In 900, American schoolteacher Elmer U. Hoenshel traveled to Palestine and Jordan without any organized tour or group. He had only the company of a hired dragoman, William Barakat, to whom he dedicates his book, and a muleteer. Hoenshel, very knowledgeable about the Holy Land, including its history and geography, kept a journal that he later put down in book form for publication. The following excerpt from his book, My Three Days in Gilead (published in 1909), recounts his impressions of the ancient city of Gerasa—modern-day Jerash, Jordan— one of the cities of the Roman Decapolis, a stronghold for […]
