Covered Bridges of Bucks County

At one time, more than 50 covered bridges stood in Bucks County, many of them spanning the Delaware River crossing into New Jersey. Bucks County still boasts 13 lovely, historic covered bridges — 10 of which still carry vehicles. Since their construction in the late 1800s, the covered bridges of Bucks County have symbolized the quiet rural life in the area. Bucks County […]

Hiking a (Small) Portion of the Allegheny Highlands Rail Trail

For this week’s blog post, I’m recalling a memorable — but accidental — day trip we took during a vacation in West Virginia a couple years ago. With winter about to begin this year, it’s the time to think about warmer weather day trips — perhaps start planning a few more! It’s my guess we […]

A Symphony of Lights Celebrates the Holiday Season

Going to Christmas lights displays, such as Howard County’s Symphony of Lights, has become a holiday tradition for my family. Symphony of Lights is a dazzling display of more than 100 larger-than-life animated and stationary holiday light creations, made up of more than 250,000 bulbs. During the past 21 years, nearly 2 million individuals have […]

Twentythree Thousand, One Hundred Ten

The battle of Antietam, which took place on September 17, 1862, was a pivotal moment in the Civil War. It’s worth remembering that it was, and still is, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Every year on the first weekend in December, luminaries are placed in the battlefield to memorialize the fallen. Twelve hours, […]

Garden of Lights Celebrates the Holiday Season

This year, the Garden of Lights, Brookside Gardens’ holiday outdoor light exhibit, celebrates its 19th season as a Baltimore/Washington, DC area family holiday tradition. During just one month a year, Brookside Gardens is illuminated with more than one million dazzling colorful lights shaped into hand-crafted, original art forms of flowers, animals and other natural elements. Stroll […]

Visiting our Ice Age Past at Cranesville Swamp

Cranesville Swamp Preserve is a 1,600-acre preserve situated in Preston County, WV and Garrett County, MD. The swamp formed 15,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, when glaciers inched close but never reached Maryland. The climate warmed and the glaciers retreated but many of the boreal plants remained. Nestled in a mountain valley bowl […]

Fort Washington Stood Sentinel Through Multiple Wars

Fort Washington is a War of 1812-era fort which has stood sentinel, guarding Washington DC through most of this nation’s history, although it didn’t always look like it does now. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was originally called Fort Warburton, but later renamed. During the War of 1812, […]