Taking a Look at the Letter Library

It's perhaps not surprising that letters are one of my favorite things considering my love for history. I adore the letters that I send back and forth with my friends, the letters that I used in my thesis research on salonnières, and the letters that inspire musicals like Starry. So when I was contacted to ask if I would like to review the Letter Library, I was so excited. It's a fantastic historical letter subscription service and I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it before. 

If you sign up for the Letter Library, you get two letters per month from interesting historical figures sent straight to your mailbox. There's a lot of variety in the letters chosen as they span different time periods, places, and cultures, but are all from recognizable names. You also receive a synopsis that shares some of the context of the letter. You can sign up for $12 a month or subscribe in packages of three, six, or twelve months. They also have a free email newsletter. 

The letters come in lovely brown envelopes that make it feel like you're actually receiving a letter in the mail. There's also a postcard that accompanies your first letter, as seen above. The letters are designed to match the period that they are from with different fonts and colors of paper. If the letter is printed in a cursive font, there is also a transcript to go with it which is definitely helpful. 

I received four letters for the purposes of review, which ranged from the comical to the historically significant. They were from Albert Einstein, Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Abigail Adams letter was the one containing the famous "Remember the ladies" line and it was amazing to get to read it within the context of the full letter. My favorite, however, was the Mozart one in which he discussed his deafness. 

As a primary source, letters are one of the best ways to learn about history. They're able to give you small details that you might not get when reading about a topic and make historical figures seem more relatable and understandable. I've always found that reading letters helps me contextualize historical figures as actual people, rather than just symbols or concepts. 

It's hard to remember to go out of your way to read a new bit of history every month. I certainly often forget to, despite my best intentions. What makes the Letter Library so great is that it delivers history straight to your mailbox in an easily digestible format. I would highly recommend this service to anyone who wants to make sure they're regularly engaging with history and it would also be a great Christmas present if you have a friend or family member who enjoys historical letters. 

For more information or to sign up, visit the Letter Library website.

Review: Molly Brown House Museum (Denver, Colorado)

Last year (back when we could still go out and do things), I went on a work trip to Denver, Colorado. I took an earlier flight out so that I could fit in a few historic sites and the one I was most excited to see was the Molly Brown House Museum. I've had these photos and notes sitting for over a year, so I thought it was finally time to share them. 

Margaret Brown might be known as "the Unsinkable Molly Brown," but she was never actually called Molly. It's a nickname given to her by the musical and film about her that has persisted so strongly that most people likely don't know her real name was Margaret. She was a philanthropist, activist, and socialite who had a home in the once fashionable Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver for many years. 

Margaret Tobin was born in Missouri to Irish Catholic immigrant parents. At the age of nineteen, she married 31-year-old J.J. Brown who was equally poor but with whom she was very much in love. They had two children, Lawrence and Catherine, born soon after their marriage. Fortunately, J.J. struck gold in Colorado in the 1890s and the family were instant millionaires. They moved to Denver and bought the home that is now the Molly Brown Museum. In 1909, J.J. and Margaret legally separated but they remained on good terms for the rest of their lives. 

Margaret was passionate about education and employed tutors for herself, learning five or six languages. Both of her children were sent to French boarding schools. Margaret became involved in many causes from women's suffrage to miners rights to maritime law. She helped create the juvenile court system and even ran for Senate. However, she dropped out of the Senate race to volunteer in France when World War I broke out. When her son Larry was temporarily blinded in the war, she learned Braille. She was eventually awarded the French Legion of Honor. 

Margaret was famously a passenger on the Titanic and survived the crossing. While she is most known for trying to convince the lifeboat she was in to return to try to save people in the icy water, she also raised $10,000 for Titanic passengers while they were aboard the ship that rescued them, the Carpathia. When the wealthy survivors didn't donate their money quickly enough, she publicly shamed those who hadn't given until they did. This money was used to help second- and third-class passengers upon docking in New York. 

Margaret took acting classes and was even in a few plays towards the end of her life. She died in 1932 at the age of 65 due to a stroke. While "the Unsinkable Molly Brown" has become a mythic figure in American history, the truth of her life is arguably even more fascinating. 

The house itself is a lovely Victorian home designed by architect William A. Lang. It was built in 1889, with all of the best modern features of the time: electricity, central heating, indoor plumbing, and a telephone. The Browns purchased the house from Isaac and Mary Large in 1894 for $30,000. Four years later, they changed over the house to be in Margaret's name. The Browns added on the porch, grand staircase, and back porch. The house, which is decorated in a lavish style, is close to Capitol Hill and other museums. In addition to the Browns' two children, Margaret's parents lived with them for many years and it's easy to imagine it as a bustling and busy home. 

In 1970, the house was almost torn down and replaced with a parking lot. Luckily, it was acquired by Historic Denver. It has now been restored to its 1910 appearance based on historic photographs, written descriptions of the home, and paint-chip analysis. It's filled with furniture, linens, books, and other pieces to make you feel like you've stepped back in time. It's set up as the house would have been right before the Garden Party held that year, to which 800 guests were invited. They also have small exhibits about the other people who have lived in the house. 

When I went, I had a great guided tour by a nice and very knowledgable tour guide. I would definitely recommend getting their early to secure your spot on the tour because they do fill up (at least they do...when we're not dealing with a pandemic). They have a neat little gift shop that you can browse through while waiting for your tour time (I bought some gifts to bring back to my family). There is a small fee for the tour, which lasts forty-five minutes, but it's worth it to help keep this amazing museum running. 

If you're ever in Denver, a tour of the Molly Brown Museum is the number one thing that I recommend you do. You can visit their website to learn more about Margaret Brown and the museum. You can also find information about their measures for ensuring safety while visiting during the pandemic. 

Review: Burgwin-Wright House (Wilmington, North Carolina)

My family has a condo at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina and I've grown up going there my entire life. However, other than going to the Battleship, I recently realized that I had never been to any of the historic sites in Wilmington. So the last time we were down at the coast a few weeks ago (before all of this Covid-19 panic happened), we decided to choose a house and go to it. We sort of picked one at random, but I think we set the bar high for future historic site adventuring.

The Burgwin-Wright House is the oldest property in Wilmington and the only house remaining from the colonial era that is open to the public. It's a beautiful example of Georgian architecture and a great way to learn about what life was like in Wilmington before the Revolutionary War. When the house is open to the public, you can take a guided tour with one of their docents. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgable and did a great job at answering questions and keeping everyone engaged.

The Burgwin-Wright House sits on the property that once housed the original Wilmington jail, which was built in 1744. After failed attempts by the local wealthy men to get the city to move the jail away from the city center, it mysteriously burned down in 1768. John Burgwin bought the land and by 1771  was living on a house built on the site. The outdoor and basement jail cells still exist and can be seen on the tour.

John Burgwin was the second son of an English merchant who immigrated to America in hopes of making his fortune. He started out in Charleston, but later moved to Wilmington. He was known to be tall and charming made his fortune as a merchant before also becoming a plantation owner and government official. His political career included everything from being Justice of the Peace to the personal secretary to the royal governor. When he married Margaret Haynes, her family eventually gave the couple over 1,000 acres of land including Castle Haynes and Hermitage Plantation.

In 1799, Burgwin sold his town house to Joshua Grainger Wright, a member of the family for whom Wrightsville Beach is named. by 1846, there were eight children living in the house so the Wright family made an addition that doubled the square footage of the house. The last member of the Wright family to live in the house died in 1930 and the house almost was torn down for a gas station. However, the Colonial Dames of America in North Carolina saved it and turned it into a historic site.

The house is now presented as it was in 1770. (The addition is used as office space and storage.) Even the paint has recently been restored to its 1770 appearance. The house boasts a handful of pieces original to the Burgwin and Wright families and is otherwise filled with mostly European period pieces. One of the most lovely pieces is the 1810 Boston pianoforte. The house was built with long leaf pine, which is still oozing sap. Not many buildings made of this wood remain because it is so flammable. Because the house is still shifting, the floors are slightly sloped which can be vertigo inducing for some and at least a bit strange for others.

The guided tour I was on did a great job of balancing discussing the house itself, the Burgwin family, and the enslaved workers who lived in the house. While they don't know that much about the specific people who worked in the house because of a lack of records, they do know that the Burgwins had at least ten enslaved workers in the house at any given time, with many more on their plantations. It's refreshing to see a site that embraces its complicated history rather than ignoring it.

The house is now presented as it was in 1770. (The addition is used as office space and storage.) Even the paint has recently been restored to its 1770 appearance. The house boasts a handful of pieces original to the Burgwin and Wright families and is otherwise filled with mostly European period pieces. One of the most lovely pieces is the 1810 Boston pianoforte. The house was built with long leaf pine, which is still oozing sap. Not many buildings made of this wood remain because it is so flammable. Because the house is still shifting, the floors are slightly sloped which can be vertigo inducing for some and at least a bit strange for others.

When I visited, the house was in the midst of renovations (hence the scaffolding on the outside in my photo). You can also visit the free-standing kitchen behind the house which would originally have been the jailor's quarters. There are also colonial gardens, including a kitchen garden and fig trees, that you can explore. The next time you're in Wilmington, I highly recommend checking out this beautiful and history-filled home. If you would like more information about the Burgwin Wright House, you can visit their website.

Review: Byers-Evans House (Denver, Colorado)

During the summer, I traveled to Denver, Colorado for the first time for a work trip for my last job. I decided to fly out early on the day I had to get there so that I could visit a couple of museums since I had never been to the area before. One of the museums I visited was the Center for Colorado Women's History which is housed within the Byers-Evans House.

The Center for Colorado Women's History seeks to celebrate the role that women have played in the state's history. They host great events; I really wish I lived a bit closer than the other side of the country so I could attend some of them. While I was there, they had a Women/Work/Justice exhibit on in the museum where you buy your ticket to tour the house.

The Center gives guided tours of the house for a reasonable cost. I was lucky enough to catch the last tour of the day which only had one other person on it. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and very happy to answer questions. I also appreciated that he let me have as much time as I wanted to take photos in the house (photography is allowed without flash). I would recommend allotting an hour to visit the house.

The brick house was built in 1883 by William Byers, the founder of Rocky Mountain News. However, only a few years later, the Byers family moved out of the house and it was purchased by the son of a family friend. William Gray Evans and his wife Cornelia Lunt Gray moved in during 1889. Evans was the son of the governor of Colorado at the time.

William and Cornelia expanded the house and went on to have four children: John, Josephine, Margaret, and Katherine. In 1900, William's mother, Margaret Patten Gray Evans, and William's unmarried sister, Anne Evans, moved into the house. Anne Evans was an important figure to the cultural institutions of Denver throughout her life, both as an artist herself and as a philanthropist and organizer.

The Evans were a very cultured family. Several of the daughters spent time abroad, either in Paris studying or in France during World War I as a volunteer. The house is filled with books and artwork. I personally enjoyed seeing the amount of Dickens that they owned, as I used to volunteer at the Charles Dickens Museum. For any other bibliophiles, the house is a treat.

The Evans family lived in the house until 1981 and for many decades it was a house of only women. (There are some who say that at least one of the daughters' spirits occupies the house now.) In 1981, when the last of the original Evans family died, the house and its contents were donated to the Colorado Historical Society.

After being donated, the house was restored as closely as possible to the 1912-1924 period. I didn't think to ask why this period was chosen, but perhaps they felt it best represented the most exciting history of Denver. Most of the modern improvements to the house have been removed. I believe that the building that now houses the rotating exhibit and the ticket desk was once a carriage house or another outbuilding.

Almost everything in the house belonged to the Evans family and much of it has been in the house since the early 1900s. I've visited a fair number of historic homes and this might be the one with the most items, ranging from furniture to books to trinkets to hairbrushes. One of my favorite parts was looking at items on top of dressers and dressing tables and examining bookshelves. It was a great peek not only into the Evans family, but also into life in the early twentieth century.

I also couldn't write about the Byers-Evans House without mentioning how much I loved the storage system in one of the daughter's bedrooms. Look at this gorgeous built-in mirrored wardrobe. I'd like one of those for my bedroom, please.

The house feels incredibly lived-in. I know that it's a cliché, but I truly did feel like the Evans family might walk through the door at any point and demand to know why I was in their home. As you might be able to tell from the photos, for the most part there are no ropes or glass keeping you away from anything. You're allowed to freely roam each room as the tour guide provides information. In all honesty, being there towards the end of the day with only two other people in the house had a bit of an eerie feel to it, almost like I was intruding. It was easy to imagine what the house must have been like in its hey day when it was home to a leading Denver family with four children, extended family, and multiple servants.

To find out more about the house, ticket prices, or tour times, you can visit the Byers-Evans House website. I certainly would go for another tour if I am ever back in Denver. It's a lovely and educational way to spend some free time in the city.

Review: Hard Hat Tour of Ellis Island

The General Hospital

My friend MaryClaire and I both love going to a historic site (especially one that's likely to be haunted) so for her combined Christmas and birthday present, I bought us tickets for the Hard Hat Tour of Ellis Island. As someone who had been to Ellis Island several times, I was very interested in getting to see some of the hospital that sits across from the immigration station, looking eerily empty and dilapidated. We went in April which turned out to be the perfect time as it was neither too hot nor too cold and we didn't even experience any rain (the tour weaves in and out of buildings and many windows are missing glass).

A peak into the General Hospital

Ellis Island opened in 1892 as a station to filter third class immigrants on their way into the United States. While first and second class passengers had their health checks onboard the boats they sailed on and could immediately enter the country, most of those coming to America had to flow through the new station in between New York and New Jersey for a health check and questioning.

The original structure burnt down in 1897 and a new station was built along with a second island for the hospital to be built upon. Later, a third island was added and the contagious disease hospital was opened in 1907 at which point the other building became a general hospital. As immigrants went through line in the large hall of the immigration station, they were marked with white chalk on their coats if they were suspected of having a physical or mental illness. These evaluations were done so quickly, they were called "six-second examinations."

Most immigrants only spent a few hours at Ellis Island before moving through to their new lives, but some spent days, weeks, or even months at the hospital complex. About nine out of ten people pulled out of line for further examination or treatment later passed through to the United States. The rest died on the island or were sent back to their home country, after failing to be healed by treatment or failing a mental questionnaire. (Anarchists, for example, were refused entry.)

The Ellis Island Hospital saw over a million patients between its opening in 1902 and its closing in 1930. They had about 3,500 deaths -- 1,400 of which were children -- which was a very impressive mortality rate for the time. The 750 bed hospital was the largest Public Health Service facility in the United States in the early twentieth century.

It used methods that were very advanced, based on Florence Nightingale's discoveries, including mattress sterilization and individual air ventilation. People were grouped into wards based on the illness they were suffering from, rather than all put into the same room as was normal at the time. It was also a teaching hospital, which is very obvious from the autopsy theatre which has rows for seating.

The tour starts in the laundry facilities which houses much of its original equipment. While the pressing was done by women, only men worked in the large laundry room because of the intense physical labor it took to launder all of the sheets and clothing for the hospitals. This room also shows the state of "arrested decay" that much of the hospitals are in. This indicates that rather than attempting to restore the buildings to their original state, they are trying to freeze its decay and not allow it to become further dilapidated while also making it safe for visitors to enter.

The tour goes through the kitchen, mortuary, autopsy rooms, and infectious and contagious disease wards. We got a peek at the general hospital as we passed by and it was in a state of complete disrepair. The state of both hospitals is actually rather alarming. They're surrounded by overgrown plants (sometimes spilling inside), most of the windows are missing glass, and rust covers many surfaces. And while the historian in me shudders, there's an otherworldly charm to it. It feels more sinister than the castle ruins I've visited in the UK, but somehow similar.

In the autopsy room, the bodies were stored in this frozen container

The main diseases that the people at Ellis Island were concerned about were trachoma, a very contagious eye disease, and tuberculosis. The tuberculosis wards of the hospital are perhaps the most eerie today and the ones with the most reported ghost sightings. These wards have two sinks: one that had normal running water for washing up and the other for patients to cough up blood or sputum into. This part of the hospital was tightly quarantined to keep the disease from spreading and the nurses who worked in it even had to live in the hospital.

From one of the tuberculosis wards, there is a clear view of the Statue of Liberty. It's heartbreaking to think of the people who had come seeking a better life, only to find themselves isolated from their families and suffering from a terrible disease, often caught onboard the ship during the voyage. Tuberculosis was one of the diseases at Ellis Island that claimed the most victims. Despite translators, many of these people were surely confused and frustrated, being treated by doctors who didn't speak their language and with new and modern techniques that would have been largely unknown to them. And while experiencing all of this, they could see the symbol of the life they had come in search of from their window, a tangible reminder of how close they were. 

The view from one of the TB wards

The psychopathic ward is also rather chilling though it can only be seen from the outside, with the large cage on the front. Our tour guide shared that people were pulled for further psychopathic testing if they seemed dazed, confused, or nervous. They were given a hot meal, a warm bed, and a night's rest before having further questioning where they were asked simple math questions (with a translator if necessary) or to match shapes. Many were disoriented after getting off of a boat they had been on for weeks and were able to easily pass the next day's questioning and enter the United States.

The psychopathic ward

The psychopathic ward was originally the pregnancy ward. I was shocked at first to hear that visibly pregnant women were detained on Ellis Island until their baby was born, but it was actually because the public health service workers knew that immigrant women would receive little healthcare once entering the US. They were thought to be much better off giving birth in a clean and regulated hospital than in the cramped tenement homes that awaited them. There were 350 babies born on Ellis Island and not a single mother or baby lost, which was astounding for that era. It's easy to imagine that the women appreciated the care they received as many of the babies were fondly named after doctors or nurses in the hospital.

The art exhibit by French artist JR called "Unframed - Ellis Island" is dotted throughout the buildings on the interior walls. There are installations on sixteen interior walls of photographs of people at Ellis Island blown up very large. They add to the feeling that there are spirits still very much present in the buildings.

One of the pieces of the art installation

During WWI, wards were dedicated to treating soldiers suffering from what was then termed "shell shock." This may explain the blue paint still visible in some of the wards they were housed in, as it was thought to be calming for patients. After the hospital closed in 1930 as immigration was slowing down, it was used for other purposes including as an FBI center and a treatment center for disabled soldiers returning from war. Ellis Island finally closed as an immigration center in 1954 and it would appear that the buildings have sat mostly empty since then.

It was actually rather jarring to come out of the onsite physician's quarters at the end of the tour and walk back around to see the 'normal' Ellis Island building across the water that I've visited many times. Sometimes that building feels a bit overly restored, with lots of exhibits and glass cases, a stark contrast to the broken-down hospitals nearby. While some of the stories might seem cruel today (looking for trachoma by inverting the eyelid with a buttonhook, for example) and were certainly traumatic for many immigrant families, the hospitals themselves were actually incredibly modern. They were state of the art for the early twentieth century and many immigrants were healed and reunited with their families in America. 

The Hard Hat tours are operated by the non-profit company, Save Ellis Island, which has been giving tours of the hospitals since 2014. Hard Hats are required to be worn by everyone, no children are allowed, and they require a significant amount of walking. The tours last approximately 90 minutes and our guide was very knowledgable and friendly. The cost seems a bit pricey but is actually reasonable as it includes your ferry ticket and admission to the main Ellis Island Museum. For more information, you can visit their website. If you have any questions about the tour or the information we learned on it, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or in the comments. 

In addition to getting a completely different look at Ellis Island and delving deeper into its history, your admission helps fund the restoration and upkeep of the island. I would highly recommend going if you're in New York and look forward to returning at some point in the future. (And maybe having a proper ghostly encounter?) 

All About: Sophie Germain, Female Mathematician

When my little sister told me that she was doing a paper on a female mathematician from the eighteenth-century, I was surprised as I'd never heard of Sophie Germain. I did my undergraduate degree in history, with a specialization in intellectual and cultural history and focusing on women in particular. I've been working to incorporate more of my love for history into this blog with reviews of historic sites I've visited and thought that a biography series of interesting (and largely forgotten) female historical figures might be a nice addition.

No one could have guessed that Marie-Sophie Germain, born in France in 1776 to a wealthy middle class family, would become a world-famous mathematician. However, her work on the subjects of acoustics, elasticity, and the theory of numbers are considered to be important to the history of mathematics even though she suffered from her lack of a formal education her entire career. She struggled from a lack of resources and access due to her gender that kept her from making the mathematical discoveries she otherwise might have.

Sophie's interest in mathematics began when she was thirteen. When the French Revolution started, she turned to her father's library as she had to stay inside. She was fascinated by Archimedes who inspired her to study mathematics. Her parents disapproved and tried to dissuade her, but eventually relented in the face of her determination.

When Sophie was eighteen years old, in 1794, the École Polytéchnique was founded as a school for science and mathematics. Using the name of M. LeBlanc, she obtained notes from lectures since she couldn't attend them herself. She submitted a paper at the end of term about number theory that impressed Professor Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Even after finding out she was a woman, he agreed to mentor her. He introduced her to other scientists and mathematicians including the German Carl Friedrich Gauss who didn't learn that she was female until several years into their correspondence.

In 1809, the French Academy of Sciences held a contest to explain the law about the vibration of elastic surfaces. Sophie's entry was the only essay the first year, but her lack of formal education was too apparent and she was not awarded the prize. Lagrange aided her and she entered again two years later, earning an honorable mention. She entered one last time after three years and finally won with an essay called "Memoir on the Vibrations of Elastic Plates." The committee noted that there were errors in the essay, but those would not be corrected for decades.

In 1816, Sophie befriended Joseph Fourier who managed to get her tickets to attend the Academy of Science's session, a privilege only normally allowed to the wives of members. She was also invited to attend the Institut de France's session, a great honor for a woman. However, her career was cut short at the age of fifty-five when she died of breast cancer on June 27, 1831. She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

While she didn't have the opportunities within her lifetime that would have made her name well-remembered after her death, Sophie did receive some recognition. Sophie's nephew published some of her works after her death. She has a prize named after her at the Academy of Sciences, in addition to a street and a girl's school named in her honor. Unfortunately, her gender held her back from achieving what she might have but she still managed to forge a way to become a mathematician despite the odds being against her.

A big thank you to my sister Hannah for introducing me to Sophie Germain!

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4 

Review: Biltmore Estate's 'A Vanderbilt House Party'

Ever since I was a little girl, my family has been visiting the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. My mom likes to tell stories about how when she first visited when she was in college, you could park around the lawn in front of the house. It was an integral and formative part of my childhood and helped spark my love for history at an early age. So I was thrilled to get to visit while they have this exciting new exhibit on.

The Biltmore Estate is the largest privately owned home in the United States and was built in the 1890s by George Vanderbilt of the illustrious Vanderbilt family. George Vanderbilt was an intellectual who wasn't particularly interested in high society and sought out a place in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina to escape from New York City life with his friends and family. There was something sort of beautiful and poetic about heading to Asheville from New York City to celebrate my little sister's birthday a couple of weekends ago.

The Biltmore currently has an exhibit on called "A Vanderbilt House Party" that has placed beautiful recreations of period clothing on mannequins throughout the house. The costumes are based on items from the Vanderbilts' and their friends' wardrobes and accompanied by photos of them in those outfits.

The costumes were designed and recreated by John Bright and Cosprop, London, with the help of Biltmore's curators. Bright is an Oscar-winning costume designer known for his work on A Room with a View (1986), Howards End (1992), and Sense and Sensibility (1995). From elegant suits to stunning dresses to faithfully recreated servants' uniforms, the clothes do a great job of giving you a better idea of what it would have been like to be at the Estate in its prime.

There is also a brand new audio guide created to go along with the exhibition that shares stories from people who attended house parties at the Biltmore in the early 1900s ranging from George and Edith Vanderbilt's family members to friends like author Edith Wharton. It uses 360º sound techniques to give a fully immersive audio-visual experience.

One of the coolest things for me was seeing photos that I had grown up seeing brought to life in front of me through the clothing. A great example is the ensemble above which shows George and Edith's daughter Cornelia and her cousin at play. It's one thing to see a photograph of a historic figure, but seeing a recreation of their clothing somehow makes it easier to grasp the reality of their existence.

I also appreciated that they didn't just include house party guests in fancy outfits. They also have recreations of servants' uniforms and outfits for swimming in the indoor pool and working out in the gymnasium. It gives a beautifully holistic view of life on the Biltmore Estate at the turn of the century.

For those who have visited the Biltmore Estate before, this exhibit gives you a glimpse into life there as you've never had before. The audio guide is definitely worth the additional fee as it gives you a lot of new information including quotes from people who attended the house parties. I almost started to feel as though I could turn a corner and somehow re-enter the world of the Biltmore Estate when it was a bustling private home.

If you've never been before, it's well worth a visit even if you can't make it before the exhibit ends on May 27. In addition to the beautiful house, the Estate boasts a farm area where you can pet animals and see old farm equipment, a winery, and lots of outdoor experiences including horseback riding. The Biltmore is something truly special and the closest thing we have to a European castle here in America.

For more information, visit the Biltmore website.

Review: Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace

New York is full of exciting historical sites, but sometimes it's hard to know what the best ones are. After many, many Google searches, I landed on the Teddy Roosevelt Birthplace, a small and unassuming brownstone in Midtown that is a recreation of the house in which our twenty-sixth president grew up. Last weekend, I made the trip down and spent a couple of hours exploring.

The upstairs period rooms of the house can only be seen via guided tour with a park ranger. These tours last about thirty to forty-five minutes and happen every hour or so (check the website for more details). Make sure to get to the site a bit early to get your name on the list for the next tour, as they are limited to fifteen people. There's plenty to do while you wait for your tour, including a film, exhibit, and bathrooms. The tours, because they're led by rangers, will naturally differ a bit depending on who you get as your guide but mine was a nice balance between being informative enough that it felt worthwhile without going over anyone's heads. 

The Roosevelt family occupied a house at 28 East 20th Street from 1872 until Theodore (or "Teedie" as he was known in his youth) was fourteen years old. His father was a businessman and ardent philanthropist while his mother was a Southern belle from Georgia. Teedie and his three siblings were born and grew up in the house, living a life of comfort as they were one of the leading families of New York City despite the personal tragedies that plagued them. 

While his older sister Anna suffered from spinal issues, Theodore was a sickly and frail child largely due to his severe asthma. When he was eleven years old, upon his father's advice, he began trying to build up his own strength by doing exercises on the back porch. Over time, the scholarly bookish young boy gained the physique and health that we associate today with Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider and robust president who was passionate about national parks. The tour naturally focuses on his youth spent on the site, so it's useful to visit the exhibit first to learn about his career. 

While the house the Theodore actually lived in was demolished in 1916, after his death, his second wife and sisters began the process of rebuilding it. It opened to the public in 1923 and was donated to the National Park Service in 1963. Having been planned and restored by people who had lived in and visited the house themselves (his second wife Edith Carrow was a childhood friend of his sister's), it is surely as close as we can get to knowing exactly what it would have been like when he lived there. Most of the furniture and other items in the house belonged to the Roosevelt family, even if they were not actually in the house itself. 

The exhibit downstairs is a great place to explore after you've checked into the next tour. It mostly consists of quotes from Theodore and photographs of him and his family. However, they also have a handful of very neat artifacts including one of his Rough Riders uniforms and the shirt he was wearing when he was shot in an assassination attempt. There is additionally a little half hour film that is delightfully hokey about his boyhood and how he overcame his sickliness. 

Overall, this free museum is a great place to spend a few hours and learn more about one of the most interesting presidents this country has ever had. After going, I am currently looking into the best biography of Theodore Roosevelt to read! I highly recommend it to anyone living or visiting New York City. For more information, check out the museum's website.