LongWeekends Magazine

The name Shipwreck Alley conjures images of doomed vessels lost in the world’s busiest ocean shipping lanes. But the freshwater expanses of the Great Lakes have proven to be just as unforgiving, their powerful storms and shifting waters creating many watery graveyards of their own. The preservation of these shipwrecks is not just about the ships themselves, but also about the stories of those who sailed on the Great Lakes.

For more than 125 years, nature enthusiasts have flocked to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. The park itself was dreamt up in the late 1800s, and its design was mapped out by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted’s vision for the park included a conservatory with formal gardens surrounding it. The conservatory was completed in 1900 and was modeled after conservatory architecture that was popular in England.

Splotchy sunlight streams across the path as we hike our way upward, toward the craggy rocks above. Earlier in the day, we had woken up in a fern paradise, the tent covered in morning dew, before breaking down camp and heading out for another day of adventuring in the Mountain State. West Virginia promises a rugged and wild landscape, with towering vantage points and incredible views that stretch on for miles.

This restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, puts its own spin on retrofuturism, serving breakfast and lunch favorites in a stylized diner-inspired space. It might have been cosmic fate when The Mercury Diner’s building on Columbus’ Parsons Avenue became available to owner Abed Alshahal. The out-of-this-world, daytime concept opened in 2022 and has been dishing out classic breakfast and lunch items with a playful twist ever since.

Upon entering the first of two historic homes that house Black Cat Books & Oddities, it’s immediately evident this isn’t just a bookstore. Visitors are invited to explore two buildings containing beautifully decorated rooms that bring favorite books and characters to life. The first, the Raven’s Roost, features a life-size statue of Edgar Allan Poe, and the room is decorated with macabre oddities that recall the author’s classic tales.

Often referred to as Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, Pine Creek Gorge spans parts of three counties. The roughly 45-mile-wide swath of land is anchored by a park on each side: Colton Point State Park on the West Rim and Leonard Harrison State Park on the East Rim. The canyon, which reaches depths of 1,500 feet, offers visitors of various ability levels the chance to explore.

Every great city needs a green heart, and for Toronto, High Park beats verdantly on its western side. A prominent Toronto couple donated the land to the city in 1873 with the hope that it could be used as a public space for residents. Today, the park spans nearly 400 acres and has two subway stops. Two-thirds of the park remain in its natural state, including swaths of the globally rare black oak savannah, an ecosystem that encompasses its namesake trees, as well as grasses and wildflowers.

Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park There’s no place like a ballpark in the summer, and since its opening in 2001, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park has been lauded as one of the best in the Major Leagues thanks to its amenities and amazing views of both the field and downtown Pittsburgh.

If you had visited Blennerhassett Island in the early 19th century, you may have run into American politician Aaron Burr. After killing longtime rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, Burr came through the Ohio River Valley to raise a militia with plans to take the Louisiana and Texas territories. Harmon Blennerhassett joined Burr’s cause and offered up his island on the Ohio River as a recruiting base.

During the 19th century, waterways were the highways of early American travel, connecting tiny villages to big cities, with horses and mules trotting along towpaths pulling canal boats. In the small town of Delphi, Indiana, travel started on the Wabash & Erie Canal — once the second longest canal in the world — in the early 1840s. Launching from here, a trip to New York Harbor would take about two weeks and require boarding four different vessels, including two canal boats and two steamships.