On the road again

Spring! The weather is softening, the roads are drying, and all of nature’s old blandishments that have been luring Americans out onto the highway forever are at it again. And with the season comes our annual issue devoted to historic travel. Among the destinations:

Mormon Utah

One of the most extraordinary of all American journeys came to an end at the Great Salt Lake, where Brigham Young decreed that his followers should found their Zion. Michael Durham, a Gentile (as all non-Mormons are known to Mormons), travels through the state and meets a people for whom history is of far more than academic interest.

Jefferson’s other home

Monticello was the reflection of the public Jefferson, Poplar Forest the private one—a country retreat as original and compelling as its builder.

Spanish America

The half-millennium’s worth of Spanish imprint on this country is about a lot more than missions and gold. Henry Wiencek looks, and finds it everywhere.

Plus…

The state of Pennsylvania mines history from coal towns…European cathedrals rise above Texas farmland…and, because Americans tend to like to push on to the next town, more.