Have you by chance ever heard of the America’s Great Loop?
In 2023 my husband Jeff and I decided that we needed a new adventure. Knowing that we came from the New England states of Rhode Island and Connecticut, friends of ours had recommended just the ticket for us – a grand boating adventure. “Why not?” we both said.
The America’s Great Loop has taken us on the journeys that you can see on this map aboard our trusty old 1974 DeFever trawler Oyster. We affectionately call her our floating RV, and she’s been a wonderful second home. Over the last summer seasons since 2023 we’ve traveled up the East coast from into the Hudson River and the Erie Canal system and through Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence Seaway, up into Canada. That first “Triangle Loop” had taken us to the east in Canada’s Rideau canal to Ottawa and Montreal and then down through Lake Champlain, but the full AGL route the next year took us west and up through Lake Huron’s Georgia Bay and North Channel. We then worked our way back down to Florida through Lake Michigan, Chicago and the Midwest river system, down the Mississippi and rivers beyond to take us back down to the Gulf of Mexico and eventually to Florid. We “closed” our loop in 2025 when we cruised back up the Chesapeake and to New England once again.The trip typically takes a year or more if done nonstop. No matter how it’s done, most “loopers” like to stop to explore and experience the high points along the way.
And that we did. I am telling you all this because one of the highlights of our journeys that we hadn’t truly expected were the history lessons brought to life for us both in the U.S. and in Canada. We’ve learned so much more about the courageous characters and acts that have transformed both the United States and Canada throughout the years, and also of many hard truths that have tarnished our stories as well.
As we come upon the month of July – one that is especially historically important to so many of us – I would simply like to share a small gallery of photos that will only tell the tiniest fraction of what we’d seen. But most of all, I share these images as a reminder to treasure and protect our history. May we celebrate our past today in the hopes that it might guide us to a better, more just and peaceful future.
