Some travellers come to Boston to follow The Freedom Trail past famous sights from the US’ colonial and Revolutionary history. Others wander around the hallowed halls of the Boston Public Library and the red-brick buildings of Harvard University. But Boston’s hidden history is rich and…
Boston’s North End on BBC Travel
A small peninsula jutting into the harbor, Boston’s North End is one of the city’s oldest and most storied neighbourhoods. Puritans from England settled the area, followed by waves of other European immigrants whose red-brick homes still crowd the narrow,…
Russian Sites in Northern California
Bodega Bay, California – Everybody knows that Alaska used to belong to Russia. But most people don’t realize that the Russians were actively exploring, hunting, trading and settling the Pacific Northwest, starting in the late 18th century. Yes, settling–like Russian…
An American Musical
Somerville, Mass – Our last trip pre-pandemic was a mini road trip to New York City, where we celebrated Daddio’s birthday and went to see Phantom of the Opera. Within days of our return home, schools closed and the state…
Interview on The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure
Somerville, Mass – Things are starting to get real! Our book, The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure, now has a website AND a few book reviews. Most recently, Jerry and I gave an interview on The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure for the excellent…
Tsarina’s Lost Treasure in Publisher’s Weekly
Somerville, Mass – What? Why yes, that is Publisher’s Weekly calling our book a “meticulously researched history” and an “intriguing portrait of an art world mystery.” (It doesn’t really rhyme in the review. That was my unintentional poetic flare.) Read…
The Tsarina’s Lost Treasure
Somerville, Mass – Way back in 2013, I wrote about embarking on a new project with Daddio. We had this crazy idea to write a book together–not a guidebook, not an academic book, but a narrative nonfiction book. About a…
Bunker Hill Monument
Charlestown, Mass – Daddio has been reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s book Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution. He admitted to me that he had never been to the Bunker Hill Monument, despite growing up in the Boston area and…
World Schooling Research Projects
Somerville, Mass – While we were in Italy, I decided that our international experiment in education would benefit from special world schooling research projects — something more formal than our field trips and fun explorations around Italy, but less formal…
Cycling the Battle Road
Concord, Mass – On April 19, 1775, the first skirmish of the American Revolution took place at dawn on Lexington Green. Afterwards, British soldiers marched to Concord, where they faced a militia of Minute Men, who eventually chased them back…