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
Sponge Capital of the World
By Linda Tancs
Known for its Greek culture, Tarpon Springs is a city along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Just 45 minutes north of St. Petersburg, the locale is named for the fish found in abundance in nearby waters. Greek eateries line the waterfront, a legacy of the sponge divers who settled there in the early 1900s. Walk along Dodecanese Boulevard to see docked sponge boats and shops selling sea sponges, a tribute to the city’s status as sponge capital of the world. A bit quieter is the historic downtown district, where art galleries, antique stores and specialty shops are housed in buildings dating from the late 1800s.
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A Shrunken Head in Memphis
By Linda Tancs
One of the most enduring landmarks in Memphis, Tennessee, the Pink Palace Museum hosts an eclectic mix of artifacts bearing historical, educational and technological significance. For instance, you’ll find a life-size replica of the first Piggly Wiggly store, the forerunner to today’s self-service grocery store. That was the brainchild of grocery clerk Clarence Saunders, who later conceived of the palatial estate now hosting the museum. But perhaps the most memorable exhibit for visitors is the shrunken head sitting in the middle of the rotunda. Once owned by local businessman Abe Scharff, it was later donated to the museum and is believed to be a relic from his visits to South American tribal regions in modern-day Ecuador and Peru where head shrinking was a common practice. No one is quite sure whether the item is real, but you can read up on the process that headhunters used to get a shrunken head while you’re deciding for yourself.
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Trees of Mystery
By Linda Tancs
In the coastal town of Klamath, California, you can walk among giants. California redwoods, that is. In the heart of redwood country is the state’s original redwood nature attraction, Trees of Mystery. The family run preserve has over a mile of interpretative trail to take in the size and scope of these forest wonders, which average eight feet to as much as 20 feet in diameter and some as tall as 375 feet. For a bird’s-eye view, take the sky gondola. Have a green thumb? You can buy a seedling and try to grow your own giant.
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Quebec Rural Style in Michigan
By Linda Tancs
The oldest home on Mackinac Island in Michigan is the Biddle House. Dating back to 1780 and built in the Quebec rural style, it was purchased in the 1800s by Edward Biddle, a wealthy fur trader who hailed from a prominent Philadelphia family (one of the first families of the United States). Biddle married Agatha de la Vigne, a Native American born on Mackinac Island who partnered with her husband in the fur trade. Often overlooked in island history is the fact that most residents in the 1800s were Native American. Now that the house is in the midst of a renovation, its Indian roots will be highlighted with a two-room exhibit.
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A Natural Landmark in New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
Protected and administered by Rutgers University, Hutcheson Memorial Forest Center boasts more than 500 acres of conserved land, much of it uncut forest, one of the last in the Mid-Atlantic. In fact, the old growth forest is the only uncut upland forest in New Jersey, and it appears on the National Park Service Register of Natural Landmarks. Public tours led by university faculty and researchers occur throughout the year on designated Sundays. The meetup point is at the forest entrance located at 2150 Amwell Road (Route 514), just east of historic East Millstone.
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An Iron Plantation in Pennsylvania
By Linda Tancs
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Pennsylvania, is an example of an American 19th century rural “iron plantation.” Operating from 1771 to 1883, Hopewell and other iron plantations led the industrial revolution in the United States. Hopewell and sites like it were called iron plantations because these early industrial enterprises were typically isolated, largely self-sufficient communities centered around the production of iron for sale. Comprising 848 acres, the site’s cold-blast iron furnace and accompanying community have been restored to the way it looked during its heydey in the 1830s and 1840s.
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A Village for Book Lovers
By Linda Tancs
Imagine a village with barely 500 residents becoming a center for arts and literary culture. There aren’t too many, worldwide, but one of them is in the Northern Catskills—Hobart, New York, to be precise. The only book village east of the Mississippi, the tiny hamlet boasts five independent book stores featuring second-hand and antiquarian books, prints and other works. You’ll also find art galleries, antique shops and a calendar full of writing festivals, book signings and lectures. This Thanksgiving weekend the town hosts one of two semi-annual sales drawing hundreds of book lovers and collectors.
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A Slice of Life in New York
By Linda Tancs
Statistics reveal that about 21,000 slices of pizza are sold each minute in the U.S., or 30 million every day. No wonder it’s one of the nation’s go-to comfort foods. A food that iconic should have its own museum. And it does, a pop-up variety currently exhibiting in New York City. The Museum of Pizza is an immersive experience featuring textile sculpture (Mystic Pizza), a pizza guitar, giant photographs and explosively colorful installations. In short, you’ll learn all about the fine art of pizza, literally and figuratively. Located on the street level of Brooklyn’s William Vale hotel, the museum is open until November 18.
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Herding in Fort Worth
By Linda Tancs
When Fort Worth, Texas, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1999 the city inaugurated a cattle drive to commemorate its rich western heritage and the importance of the livestock industry to the city. Still going strong, the Fort Worth Herd is a twice-daily cattle drive taking place along Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards National Historic District. The longhorns reside in the corral located behind the Livestock Exchange Building and can be viewed there before and after the event.
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The Tenor of Things in Brooklyn
By Linda Tancs
Italian operatic singer Enrico Caruso is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of all time. A worldwide sensation, he performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera over 800 times alone. It seems appropriate, then, that a New York collector would facilitate the creation of a museum in Caruso’s honor. The Enrico Caruso Museum opened in 1990 in Brooklyn with the Mancusi family’s collection of over 200 recordings. Other memorabilia include rare family photos of the Caruso family, books, letters, caricatures and the death mask of Caruso. A popular attraction in the museum is the 20-seat mini theater, with chairs and décor from the old Metropolitan Opera donated by famed soprano Licia Albanese.
