On the morning of September 14, 1814, a 35 year old Francis Scott Key stood on the British warship HMS Tonnant. He was there to negotiate for the release of an American prisoner captured during this, the third year of the War of 1812. During the prior day, and throughout the night, a British fleet…
Summer in Baltimore means a lot of things. It means baseball at Camden Yards. It means weekend trips to the beach. And most importantly, it means crabbing. If you are lucky enough to experience summer in Charm City, and you do nothing else, finding a crab deck will ensure your trip will be a memorable…
Few events have so shaken up the country than the one that took place here at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC on April 14, 1865. Sitting in a box overlooking the stage, President Abraham Lincoln was shot in back of the head by actor John Wilkes Booth at roughly 1015pm. The president would die across…
As most of my regular readers know, my father lives outside Cincinnati. I try my best to make it out to visit him twice a year, and recently I’ve begun to incorporate that into a slightly larger trip. This spring, I began in Cleveland and did some fun things in Ohio before heading down. For…
There are lots of ways to explore and celebrate American diversity on a visit to Washington, DC. One can dedicate a day - or several - to Americans of every background who have influenced the history of this country via the museums and monuments all over the city. You can certainly eat your way through…
Writing this in summer of 2025 seems even more relevant and important. As followers of the news have undoubtedly seen, Los Angeles - my home - has been invaded by ICE, immigration enforcers seeking, it would seem, to inflict terror and economic harm on arguably the most liberal and diverse of US cities through arrest…
The Ohio Statehouse is a beautiful building. The crown jewel of downtown Columbus - itself a reasonably pretty place, although mostly empty on the day of my visit - it gleams white behind carefully planted flowers and trees. Its rotunda, built without a full dome, is iconic atop the columned facade. Inside, the building is…
Editor’s note: this article comes at an amazing time, since my own first trip to Boise was a couple months ago and my suite of four articles will be coming out in the coming weeks. Sam, however, has spent much more time in this truly terrific city, and does an incredible job summing up just…
Not too many of America’s national parks occupy a place like this, just outside of a major metropolitan area. But here, just a half hour from downtown Cleveland, and - in some places - mere feet off of interstate freeways, sits an oasis easily reachable by day trippers. Hiking, bird watching, and one of the…
Last year, I learned and wrote about William Henry Harrison, the shortest-serving US President, from his memorial outside of Cincinnati. (Click here to read that piece.) So when planning my trip to Cleveland this year, it came as a pleasant surprise to me that America’s second shortest-serving President, James Garfield, had his memorial there, along…