Lew launched two 2021 archaeological Explorers Club Flag Expeditions to President James Madison’s Montpelier plantation in central Virginia. Both were part of on-going professional archaeological investigations at Montpelier. The first involved “traditional dirt archaeology,” especially of an apparent tobacco smoke-curing barn. The second focused on a mystery structure which is still unidentified, and used a rigorous, structured metal detecting approach. Both sites related directly to the 100-125 enslaved persons that the Madison family owned each year in their 120-year control of the plantation. The first Expedition also included a genealogical/historical component, and led to a report (provided below) tracing an eleven-generation African-American descent from Africa to Montpelier, Monticello, the White House, service in the Union Army in the Civil War, down to the present.

Lew also carried the Flag in an expedition to Gloucestershire, England, to search for the missing Banqueting Hall and Tudor Garden of Queen Elizabeth I. This mysterious Hall – possibly with a stone foundation and a tent superstructure – was erected by the 3rd Baron Chandos of Sudeley Castle to entertain and impress the Queen. While the team has located the Tudor Garden using LiDAR and excavations, the site of the Banqueting Hall is still in question. More work to do!

In 2020, Lew carried the Explorers Club Flag on an expedition to support the new Reverend Josiah Henson Museum in Montgomery County, Maryland. In one of the greatest escapes in US history, in 1830 Reverend Henson and his family trudged 600 dangerous miles from Kentucky to Canada to escape slavery. Henson became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, saving over 100 other persons from slavery. His astounding life was a major inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the best-selling novel that helped spark the Civil War and end slavery. Lew’s project involved archaeological and genealogical work that researched Rev. Henson and also Matthew Alexander Henson, the co-discoverer of the North Pole.

Lew also began writing a travel/exploration/adventure column for Montgomery Community Media of Maryland, producing pieces on the new Henson Museum, the life and death and after-life of Prince Philip, the risks of travel under Covid, and the current sitrep re the search for Amelia Earhart.

Lew dashes off to Malaysia to try to solve the most famous disappearance on land in South-east Asia. This was the disappearance in 1967 of Jim Thompson, the "Silk King of Thailand," who went for a short afternoon walk in the high jungle of the Cameron Highlands of north central Malaysia, and was never seen again. The biggest land search in Malaysian (and likely SE Asian) history failed to find a single trace. Lew analyzes the case from a scientific search and rescue point of view, the first time this has ever been done. This results in the first advances in the case in 48 years, with 25 possible causes for the disappearance whittled down by half, and a "road map" to a possible solution laid out. This massive report also contains comprehensive primary document annexes with extensive data, previous classified as "Secret," from the FBI, CIA, OSS and US Department of State.

Lew’s report on "The Disappearance of Jim Thompson, the 'Silk King of Thailand,' A Search and Rescue Analysis" is downloadable below in pdf form. Also provided are four stories published in The Montgomery Sentinel about the case, as well as a PowerPoint briefing. This briefing is in the process of being given to chapters of The Explorers Club, to the Siam Society, Rotary Clubs, travel clubs, etc.

Lew then follows up the Jim Thompson disappearance mystery by trying to find Jim’s 1000-year-old Buddha cave, where some of his beautiful Buddha heads originated. He geo-locates Jim’s cave in central Thailand for the first time, then tries to find another cave that Jim tried and failed to find. See the Montgomery Sentinel stories and an academic cave journal story on this search – that took up an entire issue of the journal!

In 2019 Lew co-led an Explorers Club Flag Expedition to assist in the excavation, documentation and historical research on Old St. Stephens, the site of the first capital of Alabama. See the report, two stories in The Montgomery Sentinel, and photos below from this exciting effort.

Lew also explores one of the most famous yet little-known islands in literature, "Bali-h'ai" from the movie, play, book, record and mini-series "South Pacific." He proves that the island of Aoba/Ambae in Vanuatu/New Hebrides inspired James Michener to write about this island paradise, but identifies another possible secondary contributor to the inspiration. Then he visits and studies the island, solves the mystery of a crashed World War II airplane on the island, documents the bizarre pig-killing and stone-moving ceremonies on the island, and analyzes the threat to the island posed by its mammoth, active and very dangerous volcano. (The substantial report on "Expedition to Ambae, the Real Bali-h'ai" is downloadable below in pdf form.) 

Lew hits the road and drives his fabled 1968 “Bullitt” Mustang across the US on Route 66, then up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle, and back home to Maryland on the Lewis and Clark Trail. He scores a journalistic coup by interviewing a Papal Swiss Guard and a famous explorer, describes the Peking to Paris classic car rally’s race across Iran, and sneaks into secret worlds as low as the “U.P.” and as high as the fabled gentlemen’s clubs of London. (No, not those kinds of gentlemen’s clubs!)

Lew and Susan also compete in an intense car rally coast-to-coast, the amazing Great Race, driving the "Bullitt" from the US Capitol to Tacoma, Washington, in 15 days through 100 degree heat with no air conditioning. See the briefing below for pictures of dozens of gorgeous classic cars, some close to 100 years old, that completed the 2500-mile rally.

Lew leads an expedition to the Republic of Vanuatu to find, interview and document the “Female Chiefs of Vanuatu,” who had never previously been identified, in over 120 years of anthropological research.

Lew participates in a search on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne for a missing monastery that was famously attacked by Vikings in the year 793, a raid that began the Age of Vikings. He tots up his 56 expeditions and projects in archaeology, anthropology and history, and develops a substantial list of research questions that need to be answered about the current Covid 19 pandemic. He also organizes two panels on search and rescue/recovery at the Royal Geographical Society in London -- see the special section below on these panels.

By the way, for other presentations, expeditions and stories about Vanuatu, the least-known, most amazing country on Earth, see the section of this website on “Vanuatu Mon Amour.”

In 2022 Lew led an Explorers Club Flag Expedition to research Polee and Rose Allen, descendants of the slave ship Clotilda and the Africatown, Alabama community they co-founded.