Author: Ms. R.

This story is excerpted and adapted from Phyllis Richardson’s House of Fiction: From Pemberley to Brideshead, Great British Houses in Literature and Life, published in May 2021 by Unbound. Housing in postwar Britain was anything but romantic. The necessity of building, and quickly, shelter to replace the 100,000 houses destroyed by the Blitz in London alone, meant there was little room for romance. Coming to England as a teenager in 1946, after having been raised in the Shanghai International……

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Once known to weary westbound pioneers as a must-stop destination, Fort Belle Fontaine was built immediately after the Louisiana Purchase was signed to protect the newly prominent gateway to the west, St. Louis. Today, Fort Belle Fontaine is a hidden gem county park nestled along the muddy banks of the Missouri River. The ruins are not the original wooden encampment, which rotted away over a century ago. Instead, these limestone structures, outbuildings, stone fireplaces, and bathhouses were added much……

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If you want to see everyday life things in their full brilliance, you might be interested in the work of the French artist Lilian Bourgeat, who creates oversized copies of simple objects. One of Bourgeat’s works is hidden in a little courtyard of a construction company on the isle of Nantes. A massive measuring tape in a classic bright yellow hue, the installation is titled simply “Mètre à Ruban” (“Measuring Tape”).  The measuring tape is actually a replica of the……

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By the time he became the first European credited with setting foot in “La Florida” in 1513, Juan Ponce de León had been a successful conquistador roaming the New World for 20 years. He was a companion to Christopher Columbus on the second voyage in 1493, the first governor of Puerto Rico, and an avid explorer of the Caribbean. But for all that is known and written about his numerous exploits, historians still argue over where exactly he first……

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Curving across a landscape colored in chartreuse and bronze, a strange arc of squiggles looks like the work of some very confused burrowing animal. This curious, maze-like feature in East Russia was, however, created by humans and their machines. The site is part of the sprawling Kuranakh ore field, which stretches nearly 600 square miles and represents one of the country’s largest gold deposits. Mining operations in the area, located in the Central Aldan District in the Republic of……

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One of the major changes that occured during the Protestant Reformation across Europe was that churches became less grandiose. In some countries, this was achieved by means of iconoclasm. In Sweden, the transformation to Protestantism was a slower, more peaceful process that allowed for the preservation of many medieval items and paintings. The old church in Täby is home to a few amazing, medieval murals that survived the times. The church dates back to the second half of the……

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Located between the towns of Vrsar and Rovinj on the western coast of Istria, Lim Bay (known in Croatian as Limski Kanal) is a unique geographic feature that resembles the fjords of Northern Europe. The name of the valley derives from the Latin term limes, meaning limit, as the bay once marked the border between the Roman provinces of Italy and Dalmatia. This bay is technically a ria, a geological feature that forms when an unglaciated river valley becomes partially submerged,……

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In the heart of Sluis located in the Netherlands, the Bizarium welcomes visitors into a world of marvelous imagination and the history of inventiveness. As envisioned by the design duo Marc De Jonghe and Ann Geerinck, the Bizarium museum is an extraordinary private collection that encourages visitors to reflect on the values of creative thinking and innovation.  Spurred by a passion for creativity and curiosity, the duo created a universal reflection on human ingenuity and the quest to survive……

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Although Newport, Rhode Island, rightfully claims to be home to the first gas street light in the United States, Baltimore upped the game when the Maryland city established the first public gas utility in 1816. A few months later, on February 7, 1817, Baltimore installed and lit its first gaslight on North Holliday and East Baltimore Streets. Newport lit a residence; Baltimore intended to light a city! The brain behind illuminating Baltimore with gas was prominent American portraitist Rembrandt……

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