ArcaMax

In the 1830s a pair of German travelers visiting the United States alighted one morning from a stagecoach at a tiny community in Michigan and blinked in the hot sun, and one remarked to the other, "So schon hell" (So already bright). Locals with a sense of humor who overheard the comment immediately decided to call their then unnamed town Hell. ...Read more

Sports such as hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis and soccer usually celebrate athletes as the main attraction, but maybe it's time to spotlight the sports equipment and ask, "But who makes the nets?" The answer lies in the beautiful village of Monte Isola, Italy, rising as a mountain island from the middle of Lake Iseo in the Brescia ...Read more

In a restaurant during a lengthy visit to Maine several years ago, my wife, Fyllis, and I met a local woman with whom we struck up a conversation and found we had a lot in common. Over the following weeks, she invited us to dinner several times, we met her neighbors, and we went to places and events we otherwise probably would have missed.

On a...Read more