Isaiah Zagar once described his art as “a spider web,” designed to “trap people and change how they look, feel and dream.” His web—his masterwork—can be found at Philly’s Magic Gardens, a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall, indoor-outdoor labyrinth of mosaic art in the heart of Philadelphia. The attraction, created over several decades, […]
File this one under, “That’s incredible!” From the street, Northlandz in Flemington looks like a big, nondescript banquet hall. Inside, it’s no less than the culmination of one man’s unlikely dream: to construct the world’s largest model train exhibit. According to Northlandz lore, starting in the early 1990s, computer entrepreneur […]
For more than a century, members of the Reed family worked a modest farm in rural Atlantic County. In the mid-2010s, the last generation of farmers passed on, and the next generation declined to follow in their footsteps. The 80-acre tract in Egg Harbor Township might have been sold for […]
Historic Smithville, in this case, refers not to the quaint shopping village in Atlantic County, but a bygone industrial town in Burlington County, named for New England business magnate and inventor Hezekiah Bradley “H.B.” Smith. In the post-Civil War era, Hezekiah bought the former textile town of Shreveville, New Jersey, […]
When wild animals are hurt or orphaned, they have little hope of survival without a bit of help from their (human) friends. For many years, New Jersey wild things had a true friend in school teacher Betty Woodford, whose influence lives on at the sanctuary that bears her name. In […]
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” That sentiment, from science writer Loren Eisley, is emblazoned on a wall inside the Adventure Aquarium on the Camden waterfront. And the proof of it is all around. With 15,000 amazing inhabitants—from tiny tree frogs to hippos as […]
No trip to Philadelphia is complete without a stop at the Reading Terminal Market. This grand dame of public bazaars—a Philly stalwart for well over a century—has 76 merchant stands, including butchers, bakers, fishmongers, poulterers, plus a handful of boutiques and specialty shops. Mostly, though, it’s about the food. The […]
Talk about a reality check. The astronomy shows at Rowan University’s Edelman Planetarium feature a cosmic chart, projected on a 40-foot overhead dome inside a darkened theater. It shows Earth as an infinitesimal blip in the Milky Way, which itself is just a dot on a vast universal map. Clearly, […]
To succeed in business, you need a good idea, a good plan, and, in the case of Jersey Shore Alpacas, a little divine intervention. In 2005, looking ahead to retirement, Tish and Jim Carpinelli were intrigued by alpaca farming, a cottage industry then at its height. Hoping to spend their […]
How would you like to turn back time by, say, 100-plus years? Then visit the Howell Living History Farm, near Lambertville. This isn’t a museum, a reenactment, or a historic tableau, but a working farm, where they do things the old-fashioned way: circa 1900. Visitors don’t so much witness a […]
Deep inside the main house at Winterthur, visitors will find a make-believe cityscape, complete with slate and cobblestone pathways, exterior building facades, wrought-iron lamps, and even trees. Each slat, stone, brick, and windowpane were taken from a historic home or tavern, then transferred to the Delaware home of Henry Francis […]
The life of Albert C. Barnes was once described as “an American dream and a Greek tragedy.” But not necessarily in that order. Born in 1872, Barnes was the gifted son of a destitute Civil War veteran. After a childhood in the Philadelphia slums, he became a chemist, and built […]
Roadtripping adventure takes us to North East, Maryland, a town of such seeming obscurity that my GPS refused to recognize it.
Now may be the best time of year to visit Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Known as the Christmas City, the former steel town has special ties to the season. The city puts on its holiday best for visitors with beautifully lit and decorated streets and storefronts. As local lore has it, it […]
In this edition of Roadtripping, we went off-road for an unexpected and meaningful adventure. Our original destination was Jersey City, an up-and-coming mini-metropolis called the sixth borough of New York. But I never saw the city proper, because other attractions beckoned. I rendezvoused with a friend at Liberty State Park […]
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is renowned for its Amish and Mennonite populations, horse-drawn buggies, hex signs, and towns with funny names like Blue Ball, Bird in Hand, and Intercourse. Lancaster City is a different story: a little edgy, very artsy, quite contemporary, yet vividly historic. For culture and entertainment, this place […]
Peddler’s Village Lahaska, Pennsylvania For the first road trip of 2022, I set my cap for Lahaska, Pennsylvania and the family attraction known as Peddler’s Village. After a bitter winter, it was sunny and mild, the kind of day that brings people out of hibernation. By the time I arrived […]
