Alexander Hamilton National Historic Site, NYC: Part 2

In my previous post about Hamilton’s Grange, I described the turbulent history of the house and its two relocations. This post is about our wonderful visit through the house. We’ve been wanting to see Hamilton’s home for many, many years so this visit was our dream come true. You enter the door from the right [...]

The King’s Garden at Fort Ticonderoga

Next to the restored Fort Ticonderoga is a curious dirt path leading to a little dell. The place is called “King’s Garden.” Even though the day was very hot and we were tired from our long trek through the Fort’s many museums, we decided to take a look at this garden. A staid rock entrance [...]

Blenheim-Gilboa Hydroelectric Station Visitor’s Center

The Blenheim-Gilboa Hydroelectric Power Station is a scenic half hour drive south from the small city of Cobleskill, New York, in Schoharie County. The area is absolutely beautiful, and the power station and visitor’s center are well nestled in the rural setting. The visitor’s center is in a remodeled 19th century dairy barn (red!) on [...]

Fraunces Tavern Museum, Pearl Street, New York, NY

As history buffs who greatly admire and study the lives and works of the fathers of our nation, we couldn’t visit New York City without a pilgrimage to Fraunces Tavern Museum on Pearl Street. The diminutive building is overshadowed by rising skyscrapers of modern times, testaments to the success of the nation as a bastion [...]

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 [...]

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2

In A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 1, I discussed the amazing views of the fort and its very important role in the defense of pre-colonial settlements and American Revolutionary strategy. After soaking in the glorious sights and enjoying a musket drill, we entered the interior ring of the fort that once housed the soldiers, [...]

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 1

Fort Ticonderoga, an historic site in New York near the Vermont border (Lake Champlain) has everything: breathtaking views of the Adirondack high peaks, walking paths through gardens and restored pre-colonial buildings, hands-on stuff and lots of climbing and exploring for the kids, and oodles and oodles of ancient history– well, as ancient as America can [...]

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. [...]

Happy Independence Day!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which [...]

Oneida Indian Settlement, Nichols Pond, in Smithfield

This is the historic site of the ancient lands of the Oneida Indian tribe of Central New York. It was also the resting place of the mysterious glacial erratic stone, sacred to the Oneidas. The place oozes history, archaeology, and wonder, with a strong mix of nature and spookiness mixed in. This is also the spot where Samuel de Chaplain and his Huron friends attacked the hapless Oneidas, hearing gunshots for the first time.

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