A Promise Written in Stone There’s a bend in the road where the forest thins just enough to reveal a little red building. It’s quiet here—peaceful, even—but something about the place hums with old energy.That’s the Seneca Schoolhouse Museum, built in 1866 from the same fiery red sandstone that gave the Smithsonian Castle its fairytale … Read more
Black Rock Mill doesn’t shout for attention.It waits — stone-still, tree-shadowed — tucked deep in the woods along Seneca Creek.If you stumble upon it at the right hour, it almost feels like you’ve found something you weren’t meant to see. This was my twelfth stop of the day, long after my feet had started to … Read more
Some places don’t announce themselves — they just sit quietly in the woods, waiting for someone curious enough to look twice. Jeep Cave is one of those places. A small limestone hideout tucked deep in the Withlacoochee Forest, it feels less like a destination and more like a secret you stumble into on a wandering … Read more
New Orleans Road Trip #2 — Travel Made Personal Some places welcome you with neon signs and polished brochures.Others?They wait on the porch with a knowing smile, letting the creak of an old hinge tell the first chapter for you. The Canal Street Inn is the latter. Built in 1912 and still standing tall on … Read more
There are days on a road trip when the universe hands you iron, fire, and history… and then follows it up with something delightfully weird just to keep you on your toes. Orr Park was exactly that. We’d already spent the day weaving through Alabama’s industrial past — places like the rugged remains of Sloss … Read more
TMP Covert Ops #10 | Stories stolen between meetings Hidden in the Woods, Written in Stone Just twenty miles upriver from Washington, D.C., a forest hides the skeleton of an empire.Tucked between the towpath of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Potomac’s slow bend, the Seneca Quarry Ruins sleep beneath vines and sycamores.I parked … Read more
New Orleans Road Trip #1 – TMP Origins A Stop We Almost Skipped By the time we reached the National WWII Museum, our New Orleans trip was almost over. We’d spent the night before at the haunted Cornstalk Hotel, where antique charm met ghostly legends and laughter echoed through the hallways. We were tired, emotional, … Read more
Stories stolen between meetings. The Detour That Wasn’t a Mistake I wasn’t supposed to stop here.This wasn’t on the mission list. I was chasing the ruins of Seneca Quarry—and Murph, ever the chaos gremlin, rerouted my GPS straight toward a safer parking area. I rolled in expecting nothing more than a quick walk through the … Read more
They didn’t just steal the papers.No—Florida’s never been one for subtle crimes. In 1891, under a moonless sky, a gang of Inverness men rolled into Mannfield, Florida, and stole the entire courthouse—records, furniture, clerk, and all. By sunrise, the county seat was gone, and Mannfield’s heart went with it. Today, little remains of this ambitious … Read more
Alabama Road Trip #2 Somewhere off the backroads of Bibb County, Alabama, the woods still breathe heat. You can almost feel it rising from the ground — the faint ghost of a fire that burned for four decades and forged an empire. When Dusty and I pulled into West Blocton Coke Ovens Park, we didn’t … Read more