Alexander Hamilton National Historic Site, NYC: Part 1

Alexander Hamilton built and owned only one home in his life, The Grange, or his “sweet project,” he called it in his letters. He’d had a tempestuous, tragic life as a young man and was now ready to settle down into comfortable family life in the countryside of Upper Manhattan Island, Harlem Heights. While he [...]

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 3

We spent the better part of a day at Fort Ticonderoga, taking in the magnificent sights of the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain, absorbing the amazing and sometimes tragic history, and exploring the fort’s numerous labyrinthine pathways and alcoves. And this was all before we had even entered one building! Read Part 1 and Part [...]

Trinity Church, New York, NY, Part 3

Trinity Church is beautiful, inside and out. Visiting this historic building was one of our highlights to visiting Manhattan. (Read Part 1 and Part 2). After resting beneath a canopy of trees that served as a cool refuge from the hot New York streets and lingering in the sanctuary in the same pews that our [...]

Burr, Hamilton, Chase Bank and the Wooden Water Pipes

What do wooden water pipes buried beneath Manhattan and the formation of a bank have to do with the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr? Truth is stranger than fiction…

Trinity Church, New York, NY: Part 2

This is the second installment of our tour through Trinity Church on Wall Street in lower Manhattan. See Part 1 here. It’s an experience of extremes. The streets are hot and smelly and loud, filled with honking horns and diesel traffic and the deafening noises of subway trains moving below our feet, of millions of [...]

Trinity Church, New York, NY: Part 1

If walls could talk. Located in lower Manhattan near “Ground Zero” from September 11, 2001, Trinity Church has seen a lot of action. Built in 1698 when Manhattan Island was still a rural countryside just beginning to burgeon into a small town, Trinity Church received its charter from King William III of England in 1697. [...]

The Erie Canal Village, Rome, NY, Part 2

This is part two of a terrific visit. We visited a cheese factory, church, and schoolhouse; enjoyed refreshments at the tavern; and investigated the old modes of transportation. A great time!

Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, NY

We traversed to the historic Hill Cumorah site after seeing the Joseph Smith historic site outside the town of Palmyra. Even though there were a few cars parked outside the visitor’s center, the place was rather creepy. The wind was incredibly torrential that day, and the air biting cold. There was no human activity at [...]

The Joseph Smith Historic Site, Palmyra, NY

Just south of the small town of Palmyra, in Wayne County, NY, is the small site dedicated to Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion. The site was very barren and foreboding on a blustery February when we visited. We decided to stop so that I could take a few photos of the reproduction log [...]

The Smallest Church in the World, Oneida, NY

This little bitty church– barely enough room to hold three people– hold the claim to fame as the smallest church in the world. It rests on a small pond outside the village of Oneida, NY.

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