On a steep and imposing chunk of rock with the mountains at her back, Brimstone Hill Fortress continues to watch over the Caribbean long after the strategic reasons for having a fort here at all have faded into history. Today St. Kitts and Nevis, and the other island nations nearby, are destinations for fun in…
So through the night rode Paul Revere;And so through the night went his cry of alarmTo every Middlesex village and farm,—A cry of defiance, and not of fear,A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,And a word that shall echo forevermore!For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,Through all our history, to the…
“I had taken my station close on the left of Major Andre’s left hand officer; and continued in that station the whole march. The guard marched a short distance when it wheeled to the left, turning a corner of the road, and marched a short distance, when they again wheeled to the left, in order…
There’s a lot of history lurking in plain sight. Take Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, Connecticut. on the surface it’s a pretty municipal beach on Long Island Sound. I suppose that might be enough. But there’s a significant link to the Revolutionary War on this beach. As an eager participant in maximizing the potential of…
The boulder quietly marks time amidst the everyday buzz of Medford Square, with cars circling the Burying Ground like planes preparing for a landing at nearby Logan Airport. It’s a nice touch, really, a nod to tough New Hampshire granite, honoring the men who left New Hampshire to fight in the Battle of Bunker Hill…
I got to spend a little time on Rhode Island, in the State of Rhode Island, on Friday and Saturday. It wasn’t a long stay, but with my son living in Portsmouth and working in Newport, it was a worthwhile one. There are three towns on the island; these two and the appropriately named Middletown…
I love random events that introduce me to people from the past. It’s a dance with a ghost, a handshake with history. This is one of those stories… I’d driven by this monument several times over the last few years whenever I went to Foxwoods Casino for meetings. Shaped like a pawn on a chessboard,…
The northeast United States is dotted with old forts that once played a critical role in our history. Four of the most famous during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War were Fort Duquesne, Fort William Henry, Fort Niagara and Fort Stanwix. They were famous because they each occupied a critical point…
This week, on my drive from Buffalo to Seneca Falls, I made a quick detour to visit a rock. I live in the Granite State, so I know a thing or two about rocks, but the rock I was visiting is unique because of a tablet mounted to it commemorating the Treaty of Canandaigua on…
I wasn’t planning on another detour on this trip, but saw the sign, calculated the total time the detour would take and made the decision to stop by the battlefield. I was deeply impressed with the quiet dignity of the site, and reflected on the violence that took place in the ravine I walked down…