May 24, 2019
Why is the robin Michigan’s state bird?
Many people have been dissatisfied with Michigan’s state bird — including the woman who personally organized the state bird campaign, immediately after the campaign concluded.
May 24, 2019
Many people have been dissatisfied with Michigan’s state bird — including the woman who personally organized the state bird campaign, immediately after the campaign concluded.
January 29, 2018
The mid-century mausoleum may be under-appreciated and rarely visited, but most cemeteries have one. Turns out, it’s kind of a Detroit original.
December 17, 2015
We almost built it next to Palmer Park. Then we almost didn’t build it in Royal Oak.
March 2, 2015
Made in Detroit: Beets, sweet peas, and a most perfect pickling cucumber.
January 31, 2015
There were six of them. 150 years ago, they all voted yes.
March 20, 2014
The Tigers warmed up for the season in Gulfport, Miss., ate well, played golf, and stayed in the most luxurious hotel in the South.
October 4, 2013
The story of a painting at the DIA. It’s not the best, the most famous, or the most important, but it is the most gigantic.
August 5, 2013
A graveyard grotto built in 1881 was once reputed to have healing powers.
July 19, 2013
A few thoughts about Detroit’s bankruptcy, and our history of adversity. And cholera.
February 15, 2013
Part two of the Park Question, in which Detroit actually buys Belle Isle, the Mayor fights with the Council President, and nothing actually happens for almost ten years.
February 15, 2013
How, and why, Detroit spent three years arguing over the purchase of a park.
February 7, 2012
The Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839, is the oldest in the country. Its home on Belle Isle is crumbling, compelling, and calls home centuries of water sport.
October 24, 2011
Walter Owen Briggs: unshakable, lavishly wealthy, sentimental, racist, beloved, reviled. Someone should write an opera about him.
September 30, 2011
Old, beautiful, mysterious and open to the public twice a year.
September 16, 2011
The old Log Cabin at Palmer Park. Why a log cabin? What did it look like inside? Did people really live in it?
September 2, 2011
A Hungarian chocolate mousse torte recipe with a tantalizing connection to Detroit history.