Category: History
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Belgium (September 1998)
Grand’ Place, Brussels The Grand’ Place serves as the center of Brussels (map). Museums, Guild Houses and restaurants line the sides of the city square. These beautiful old buildings, decorated with elaborate stonework and gold leaf provide a spectacular visual setting. Guild Houses served as the headquarters and meeting places for various groups of craftsmen…
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Butte du Lion (“Lion’s Mound”)
Waterloo Battlefield, Braine-l’Alleud, Walloon Brabant, Belgium (1993, 1998) A great battle raged on June 18, 1815 just south of Brussels, Belgium near Braine-l’Alleud and Waterloo (map). The Duke of Wellington commanding allied troops from several nations defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and his fearsome army after a punishing eight-hour conflict. Historians recognize this as one of the…
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Fossil Butte National Monument
Outside of Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA (July 2011) Fossil Butte National Monument may be one of the more obscure National Park Service properties but it’s worth a visit if you happen to be traveling through southwestern Wyoming. It’s particularly convenient to people driving out of Salt Lake City, Utah towards the east along Interstate 80. At…
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Old World Wisconsin
Eagle, Wisconsin, USA (August 10, 2002) The Wisconsin Historical Society operates Old World Wisconsin, south of the town of Eagle, an outdoor living history museum (map). The society collected vintage buildings from throughout the state and carefully transported them to the site. Experts then reassembled the buildings in their historical context. Different locations in Old…
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Apostle Islands / Bayfield Peninsula Index
Index of Pages from the Visit to Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands (2007) Few areas can rival the natural beauty of the Apostle Island and the Bayfield Peninsula. The state of Wisconsin borders Lake Superior only briefly but this mighty wedge takes full advantage of its limited coastline. The islands are a national treasure full of rocky…
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Visiting the City of Bayfield
Bayfield, Wisconsin, USA (August 2007) Bayfield (map), the Apostle Islands gateway, owes its identity to Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield. He charted much of the western Great Lakes in the 1820’s as a Royal Navy Surveyor. That included Chequamegon Bay and areas surrounding present-day Bayfield and Madeline Island. When the Bayfield Land Company platted their town…
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Madeline Island Historical Museum
La Pointe, Ashland County, Wisconsin, USA (August 2007) We rolled off the ferry and nearly onto to the doorstop of the Madeline Island Historical Museum (map). Flags from each era of European-American settlement fluttered in the wind, high above the stockade corner. The modern 50-star United States flag claimed its rightful prominence atop the pole.…
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Little Sand Bay & Hokenson Brothers Fishery
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Bayfield County, Wisconsin, USA (August 2007) Little Sand Bay hugged the northern edge of the Bayfield Peninsula. It fell between Point Detour and Sand Point, a gateway to the westernmost Apostle Islands. A National Park Service visitors center could be found there. It included a campground, a marina, and the historic…
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Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center; Fairfax County, Virginia, USA (January 2007) The Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center provides extra room for much of their extensive aircraft and spacecraft that cannot fit into their location on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The center sits about 25 miles west of the city on the grounds of Washington-Dulles International Airport…
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Green Mountain Railroad – White River Flyer
White River Junction to Thetford, Vermont (October 2010) A beautiful early fall day is a perfect time for a ride on the Green Mountain Railroad. They offer three routes for tourist excursions: Burlington to Charlotte (“Champlain Valley Flyer”); Bellows Falls to Chester Depot (“Green Mountain Flyer”) and White River Junction to Thetford (“White River Flyer”).…