It is somewhat surreal to go to the birthplace of a living president. Something about the phrase presidential birthplace makes me think it needs to be a founding father sort of time frame. A colonial house. A plaque with a lot of thees on it. And then you walk in, and you are standing in your grandparents' house. [...]
I spent two nights at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, and I have been smiling about it ever since. The idea is good. Being allowed to do it is better. I was completely intrigued by the idea of diamond mining. Honestly, I would have been just as intrigued if somebody had simply sat me down and [...]
Fort Smith is right in town. You park on the street, walk up, and you are greeted by a big red brick building that looks like a barracks. That is because it was one. What you are looking at The building was built as the enlisted men's barracks for the second Fort Smith. When the army pulled out [...]
I am going to be honest about something first, because it affects how I write about places like this. If I go to too many battlefields, they all start to feel the same. Visitor center, touring road, pullouts, interpretive signs, a field. I have done enough of them recently that they mush together in my memory, and I [...]
I stopped at Tuskegee Institute because I was in the area. That is the entire reason. I had zero idea what to expect. My mind was blown. I had pictured a building with some exhibits in it. What it actually is: a working university campus, and the national historic site is spread across it. Tuskegee is the only [...]
I went to Tuskegee in April 2026, and the reason I went had started more than a year before that. I had been paying attention to arguments about what belongs in the history we teach, and which parts of it quietly get trimmed. It sparked rage. And it took me a year to pull together a trip to go [...]
I stopped at the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home having only recently heard it existed, and knowing nothing at all about Medgar or Myrlie Evers. It is completely unassuming. It sits in among neighbourhood houses, exactly as it did in 1963. When I arrived I drove a loop around the block, just to be sure I had it [...]
Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas — Bathhouse Row, the healing springs you can drink from, hiking trails, and why this is the most unusual park in the country. Everything you need to plan your visit.
Little Rock Central High School NHS — the only national park with a functioning school. The bus bench, the window exhibit, and why visiting while school is in session changes everything.
