Old and New Philadelphia. Built in 1747, Independence Hall has been the focal point of Philadelphia for 275 years. Oblivious to the surrounding high rise office buildings, people from all over the world line up to walk through the diminutive chambers were history was made. By Rich Grant It’s become fashionable of late to denigrate…
The Civil War formally ended on April 9, 1865 when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. But news traveled slowly back then and it wasn’t until June 19, more than two months later, that news of the South’s defeat arrived in Galveston, Texas…
By Tyler Melito It happens every spring. Thirty Major League Baseball (MLB) teams take the field to start playing more than 4,800 games. It’s a special time of year. Former Yale University president and Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti described it best: “Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins…
By Mark Orwoll The summer of 2021 is full of hope and promise. If vaccinations proceed apace, it will be the season to celebrate our first breath of freedom in more than a year. Freedom from our homebound lives. Freedom from kitchen-table schoolrooms. Freedom from cultural incarceration. And, yes, freedom from Zoom. As Americans begin…
By Alexander Eisman America’s first traffic-protected, coast-to-coast biking and hiking trail will link both sides of the North American continent with an uninterrupted pathway extending 3,700 miles across 12 states and the District of Columbia. More than half of the pathway was already finished when the Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC) launched the Great American…
By Tyler Melito Black History Month is a time to remember the significant contributions Afro Americans have made to our society. This certainly is the case in sports. Whether it’s Tiger Woods in golf or football’s Jim Brown, who dominated the NFL during his nine year career, black superstars from Muhammad Ali and Jesse Owens…
By Barbara Beckley “This is the spot! Here on the tarmac where William Shatner, Christopher Lloyd and Katrina Bowden, (a 20-something girl in a swimsuit) were chatting next to a fancy convertible parked between two Vietnam-era fighter jets,” says Ann Greer, an official with the Palm Springs Air Museum located at 745 North Gene Autry…
By Liz Campbell More than Chicken Wings Once one of the country’s most prosperous cities at the end of the 19th century, Buffalo by the mid-20th century mainly was known for obsolescence and frigid winters. But through it all, Buffalo held on to what counted – music, art, vintage architecture and a citizenry that never…
By Rich Grant “Wild Bill” Hickok, of Dakota’s most boisterous boomtown, was such a romantic figure that it is hard to believe he really existed. Of course, through dime novels, movies, HBO, television shows and merchandising for 155 years, his image has become a caricature of the real thing. Look back at what contemporaries wrote…
Four of our greatest presidents. Or two slave owners, a racist and an Indian killer? Will a Minnesota beat cop’s act of brutality change America’s perception of its past? By Mark Orwoll There are countless paths across America. I’ve followed many of them. Route 66, with its tepee motels, trading posts, and homey cafés. The…