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Looking forward to 2021

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

2020, the worst year in recent memory, has come and gone, and no one can say they’re sad to see it go. Political strife, social upheaval, pandemic, lock downs, and more unpleasantness has roiled the U.S. for the past several months.

In my own little corner of the world, my ability to travel and visit new places for this blog was greatly curtailed. Museums shut down, travel restrictions were imposed, and plans got canceled (including my honeymoon, which I’m still upset about).

Despite all that, I’ve tried to keep this website going, continue writing, and bring you new and interesting articles to, at the very least, inform and entertain you during these dark times. But cheer up! I firmly believe 2021 will be a great year. There’s nowhere to go but up.

Continue reading “Looking forward to 2021”
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Announcements

Subscriptions are Now Active

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

Exciting news–premium monthly subscriptions to MichaelKleen.com are now active! That means you can get more of the content you love for $3.99 a month, barely the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Your subscription will help me continue writing, researching, and traveling to provide the unique content you love. You can sign up today by using the buttons below. This secure transaction is processed by Stripe.

$3.99/mo. subscription

Subscriptions are courtesy of WordPress, so when you subscribe, you are agreeing to create an account at WordPress.com (don’t worry, all funds minus a processing fee will go to support MichaelKleen.com). If you already have a WordPress account, all you have to do is subscribe with your current account!

You can also select an option to have premium posts delivered right to your email.

Does this mean everything on my website will get hidden behind a paywall? No! I hate paywalls, and I’m sure you do too. I plan to continue offering a lot of free content on this website. However, longer articles requiring extensive time to write and research will only be available to subscribers. Some of my archived posts will only be available to subscribers, and I plan to offer bonus content like videos and exclusive photos in the future.

As always, thank you for your support!

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Announcements

Introducing Premium Membership

Dear readers, thank you for enjoying my blog, my writing, and my photography all these years. Since 2006, and perhaps even before that, you’ve followed my adventures through many changes. I have many interests, and over the years my content has constantly evolved and grown as my interests have grown, and I appreciate you sticking with me through it all.

Don’t worry, none of that is going away, but with all the changes in my life, my growing family and other obligations, I just don’t have the free time anymore to write so many articles and take so many photos just for the fun of it. The only way I can continue to travel, write, and bring you quality content on a weekly basis is to start earning money from it. Ads and book sales just aren’t cutting it anymore. Thankfully, WordPress has introduced a new subscription feature.

Will everything on my website get hidden behind a paywall? No! I hate paywalls, and I’m sure you do too. I plan to continue offering a lot of free content on this website. However, longer articles requiring extensive time to write and research will only be available to subscribers. Some of my archived posts will only be available to subscribers, and I plan to offer bonus content like videos and exclusive photos in the future.

How much will all this cost? Not much. $3.99 a month, barely the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. But your subscription will help me continue writing, researching, and traveling to provide the unique content you love. You can sign up today by using the buttons below. This secure transaction is processed by Stripe.

SUBSCRIBE

Thank you for your continued patronage, readership, and support all these years. I look forward to continue writing about the subjects we all love for years to come.

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Announcements Roadside America

A Celebration of American Diners

Photo by Michael Kleen

Look for a new diner post every Tuesday in 2019.

Longtime followers of this blog may recall my 2017 “All-American Diner Tour“, in which I wrote reviews of over two dozen diners in Upstate New York to indulge my own sense of nostalgia and share my love for diner culture. I’m happy to announce that every Tuesday this year, I will be featuring a new diner. Each post will include a short blurb about the model and history, as well as photos. These posts will focus more exclusively on traditional diners, some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo by Michael Kleen

Diners are quintessentially American. They represent affordable dining for the working class, mobility, entrepreneurship, and mass production. The earliest diners were lunch carts pulled by horses. Entrepreneurs parked them outside factories to feed hungry workers as they came on and off shift. Many stayed open 24-hours to accommodate all shifts. Walter Scott began the first lunch cart/wagon service in Providence, Rhode Island in 1872.

Casey’s Diner

Soon, specially designed diner cars could be purchased and sent by rail anywhere in the country. Some of the earliest models still have train wheels attached. Manufacturers like the Worcester Lunch Car Company, O’Mahony, Kullman, and Silk City mass produced hundreds of prefabricated restaurants. The original diners were made of wood, and later, of attractive polished stainless steel.

Continue reading “A Celebration of American Diners”
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Announcements

Coming in 2019…

Whether you’re a regular reader or stumbled on my website by mistake, I’ve got a lot in store for you in 2019. You’ve probably already noticed a few major changes, with all my posts organized into several main categories (for more info on these categories, check out this post).

Each weekday will feature a regularly-scheduled post, including a movie or book review, spotlight on a historic diner, article on a historic site, museum, or battlefield, photography from historic cemeteries, and photo Fridays. Here’s how it shakes out:

  • Monday: Reviews will focus on past or present books and films that piqued my interest, with an emphasis on historical or period films.
  • Tuesday: Spotlight on a vintage diner. If you’ve read any of my past diner reviews, you know I love these greasy spoons. I’ve learned so much about this slice of roadside Americana over the past few years, and have visited dozens of these places. They are so iconic that some have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Wednesday: An in-depth article or gallery post of a historic site, museum, or battlefield, with a special emphasis on forts and battlefields. If you share my passion for military history, or just history in general, you should be excited about what I have in store for you. Many of these sites are obscure and you won’t find much information on them anywhere else.
  • Thursday: A visit to a historic cemetery. Every Thursday, I’ll post a picture I took of an interesting monument at one of the many cemeteries I’ve visited over the past year. Once a month, I’ll feature a more in-depth post about a historic rural cemetery, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. You can learn a lot about American history through these monuments and sculptures.
  • Friday: Fridays will continue featuring photos I’ve taken on my travels, particularly of interesting signs and roadside attractions. Every photo has an individual story, and I hope you’ll experience as much joy viewing them as I experienced taking them.

Of course, I’ll still continue posting updates, announcements, and opinion pieces as they come along, as well as some of my own genealogy, but rest assured that there will be at least one regularly scheduled post every weekday in this coming year. I hope you continue to stop by and share my love for America’s wonderful history.

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Announcements

Reorganizing My Website

For those of you who noticed a dramatic redesign of my website in the past few months, this post is long overdue. For those who haven’t noticed, well, now is as good a time as any to explain these changes.

As I began to update my blog more frequently, I slowly realized its old structure just wasn’t working anymore. I needed posts to be easier to find, and at the same time get organized in a way that both made sense and encompassed the wide variety of subjects I wrote about.

I decided to organize my posts around general themes, the majority of which would fall under “About” (for announcements, personal appearances, etc.), “Musings” (for my reviews and commentary), and “Explore” (for my travelogues). I retained separate categories for my fiction and photography, which really don’t fall under anything else.

Here’s a short explanation of my website’s new organization (click “more…” to expand the list):

Continue reading “Reorganizing My Website”
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Bye, Bye Mysterious Heartland

Update: This blog has been completely retired and can no longer be viewed, even at the WordPress address.

After nine and a half years, 1,150 posts, and 5,220,000 site views, Mysterious Heartland is finally closing its doors. Well, you’ll still be able to see the archives at trueillinoishaunts.wordpress.com (its original name). It’s no secret posting has been sparse over the past couple of years. As I moved out of the Midwest, I wanted to focus on more generalized travel writing and photography. People seemed to just come to Mysterious Heartland for the top 10 lists anyway, and there’s only so many of those you can write.

Thank you for your readership and patronage over the years. I hope you enjoyed reading that website as much as I (once) did in creating it.