woman’s Party since 1929. Designated a national monument earlier this year by President Obama, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument is named for Alva Belmont (a former party president) and Alice Paul, the party’s founder. The site contains an extensive library and archival and museum holdings relating to the women’s movement.
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Maryland’s First Capital
By Linda Tancs
Just two hours from Baltimore is historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s first capital. Visitors can explore outdoor exhibits on the banks of St. Mary’s River set on 800 acres of beautiful tidewater landscape and discover how archaeologists and historians uncovered this treasured part of Maryland’s past. A National Historic Landmark, it’s one of the best preserved English colonial archaeological sites in North America. St. Mary’s was also the scene of many notable firsts in America’s early history: the first effort to free religion from government in America, the first legislator of African descent in North America and the first woman to petition for the right to vote in colonial America. Plan an overnight stay at The Inn at Brome Howard, located on the museum grounds. Once the center of life in St. Mary’s City, it’s a perfect example of a mid-19th century gentleman’s plantation house built for Dr. Brome.
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