A Walk Around Baltimore’s Mount Vernon
May 2024 This Washington Monument has graced Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon neighborhood since 1829. It was based on a design…
United States
Walking the Federal Hill Neighborhood of Baltimore
May 2024 In 1788, Maryland ratified the the U.S. Constitution. On that day, 4,000 Baltimoreans gathered to celebrate, and the…
The Fells Point Neighborhood of Baltimore
May 2021 The Fells Point Neighborhood Fell’s Point is one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods and was once a bustling shipbuilding…
Odds and Ends of Baltimore
May 2024 Prohibition began on January 17, 1920, and for the next 13 years, the bar operated as a speakeasy.…
One very quick day in Annapolis, Maryland
May 2024 I am on a tour, so the trip to Annapolis was brief, which is a shame because driving…
Homewood Cemetery
October 2023 Homewood Cemetery was established in 1878 from William Wilkins’ 650-acre estate, called Homewood. This is the final resting…
Fascinating Architecture of Pittsburgh, PA Part 2
October 2023 The Emmanuel Episcopal Church, completed in 1886, is by H. H. Richardson. Richardson did not live to see…
Fascinating Architecture of Pittsburgh Part 1
October 2023 Standing on the grass of Carnegie Mellon, you can see the University of Pittsburgh’s (Pitt) Cathedral of Learning.…
A Quick Introduction to Pittsburgh PA
October 2023 The Monongahela and the Allegheny meet and become the Ohio River. This is what defines Pittsburgh today and…
Odds and Ends When Wandering Boston
May 2023 The Boston Common is a 50-acre public park in downtown Boston, a perfect place to spend a lovely…
Wandering Boston’s Architecture
May 2023 Trinity Church and HH Richardson Our group has a tendency to drift toward H.H. Richardson buildings, and that…
Gropius House, Massachusetts
May 2023 We spent the day in Concord area looking at several very interesting homes, all of which I will…
The Peabody Essex Museum
May 2023 PEM is one of the oldest continuously operating museums in the United States and holds one of the…
Gloucester, Massachusetts
May 2023 A day spent outside of Boston in Gloucester was a quick but interesting day. The Sleeper-McCann House –…
Nashville Union Station
March 2023 The Nashville Union Station and Trainshed were constructed in the 1890s as part of the Louisville and Nashville…
Hudson Yards, The High Line and the 9/11 Memorial
October 6, 2022 If one begins the High Line at West 29th you start at Hudson Yards. While Hudson Yards…
Hot Springs, Arkansas
April 2021 Hot Springs, Arkansas, has a very rich history. It gets its name from the natural thermal spring waters…
Eureka Springs Arkansas
April 2021 Eureka Springs is an unusual town. Its architecture is primarily Victorian, and with its narrow streets and historic…
Public Art in St. Louis
April 2021 Saint Louis is an amazing city for art! City Garden Between Chestnut and Market Streets and 8th and…
Finding the Offbeat in Saint Louis
April 2021 The Union Station Hotel in St. Louis Now a National Historic Landmark the St. Louis Union Station was…
Gateway Arch
April 2021 I have wanted to see the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis ever since I stood in the Saarinan…
One Day in Kentucky
April 2021 The trip to Kentucky was to visit Mammoth Caves National Park. The park has limited their tours due…
Wandering Around North Carolina
April 2021 Fontana Dam, North Carolina The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was a paragraph in my 6th grade history book.…
Meandering Through Four Southern States
April 2021 Luray Caves, Virginia Visitors have been coming to Luray Caves since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system…
Congaree National Park
April 2021 Congaree National Park – South Carolina Congaree National Park is a 26,276-acre national park 18 miles southeast of…
The Odd and Unusual in the Environs of Charlotte
April 2021 Shell Oil Clam Shell Station This is the last Shell Oil clamshell station in the United States. A…
The Left Side of Nowhere
November 23, 2020 The drive home promised to be a long one so we broke it up with the weird…
The Grand Canyon’s South Rim
November 22, 2020 Today was dedicated to exploring the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with a special emphasis on…
Driving the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon
November 21.2020 After leaving our hotel outside the North Rim of the Grand Canyon we headed for the South Rim.…
The Grand Canyon
November 20, 2020 We left Zion National Park via the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Bored and blasted through the sandstone cliffs…
Zion National Park
November 18, 2020 We are staying at Zion Lodge, so after a quick breakfast, we headed out to do the…
The Hoodoo That You Do
November 17, 2020 Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon Weathering and erosion play only a minor role in the development of hoodoos.…
Entrenched Meanders
November 16, 2020 Arches to Bryce via a lot of fascinating places. We stayed at Red Cliffs Lodge and woke…
Gee Gee Gee It Is Geology
November 15, 2020 Today began with a drive from Palisades, Colorado to Arches National Monument in Utah. We took the…
The South West During Covid
November 2020 I am traveling during COVID, just to get a break. I am traveling with my cousin and we…
Byrdcliffe
Woodstock, New York Byrdcliffe was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by the husband and wife team of Jane…
Lake Mohonk Mountain House
New Paltz, New York The ten-room inn, Stokes Tavern and surrounding acreage on Lake Mohonk were purchased by Albert Smiley…
Artists Colonies of the East Hudson Valley
Artist Cemetery Woodstock, New York The Woodstock Artists Cemetery is officially operated by the Woodstock Memorial Society, the original 80…
A Smattering of Public Art in Philadelphia
Grumman Greenhouse Lenfest Plaza This crashed and artfully crumpled full-size airplane is titled “Grumman Greenhouse,”. The creation of 27-year-old Jordan…
A Whirlwind Trip of Architecture in Philadelphia Day 2
Philadelphia, PA University of Pennsylvania College Hall College Hall is the oldest building on campus. Designed by Thomas Webb Richards…
A Whirlwind Trip of Architecture in Philadelphia Day 1
Philadelphia, PA City Hall Tomes have been written about Philadelphia’s city hall, and I have visited and photographed this building…
Grandview
7351 Route WI-39 Hollandale, Wisconsin This lovely and imaginative spot well in the countryside of Wisconsin is the creation of…
A. D. German Warehouse
300 South Church Street Richland Center, Wisconsin The Albert Dell German Warehouse was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the…
Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus The building that houses the Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical…
The State Capitol of Madison, Wisconsin
There is more information on the State Capitol of Madison than many I have seen. So I will just be…
The Jacobs I House
Madison, Wisconsin 441 Toepfer Avenue Traveling with the VSA we had the true pleasure of touring the home of James…
The Unitarian Meeting House
Madison, Wisconsin Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1951, when Wright was 84 years old, this church is…
Taliesin East
Spring Green, Wisconsin So very much has been written about Taliesin that it seems silly to write a post about…
Wyoming Valley School
Spring Green, Wisconsin Built in 1957, the building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who donated his design and 2…
Wanamaker, An Organ, and An Eagle
1300 Market Street Philadelphia, PA Designed by renowned organ architect and Scotsman, George Ashdown Audsley, and built by the Los…
A Victorian Art Gallery
Laurel Hills Cemetery 3822 Ridge Avenue Philadelphia, PA Laural Hills Cemetery was founded in 1836 by a group of local…
Haunting and Beautiful
Mount Mariah Cemetery 6201 Kingsessing Avenue Philadelphia, PA Mount Mariah has a fascinating and tragic history, most of which can…
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a fast-growing city with a large influx of people looking for an affordable place to live with a…
Belle Isle
Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan Belle Isle is a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland…
FLW in Detroit
The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House Bloomfield, Michigan The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House…
Detroit’s Guardian Building
500 Griswold Street Detroit, Michigan There has been so very, very much written about the Guardian Building of Detroit, that…
Detroit’s Renaissance
The Book Building at 1249 Washington Blvd, Downtown Detroit So much has been written about Detroit’s decline, and yet so…
Heidelberg Project
3600 Heidelberg St McDougall Hunt Neighborhood Detroit, Michigan Just 15 minutes away from the African Bead Museum is the Heidelberg…
African Bead Museum
Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum 6559 Grand River Avenue Detroit, Michigan * I had the absolute privilege to speak with…
Pewabic Pottery
1025 Jefferson Avenue Detroit, Michigan Pewabic Pottery is a ceramic studio and school founded in 1903 by artist Mary Chase…
The Saarinen House
Academy Way Cranbrook Bloomfield Hills, Michigan A tour of the Saarinen house is an amazing look into the perfectionism of…
Detroit’s Giant Tire
Along Interstate 94 West Between the Southfield Freeway interchange and Outer Drive overpass Allen Park, Michigan This giant Uniroyal Giant…
Main Street Railroad Station in Richmond, VA
1500 East Main Street Richmond, VA March 2017 This glorious building was not included in the VSA Spring study tour,…
Bolling Haxall House
2111 Franklin Street Richmond, VA March 2017 The Woman’s Club, that is housed in Bolling Haxall House, was founded in…
Off the Beaten Path in Richmond, Virginia
There are always weird and wonderful things that one finds when traveling, and here are three that I found in…
Two Unique Churches in Richmond, Virginia
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church 815 E. Grace Street and Confederate Memorial Chapel 2900 Grove Avenue Saint Paul’s is located directly…
Virginia State Capitol
Virginia State Capitol Richmond, VA March 2017 Virginia’s State Capitol, located in Richmond, is the third capital city of the…
Monument Avenue
Monument Avenue Richmond Virginia March 2017 Monument Avenue is either a bone of contention or an art gallery, and stirs…
Richmond, Virginia’s Old City Hall
1000 E Broad Street Richmond Virginia March 2017 This High Victorian Gothic structure was designed by Detroit architect Elijah E.…
Egyptology and Richmond, Virginia
Monument Church 1224 East Broad Street The Egyptian Building 1223 East Marshall Street March 2017 Egyptian revival is an architectural…
Maymont
2201 Shield Lakes Drive Richmond, Virginia March 2017 In 1893, Major James H. Dooley, a wealthy Richmond lawyer and philanthropist,…
Richmond, Virginia’s Canal Walk and Edgar Allan Poe
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum 1914 East Main Street March 2017 Though Poe never lived in the building, the museum…
Hollywood Cemetery
412 South Cherry Street Richmond, Virginia March 2017 Hollywood Cemetery is the resting place of two United States Presidents, James…
Shockoe Hill Cemetery
Fourth and Hospital Street Richmond, Virginia March 2017 Just north out of the downtown area of Richmond, Virginia is Shokoe…
Boulder Man
951 Chicago Avenue Oak Park, Chicago On the piers flanking the entry to Frank Lloyd Wrights 1898 architectural studio in…
Standing Lincoln
Off N. Lake Shore Drive near W. North Avenue Chicago This is one of the two sculptures in Lincoln Park…
Shakespeare in Chicago
N. Lincoln Parkway West and W. Belden Avenue Chicago According to the Chicago Parks Department: “When Samuel Johnston, a successful…
Eli Bates Fountain
This whimsical fountain is known as both the Eli Bates Fountain and “Storks at Play”. Eli Bates was a Chicago…
Fountain of Time
6000 Cottage Grove Avenue Chicago, Illinois Fountain of Time, or simply Time, is a 126 foot long sculpture by Lorado…
Fountain of the Great Lakes
Nichols Bridgeway Off E. Jackson and South Michigan Avenue Chicago Fountain of the Great Lakes or Spirit of the Great…
Eternal Silence
The Eternal Silence, (also called Eternal Silence or Statue of Death) marks the grave of Dexter Graves, who led a…
The Mosaics of the Marquette
The Marquette Building 140 South Dearborn Chicago This spectacular, and difficult to photograph, mosaic is in the rotund of the…
The Marquette Building
The Marquette Building 140 South Dearborn Chicago These four bronze plaques sit above the entry doors of the Marquette Building…
Morikami Japanese Gardens, Delray Beach, Florida
October 2015 Morikami Museum and Gardens were established in 1977 after Mr. Morikami bequeathed the land for the garden. The…
McKee Botanical Garden, Vero Beach, Florida
October 2015 The McKee Botanical Garden began its life in 1932, when land speculator Arthur G. McKee and architect Waldo…
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
October 2015 Jim Thorpe was originally called Mauch Chunk (Bear Place in the Lenape Indian Language). It is the seat…
History and Architecture of Scranton, PA
October 2015 Scranton Pennsylvania is the county seat of Lackawanna and the 6th largest city in Pennsylvania. Incorporated in 1866,…
Lackawanna Station – Scranton, PA
October 2015 This is now the Radisson Hotel, however, it originally was the Lackawanna Train Station a vital piece in…
Masonic Hall – Scranton, PA
October 2015 The Masonic Hall in Scranton Pennsylvania is so massive, this postcard is the only way to show it…
Walking Scranton Pennsylvania
October 2015 This is the Lackawanna County Courthouse at 200 Washington Avenue. It was designed by Isaac G Perry in…
Bonaventure Cemetery of Savannah, Georgia
I have had a fascination for cemeteries for much of my life. My love of them comes from their quality…
Architectural Styles of Savannah
The architectural styles of Savannah are varied and, thanks to many preservationists, available for us all to study. There are…
Details of Savannah
There is so much cast iron in Savannah but one of the more impressive pieces is the fountain in Forsyth…
Savannah Tidbits
There are so many wonderful architectural styles in Savannah, with details galore. I wanted to focus on a few items…
The Square as the Heart of Savannah
I studied the squares of Savannah in Urban Planning classes at school. I was anxious to finally get to see…
Cotton is King
May 2015 Savannah, Georgia is like other towns in the United States that have a plethora of historic architecture. They…
Two Hours in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is steeped in Southern history and they are proud of it, beginning with their flag. The South Carolina flag…
Bat to Bat Days in Louisville, Kentucky
July 2014 Louisville is an interesting town. Everyone knows it for the Kentucky Derby, and I have always wanted to…
Chicago River Cruise
June 2014 There are several river cruises available to take in Chicago, and I highly recommend that you take at…
Chagall in Chicago
10 South Dearborn Exelon Plaza Chicago Composed of thousands of inlaid chips in over 250 colors, this mosaic is by…
Gillette Castle
67 River Road East Haddam, Connecticut This, truly unique residence was commissioned and designed by William Gillette. Gillette was an…
The Blue Garden and the Arthur Curtiss James Estate
School has finished and I am spending a few days with dearest friends Robert and Gail Ornstein. Robert is an…
Newport, Rhode Island
I arrived in Newport today (May 30, 2014) to begin an 8 day course on the History and Architecture of…
Early Newport
We were told when this course began that we would learn the meaning of “Death March” or “Sherman’s March to…
Newport – The Calm before the Storm
So, I have come to the conclusion that the reason these are called death marches isn’t just because we hike…
So You Want an American Renaissance…
Today was a day of only 3 houses, but what houses they were. All three houses were designed by Richard…
MM&W meet LaFarge
Our day started at the Channing Memorial Church. (E. Boyden and Sons 1881). William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian…
Floors, Ceilings and Walls
Our day began at Slater Mill. The mill is part of the Blackstone River Valley, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Pawtucket…
Castles, Views and the Servants
After a morning of lectures we headed out to Belcourt Castle. Belcourt is a R. M. Hunt building( 1891-94). The…
Out and About in the Countryside
We began this morning in my favorite genre, Japanese revival. The house is just lovely, as are the couple that…
Eccentric Mercer and his Moravian Tiles
This is the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, (Bucks County) Pennsylvania. Henry Mercer inherited his money from a maiden aunt and…
Magic Gardens
1020 South Street Philadelphia, PA My favorite artists are ones that find their passion and pursue it, with no thought…
Eastern State Penitentiary
2027 Fairmount Avenue Philadelpha, PA I am in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My habit in any town is to seek the oddball.…