La Casa Azul – Mexico City, Mexico
In 2018, Erin and I had the opportunity to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City: La Casa Azul. This vibrant blue home is where she was born, lived, created and ultimately died. Walking through her sunlit courtyard and rooms, we felt the presence of a woman whose life was defined by color and resilience.
Physical pain shaped Frida’s world. As a young girl, she took on the responsibility of assisting her father during his epileptic seizures. At 18, a bus accident shattered her spine, pelvis and left and thus altered her destiny. She was bound to her bed, encased in rigid corsets. In La Casa Azul, these corsets are decorated and painted and displayed along her medical braces and custom-designed wheelchair. These are reminders of her physical suffering but also speak to her strength and refusal to let pain silence her voice.
The home is filled with Mexican folk art and sculptures and reflects the mosaic of her life, her suffering and beauty, her discipline and brilliance. Visiting in person brought her story out of the art history books. La Casa Azul is not only a museum, but a testament of a life vividly lived, courageously.
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Jackson Homestead – Newton, Massachusetts
We have visited the Jackson Homestead in Newton many times over the years. Along with its rich local history, the house holds an important place in the story of the Underground Railroad. When I first visited it with my children, I remember seeing the iron shackles that had once been used on enslaved people. Seeing […]
John Ward House – Salem, Massachusetts
The John Ward House in Salem, Massachusetts, stands as one of the finest surviving examples of 17th century New England architecture. Built in 1684 for John Ward, a successful currier, the house reflects not only skilled craftsmanship but also the growing prosperity of Salem in the late 1600s. By the time this house was constructed, […]
Booker T. Washington’s Home – Hardy, Virginia
During our 1996 family road trip to Atlanta for the Olympic Games, one of the historic sites we stopped along the way was Booker T. Washington National Monument in rural southwestern Virginia. Tucked into the rolling countryside, the site preserves the birthplace and early childhood environment of one of the most influential African American leaders in […]
