This Month’s Featured Articles…

Renowned for his short stories, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, American author Washington Irving is regarded as the Father of the American Ghost Story. Born in Manhattan in 1783, Irving was also a historian, essayist, and biographer. Both of the ghostly tales mentioned above appear in Irving’s collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (more commonly known as The Sketch Book), published in the 1819-1820 time frame. Although the story of Rip Van Winkle is set in New York [...]

Since the October issue celebrates the area’s rich history, it proved to be an opportune time to honor the achievements of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. Renowned as W.E.B. Du Bois, he was a scholar, sociologist, historian, activist, and journalist. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA, features a permanent exhibition that highlights some of his life’s work. Visit The Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation, an interactive exhibition that celebrates innovators like Du Bois who hail from the Berkshires. Here’s a history and a few highlights [...]

Anyone who visits Millbrook, NY, will likely notice a series of panels mounted on posts that bring them to a comfortable reading level. Once noticed, they do seem to mushroom. In fact, there are 29 in all, three of which are most accessible by car; otherwise the panels, recounting the lives, occupations, and dwellings of Milbrookers through the ages, are by their very nature “for pedestrians only.” They militate in the nicest possible way against the tendency of people to rush from one errand [...]

With the news of the advanced Titanic 8K footage, which shows the most detail ever captured of the sunken ship and Titanic: The Exhibition debuting in Manhattan next month (at 526 6th Ave., New York, NY), there’s been a new wave of interest in this intriguing yet tragic story. Of course, everyone is familiar with the history of the RMS Titanic – the luxurious ocean liner that collided with an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City in April, 1912. [...]

Life is about following our dreams, creating happy memories, achieving personal goals, and simply enjoying the many moments we’re gifted. It’s also about pursuing interests and activities that make us feel truly alive. Many people enjoy the act of exploration. Driven by a sense of curiosity, they’re on a quest for knowledge and novel experiences. Many yearn to wander the world. These explorers enjoy engaging with people of other cultures, turning strangers into friends, and all of the stimulation that comes along with their [...]