King Arthur, Dame Agatha come alive in Cornwall and Devon

Names like Tintagel, Torquay and Dartmoor are more foreign to most Americans than Timbuktu. But traveling through bucolic Devon and Cornwall, with their mysterious moors, traditional cream teas and spectacular coasts, one quickly learns that this region’s history is intimately connected to our own.

In Dartmouth, the charming medieval port city that gave its name to one of our most prestigious universities, a ship called the Mayflower sailed with the Pilgrim fathers and mothers.

From Torquay, Agatha Christie’s hometown, American GIs departed for the shores of Normandy for D-Day.

Sir Francis Drake, without whom the U.S. might well have been a Spanish-speaking country, was rumored to have planned his attack on the Spanish Armada from a pub in Exeter.

If you missed “Uncovering the past in Southwest England” in yesterday’s Houston Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and San Antonio Express-News, here it is.

Here, too, is a virtual tour through photos. Enjoy!