The first blue plaque that caught my attention was on a little shingled cottage in the West End, almost completely hidden behind a thick thicket of beach roses; the plaque depicted a Cape Cod house being carried across the waves on a boat, with a lighthouse in the distance behind it. At first I thought it was a fanciful kind of house sign, but it turned out to be a biography. The Pilgrims were the
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Thirty miles out in the Atlantic, past the last reliable cell signal, sits an island that once ran the world’s whale oil supply and now mostly runs on cranberry bogs, cedar shingles, and a waiting list for dinner reservations. Nantucket has spent three and a half centuries figuring out what it wants to be, and the current answer, equal parts historic seaport, art colony, and extremely well-funded beach town, seems to be working.
In 1659,
… Williams, Arizona bills itself as the “the gateway to the Grand Canyon,” and for good reason: here, just as would be sightseers have for decades, you can board the Grand Canyon Railway and ride to the canyon’s South Rim. But before we go any further, let’s clear up a few things about the Grand Canyon: it’s a canyon or, in others words, a great big hole in the ground. Like all holes, there are multiple …
A woman in a blue plastic poncho is screaming with delight eleven feet from a curtain of water falling fifty-seven meters onto rock, and nobody around her finds this strange. This is Table Rock, on the Canadian side, where the mist comes up off Horseshoe Falls in cold gusts strong enough to soak you through a poncho that was, until about ninety seconds ago, doing its job. Somewhere behind her, a busker plays “Can’t Help …
The drums start before the light is fully gone. On Kauai’s north shore, dusk does not so much fall as get absorbed; the sky over Kilauea falls dark while a line of torches gets lit along a gravel path. Somewhere behind the stage, dark and enormous against what’s left of the light, sits a mountain the old Hawaiians called Makana and the movies renamed Bali Hai. Nobody on stage mentions the second name. They don’t …
The road into Bath County narrows as the mountains close in. You pass through Warm Springs, the county seat with a population of 121, and something in your blood pressure drops before you even stop the car. The air here carries the scent of pine and cold stream water, and the light falls differently at 2,270 feet. Then the valley opens, and there it is: a colonnaded red-brick structure sitting against the wooded hillside like …
Lexington, Virginia, asks very little of you on arrival. What it gives you in return is considerably more complicated. The setting for the small town of 7,000 inhabitants is both beautiful and strangely captivating. You first come for the history. Lexington is a town that rewards the visitor who slows down enough to feel what is unresolved about it. Few towns of Lexington’s size have asked so much of, or given so much to, American …
Located easily within the Puerto Rican capital’s wider urban map, the barrio neighborhood of Santurce might still be missed by some travelers focused on the more commercial or oceanfront districts of San Juan. But including some time for Santurce on any trip to the island can certainly provide its own distinct and immersive encounter with this city.
In fact, Santurce’s present-day urban profile has its origins in a variety of historic, cultural and economic factors. …
Eight minutes. That is all that separates the roar of Manhattan from one of the most improbably pastoral escapes. Governor’s Island, a 172-acre jewel anchored in New York Harbor, has outlasted centuries of history, and emerged as the city’s most quietly extraordinary day trip, a place where the skyline just 800 yards away looks like a movie set. The pace of life on Governor’s Island, by way of contrast, is nearly surreal, a best-kept secret …
Cape Cod begins with a curve on the map and a change in mood. One hour south of Boston, the city gives way to a 400-square-mile hook of dunes, harbours and cedar-shingled towns where life still moves to the pull of tide and season. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay, the peninsula gathers 15 distinct towns into one of New England’s most enduring coastal escapes.…
Inside the vibrant district of style, art, and food, expanding Miami’s travel landscape
In just over two decades, the Miami district of Wynwood has been making its own distinctive mark on the city’s wider landscape thanks to a growing arts and lifestyle presence here – and all inside what was once an unknown industrial and warehouse neighborhood. That transformation into a forward-thinking, creative, and small-business community includes a significant number of Afro-American and African-Caribbean entrepreneurs …
Hotels, mansions, and museums from an opulent era
A tropical landscape of inland waterways, lagoons,.and abundant natural foliage along south Florida’s eastern coastline would become the wider canvas for the emergence of the opulent architecture and lifestyle of the early twentieth century. Within this southernmost American state, figures of industry and finance and their families from the Gilded Age created residences to reflect the grandeur of distant pasts and faraway, ancient cultures. This region would …
It could be said that Capitol Reef National Park is the most underrated of Utah’s incredible bounty of national parks. For some reason it doesn’t attract the attention that the remainder of the ‘Big Five’ do. Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce and Zion statistically receive more visitors, probably due to their proximity to each other or easy access from nearby towns. However, a park that’s brimming with stunning scenery, but attracts a fraction of the crowds, is …
Last month, I sailed the Mississippi River with my friend Maddy aboard American Cruise Lines’ American Symphony. I’ve sailed with American before, so I knew what to expect – friendly service, comfortable accommodations and a well-organized trip where we always know what’s happening and where to be. It’s a fool proof vacation.
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