Traveling Tuesday: The Netherland - More than Tulips and Windmills

Traveling Tuesday: The Netherlands – 

More than Windmills and Tulips

Tucked between Belgium and Germany in Western Europe, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (literally “low country”) is a bit larger than the US state of Maryland, but smaller than West Virginia. The North Sea which borders the north and west of the country is constantly a threat. If the Dutch had not erected dikes, canals, dams, and pumping stations, the country would have washed away centuries ago. There are more than 1,491 miles of dikes that protect the low, flat lands (nearly 50% of which lies below sea level) from the North Sea. One source indicates that without the dikes 65% of The Netherlands would flood daily.

Because of its lack of mountain ranges and natural borders, The Netherlands has not been able to prevent invasions, and other nations occupied the country for a large part of its history: the Romans, Celtic tribes, Germanic groups, Vikings, the Franks, Austrians, and the Spanish have all invaded and/or occupied the country.

It would take the Eighty Years’ War with Spain to finally give The Netherlands their independence in 1648. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon put his brother Louis on the throne, but in 1814 Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands joined together as one country called the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands are often erroneously referred to as Holland. In actuality, Holland is a region within the country that consists of the two provinces of North and South Holland. The country has twelve provinces in total.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a “sovereign state” which includes four “constituent countries” of

Aruba, Curaca, Sint Maarten, and the Netherlands. The mode of government is a constitutional monarchy which means the head of state is a King or Queen whose limited powers are laid down in the Constitution. A cadre of ministers and state secretaries are responsible for the day-to-day duties of running the government. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland.

Most of the 17th century is referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, a time when the Dutch empire became one of the major seafaring and economic powers – By 1650, they owned 16,000 merchant ships and through the Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company established colonies and trading posts across the globe. Their science, military, and art (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Steen, van Ruisdael, and van Gogh to name a few) were world-renowned.

Most people conjure up visions of tulips and windmills when they think of the Netherlands, but since the 16th century, the Dutch economy has included shipping, fishing, agriculture, trade, and banking. The country is one of the world’s ten leading exporting countries with food being the largest sector. Other major industries include chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, and tourism. In addition, the discovery of natural gas in the 1950s has played a major part in the revenue for the country.

Bicycling is the common form of transportation with almost as many miles covered by bicycles as by train. There are an estimated eighteen million bicycles which is more than one per capita, and twice as many as the approximately nine million motor vehicles.

__________________

A Lesson in Love

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3YHgUb0

______________

Photo Credits:

Map: By U.S. Central Intelligence Agency - Netherlands (Political) 1987 from Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Netherlands Maps, Public Domain

Castle: Pixabay/Eveline de Bruin

Bicycles: Pixabay/Ralf Gervink

Traveling Tuesday: New York City's Penn Station

Traveling Tuesday: 

New York City’s Penn Station

Next week’s Movie Monday will feature the 1945 film The Clock in which New York City’s Penn Station plays an integral role. Named for the Pennsylvania Railroad, the station’s builder and original owner, the structure was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, an architectural firm founded in 1879 that quickly rose in prominence. The design was (and still is) considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. The Beaux-Arts style is characterized by heavily ornamented surfaces and the use of elements from Greek and Roman architecture, such as columns, combined with French and Italian Renaissance and Baroque influences (also highly ornamental). The style is known for its symmetry, elaborate decorations and use of stone, iron, and glass.

Completed in 1910, the station occupied an 8-acre plot, had eighty-four Doric columns, eleven

platforms serving twenty-one tracks, and the central waiting room measured a block and a half long – the largest indoor space in the city. For the first time there was direct rail access to the city from the south. Before then the Pennsylvania Railroad’s network ended on the western side of the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey, requiring passengers to board ferries to cross the river. New York Central Railroad was a rival, and their line ran from the north under Park Avenue and ended at Grand Central at 42nd Street. Proposals for a cross-Hudson connection were presented in the late 1800s, but the financial panics of the 1890s made potential investors gun shy about providing funds. Proposals for a bridge was also considered but ultimately rejected.

Then came Pennsylvania Railroad’s president Alexander Cassatt who announced in 1901, the company’s plans to tunnel under the river and build a “grand station” on the west side of Manhattan south of 34th Street, at that time a red-light district known for corruption and prostitution. Construction began in June 1903 and was completed in 1908. Unfortunately, having died in 1906, Cassatt did not live to see his dream fulfilled. Instead, his son, Edward, became president and finished the task.

Penn Station opened to the public on November 27, 1910, and by 1945, at its peak saw more than 100 million passengers pass through its doors. Tragically and despite “vociferous dissent,” the aboveground portions of the building were demolished between 1963 and 1966 to make way for a new building. More than one source indicated that the controversial demolition was the impetus for the 1965 New York Landmarks Law which saved Grand Central station and approximately 30,000 other historic buildings throughout New York City.

While growing up in New Jersey, my family and I traveled through Penn Station on numerous occasions. I wish I’d seen the original building.

Photo Credits:
By Bain News Service - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.09705. Public Domain

William J. Roege, Pennsylvania Station on Seventh Avenue, New York City, 1923. New-York Historical Society, Photographs from New York City and Beyond.

Penn Station, Train Concourse, ca. 1910, photograph, MMW Architectural Record Collection, NYHS Image #50718.

_____________________________

A Lesson in Love

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3YHgUb0

Traveling Tuesday: The Role of the Mt. Washington Hotel During WWII

Traveling Tuesday: 

The Role of the Mt. Washington Hotel During WWII

Last week, I shared about the four grand hotels that are still operating in New Hampshire. One of those, the Mt. Washington played a critical role at the end of World War II. Located deep in the White Mountains above Crawford Notch in Bretton Woods, the hotel was completed in 1902 and offered luxurious accommodations to anyone who could afford to stay. Sadly, the owner, Joseph Stickney, died of a heart attack the following year.

Over the next decade his wife continued to improve the property, but Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the implementation of income tax put a damper on business. Mrs. Stickney’s nephew inherited the hotel in 1936, but six years later, shuttered the doors because of the war. He sold to a Boston syndicate in 1944 for $450,000 (a huge amount of money back then).

On July 1 of that year, the Bretton Woods Conference commenced with 730 delegates from all forty-

four Allied nations. Years of work preceded the conference, with a preliminary conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey held in mid-June 1944. No where in my research could I unearth who decided that a remote, luxury hotel in the mountains of New Hampshire was the perfect location for the conference, and I can’t imagine the logistics of getting everyone to the facility. Located more than 150 miles from the Boston airport, the hotel is accessed by one hilly, winding road (and it’s not an interstate) that passes through Crawford Notch, elevation 1,923 feet. There is nothing for miles around – no restaurants, no other hotels…nothing.

The conference adjourned three weeks after it started with the delegates signing the Final Act of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference that established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD – later part of the World Bank Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and implementing the “Bretton Woods system,” a system of economic order and international cooperation that would help countries recover from the war’s devastation and foster long-term global growth.

Some of the features of the system were an “adjustably pegged foreign exchange market tied to gold, that could only be altered to correct a fundamental disequilibrium,” pledges by member countries to make their currency convertible for trade-related and other current account transactions, and a requirement of member countries to subscribe to IMF’s capital.

The system ended in 1971.

__________________

Ivy's Inheritance

Has she fled one untrustworthy man only to be stuck with another?

Ivy Cregg’s father is a gambler, but this time he’s gone too far. He loses his mining fortune and her along with it in a high-stakes poker game. Unwilling to go along with the deal, she hides out with a friend who tells her about Ms. Crenshaw, owner of the Westward Home & Hearts Mail-Order Bride Agency who is in town. The prospective groom is a wealthy man which seems like an answer to prayer until Ivy discovers he made his fortune in mining. Is he as untrustworthy as her father?

After emigrating to America to fight for the Union during their Civil War, Slade Pendleton moved West while working on the railroad, then headed to the plains of Nebraska to seek his fortune. He was one of the lucky ones and now has everything he could ever want. Except a wife. With the few women in the town already married, he sends for a mail-order bride. The woman arrives carrying the telegram that explains her need to flee, but now that she’s safe, she seems to have no interest in going through with the ceremony. Should he send her packing or try to convince her to stay?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Ca3xI6

Photo Credits:

Mt. Washington Hotel: By rickpilot_2000 from Hooksett, USA - Mt. Washington HotelUploaded by jbarta, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26447136 

Delegation: U.N. Monetary Conference (Photo: Associated Press; Photographer: Abe Fox)

New Zealand Report of the conference: By Archives New Zealand from New Zealand - International Monetary Fund formed 1945, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51249801

Traveling Tuesday: Grand Hotels of New Hampshire

Traveling Tuesday: 

Grand Hotels in New Hampshire

The Gilded Age brought prosperity to America, and during the era, hundreds of “grand hotels’ sprang up across the country offering luxury and service to the rich and famous. You may be familiar New York’s Waldorf Astoria, Washington, DC’s Willard InterContinental, and The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Tragically, some of the grand hotels were vacated and eventually fell into disrepair to be knocked down and forgotten.

Of the original twenty-four grand hotels in New Hampshire four are still in operation: Mt. Washington Hotel, The Wentworth Inn, Eagle Mountain House, and The Mountain View Grand. The Balsams, built in 1866, is currently closed with plans to reopen in the future. All the hotels are in the northern part of the state in the White Mountains.

The Mt. Washington Hotel was built in Bretton Woods between 1900 and 1902 by NH native Joseph Stickney whose wealth came from being a coal broker. With an eye toward creating a luxurious getaway for “city folks,” he spared no expense, spending $1.7 million (approximately $64 million in today’s dollars). According to Wikipedia, at its completed the hotel had more than 2,000 doors, 12,000 windows, and eleven miles of plumbing. Unfortunately for Stickney, he died of a heart attack the year after the hotel opened. His wife spent summers at the hotel and continued to expand the structure.

Constructed in 1869 in the town of Jackson by Joshua Trickey and originally names the Thorn

Mountain House, the Wentworth Inn was a wedding gift for his daughter, Georgia, and her husband, General Marshall Clark Wentworth. By the turn of the century the facility included a casino, multiple billiard parlors, and a ballroom. Eventually, the inn grew to its current size of sixty-one rooms. Not much is known about Trickey other than he had a successful farm, and built the Jackson Falls House (hotel) in 1858, then two years later, sold some of his property to the school district so they could build the schoolhouse.

Opening in 1879, Eagle Mountain House had rather humble beginnings. The original inn was a farmhouse style building that could accommodate twelve guests, and the owners worked the surrounding property as a farm, providing food for the guests from their fields. A golf course went in sometime prior to 1910 because the sport was all the rage by this time. Two more buildings were added allowing for up to 125 guests, but tragically a fire in 1915 destroyed the Main Inn. The new building with seventy-five rooms, most featuring private baths, was completed the following year. An elevator was also installed.

The Mountain View Grand was originally known as the Mountain View House and opened in 1866 by William and Mary Jane Dodge. Intriguingly, the hotel was not a hotel when the first guests arrived. The story goes that after a stagecoach overturned on a stormy night in 1865, the passengers made their way to the Dodge’s house and asked if they could stay the night. They were served a full breakfast the following morning and requested to stay longer. The Dodges agreed. Before leaving the guests asked if they could come back the following summer, and the Dodges realized they had something special. By the following year they had expanded the property and opened officially. Over the years, additions were made with a final total of 141 rooms. The guest book reads like a who’s who with seven presidents, writers such as Robert Frost, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Steven King, and film stars that included Betty Grable, Bette Davis, and the Marx Brothers.

Have you ever stayed in a “grand” hotel?

___________________

Ivy's Inheritance

Has she fled one untrustworthy man only to be stuck with another?

Ivy Cregg’s father is a gambler, but this time he’s gone too far. He loses his mining fortune and her along with it in a high-stakes poker game. Unwilling to go along with the deal, she hides out with a friend who tells her about Ms. Crenshaw, owner of the Westward Home & Hearts Mail-Order Bride Agency who is in town. The prospective groom is a wealthy man which seems like an answer to prayer until Ivy discovers he made his fortune in mining. Is he as untrustworthy as her father?

After emigrating to America to fight for the Union during their Civil War, Slade Pendleton moved West while working on the railroad, then headed to the plains of Nebraska to seek his fortune. He was one of the lucky ones and now has everything he could ever want. Except a wife. With the few women in the town already married, he sends for a mail-order bride. The woman arrives carrying the telegram that explains her need to flee, but now that she’s safe, she seems to have no interest in going through with the ceremony. Should he send her packing or try to convince her to stay?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Ca3xI6

Photo Credits: 

Mountain Washington Hotel: By rickpilot_2000 from Hooksett, USA - Mt. Washington HotelUploaded by jbarta, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26447136 

Wentworth Inn: Courtesy of the Wentworth Inn

The Mountain View Grand: Courtesy of visitwhitemountains.com

Traveling Tuesday: The History of Train Travel

Traveling Tuesday: 

The History of Train Travel

I love trains! While growing up I visited the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore on countless occasions with my paternal grandfather, and he was a wealth of knowledge. Over the years, I’ve taken numerous trips on scenic railroads with varying levels of luxury – from hard wooden seats and tiny windows to padded reclining seats with glass, domed roofs. I never tire of the clickety-clack as we zoom along the tracks.

Did you know that railways go back as early as the mid-1500s? I was stunned by that fact. Known as wagonways or tramway, they featured wooden rails and were horse-drawn. Steam engines were introduced in England during the mid-1750s and a few years later, plates of cast iron were affixed to the top of the wooden rails. Cast iron is brittle, so it was replaced by wrought iron, then steel. By the nineteen century further improvements were made to the steel and became the standard. (According to author/historian Murat Ozyuksel, the expansion of the railroad industry is one of the main reasons for the success of the steel industry.)

Railroads came to the US in the 1820s and played a large role in the Industrial Revolution. Wealthy

men such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, James J. Hill, Jay Gould, Edward Harriman, and Leland Stanford were among the first to see the possibilities and invest in this new mode of transportation making them even wealthier.

Unfortunately, the American Civil War halted progression of the transcontinental railway, and it would not be completed until 1869. The Panic of 1873 and the subsequent depression stalled growth for several years, but the industry rebounded, and tracks soon crisscrossed the nation carrying goods, immigrants, and travels by the hundreds of thousands.

Initially, there were three classes of travel:

• First class offered upholstered seats, carpet, and curtains, with lots of space between seats. The décor used velvet, brass, and glass to convey luxury. Further luxury was available by purchasing seating in a Pullman sleeper or palace car. Some of the exceptionally rich, purchased a Pullman car and had it attached to the back of whatever train on which they were traveling.
• Second class also had upholstered seats, but they were not as nice, and the cars held more passengers.
• Third class, also known as emigrant class, had wooden benches and passengers were expected to bring their own food.

World War II saw a boom in railroad traffic with troop and hospital transports as well as good and war matériel. Afterwards many railroads were driven out of business with the advent of airlines, the increase in cars, and interstate highways. A rise in the trucking industry also impacted the railroads. Nowadays, passengers may choose first class or economy. According to Wikipedia, the US has approximately 160,000 miles of track and has the largest rail transport network in the world.

Have you ridden on a train?

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The American WWII Home Front in 29 Objects

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Pre-launch page (Be sure to click notify me on launch): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lindashentonmatchett/the-world-war-ii-home-front-in-29-objects-illustrated-book

Photo Credits:

Locomotive on Bridge: Pixabay

Cornelius Vanderbilt: Courtesy Vanderbilt University

Hospital Car: Courtesy Gold Coast Railroad Museum

Traveling Tuesdsay: Wisconsin

Traveling Tuesday: Wisconsin

The 30th state to be admitted to the union, Wisconsin originated a territorial possession of the United States in 1783 after the Revolutionary War. Four years later it became part of the Northwest Territory, then Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1809, followed by Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1818, then Michigan Territory until 1836 when by an act of Congress it became Wisconsin Territory. Interestingly, the territory remained under British control until after the War of 1812.

Initially, a leader in fur trading, the area saw a shift to lead mining after it came under American control. The change brought an influx of immigrants from the US and Europe (with a large percentage of “expert miners” from Cornwall, England) in search of wealth. According to several sources, including the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin became known as the Badger State because many of the miners lived in tunnels they dug into the hillsides, like badger dens.

By 1829, more than 4,000 miners populated the state with fifty-two smelting works. A little more than a

decade later, the state was producing more than half of America’s lead, somewhere in the amount of 15-20 million pounds. Output began to decline around 1847, and news of the 1848 California gold rush sent the miners west.

As the mining industry declined, agriculture saw a surge with wheat being the primary crop. Soil depletion and insects prompted a change to cranberries and tobacco by some farmers, however, a large percentage turned to dairy farming which proved to be an excellent decision. By 1915, Wisconsin was the leading producer of dairy products in the United States. According to Wikipedia, the term “America’s Dairyland” appeared in newspapers as early as 1913.

A close second to Wisconsin’s dairy industry is brewing. The first brewery opened in 1835 by a man name John Philips. Highly successful he opened a second the following year. By 1860, over 200 breweries operated within the state, more than forty of them in Milwaukee. Most scholars feel this is a result of the number of German immigrants who arrived in the 1840s and 1850s and the demise of the Chicago breweries in the “Great Chicago Fire.”

Come back next Tuesday to learn how the Progressive Era impacted the state. Or did the state influence the era?

Photo Credits:

Mine: Pixaby/bocux

Barrels: Pixabay/Artur Gorecki

________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Traveling Tuesday: Finland During WWII

Traveling Tuesday: Finland During WWII

Courtesy Britannica

Many fiction WWII books are set in Western Europe, and after learning about The Shetland Bus, a group of men who operated a shipping link between the Scottish island of Shetland and German-occupied Norway, delivering goods and Resistance agents and helping refugees escape, I decided that a series about resistance in the Scandinavian countries would be fun. Research commenced which unearthed lots of surprising information.

The first thing I learned was that Scandinavia is comprised of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In my ignorance, I assumed that Finland was also part of this region, and apparently lots of people make that mistake. We think that all “Nordic” countries are Scandinavian. Not the case.

Further research indicated that Finland declared itself neutral during WWII but then became aligned

with Germany, so there was no need for resistance. Despite not signing the Axis agreement, Finland allowed Germany to station troops in the northern part of the country.

I also didn’t realize that Finland shares a border with Russia and had once been part of Soviet Union as an autonomous grand duchy after being conquered by Alexander I in 1809. In December 1917, Finland declared its independence during the Russian Civil War. However, tensions between the two countries continued, and in October 1939, the Russo-Finnish War (aka The Winter War) commenced when a “faked border incident” gave the Soviet Union an excuse to invade. Better prepared for the conditions, Finnish troops were able to hold off the Red Army for more than three months but was eventually overtaken after the Soviet Union reorganized the command structure, brought in modern equipment, and changed their tactic.

Pixabay/Reijo Telaranta

On March 12, 1940, Finland signed the Treaty of Moscow which gave the Soviet Union eleven percent of its territory including half of Finnish Karelia, the Finnish part of the Rybachi Peninsula, part of the Salla area, and several islands in the Gulf of Finland.

The Soviet Union continued to launch air raids against Finland, after which Finland declared war – known as the Continuation War – which did not end until September 1944. The final peace treaty was signed in Paris in 1947.

_________________

A Lesson in Love (Strength of His Heart Anthology):

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/41ILnYx

Traveling Tuesday: Britain's Regions, Part 2

Traveling Tuesday: Britain’s Regions, Part 2

Last week (http://www.lindashentonmatchett.com/2024/12/traveling-tuesday-britians-regions-part.html) I shared about four of Britain’s nine regions. Today we will visit the remaining five.

Pixabay/Elena Dolcan

West Midlands: Comprised of six counties, this region is home to seven cities including Birmingham, Coventry, and Stoke-on-Kent. The West Midlands is geographically diverse and landlocked, however, the longest river in the United Kingdom crosses the region south-eastwards. The highest point, 2,307 foot Black Mountain is on the border of Wales. Located within the region are five Areas of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB): Malvern Hills, Shropshire Hills, Cannock Chase, Wye Valley, and Cotwold. The area has deep ties to WWII with the unfortunate RAF Fauld explosion (a military accident) considered by most to be the world’s largest non-nuclear explosion. Spitfires were built at Castle Bromwich, Lancasters at Austin’s works in Longbridge, and the Boulton Paul Aircraft company was located in Wolverhampton. RAF Defford saw many important airborne radar developments. Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare as well as author George Eliot.

East Midlands: The East Midlands covers three major landscape areas: The relatively flat coastal plain

Pixabay

of Lincolnshire, the river valley of the Trent, the third largest (and longest) river in England, and the southern end of the Pennine range of hills in Derbyshire. The river valley contains Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby all of which are historically centers based around coal mining and heavy industry. This is one of the drier regions of England. Several canals are located in the region, including the Grand Junction and the Trent and Mersey, that were used for commerce primarily from the late 18th to the early 20th century. They are now being revived, mainly for recreational use. According to Wikipedia, the region is home to large quantities of limestone, and Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be approximately 600 million years old. Potter Josiah Wedgewood, actor John Hurt, and Salvation Army founder William Booth hail from East Midlands.

Pixabay/Adam

Yorkshire and the Humber (a large tidal estuary): This region is comprised of an intriguing combination of natural landscapes, well-known cities, and manufacturing plants such as Boeing, Rolls Royce, and many others. Research facilities are located at the University of York, York St. John, and the York Science park, home to 1,000 turbine wind farm. Additionally, Leeds is the main center of trade and commerce and one of the UK's larger financial centers. Museums abound focusing on everything from the railroads to some of England’s most famous citizens such as the Brontë sisters. Scenic coastal towns provide lots of beaches while the Peak District is one of the UK's most visited national parks spanning around 555 square miles. Besides the Bronte family, this region is also the birthplace of actors Dame Judi Dench and Peter Firth, MP and abolitionist William Wilberforce, and member of the failed Gunpowder Plot Guy Fawkes.

Pixabay/Alex Boyd

North West: The third most populated region, North West is home to Manchester and Liverpool. Its eastern boundary is the Pennines Chain (also known as the backbone of England), and on the west by the Irish Sea. The northern border extends to the Scotland and the southwest by North Wales. The beloved Lake District is part of this region as well as the highest peak in England, Scafell Pike, at a height of 3,209 feet. With annual precipitation of 31-55 inches, the area has what is considered quintessentially English weather. A scientific heritage includes Ernest Marsden and Hans Geiger inventing the Geiger counter, and the area can boast several technological advancements such as the first programmable computer built at the University of Manchester in 1948. The suffragette movement got its start in Manchester. Sir Robert Peel, founder of the first modern police force, actor Ian McKellan, and all four Beatles were born in this region.

North East: With Northumberland’s castles, two World Heritage Sites Durham Cathedral and Durham

Pixabay/Pete

Castle, and Hadrian’s Wall is evidence of the region’s far reaching history. Roman archaeology has been found throughout the region on display at more than a few museums. The region also has a strong religious past including the saints Cuthbert, Bede, and Hilda of Whitby, who were all influential in the early church. Many abbeys and monasteries dot the landscape. Hilly and rural to the north and west, the region is more populated in the east and south. Diverse geography includes cliffs, moorlands, salt marshes, heaths, bogs, and upland hay meadows. The one-hundred-mile-long Northumbrian coastline was dubbed an Area of Outstanding National Beauty and includes the River Coquet estuary. The largest man-made forest in Europe, Kielder Forest, is also in Northumberland. Singer Sting, artist Anne Redpath, and actor Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) were born in the North East Region.

________________________

A Lesson in Love (Strength of His Heart Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/4iaKzBc

Traveling Tuesday: Britian's Regions, Part 1

Traveling Tuesday: England’s Regions

Before the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish, overseen by the parish church vestry committee that deal with both parochial and secular governmental matters (Wikipedia). The current system which was created through 1965 and 1972 legislation divides England into nine regions: South West, South East, Greater London, East of England, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West, and North East, and forty-eight ceremonial counties. Please note that unlike US spelling of Southeast, Southwest, etc. Britain separates the two words.

Today we’ll take a brief journey to four of those regions:

Photo: Pixabay/Dr. Horst-Dieter Donat

South West: With a land area of 9,203 square miles, the South West region is the largest of the nine. It also has the longest coastline of any of the regions. It contains two national parks: Dartmoor and Exmoor and four World Heritage Site: Stonehenge (boasting more than 1.3 million annual visitors), the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, the Jurassic Coast, and the City of Bath. Geographically diverse, the region is home to rocky coastlines, high moorlands, flat clay vales, and chalk and limestone downs (from the Celtic word “dun” meaning fort). Mostly rural and dotted with small villages and towns inhabited by fewer than 10,000 residents, the region boast six universities: University of Bristol, University of The West of England (UWE), University of Exeter, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Marjon University, University of Gloucestershire, and Falmouth University. The largest city is Bristol with an estimated population of 700,000. Actors Cary Grant and Michael Redgrave, writer Agatha Christie, and explorer/privateer Francis Drake are from the South West Region.

South East: With its close proximity to London, South East has the second largest economy (behind

Photo: Pixabay/Ad Vertentie

London), and the largest population with almost 9.4 million people as of 2022. Its coastline along the English Channel provides access to mainland Europe via ferry. There are large swaths of countryside within the region, and it is home to many well-known sites such as Blenheim Palace, Windsor Castle, Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and the White Cliffs of Dover. Several universities can be found within the region, the most famous being University of Oxford. The area played important roles during WWII being home to RAF Bomber Command and Bletchley Park. Writer H.G. Wells, actor Laurence Olivier, and ballet dancer Margot Fontaine are from the South East Region.

Photo: Pixabay/Pedro Alvarez

Greater London: Despite its relatively small area compared to the other regions (607 square miles), Greater London has a population of more than 8.8 million residents. The most definitive geographic feature is the River Thames, the second longest river in England at 215 miles. According to one site, London is divided into 74 Parliamentary constituencies, which are all small borough constituencies. They are formed from the combined area of several wards from one or more London Boroughs. Another site indicates that a January 2005 survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000. University of London, University College London, King’s College London, Imperial College, and Queen Mary University of London are just a few of the higher education institutions in the city. Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, actors Michael Caine and Charlie Chaplin, and writer Charles Dickens are from London.

Photo: Pixabay/summer_kwak

East of England: The East of England region consists of the counties to the north and north-east of London. With a population of more than 6.6 million people, the region is home to several large cities such as Norwich, Colchester, and Cambridge. Twenty percent of the region is below sea level and contains extensive glacial deposits. The Fens is a large area of reclaimed marshland. East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average annual rainfall ranging from 18 to 30 inches. Intriguingly, the winters are variable, sometimes cool, and other times quite cold with significant snowfall. The region is home to many historic monuments and sites including Hatfield House, Woburn Abbey, St. Alban’s Cathedral, and the colleges of Cambridge. WWI nurse Edith Cavell, economist John Maynard Keynes, and prime minister Margaret Thatcher are from the East of England region.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual journey. Stop by next Tuesday to visit the remaining districts.

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A Lesson in Love (Strength of His Heart Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/4iaKzBc

Traveling Tuesday: Britain's Country Homes

Traveling Tuesday: 

Britain’s County Homes

Pixabay/Vane Monte

A Lesson in Love, my contribution to “The Strength of His Heart” charity anthology takes place in an English country home. Simply put, a country home is a large house or mansion in the countryside. The reason for the moniker was that many who owned such places also owned a house in town (or the city), referred to as a “town house.” According to Wikipedia, the term also “encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the “landed gentry.” Depending on which sites you peruse, country homes may also be called manor homes. Other sites, differentiate between the two.

Country homes were generally not fortified. If a structure is fortified, it is called a castle (however there

Pixabay/VariousPhotography

are notable exceptions such as Highclere Castle in Hampshire that is not fortified.) The term “country home” was first used in Felicia Hemans’ 1827 poem “The Home of England.” Noel Coward’s 1938 song “The Stately Homes of England” written for the musical “Operette” uses the term and spoofs ownership as Genius.com puts it “making it clear that owning such a property isn’t nearly as romantic as it seems.”

Country homes have evolved since their inception in the second half of Elizabeth I’s reign as well as her successor’s, James I. Some of the homes were converted into private residences from ecclesiastical properties after Henry VIII’s “Dissolution of the Monasteries.”

Pixabay/Siggy Nowak

Some of the country homes were the creation of one architect or designer built in a short period of time, such as Blenheim Palace, however most country homes involved successive owners over decades, if not centuries, multiple designers who combined a mixture of architectural styles. Depending on the size of the owner’s ego, the designs were a testament to the individual’s power or desire for power.

Today, many of the homes have become hotels, schools, hospitals, and museums, while others have transferred ownership to trusts to avoid taxation. Others are available as venues for parties, weddings, filming locations, or corporate entertainment. Still others are open for public tours.

Have you had a chance to visit one or more of Britain’s country homes?

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About A Lesson in Love (Part of The Strength of His Heart anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3O3nuCW

Traveling Tuesday: Historic Honeymoon

Traveling Tuesday: Historic Honeymoon

Forty-one years ago today, I married my best friend. We didn’t have a lot of money, so fancy locations that one had to fly to were out of the question. Instead, we decided to explore Pennsylvania and West Virginia: Gettysburg, Strasburg (Amish country), Philadelphia, Valley Forge, and Harper’s Ferry. By the way, we had rain…lots of rain …the entire week we were away. Check out this photo taken with our little Kodak 110 – awful isn’t it?

First stop: Gettysburg, a mere one hour’s drive from the church where the ceremony was held. We felt very flush putting ourselves up in the Holiday Inn, and the following morning set out for Gettysburg National Military Park, a nine-square mile area that includes the battlefield, cemetery, memorials, and visitor center. We followed the auto tour which took about three hours because of getting out at the numbered stops to explore and read the information. An interesting and sobering experience.

The following day we took a walking tour through Gettysburg and visited the Lincoln Train Museum, Soldier’s National Museum, Lincoln Room Museum, Hall of Presidents and First Ladies, and the Jennie Wade House. (I’m not sure Wes understood at that point just how much of a history nerd I was!)

Day three found us on Route 30 heading a little over an hour northeast to Strasburg, located in

Pexels/Kurt Anderson

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and seemingly the heart of Amish country. Because of my love of trains we took another train ride, this time on the Strasburg Railroad “The Road to Paradise since 1832” according to the brochure. After a 45-minute trip in the fifty-year-old train which featured coal oil lamps and a pot-belly stove, we visited the Train Museum, Traintown, and The Amish Village. Looking back I wonder at the Amish people’s willingness to put themselves on display. For this girl who was raised in urban and suburban locations, learning about running a farm was an eye-opening experience.

Yet another hour east, and we were in Philadelphia where we took the trolley, visited City Hall, Independence National Historic Park, the tavern frequented by the Founding Fathers, Dolly Todd Madison’s house and garden, the Post Office Museum, Ben Franklin’s tenant houses, and of course, the Liberty Bell. As we finished up our day, we were pummeled from above by acorns being thrown by a chattering squirrel.

Pexels/Kevin Ku

We were on the downhill slide of our week, so headed west and stopped in Valley Forge, home of George Washington’s headquarters. More battlefields, cannons, and memorials awaited. The last two days were spent in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a tiny town of 361 at the 1980 census. A gorgeous valley located where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet, history runs deep here. The site of John Brown’s raid against the armory in an unsuccessful effort to start a slave rebellion. Named for Robert Harper who purchased the land in 1747, and whose heirs sold a portion to the federal government to build the armory, Harpers Ferry was the site of five battles during the American Civil War. Sources differ about the number of times the town changed hands: one says eight, another twelve. A hike to the top of Jefferson Rock enabled us to see three states (West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland). In case, you're wondering Harpers Ferry lost their apostrophe in 1891 when the United States Board on Geographic Names updated the name.

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Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Traveling Tuesday: Milton Hershey's Factory

Traveling Tuesday: Milton Hershey’s Factory

Courtesy Hershey Community
Archives

Milton Hershey is credited as being the first to mass produce the chocolate bar and make it available to the general public at an affordable price. But before he could manufacture the bars, he had to develop the recipe. He’d already learned about adding milk to caramel, but he continued to hit roadblocks with his milk chocolate.

Not a fan of experts, M.S. (as he was called) was desperate, so he hired a chemist. At some point, the man burned a match of milk and sugar, leading to his dismissal. Rather than bring in another chemist, M.S. went to Lancaster caramel plant and called on employee John Schmalbach.

The first step for the men was to scrape the burned remains out of the copper vacuum kettle then clean

Pexels/
Amanda Hemphill

it until the vessel was pristine. Then skim milk and a large amount of sugar was poured into the kettle. Mr. Schmalbach turned on the heat, then gradually raised the temperature of the kettle, allowing the mixture to cook slowly. A few hours passed, and he let it cool. When the lid was opened, M.S. has a batch of “warm, smooth, sweetened condensed milk that accepted cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and other ingredients without getting lumpy.”(1)

After repeating the process multiple times, the men knew production was in the cards.

Ground was broken on March 2, 1903 for the factory, a facility specifically designed to produce a “limited number of products in the most efficient way possible.”(2) Construction was completed in December 1904, and by the following summer, milk chocolate was in production.

As an enthusiast of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management, M.S. arranged the one-story factory to match architecture with function. Boxcars loaded with cocoa beans, sugar, and other dry ingredients arrived at the east end of the plant, then make their way through the plant, meeting the fresh milk as it arrived at the creamery on the north side of the plant. After it was processed into skim, John Schmalbach’s process of slow evaporation creating the condensed milk. Drying, rolling, and four days of mixing in conching machine produced chocolate that could be molded, then wrapped and boxed.(2)

In the first full year of production, net sales were over $1 million. Not bad for a man with little formal schooling.

(1) Hershey by Michael D’Antonio, Simon & Schuster, 2006
(2) Images of America: Hershey Mary Davidoff Houts and Pamela Cassidy Whitenack, Arcadia Press, 2000

__________________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ