Travel briefs 8/24

National Steinbeck Center opens ag wing

SALINAS, Calif. -- A new exhibit celebrating the agricultural heritage of Salinas Valley opens Sept. 1 at the National Steinbeck Center.

The wing is called "The Valley of the World," the phrase John Steinbeck used to describe the story that became "East of Eden." One of the museum's other wings explores Steinbeck's life and work, and a third hall is home to the Gabilan Gallery, which hosts changing art and cultural exhibits.

"Valley of the World" features the history and lore of local farming, from the workers to the technology, with films, photos, and artifacts like clothes and tools. There are also exhibits about the food industry, from the economics of market produce to packaging and marketing techniques.

The Salinas Chamber of Commerce offers an annual Taste of the Valley on Sept. 18, and also has an agricultural bus tour scheduled for Sept. 26. Other wine and food tours and fairs are held throughout the year.

The Steinbeck Center also has a photo exhibit, on view through Sept. 14, taken during Steinbeck's travels in 1938 with Life magazine photographer Horace Bristol. The images document people and scenes Steinbeck saw in the years before he wrote "The Grapes of Wrath."

New York Independence Trail links 65 sites

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- If you think Boston's got the market cornered on Revolutionary War sites, you haven't been to New York lately.

The New York Independence Trail links 65 historic sites around the state from Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, just south of the Canadian border, to the Staten Island Conference House, on the state's southern tip. A state park on Valcour memorializes Benedict Arnold's leadership of a fleet of ships against the British navy -- before he turned traitor -- while the Conference House was where the British tried to convince John Adams and Ben Franklin that the colonists should remain loyal to the king.

The trail also includes various forts, museum and historic homes, as well as well-known sites like Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan, where Washington delivered his famous farewell to the troops.

What makes the New York trail unique is its emphasis on waterways, which were the highways of the 18th century. Most of the historic sites are located along key water routes, from Battery Park in New York Harbor in Lower Manhattan, to the waters of Lake George, where divers can take a look at the sunken 1758 Radeau Land Tortoise, the oldest intact warship in North America, to Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery along the Hudson River.

For more information, visit www.independencetrail.org or call (866) OUR-TRAIL and ask for two brochures: "Travel the New York Independence Trail" and "Visit New York's Historic Waterways."

--From wire reports