Literary Tourism: A Plethora of Places Claim Samuel Clemens As an adult, far removed from the trials of middle school and any controversies about its reading lists, then or now, I don’t think much about Mark Twain, formerly known as…
I have a penchant for dramatic graveyard art, those winged but bent angels, the weeping women clinging to crosses, the monuments that stretch toward the heavens. One stone in the Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.that has me wondering about…
I imagine not many vegans or vegetarians wander into the Anchor Bar hoping for a pick-me-up. The place where Buffalo chicken wings were born when the owner’s son and some friends showed up late one night and she didn’t feel…
There is something blissful about sitting beneath the Truck sign in the dining room of the restaurant of the same name in Bedford, N.Y. and looking out the window at the garden where some of my lunch comes from. I…
The Brawny Sherpa and I toodle around upstate New York with no specific plan in mind. Just enjoying a seasonal drive, stopping where we like at whim, doing so much of nothing, we get hungry. We are fortunate to stumble…
Don’t let Reid Castle be wasted on co-eds Try to find a reason to visit the campus of Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. just to visit what’s called ‘The Castle,’ and it indeed looks like one. Formally called Reid…
From Toy Trains to Le Tricorne to the Batmobile I have officially lived long enough to become a museum piece. Artifacts from my childhood are now showing up on display. A recent visit to the New York Historical Society brings…
To the ever-growing list of things I don’t remember about American history is that Maine was once part of Massachusetts. One thing I do know about American history is that I am surely not hardy enough to have endured during…
So many rules, so little time to adhere to them all. I especially like this sign in North Salem, N.Y. limiting sleigh riding to residents. I don’t think many people have sleighs anymore—although in North Salem, you never know. All…