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Internet legend has it that history-conscious former President Richard M. Nixon was the first to use the Presidents' Day moniker when, in 1971, he implemented the Monday holiday law that had been passed by Congress in 1968. In reality, the term had commercial rather than governmental origins. According to a National Archives and Records Administration publication, the third Monday of February was selected by Congress in an effort to find a date closer to the Feb. 12 birthday of Abraham Lincoln, whose partisans had failed to get a separate holiday for the Great Emancipator. Presidents' Day promotions started as small, local events but became a national trend by the 1980s, all but erasing the designation \"Washington's Birthday.\"

Virginia Dwan, founder of leading avant-garde galleries in Los Angeles and New York between 1959 and 1971, was a major force in an art world made increasingly mobile by commercial jets and the interstate highway system. New York artists Franz Kline, Philip Guston, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Rauschenberg, and Claes Oldenburg, along with the Los Angeles-based Edward Kienholz, were among those who had shows in Dwan's Westwood gallery. A keen follower of the Parisian art scene, Dwan also gave Yves Klein and Martial Raysse their American debuts. Her 1962 group show My Country 'Tis of Thee is among the earliest exhibitions of pop art. Dwan supported artists who challenged the limits of art's status as both object and commodity and who eventually developed an art sited outside the gallery in remote locations in the American West. If the Los Angeles gallery featured abstract expressionism, neo-Dada, and pop, the New York branch broke ground with brilliant presentations of minimalism (10, 1966), conceptual art (Language II-IV, 1968-1970), and land art featuring the work of Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, and others (Earthworks, 1968). Dwan sponsored iconic earthworks such as Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, Michael Heizer's Double Negative, Walter De Maria's 35-Pole Lightning Field, and Charles Ross's Star Axis. This is the storied history of the Dwan Gallery told by an astute scholar of modern art, the gallerist herself, and a meticulous researcher.

Constructed around the same time as Gillette Castle, and perched on a steep rise with castellated stone towers, high walls and dramatic balconies, it has played host to three movies. Though often thought of as monumental dwellings on expansive estates - like Cornwall's Hidden Valley Castle with its gatehouse, long access road, guesthouse, caretaker's quarters and eight-car garage set on hundreds of pastoral acres overlooking a stream, pond and waterfall - Connecticut also hosts more modest castle houses.

Lacking the formality of the official name inscribed on incorporation papers and road signs, these epithets are both endearing and enduring because they often capture quirky physical features or defining character traits.

Eyes feast upon the gleaming stainless steel exteriors, ears enjoy the hum of conversation and the sizzle of eggs on the griddle, hands delight in the smooth marble counters and the heft of a heavy porcelain mug, the nose fills with smells of grilling bacon and home fries, and the palate savors every forkful of omelet or Yankee pot roast.

Connecticut should establish its own Constitution Day to teach children about not only the U.S. Constitution but also the basic concept of constitutionalism, for which the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut laid the groundwork. January is the ideal month because the Fundamental Orders were voted upon on this day in 1638, and Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 9, 1788. Our designation as the Constitution State derives from the notion that the Fundamental Orders, adopted here in 1638, constituted the world's first constitution. Some historians say the Fundamental Orders were more like an easily changed statute than an overarching governing document. Even so, they paved the way for constitutional government. For the first time, former state historian Christopher Collier has written, \"the people -- however narrowly defined -- created a government for themselves and lived their lives by it.\"

As their fortunes have risen during the Sun Belt era, these summer vacationers have escalated their tastes in accommodations. Weathered shacks on pilings have given way to luxurious high-rise condominiums. Yesterday's swamp is today's fairway. But when schools open, the Southerners load their children, dogs, fishing rods and golf bags into vans and 'vettes (whose bumper stickers advertise such proclivities as ''I'm a War Eagle Mom,'' ''Trinity Bible Class'' and ''God, Guns and Guts: Let's Keep All Three Alive'') and head home for [RACHEL JACKSON], Montgomery, Shreveport and other inland sanctuaries. During the fall, although temperatures hover in the 80's and skies are at their bluest (unless a hurricane is brewing), panhandle beaches, condos and golf courses are mostly empty except on weekends. Around the first of November, staid, post-middle-age couples in four-door Oldsmobiles and Buicks make their appearances along these beaches, their flat, crisp accents contrasting sharply with the drawls of locals who operate gas stations and grocery stores, their sentiments also on public display (''Ottawa Athletic Club,'' ''Sexy Senior Citizen,'' ''Minnesota Gophers,'' ''We're Spending Our Children's Inheritance''). Major beach resorts in the Destin area are Sandestin, with golf and tennis (Highway 98 East, Destin, Fla. 32541; 800-874-3950); Tops'l, tennis (5550 Highway 98 East, Destin, 32541; 800-874-0464); Seascape, golf and tennis (4725 Highway 98 East, Destin, Fla. 32541; 800-874-9141), and Hidden Dunes, tennis (Highway 98 East, Destin, Fla. 32541; 800-824-6335). Eating Out At Destin, try breakfast overlooking the Gulf (including grits) at June's Dunes; lunch and dinner (West Indies salad, King Neptune salad, fresh fish, Key lime pie) at Captain Jewel Melvin's or Harbor Docks, or a steamed bucket of seafood at Bayou Bill's east of Destin. Golf Indian Bayou Golf and Country Club at Destin is open to the public daily and offers short-term memberships. Bluewater Bay, a resort and retirement community at Niceville near Fort Walton Beach, has a challenging course. Other courses open to the public include Rocky Bayou near Niceville and Lake Lorraine in Shalimar. Weather During a month's stay last December, I counted 14 fully or partly sunny days, 4 totally rainy days, 9 overcast days with some rain and 4 days of mixed weather. Temperatures ranged from the mid-50's to the high 60's, averaging about 6 to 10 degrees lower than those in the Tampa Bay area. Because the panhandle is prey to fronts that sweep from west to east, a day that begins with sun may end in rain or a dark morning may precede a glorious sunset. V. V. d. V. H.

Ellen Searby's ''The Inside Passage Traveler: Getting Around in Southeastern Alaska'' (Windham Bay Press, Post Office Box 1332, Juneau, Alaska 99802) and Sarah Eppenbach's ''Alaska's Southeast: Touring the Inside Passage'' (Pacific Search Press, 222 Dexter Avenue North, Seattle, Wash. 98109) offer background on the Inside Passage. For Glacier Bay information, there are the ''Official National Park Handbook'' and ''Glacier Bay: The Land and The Silence,'' both available from Capra Press, 631 State Street, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93101. - V.V.H.

Foreign names are common. American and European names, such as Only Very Good and Feed a Child, are often bestowed and admired without any comprehension of what they mean. But the image of coffee drinking is sedate, and the coffee shops generally have unremarkable names like Mozart, Renoir (a big chain), Cozy Corner or St. Germain. Even so, some are mildly startling, such as The Gland (which must have been the result of the Oriental difficulty differentiating between ''l'' and ''r''). W herever you go, your coffee will be brought to you with the words ''Omatase itashimashita,'' which means ''I have kept you waiting'' - certainly true in the six-and-a-half-minute drip place. And your cup will be set down so that the handle is on your left, leaving the right hand free for stirring, as is correct. (Or is it? One coffee house, Yoshidaya-Kohiten at Akasaka 9-6-30, is frequented by people who don't use spoons at all and who constitute the 'No Spoons Club'' - title in English, of course.) You never pay at the table, since food and drink are not to be contaminated by money. (In the old days, members of the samurai class never even touched money. Relics of this attitude are very much in evidence, such as the practice of paying rent or other sums in an envelope.) Cold coffee beverages are available as well as hot. The most remarkable is the Dutch coffee served at Tom's, made by letting cold water drip very, very slowly through a glass bulb filled with ground coffee. The process takes six hours, and is done overnight. The result is astonishingly powerful, too much so for some. If you flinch at the prospect, persuade your companion to order it, then have a sip, but be content yourself with an ''iced junior'' (iced cafe au lait with cinnamon).