If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

– Henry David Thoreau

Beautifully detailed map of Housatonic, MA from 1890

Historic bird’s eye view of Housatonic, Massachusetts from 1890

Vintage map of Guilford, Connecticut from 1881

This map of Guilford, CT shows the town as it looked in 1881.

The lives of truest heroism are those in which…

“The lives of truest heroism are those in which there are no great deeds to look back upon. It is the little things well done that go to make up a successful and truly good life.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Adversity Reveals New Sources of Joy

Adversity frightens us, but instead of lessening our blessings, it often reveals new sources of comfort

What was the most popular book in America the year you were born?

If you were born between 1930 and 2016, find out what Americans were reading the year…

Burning a sugar cane field in Guanica, Puerto Rico. 1942

This is a process that destroys the leaves and makes sugar cane easier to harvest.

Historic old map of Springvale, Maine from 1888

Detailed bird’s eye view of Springvale, Maine in 1888