The Oregon Trail
With summer fast approaching for those of us who live in the United States, dinner table discussions in a lot of homes have been centering around summer vacations. If a road trip holds… Continue reading
Tag Archive: history
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First In Freedom
As a new resident of a new state, I have been going through the ritual of getting a new driver’s license, voter registration, car registration and all the other obligations that come with… Continue reading
Lady Day
It seemed appropriate that since the first week of April marks the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that I should write about an ongoing struggle for civil rights,… Continue reading
The Natchez Trace
Once young men routinely floated their goods—products of the farms and settlements of newly formed states and territories—down the Ohio, Wabash, and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. They… Continue reading
Leesburg, VA’s Dog Money
While in transit from my old home in Ohio to my new home in North Carolina, I had an occasion to visit Leesburg, VA, where I lived for eight years prior to moving… Continue reading
The Artist Who Dressed As She Pleased
Rosa Bonheur dressed in trousers when women were still trussed in corsets. She required permission from the prefect of police to do so, but she was unapologetic about her choices. She lived her… Continue reading
The American Riverboat
As early as 1811, steamboats began to navigate the inland rivers of the United States. Most notably, the Mississippi River, which ran from Minnesota to New Orleans, and the Missouri River, which intersected… Continue reading
Tar Heel Nation
In honor of my new home, North Carolina, I decided to dig into why the state is known as the “Tar Heel” state. I had heard a story years ago, something about slaves… Continue reading
The Great Fire of Edinburgh
Most people have heard of the Great Fire of London, but the Great Fire of Edinburgh might be more significant, since it heralded in the modern era of British firefighting. Edinburgh in… Continue reading
The Anti-Opium Crusader
Not all the interesting and colorful characters from the 1830s were British. Lin Zexu, also known as Lin Tse-hsu, a Chinese scholar and government official, rubbed against the British mercantile ambitions of that… Continue reading