In the Society Archives the other day, we were looking at a map of New York City from 1909, and noticed something unusual. The familiar Avenues ran up and down the island, from 1st to 12th, including some of the most famous streets in the world – Madison, Park, Fifth. […]
In a city that has seen such tumultuous upheaval, it is always enjoyable to find an authentic taste of the old Berlin. In Charlottenburg there is just such a place: a charming, old fashioned bar & restaurant called Dicke Wirtin, that’s been serving pork knuckles, pilsner & schnapps since the […]
This week, we’re setting sail for a little known island, home to an abandoned Civil War prison, and links to the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. Far flung desert islands often capture the imagination as idyllic places to escape to. But there is an island the Gulf of Mexico that is so […]
Beneath the surface of the old Western Front lurks a lethal menace. Even though it ended over a century ago, the Great War is somehow still killing people every year. For lurking underneath the old battlefields of the Western Front, lie millions of unexploded shells. Farmers tending the still battle […]
Here at the SGE, we always enjoy bars that have a literary twist. So when we were exploring Leipzig recently, we were delighted to find nothing less than Goethe’s favourite bar! The Auerbachs Keller is the second oldest establishment in the grand old city, and has been serving fine wines […]
There is an obscure alleyway in London that has a small brass plaque mounted on the wall. Hidden away off busy St. James’s Street, the plaque is rarely ever seen or known about. But it is all that remains of what was once a vast country — a Republic over […]
Most travellers head to the Caribbean in search of a relaxing, tropical paradise. Here at the SGE however, we prefer our island visits to have a touch of danger and adventure! We heard of a small, uninhabited island, home only to ruins once used to quarantine slaves, a forgotten graveyard, […]
For today’s Bar of the Week, we’re stopping by one of the oldest bars in the historic city of Amsterdam, In’t Aepjen, to discover a rather peculiar way of paying your bar bill hundreds of years ago! After Amsterdam was destroyed by fire in 1452, the old city was rebuilt […]
The Vanderbilts were once the richest family in America. Bankrolled by Cornelius Vanderbilt’s vast shipping and railroad empire, they spent money in an astonishing fashion during the Gilded Age, until it all disappeared, in what has become known as ‘The Fall of the House of the Vanderbilts’. The most storied […]
The grand mansion which inspired an entire generation of Manhattan socialites, lies forgotten and decaying in the Hudson River Valley. The first glimpse you get is of the steeple, just a fraction higher than the tree line of the surrounding forest. As we walk further along the overgrown path, you […]