Travel

Frank and Joe's invstigations have often led them out of Bayport. Red dots on this map indicate places they've visited in the 58 volumes of the original series:

At first, the boys stayed close to Bayport - before the books were revised, they didn't even venture to nearby New York City until volume ten, What Happened at Midnight. But as the series progressed, Frank and Joe became more adventurous, and by the 1970s, they were making international trips in almost every volume. After visiting Australia in volume 57, The Firebird Rocket, the boys had set foot on every continent except Antarctica.

Travels by continent

Here is a complete list of Frank and Joe's travels in the original series, organized by continent. Volume numbers are listed in parentheses; "o" and "r" stand for original and revised editions.

North America - USA

• New York: New York City (10 o, 1 r, many others), Seneca reservation (23 r), Niagara Falls (23 r), Buffalo (24 o)
• New Jersey: Princeton University (57)
• Pennsylvania: Philadelphia (17 r) (24 r), Pocono Mountains (41)
• Massachusetts: Boston (20 r)
• Connecticut: Mystic (47)
• Washington, DC: (49)
• Maryland: Baltimore (49) (15 r)
• Ohio: Cleveland (23 r)
• Vermont: (15 r)
• Illinois: Chicago (5 o) (5 r) (38) (40) (52)
• Georgia: Larchmont (14 r)
• The South: Larchmont, Hidden Harbor (14 o), Centerville (29)
• Kentucky: (45)
• Tennesse: Memphis (13 r)
• Montana: Lucky Bottom (5 o) or Lucky Lode (5 r), a mountain in the wilderness (9 r)
• Washington: Seattle (38)
• The West: Red Butte, Green Sand Lake (31)
• Colorado: Denver (50)
• Florida: Miami (20 r)
• Texas: (13 o), Brownsville (13 r), El Paso (28), Amarillo (40)
• California: San Francisco (21 r), desert (40), Los Angeles (40) (47) (57)
• New Mexico: Crowhead Ranch (28), Santa Fe (28) (52)
• Alaska: Juneau, wilderness (38)
• Hawaii: Honolulu (54)

North America - Canada

• New Brunswick: St. John's (see note below) (18 o)
• Eastern Canada: Woodville, Little Cove (18 o), Stormwell, Port Manthon (18 r)
• Quebec: Montreal (18 r)
• Ontario: Hudson Bay area (24 o), James Bay area, Sudbury,
Toronto, Timmins, Moose Factory (24 r)
• Saskatchewan: Saskatoon (42)
• Alberta: Edmonton (42)
• British Columbia: wilderness (38)
• Northwest Territories: Great Slave Lake (42)

North America - Mexico

• (13 o)
• Mazatlan (13 r)
• Mexicali, desert (40)
• Mexico City (43) (56)
• Teotihuacan, Oaxaca (43)
• Mayan ruins in Yucatan jungle (56)

Europe

• England: London, East Anglia (55)
• Isle of Man (55)
• Scotland (47)
• Ireland: Dublin (55)
• Switzerland: Zurich (56)
• Greece: Athens, Delphi, Island of Corfu (52)
• Iceland: Reykjavik, Keflavik (48)

Asia

• Hong Kong (53)

Caribbean Islands

• Ile de la Mer (9 r)
• King Barracuda's Island (18 o)
• Tambio and Cambrian Islands (18 r)
• Centro, Tropicale (37)
• San Juan, Puerto Rico (37)
• Jamaica (54)

Central/South America

• French Guiana: Cayenne, Huella Islands (12 r)
• Guatemala (35)
• Brazil (51)

Africa

• Morocco: Casablanca, Marrakesh (54)

Australia

• Sydney, Woomera, the Outback (57)

In my own opinion, the best Hardy Boys stories were the ones that took place in and around Bayport, or those that involved special trips (such as the journey to Montana in Hunting for Hidden Gold or the trip to Mexico in The Mark on the Door). In the original books, Frank and Joe rarely left the Bayport area, and when they did, it was a big deal, just as it should be to two teenage boys. But in the revised books, the wonder has been lost. When the boys casually fly to the Caribbean to check out a clue (in the revised Great Airport Mystery), the trip means very little, because Frank and Joe show almost no excitement. And as a result, the charm and believability of the books suffers.

Travels by volume

If you're interested in tracing the pattern of increasingly-distant travels, here's a list of the places visited in each volume. Notice that the farthest-reaching international hops (to Zurich, or Morocco, or Hong Kong, etc.) didn't actually start until the 1970s. Blame it on James Bond...

Besides the places listed here, Frank and Joe often visit New York City, as well as many fictional communities in the Bayport area.

1. The Tower Treasure (Revised, 1959)

New York City.

5. Hunting for Hidden Gold (Original, 1928)

Lucky Bottom, Montana, with a stop at Chicago. This was Frank and Joe's first long-distance train ride.

5. Hunting for Hidden Gold (Revised, 1963)

Lucky Lode, Montana, with a stop at Chicago.

7. The Secret of the Caves, 1927/1962

Honeycomb Caves, down the coast from Bayport.

9. The Great Airport Mystery (Revised, 1965)

Ile de la Mer, an uninhabited Caribbean island; Montana.

10. What Happened at Midnight (Original, 1931)

New York City - the first time the boys had ever been there (in the original books).

12. Footprints Under the Window (Revised, 1965)

Cayenne, French Guiana, and the Huella Islands off its coast.

13. The Mark on the Door (Original, 1934)

Texas; Mexico.

13. The Mark on the Door (Revised, 1967)

Mazatlan, Mexico, and Baja California, with stops at Memphis, Tennesse, and Brownsville, Texas.

14. The Hidden Harbor Mystery (Original, 1935)

Larchmont and Hidden Harbor, in the southern US.

14. The Hidden Harbor Mystery (Revised, 1961)

Larchmont, Georgia.

15. The Sinister Signpost (Revised, 1968)

Vermont, Baltimore.

17. The Secret Warning (Revised, 1966)

Philadelphia.

18. The Twisted Claw (Original, 1939)

St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada, which "looks like Bayport," according to Frank. (Note: It seems Franklin W. Dixon, like countless visitors before and after him, was confused by the geography of Atlantic Canada, as St. John's is actually the capital city of nearby Newfoundland. The city in New Brunswick is called Saint John.) From there, they travel to Woodsville and Little Cove in the Eastern Canadian lumber country. Finally, aboard the Black Parrot, they are taken to King Barracuda's Island, presumably in the Caribbean.

18. The Twisted Claw (Revised, 1969)

Montreal, Stormwell and Port Manthon, Canada; Tambio and Cambrian Islands in the Caribbean; Miami.

20. The Mystery of the Flying Express (Revised, 1970)

Miami, Boston

21. The Clue of the Broken Blade (Revised, 1969)

San Francisco; the grape-growing region of California.

23. The Melted Coins (Revised, 1970)

A Seneca Indian Reservation in New York State; Niagara Falls; Cleveland, Ohio

24. The Short-Wave Mystery (Original, 1945)

The Hudson Bay area of northern Canada, with stops at Buffalo and a northern Ontario town.

24. The Short-Wave Mystery (Revised, 1966)

Philadelphia; A hunting lodge in the James Bay area of northern Ontario, with stops at Sudbury, Toronto, Timmins, and Moose Factory.

28. The Sign of the Crooked Arrow, 1949

Cousin Ruth Hardy's Crowhead Ranch in New Mexico, with stops in El Paso and Santa Fe.

29. The Secret of the Lost Tunnel, 1950

Centerville, a town in the Deep South.

31. The Secret of Wildcat Swamp, 1952

Wildcat Swamp, near Red Butte in the western US, with a stop at Green Sand Lake.

32. The Crisscross Shadow, 1953

Ramapan indian country, 500 miles from Bayport. (A breakdown in the school's heating plant allowed the boys to go.)

34. The Hooded Hawk Mystery, 1954

Venus Island, one of the "islands galore" northeast of Bayport.

35. The Clue in the Embers, 1955

Central America: Guatemala City, ancient ruins in the jungles of the "Texichapi" area of Guatemala.

37. The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, 1957

The Caribbean islands: Centro, Tropicale; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Skeleton Rock, Calypso Island.

38. Mystery at Devil's Paw, 1959

Juneau, Alaska, and the wilderness of Alaska and northern British Columbia.

40. Mystery of the Desert Giant, 1961

Chicago and Los Angeles, the deserts of California and Mexico, with a stop at Amarillo, Texas.

41. The Clue of the Screeching Owl, 1962

The Pocono Mountains

42. The Viking Symbol Mystery, 1963

Northwest Canada: Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories; Edmonton, Alberta, with a stopover at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

43. The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior, 1964

Mexico City, Teotihuacan, Oaxaca.

44. The Haunted Fort, 1965

Millwood, New England.

45. The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge, 1966

The Kentucky wilderness.

46. The Secret Agent on Flight 101, 1967

An islet off the New England coast; Scotland.

47. Mystery of the Whale Tattoo, 1968

Mystic, Connecticut; Los Angeles.

48. The Arctic Patrol Mystery, 1969

Iceland: Reykjavik, Keflavik.

49. The Bombay Boomberang, 1970

The Pentagon, Washington, DC; Baltimore, Maryland.

50. Danger on Vampire Trail, 1971

A camping trip to the Rocky Mountains, cross-country from Bayport to Denver, Colorado.

51. The Masked Monkey, 1972

South America: Belem and Manaus, Brazil; the Amazon River

52. The Shattered Helmet, 1973

Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a stop in Chicago; California; Athens, Delphi, and the Island of Corfu, Greece.

53. The Clue of the Hissing Serpent, 1974

Hong Kong.

54. The Mysterious Caravan, 1975

Jamaica, North Africa: Casablanca and Marrakesh, Morocco. (Luckily, that trusty school boiler broke down again!)

55. The Witchmaster's Key, 1976

London, East Anglia, Stonehenge; Dublin, Ireland; the Isle of Man

56. The Jungle Pyramid, 1977

Zurich, Switzerland; Mexico City, Mayan ruins in the Yucatan jungle.

57. The Firebird Rocket, 1978

Princeton University; Australia: Sydney, Woomera, and the Outback, with stops at Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii.