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The Worst House in Town

4. March 2010

Cape May, New Jersey is a pretty competitive town. Like, if your town suggests it has more Victorian houses then they do, Cape May will accept your smack down invite and throw back with all sorts of b.s. about the number of “restored” homes that they have, and how they are the true “queen of the seaside [...]

No Business Like Snow Business

26. February 2010

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Well, it’s another week that there isn’t a whole lot of traveling going on for this historic traveler. But dang, this winter is nothing if not *historic*. According to the weathermen, the snowiest year on record for Baltimore was 1994-1995, with 62″ of the white stuff falling. In this winter season, we’ve seen 79″ of snow [...]

I’m a Baby Seller

23. February 2010

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This weekend, I started packing up some of my things from our Victorian house in Cape May. I know–even before I write this blog–that this post won’t technically be about historic travel, unless you include traveling down memory lane. Which I am. Because it’s all that I can think about. We bought our vacation house in 2001. [...]

Turn the Lights Out When You Leave

1. February 2010

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Last night, the lights went out on the ten-week long Nights of Lights in St. Augustine. If you missed it this year, make your reservations for 2010-2011. It’s a pretty magical place…enlightening, as the poets and the artists say! Thank goodness for that warm Florida weather, and the beautiful buildings that still shine day or night, [...]

Eating My Way Across Galveston, TX, Part One

29. January 2010

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Look, historic travel girl loves to stay in old houses. But do I want to subsist on a diet of Victorian-era excesses…with exotic new dishes and lots of courses? Uhh…YES!!! Luckily, Galveston does not disappoint the hungry historic traveler. Here are just a few of the options (there are tons more–coming soon!) Yaga’s Cafe and [...]

Historic Hotels by the Sea

27. January 2010

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It’s hot in Baltimore. Fry-an-egg on the sidewalk, bake-cookies-in-your-car hot. The kind of hot where historic travel girl likes to sit in her office, and daydream about…the ocean. Or the Gulf. Or any body of water bigger than the water cooler right outside her door.So, this morning I thought I’d daydream about some of the [...]

Whoopie! A Trip to Lancaster’s Newest Adaptive Reuse Hotel

26. January 2010

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I spent the last two days in the new Marriott on Penn Square, in lovely downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania (www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lnsmc-lancaster-marriott-at-penn-square/ ). First, I should tell you that I like Lancaster. Sure, I can get surly when stuck behind a slow moving buggy, and I’m trying to get to a 9:00 meeting. But generally, I like the [...]

Too Cool for School?

26. January 2010

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HTG hates Washington, DC. It has nothing to do with the Redskins, or whatever political party is in office (well, sometimes it’s the political party in office). It’s more the stupid layout of the city–the circles, the non-parallel roads, the inexplicable one-way streets. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French-born American architect laid the city out in [...]

Smile and Say “Trees”

26. January 2010

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At the risk of going all stand-up comedian on you, I have to ask: What is the deal with tree lightings? I mean, HTG is all about spiked hot chocolate. And I love a cute cashmere scarf as much as the next girl (assuming that the next girl is one who really really likes cashmere [...]

The Root of the Problem…

26. January 2010

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Many people have asked me just how I’ve gotten this way. And I don’t just mean psychiatrists, either. Normal, concerned individuals have asked: Why do you love historic destinations so much? Do the old portraits make you feel pretty by comparison? Do you think mustiness is a treasured perfume? Are you just against hotel chains on [...]

New Year, Old Tricks

26. January 2010

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Earlier this week, I shared with you my love for all things Belsnickel. For the record, the lonely travelers I was talking about were rural Belsnickels. They terrorized children that lived down long lanes, in drafty old farmhouses. Children who had to milk cows and help can beans. Children who spent most of the winter [...]

Glories of Christmases Long, Long Ago

26. January 2010

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Christmas itself is a time capsule, with a crumpled old green bow on it. Like…the ornament I bought from Charleston in 2002, the first time I had shrimp and grits (as opposed to the ornament I bought in 2005, which was the first time I liked shrimp and grits). The Christmas plates and canisters that my mother-in-law gave me [...]

Loving the Craziness: Villa Zorayda

26. January 2010

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When people used to ask me what my house looked like on the inside, I used to say “early crazy.” Because the people we bought the house from were a little…eccentric. A few details: our living room had one paneled wall, one stucco’d wall, and fake beams on the ceiling. There was white Z-brick in the [...]

Here Kitty, Kitty: Cat Got Your…Foot?

26. January 2010

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There’s a new survey out about cats and dogs and the people who like them (or don’t like them). You can read all about it at http://bit.ly/6nJi3l, but here’s the gist: 74% of people like dogs a lot, while just under half of the people feel the same way about cats. As if cat people [...]

Letter from Richmond

26. January 2010

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As you may or may not know, HTG works in the agricultural sector of our country’s economic engine. (How appropriate for a history lover to work with what is TRULY the world’s oldest profession, right?) As part of my duties, I recently found myself in Richmond, Virginia, stopping there for an excuse to drink Virginia’s finest fermented grapes [...]

One year later: no one likes Ike

11. February 2009

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It was a year ago on September 13 that Hurricane Ike barreled towards Galveston, Texas. By Friday afternoon, the stately commercial buildings on the Strand and lovely Victorians on the island’s East End were already underwater. Now, a year later, many of the island’s historic homes and buildings have been restored. Judging from the waterlines [...]

Travels with Grandma: Falling for George

7. February 2009

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My hub’s grandmother turned 95 in August (that’s her right there, next to my husband. He’s not seven feet tall; she’s just really really short). It’s a big deal, turning 95. Many of Grandma’s friends and family members celebrated this landmark by showering her with gift certificates to CVS, Walgreen’s, Giant Supermarket, Carrabba’s and Cracker Barrel. Which only [...]

Travels with Grandma: She’s old and she doesn’t know what she’s doing

5. February 2009

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I didn’t expect to write another blog about Grandma this soon, but she’s coming home from Texas on Saturday (the lady is a travelin’ fool) and she’s on my mind. We went to Winterthur together (http://www.winterthur.org/) in the fall a couple of years ago. It was just me, the hub, and Grandma. Winterthur is the [...]

Laissez les bon temps rouller!

4. February 2009

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I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t visit New Orleans until November last year. Me and the hub decided to go there over Thanksgiving, and I have to say, I would swap out turkey for gumbo any time. We stayed in the French Quarter, at the Hotel St. Marie (http://www.hotelstmarie.com/) on Toulouse Street (here’s the [...]

Adaptive Reuse is Hard to Refuse

2. February 2009

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Historic travel girl loves things that used to be other things. Like flip flops that used to be school bus tires. And shoppers with long handles Macgyvered from old license plates and toothpaste caps. In fact, when historic travel girl was really just a girl, she found a blacksmith (not easy to do before the [...]

The Scariest House in America

28. January 2009

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Historic travel girl has been in some pretty scary houses in her time. The house she grew up in, where the cabinet doors were always open in the morning and sometimes the piano played at night (Seriously. It’s Halloween, folks, not April Fool’s). Then there was the second place my husband and I renovated, where a young guest [...]