Author: Ms. R.

Visitors of the Mount Washington Hotel may be familiar with the beautiful art that decorates the walls around the lobby area. More observant visitors may even recognize some of the White Mountain tourist attractions that these illustrations show: the Basin, the Old Man of the Mountain, and Garnet Pool.  Even the most well-versed of White Mountain aficionados may not have any idea what the Garnet Pool is. The picture in the lobby doesn’t do much to help, either, since……

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Nathaniel Herrick dreamed of forging a life for his family in the mountains of central Colorado. Though he worked hard to achieve that goal, it slipped from his dying fingers the same year he got started.  In 1887, coal and silver mining camps littered the landscape of Colorado, and companies running these operations needed timber for various construction efforts. Herrick saw an opportunity to provide for those companies and his family at the same time. He planned to establish a……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE SEPTEMBER 4, 2021, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. In the winters of 2012 and 2013, Denny’s offered, of all things, themed menus based on the first two Hobbit movies. The sheer hilarity of this partnership means I can still rattle off menu items from memory: Radagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies. The Hobbit Hole Breakfast. Gandalf’s Gobble Melt. Sadly, I never made it to Denny’s to try……

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Herb Applegate moved to Phoenix from Detroit in the 1960s. With a successful background in restaurant management, he quickly found investors in his newest venture: an affordable, family-friendly coffee shop and restaurant. Hobo Joe’s Coffee Shops were represented by an eponymous mascot who was meant to be a mixture of urbane sophistication and lovable tramp. Described in ad copy as a “World Traveler, Philosopher, and Connoisseur of Good Food,” he was meant to evoke refined taste and thriftiness. Although……

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Sai Island is a tiny island in the Nile stretching just five kilometers across and 12 kilometers long, but it contains ruins spanning thousands of years and several empires. Though Sudan is now primarily an Islamic country, a medieval Christian empire known as Makuria flourished in Sudan between the 7th and 14th centuries. Despite the length of its existence, there are still many unanswered questions about Makuria and its people. Sai Island was once a bishop’s see (residence). The……

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The neighborhood of Halls Hill emerged from the plantation owned by Basil Hall, a slaveowner whose family was infamously cruel. To wit, Hall became a widower when his first wife, Elizabeth, was so abusive to an enslaved woman named Jenny Farr that she cast Elizabeth into a hearth, killing her. Ms. Farr was later sentenced to death for the murder. Hall purchased 327 acres of land in 1850, but was forced to flee his home in 1861 due to……

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