Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for U.S. travel
End of the Commons
By Linda Tancs
The oldest operating general store in Ohio is End of the Commons in historic Mesopotamia, the heart of Amish Country. The store has been serving customers since 1840 and features over 1,000 bulk food products, hard-to-find houseware and kitchen gadgets and more than 50 varieties of old-fashioned soda and penny candy. A family-run business, its nod to yesteryear is a favorite among locals and tourists alike. Be sure to sample some Amish delights in their cafe, like a fry pie.
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The Stones of New Amsterdam
By Linda Tancs
Located in the Financial District, Stone Street is one of New York City’s oldest streets, harking back to the city’s days as New Amsterdam, the 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan that served as the seat of the colonial government. The road bears the distinction of being the first street in the Dutch settlement to be paved—that is, with cobblestones. Designated a historic district, it runs in two sections between Whitehall Street in the west and Hanover Square in the east. Look beyond the skyscrapers to capture the area’s historic buildings, some of the last remnants of New Amsterdam.
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The Road to Hana
By Linda Tancs
Hawaii’s Hana Highway (Highway 36) is more than just a road; it’s the top tourist destination on the northeast coastline of Maui. That’s because the drive is filled with eye-popping scenes from waterfalls, lookouts and lush forest along with fruit trees, cane grass and verdant pastures. It’s a journey best taken in stages although you could blow through it in three hours from Wailea. If you choose to stop along the way, then consider the aptly-named Garden of Eden Arboreturm (mile marker 10), the lookout point with a beautiful view of Maui’s north coast at Kaumahina State Wayside Park (mile marker 12) and Kahanu Garden (mile marker 31), boasting a view of Pi’ilanihale Heiau, the largest temple in Hawaii. The road is often snarled in traffic; start before sunrise for the best experience.
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A Highway of History
By Linda Tancs
The Mohawk Trail is New England’s first scenic road. One of the oldest scenic routes in the country, it was established in 1914. At 63 miles, it stretches from the Massachusetts-New York line to Millers Falls on the Connecticut River. Among the many attractions are the only natural white marble arch in North America as well as Indian and Revolutionary War monuments and ancient glacial potholes. During the first two weeks of October, fall foliage generally peaks, bringing not only spectacular color but also a fall foliage festival and parade in North Adams, one of many towns making up the trail region.
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The Gullah Geechee
By Linda Tancs
Gullah Geechee is a unique, Creole language spoken in the coastal areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida by descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic Coast. Their culture is celebrated via the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, a 12,000 square mile, federal National Heritage Area. From Pender County, North Carolina, to St. Johns County, Florida, the corridor comprises places of significance to the Gullah Geechee people both historically and culturally. Attractions include McLeod Plantation in South Carolina (the only plantation in the state to tell the story of slavery from the perspective of the enslaved), Harrington School on Georgia’s St. Simons Island (the main educational structure for three Gullah Geechee communities) and Fort Mose Historic State Park in St. Augustine, Florida, site of the first free black settlement in what is now the United States.
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An Aristocrat in Hyde Park
By Linda Tancs
The Vanderbilt Mansion at Hyde Park, New York, was a seasonal residence and part of a portfolio of properties occupied by Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt. One of America’s wealthiest families, the manor’s design is very much in keeping with the opulence that defines Gilded Age country houses. The mansion itself is described as a Beaux-Arts interpretation of the Italian Renaissance. Inside, the rooms are lavishly decorated with exotic wood paneling, imported marble, lush velvets, French tapestries, and, as was the custom, antique building components salvaged from the great houses of Europe. Boasting original furnishings, a centerpiece of the estate is Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedroom. A recreation of a French royal bedroom, it features a canopied state bed, raised on a dais against a wall and separated from the rest of the room by a partition of raised columns with curvilinear balustrade, an architectural convention borrowed from many European royal palaces. Access to the mansion, a National Historic Site, is by guided tour only.
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Home on the Stadium
By Linda Tancs
Home on the range (the title of an old cowboy song) is one thing. A home on the stadium is another. That’s the case for the Hank Aaron Childhood Home & Museum, which was relocated some years ago to rest at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The house was built in 1942 by Hank’s dad and increased in size in subsequent years. Voted one of the best baseball museums in the country, the house chronicles both his life and storied career and features several family artifacts. The house is located at the front of the stadium.
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Cape Cod’s Oldest Church
By Linda Tancs
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Indian Meeting House in Mashpee, Massachusetts, is the oldest Native American church in the eastern U.S. and the oldest church on Cape Cod. According to many sources, it was built in 1684. Located next to the cemetery on Route 28, it’s of extraordinary importance to the Wampanoag Tribe and has been extensively renovated.
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The World’s Sunniest City
By Linda Tancs
Sun worshippers, take note. The sun is mostly always shining in Yuma, Arizona. In fact, the locale has been designated the World’s Sunniest City by Guinness World Records! To put that in perspective, the annual average of the possible hours of sunshine is 91 percent (a mean of 4,055 hours out of 4,456 possible hours in a year). Thankfully, there’s much to do to take advantage of that. The area boasts nearly a dozen golf courses, for starters. Or maybe you’d like to off-road on the dunes or spot desert critters at one of the three national wildlife refuges. And then there’s the Colorado River and lakes, which offer tubing, canoeing and boating opportunities. About 15 miles south of Yuma is another bit of terrain worth exploring although it requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Known as the Valley of the Names, it’s a remote desert in California (Yuma being the nearest city) comprising 1,200 acres of land filled with signatures, dates, messages and drawings made from rocks. Legend has it that the practice started during World War II, when soldiers stationed in the area for desert warfare training wanted to leave a memento for loved ones. If you go, stay on the trails, and don’t be tempted to add your own messages or take any rocks from the site.
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The Turning Point in New York
By Linda Tancs
During America’s Revolutionary War in 1777, American troops battled and beat a British invasion force at Saratoga Battlefield, marking the first time in world history that a British army ever surrendered to another country, an event which helped to secure American independence. The battlefield (in Stillwater, New York) is the largest of four parts comprising Saratoga National Historical Park, an area encompassing Stillwater, Schuylerville and Victory, New York. In Victory, you’ll find a 155-foot obelisk commemorating the American victory; the surrender site (open April through November) is marked by an outdoor memorial just outside Schuylerville. Tours of the battlefield are self-guiding, using information in the park brochure available at the Visitor Center.
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