Happy 3rd Birthday!

May 31, 2025 was the third birthday of the blog. Since I have been on vacation learning more history, I delayed the birthday post until today, but I took notes on blog statistics during the actual day. I am happy to report that blog viewership is steady and many more posts are in the future. Just like the 1^st Birthday and 2^nd Birthday, I will do a top ten countdown of my most viewed posts in the past year.

This is the 448^th post for the blog, meaning that I posted 166 times in the past year, up from 156 in the second year and 125 in the first year. In the past year, the blog received about 13,500 views. That is about a hundred views less than last year, which included the leap year, making the average per day about the same: 37 views per day. This is particularly important since within the past few months, Google search engine has been deindexing my posts for unclear reasons, meaning these can no longer be found through a regular search. Fortunately, these pages can still be reached using the search feature on my own site along with my extensive tagging system.

Without further ado, here are the top ten posts and my theory on why they received views. My top takeaways for this year was asking people in-person to read the blog and having my articles shared by other organizations are the best way to garner views. (Note that I will use the acronym LOTRAM to reference Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical, since that title is too long to write repeatedly.)

10. Hammond Castle: Guided Tour & Interior; LOTRAM: Wizards & Balrogs | 39 Views
    Part of the popularity of Hammond Castle stems from its popularity as a destination. My Google Guides review equivalent to the post, which includes pictures and a shortened version of the text, has been among my highest performing reviews. My current Google Guides follower count is about 266, by no means an influencer, but a lot more than I would have expected. As for this LOTRAM post, it seems to be reached through the list of LOTRAM posts that I link at the bottom of every LOTRAM post, as the actual post is currently deindexed.
9. Parked at Home 2025: Rocky Mountain National Park | 41 Views
   The first Parked at Home summary of the season tends to slightly outperform its later counterparts. Visitors to the site might be debating if they should attend the real thing instead of relying on my summaries.
8. Middleboro Historical Museum, 42 Views, 2 Comments
   This article was written during my Toastmasters project period, where members of my club were encouraged to read my blog and leave helpful comments. Several posts from this time period received a helpful boost from this engagement. I also turned on comments for the first time and did my best to reply to everyone who contributed.
7. Fort Adams National Historic Landmark, 43 Views, 4 Comments
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period and received comments from fellow Toastmasters along with views.
6. LOTRAM: Shire Hobbits of the Fourth Age, 47 Views
   I linked the illustrations of my hobbits to my Pinterest to garner extra views.
5. LOTRAM: Elanor Gardner Fairbairn, 54 Views
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period, and I linked the illustrations to Pinterest.
4. Book Review: The Poison Eaters, 57 Views
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period, and I added the link to my review on Goodreads.
3. LOTRAM: Bag End, 59 Views
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period, I linked the illustrations to Pinterest, and I added the link to my animated YouTube video touring the property.
2. Fort Adams Bay Walk, 79 Views, 2 comments (#6 all time)
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period and was admired for its photographs.
1. The Great Elephant Migration & Newport Cliff Walk, 138 Views, 6 comments (#4 all time)
   This article appeared during the Toastmasters project period and was reposted by the Speech Invaders Toastmasters Club LinkedIn page.

In addition to posts, I have three informational pages that can be reached in the menu. “About Me” received 91 views, “Blog Navigation Tips” received 62 views, and “Work with Me” received 49 views.

This year, I decided to see what days received the most views along with posts. The results did not disappoint. I was able to determine a probably cause for most views.

10. October 26, 137 Views
    The Saturday after “Many Meetings Day” featured in The Lord of the Rings, when the protagonist Frodo wakes up in the magical safehaven of Rivendell and is treated to a party held in his honor, likely triggered a weekend tour of the blog for a handful of users.
9. May 11, 138 Views
   The posting of “LOTRAM: Case Study #2” likely caused a few users to explore other LOTRAM essays.
8. May 20, 147 Views
   I changed my Google Guides profile to include a reference to the blog.
7. March 25, 148 Views
   In The Lord of the Rings, the cursed Ring was destroyed on March 25, so fans read a few essays.
6. February 21, 158 Views
   I published “Great Road Day: Blackstone Valley Historical Society”, likely causing local readers to discover and explore the blog.
5. June 14, 165 Views
   I posted “LOTRAM: Appendix A, II House of Eorl” for another influx of LOTR fans.
4. June 29, 169 Views
   I have no idea why my views increased on that day, as I made no posts, and no dates of importance appear in The Lord of the Rings calendar.
3. January 29, 172 Views
   This occurred during the Toastmasters project period after my article on “Fort Adams Bay Walk” was shared on LinkedIn.
2. February 26, 187 Views
   I had posted “Hammond Castle: Exterior & Exhibits” along with writing my popular review as a Google Guide. Additionally, this was the date for “The Breaking of the Fellowship” in The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo decides to leave his group of friends to protect them from the cursed Ring that he carries, potentially bringing traffic from a different audience.
1. April 8, 196 Views
   This date marked “The Field of Cormallen” in The Lord of the Rings, celebrating the awakening of Frodo and his best friend, Sam, who were rescued after the destruction of the Ring.

That’s all for now from the blog! The next year is sure to bring more history, literature, and music. Keep an eye out for further experimentation with different formats.