Clay Tours Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Estate — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, May 27 2025
As a kickoff for his 2025 Lewis and Clark trek, Clay visited and toured Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s primary home and plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Lewis and Clark’s Traveling Magic Show
Tuesday, May 27 2025
Attending a magic show by my friend Joshua Jay in Pittsburgh got me pondering the “magic” of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
- Published in Features
The Ten Young Men From Kentucky — History, Old and New
Monday, May 19 2025
Clay reflects on the historical dynamics of the “Ten Young Men” who made up the original core of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery.
- Published in Features
Visiting Thomas Jefferson’s Private Personal Retreat — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, May 13 2025
Kicking off his 2025 transcontinental Lewis and Clark trek, Clay spends the day at Poplar Forest, the beloved personal retreat of Thomas Jefferson, the mastermind behind the famous Corps of Discovery.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Delightful Ignorance: Jefferson and the American West
Monday, May 12 2025
Clay begins his 2025 Lewis and Clark transcontinental journey in the land of Thomas Jefferson, the patron saint of the famous 1804-1806 expedition.
- Published in Features
Leaving Home
Monday, April 28 2025
Spring is here. It’s time to pack the bags, load the truck, and get on the trail of Lewis and Clark.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Join Clay at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest Home and Help Kick Off LTA’s 2025 Lewis and Clark Adventure
Tuesday, April 15 2025
Clay will lecture at 2:00 p.m., May 6, 2025 on Thomas Jefferson’s vision for Lewis and Clark’s “Corps of Discovery.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reflections on America and the Open Road
Tuesday, April 15 2025
In a few weeks, Clay will embark on an 11,000-mile trek following the Lewis and Clark trail across the continent and back. As he loads his pickup and prepares to hit the road, Clay ponders what he has learned so far in his multi-year project to Listen to America.
- Published in Features
My New American Friend From Ghana
Monday, April 07 2025
On a recent Uber drive to the Bismarck airport, Clay met Isaac, a North Dakota emigre from Ghana and a proud, brand-new U.S. citizen.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
LTA Exclusive: Historic Portraits of Native American Activist Leonard Peltier
Saturday, March 29 2025
Earlier this year, President Biden commuted the prison sentence of Leonard Peltier. This week, noted “wet plate” photographer Shane Balkowitsch visited Peltier at Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota, where he took a series of historical portraits of the 80-year-old Native American activist. Balkowitsch’s portraits of Peliter are published here for the first time.
- Published in Features