A Wedding at Orchard House

  Exactly 154 years ago to the day, a grand celebration was being held within those very walls. As I stood looking over the wedding gown that Anna Alcott wore on May 23, 1860, in this modest yet iconic little home, a familiar sense of historic intimacy washed over me. Remove a century and a half and …

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Tattered pages, inspiring words

From Where I Sit: In the Vineyards of Napa Valley > Published in the UCDavis College of Letters & Science Alumni Magazine, Spring 2014 > PDF Article The beauty here in Napa Valley astounds me. As I drive down Highway 29 through Napa, making my way through lush vineyards, I feel lucky to call this …

Two Sides of Eugene O’Neill

While many of the historic literary sites I've visited easily evoke the writer's inspiration, others require a little more imagination. This past summer I happened upon Eugene O'Neill's childhood home in New London, Connecticut. I was visiting my fiancee's family over the fourth of July in Westerly, Rhode Island and we took a drive down …

The Ghost Story Behind “Frankenstein”

This Halloween eve, I was reminded of one of the greatest ghost stories never written. Back in the early 1800s, a young and precocious Mary Shelley traveled with her family around Europe, traipsing through forests and exploring abandoned castles (or so my imagination assumes). During a stay in Scotland, she took up with Percy Bysshe …

Mr. Dalrymple, meet Mark Twain

When I started this blog, I never expected to uncover such a personal connection to a literary legacy. A family reunion this summer brought me to Elmira, in upstate New York. The small, rural town boasts of its enduring connection to Mark Twain. It also contains innumerable references to the Dalrymple family, which staked its …

Savoring the journey

As I trudge uphill, my thoughts focus on the summit. My muscles burn, my heart pumps, and I wonder how many more bends in the road are ahead. I curse the seemingly endless rocky hills. Once the summit is reached, I catch my breath and do my best to enjoy the view, though often I …

Doc Ricketts’ Elusive Lab

I'd wandered up and down that street a hundred times looking for the unassuming wooden facade. On two separate visits in the past four years, I looked for Ed "Doc" Ricketts' Pacific Biological Laboratories, knowing it only from photographs published in the many biographies of John Steinbeck I'd read for my Masters' thesis. It was …