“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…” – Henry David Thoreau Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAIN, Md. — Thousands of Americans are waking up to the advantages of traveling and immersing themselves in nature and even living full time in Recreational Vehicles, making the transition…
The Big Picture -Â By Glynn Wilson -Â GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, Tenn. — Are you suffering from cabin fever from the COVID winter? Take a drive in nature in a park near you. When the forecast showed sunny weather and a high of 54 for Sunday, Feb. 21, I just had to get…
By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH, Va. — It’s a bit early for a year in review story, but for me, it’s been one hell of a year. A humbling year. I’ve long known that we are all just like tiny grains of sand in the long run of history, here on this special beach of…
Secret Vistas – By Brooks Boliek – FROSTBURG, Md. — I have nothing against Charles Mason or Jeremiah Dixon. As a matter of fact, I admire and esteem both men for their scientific contributions and service. Mason and Dixon were both scientists who were asked to resolve a land dispute between Thomas Penn and Fredrick…
“Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways.” – Solomon, Proverbs Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CAMP DAVID, Md. — A serene fog hangs thick in the trees here on Thursday morning, muting the Autumn colors and making the forest seem still and quiet. The weather…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Back in the late 20th century, when the written word and truth still seemed to matter, I was hanging out in the Great Smoky Mountains and came up with a cool title for a travel-nature column for The Southerner magazine, something I still use from time to time…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – LOFT MOUNTAIN, SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. (Sunday, July 12, 2020) — In this summer of our discontent, with the coronavirus still spreading into every corner of the world and the economy teetering on the brink of collapse, it is hard to totally escape the anxiety and stress of…
By Glynn Wilson – LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ala. — For nearly half a century, Dekalb County in the mountainous northeastern region of Alabama along the Georgia line really was the sock capital of the world. It wasn’t just a slogan like some places have, where the chamber of commerce makes something up and struggles to make…
By Glynn Wilson – PENSACOLA, Fla. — If you are feeling cooped up or claustrophobic and locked up in your suburban home glued to the bad news on cable television about coronavirus, you may want to consider another way to get away from other people: Visit a national park during this time of national crisis.…
By Glynn Wilson – The National Park Service will host special events and provide free entrance to all national parks this year in honor of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 20. The Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. is an official day of service in remembrance of the man whose…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s hot as hell could be inside the Beltway again, with a projected high on Sunday of 96 degrees and a low of only 75 tonight, a harbinger of the future for cities along the Eastern Seaboard. As I hit the button to publish this…
By Glynn Wilson – SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. — Looking back on it now, with all the turmoil we face these days in the United States and American publishing, it must have been grand to be the first American writer to make a living with the pen — and to be acknowledged by critics the world…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lurking on a wooded little island in the Potomac River just across the water from Georgetown, there lie important lessons for progressive Democrats from the most progressive president in American history. In continuing our exploration of the U.S. capital region, not just the partisan politics,…
By Glynn Wilson – Like many a fellow traveler before him inspired by the American landscape, Missouri country boy turned middle-aged Alabama forester Mark J. Hainds grew impatient with his life of teaching, raising a family, and conducting research to conserve and propagate the return of the longleaf pine forest in the South, long ago…
Secret Vistas- By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In late 2016, on the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in the United States, a rare white fawn was born in the woods of Greenbelt National Park, where visitors come from all over the country and the world to see the the neo-classical architecture,…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — So you’re a patriotic American or an international admirer of the United States and you’ve always wanted to visit the nation’s capital city? The Neo-classical architecture? All the buildings, memorials and other sites related to the United States federal government? All the Smithsonian museums? Maybe you’ve hesitated, thinking…
By Glynn Wilson – VALLEY FORGE, Pa. – When George Washington moved the Continental Army of colonial militias 18 miles west of Philadelphia on a ridge overlooking the Schuylkill River in the winter of 1777, the motivation that kept a sick and starving rag tag group of soldiers together was the prospect of being governed…
By Glynn Wilson – YORKTOWN, Virg. — I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Of all the federal holidays in the United States, Independence Day, which falls every year on the Fourth of July, is my favorite in many ways. This year thanks to a trip to Yorktown, I am thanking the French.…
By Glynn Wilson – APPOMATTOX, Virg. — We didn’t make it here in time for Memorial Day, but National Park Service rangers and volunteers say nearly 500 people showed up for the playing of “Taps” and holiday weekend programs. I don’t know for sure, but considering that Confederate sympathizers seem to generate more engagement these…
By Glynn Wilson – DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — The spring bird migration is in full swing along the Gulf Coast, an annual event when thousands of species of birds make their annual trans-Gulf flight from South and Central America back to North America for the summer and hundreds of birders make it here for one…
