The Luccombe Valley below Salisbury Plain and Bratton Camp, just visible in the upper right. In the foreground are two of the four barrows in the valley, with one of the others being the site of the Bloodstone. While wandering on Salisbury plain one day I came across a hidden valley and as I […]
The History Trekker
History travel is time travel
WHEN THE TIME AND PLACE IS RIGHT, the present fades away and you find yourself transported back to another time, another place. The more you know history, the more you understand how we got here, the more you understand who we are. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in another time? Sometimes it’s the little details that tell the story of the past, things that at the time were taken for granted. Everything from spoons to medicine …
As a kid, nothing made a long drive complete like a stop at a historic site. From the battlefields of the Civil War, to time traveling back to early Plymouth at Plimoth Plantation, there’s more to American history than we realize, and it’s all around us. Just ahead at the next exit even.
Some towns and cities reek of history. New York City has history literally stacked on top of history. Other towns are like stepping back into time … from the curated Colonial Williamsburg, to the towns where the twentieth century was just slow to show up. Nearly all towns and cities have their history, if you know where to look.
All around the world, people celebrate their history. Hell, here in America we celebrate medieval history and we weren’t even around in the middle ages. Maybe it’s the costumes, maybe it’s just a chance for guys to play with weapons. While you might not get an authentic experience, you do get a healthy dose of fun and a lesson or two.
We’re still fighting the American Revolution in some places. The Civil War is still being played out on the streets and in courtrooms across the country. It’s hard to argue that the founding fathers would have been against gun control when one of the first things Washington did was require everyone to register their weapons. Would the original participants in the Boston Tea Party join today’s tea party? The oft times hidden side of history …
On the mystery of a white horse carved into the slopes of Bratton Downs … the White Horse of Westbury
Looking down on the White Horse of Westbury from atop Salisbury Plain Nobody really knows when or why a chalk horse was carved onto the side of Bratton Downs, below the iron age Bratton Camp. The current version has evolved over the past two centuries into its rather literal shape today. An 18th century engraving […]
Dear Mr. Musk: Before starting your own Utopia, perhaps you should take a look at history?
New Harmony, Indiana was the site of two utopian experiments. The beauty of the town is intact, thanks to a sweet old lady with oil money to spend. But the experiments were distinct failures. From the History Trekker: If colonizing Mars can save humanity, why can’t you apply those same principles at home and save […]
Is it really the House of the Seven Gables? Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way the Turner-Ingersoll mansion in Salem breathes New England history
“Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon Street; the house is the old Pyncheon House; and an elm-tree, of wide circumference, rooted […]
The right to bear arms, the right to regulate guns, both guaranteed by the second amendment – a guarantee of conflict
The reason the debate over gun control is all screwed up, is because if you look at the issue historically, both sides are right. The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives citizen the right to bear arms, especially in the case of forming militias, to both protect and if necessary, hold the government accountable. […]
Piracy in Charleston, S.C.: The adoption of the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet
Top: White Point Garden, The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina has a colorful history related to pirates. The pirate with the main claim to fame would be Blackbeard, who once held Charleston Harbor for several days. But Charleston has latched onto one of Blackbeard’s lesser captains, the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet. This isn’t […]
Concerning the Battle of Setauket: a tale of two churches, a minor battle in the American Revolution and the village green today
The 19th century artist William Sydney Mount came from Setauket, and would return back frequently to paint there, claiming it had the best light anywhere. The light is still there on Setauket Village Green, one of the best preserved greens to be found in New York. The Setaukets refer to the villages of Setauket and […]
A brief history of St. Patrick: Who was Patrick and what does he have to do with green beer?
St. Patrick’s day throughout the world has reduced the role of St. Patrick, and some would argue Ireland itself to a breakfast cereal character. Who was he? And why should we care?
Deconstructing myths of the American Revolution: Paul Revere’s ride in the words of Paul Revere himself and a travelogue
What most people know about the midnight ride of Paul Revere comes not from the history books, but a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which stretched the truth
Old Westbury Gardens: An English estate on Long Island’s Gold Coast
Above: Westbury House, Old Westbury, New York. To view more images from Long Island’s gold coast jewel, click here In a case of mistaken identity, Roger Thornhill was taken at gunpoint from a posh Manhattan eatery and driven out to a mansion on the north shore of Long Island, and plied with copious amounts of […]
The Day We Realized Our Culture Was Broken
We take great pride in our ancestor’s innocence, the concept becoming a tenant in our mythical past. If we let the shootings go on, our innocence is gone forever. Thoughts inspired by the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.
Christmas Ghost Stories: The Ghost of Christmas Past Goes Further Back Than You Might Realize
Philipsburg Manor in Winter, Sleepy Hollow, New York “When I returned to the drawing-room, I found the company seated around the fire, listening to the parson, who was deeply ensconced in a high-backed oaken chair, the work of some cunning artificer of yore, which had been brought from the library for his particular accommodation. From […]
