Wanderers in Wonder

The resting place of our greatest President. Washington and FDR faced their challenges, but no president faced the kind of challenge Lincoln faced…Civil War. As we toured the Lincoln Library, tomb and memorial and his Springfield neighborhood I pondered the life and times of old Abe. A man beset by such tragedy. He buried his…

St. Joseph, Michigan sits at the head of the St. Joseph River, a tributary of Lake Michigan. The St. Joseph flows south through Michigan and Indiana. The town’s lakefront and old downtown districts are built for scenic strolls. Again, Midwestern sculpture in front of Mary Ann’s favorite store in town. St. Joe’s beach front. The waterpark at…

In 1903 Benjamin Purnell, who claimed to be a prophet of God, founded the House of David commune in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Members of the commune had to swear off all human vices…drinking, gambling, sex (a vice?), swearing, etc. The men, in order to appear Christ-like, had to let their hair and beards grow. They…

Our twelve mile round trip pedal to 40 Mile Lighthouse began at Purple Martin Inn Point. A colony of Purple Martins returns to the Purple Martin Inn each spring. The Purple Martin is one of the few birds that will happily nest in human made structures. Lake Huron shoreline from the bike path. Along the way…

Finally learned to avoid the ‘Parkways’ of the Northeast. Construction of these roads began in the 1920’s. They were designed for the auto-owning public, aka the uber wealthy of that day. These ‘Great Gatsbyesque’ elites could motor from The City to their estates and manors on the North and South Shores of Long Island (LI), the…

Mackinac Island can only be accessed by ferry, boat and small plane for most of the year. In winter an ice bridge forms between the island and the town of St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula (UP). The islands year-round resident relish this opportunity to travel easily to the mainland by foot, cross country skis and…

‘Bug’ Lighthouse – Portland, ME. At high tide the rocks are covered which made the lighthouse appear as a water bug to many early onlookers. Portland Head lighthouse and lightkeeper’s house. And so we cross paths with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow again. Evangeline was one his best known poems along with the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. The inspiration for another, The…

A cottage…small simple house, often near a lake or beach. The Bowdoin family’s ‘cottage’ in Bar Harbor, Maine.  A ‘cottage’ of one of The Bowdoin’s neighbors. Another neighbor’s cottage, Another, Another, and another. Bar Harbor, Maine was the summer retreat for the wealthy of the Gilded Age. From 1870 through the 1920’s this was a…

John D. Rockefeller Jr, son of the infamous John D, was an avid horseman. He owned a summer ‘cottage’ on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. America was entering the Automobile Age in the first half of the twentieth century. John D. wanted to ride his horses and drive his horse drawn carriages on his beloved…