Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for February, 2023
Americana in the Valley
By Linda Tancs
The centerpiece of the Brandywine Valley, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate formerly owned by renowned antiques collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont. Located in Winterthur, Delaware, it reportedly has the most significant collection of American decorative arts in the world, boasting nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America since 1640. Along with the stunning mansion, Winterthur also features 1,000 acres of protected meadows, woodlands, ponds and waterways as well as a 60-acre garden designed by du Pont. To make the most of your visit, buy the Winterthur Experience Package, which admits you to the major entertaining spaces on a self-guided tour of the fifth floor of the house and includes access to the garden and walking trails.
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California’s Oldest Zoo
By Linda Tancs
Founded in 1907, Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka is California’s oldest zoo. It bears the distinction of being nestled amidst the majestic old-growth redwoods in Sequoia Park, providing a magnificent backdrop for one of the smallest accredited zoos in the country. Because of its modest size, it doesn’t house the star attractions like elephants, giraffes or lions, but it does feature rare and endangered animals such as red pandas, bush dogs and Chacoan peccaries along with a barnyard experience for children with donkeys, alpacas, rabbits, goats, sheep and fowl. You can also experience the forest along the Redwood Sky Walk, the longest sky walk in the western United States, which is only accessible through the zoo. Reaching 100 feet above the forest floor, it comprises a network of suspended bridges that reach across and through old-growth and mature second-growth redwood trees.
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A Legend in Princeton
By Linda Tancs
The boyhood home of Renaissance man Paul Robeson takes pride of place on Witherspoon Street in Princeton, New Jersey. Known appropriately enough as The Paul Robeson House of Princeton, the three-story, wood frame house is the place where the legendary actor, singer, activist, scholar, writer, law school graduate and athlete was born. The son of a former slave-turned-preacher, he remained in the home while his father served as pastor of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. The home’s executive board provides programs for individuals and organizations sharing Robeson’s commitment to advocacy and human rights.
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Railroad Ties in Port Jervis
By Linda Tancs
Port Jervis, New York, is inextricably tied to the railroad industry. Its depot was built as a passenger station for the Erie Railroad and for years was the busiest passenger station on the railroad’s Delaware Branch because Port Jervis is along the Delaware River near the tripoint of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Incorporated in 1907 and named after John Bloomfield Jervis (the engineer of the Delaware & Hudson Canal), the city’s transportation history is being commemorated with a new history center. Located at the city-owned historic Erie Railyard and turntable (the longest-operating turntable in the eastern U.S.), the Port Jervis Transportation History Center will host a collection of locomotives, boxcars and cabooses, preserving the city’s railroad heritage and its role as a crossroads of commerce.
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The History of Science
By Linda Tancs
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science was founded in 1944 when Robert Stewart Whipple presented his collection of 1,000 scientific instruments and a similar number of books to the University of Cambridge in England. Today, the museum’s collection encompasses objects dating from medieval times to the present day. In addition to models, pictures, prints, photographs, rare books and other material related to the history of science, their vast collection includes instruments of astronomy, navigation, surveying, drawing and calculating as well as sundials, mathematical instruments and early electrical apparatus. You’ll also find famous works such as Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, explaining his theory of gravity, and Christiaan Huygens’s Horologium Oscillatorium, detailing the invention of the pendulum clock. Admission is free.
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Snow Monsters in Japan
By Linda Tancs
Mount Zao is a volcanic mountain range in the Tohoku region of Japan. Known for its rough winters, it’s no surprise that the tall fir trees on the mountain’s slopes are draped in snow and ice. Their surreal look has earned them the nickname “snow monsters.” They form around the peak of the Zao Ski Resort and are usually most spectacular around February. Access to the monsters is provided by a ropeway and a gondola for both skiers and non-skiers.
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