Adna Brown

author

Adna Brown

1828–1901

A Vermont businessman and civic figure turned an ambitious late-19th-century journey into a lively travel book, carrying readers from New England through the eastern Mediterranean and back across Europe. His writing mixes firsthand observation with the practical eye of someone used to organizing things in the real world.

1 Audiobook

From Vermont to Damascus : Returning by way of Beyrout, Smyrna, Ephesus, Athens, Constantinople, Budapest, Vienna, Paris, Scotland, and England

From Vermont to Damascus : Returning by way of Beyrout, Smyrna, Ephesus, Athens, Constantinople, Budapest, Vienna, Paris, Scotland, and England

by Adna Brown

About the author

Born in 1828 and dying in 1901, Adna Brown is best remembered today for From Vermont to Damascus, a travel narrative first published in the 1890s. The book gathers letters from an extensive tour through places including Italy, Egypt, the Holy Land, and several European cities, giving modern readers a window into how a nineteenth-century American traveler saw the wider world.

Brown was also known in Vermont public life, especially in Springfield, where his name remained familiar enough to be attached to the Adna Brown Hotel. Contemporary reference records connect him with business, Republican politics, and civic work, which helps explain the book's steady, practical tone: he writes not just as a sightseer, but as a careful observer interested in routes, preparation, and the details of travel.

For audiobook listeners, Brown's appeal is the blend of curiosity and plainspoken narration. From Vermont to Damascus offers both a personal journey and a period snapshot, full of movement, long-distance travel, and the habits of an American writer encountering famous places far from home.