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Taking a "US History" Vacation (1 Viewer)

Statorama

Statorama

gangster
When it comes to the East Coast I haven't been north of Miami...but I'm looking to change that next year with a two week binge getting in as much US History as possible.

Obviously I could spend a whole year checking things out, but I wanted to leverage the "been there, done that" folks on the board for stuff you thought was really cool, and things you thought might have been over-blown / skippable, any worthwhile tours you've taken, etc.  For this trip I want to be south of New York (state) and north of North Carolina (and east of Ohio).  Everything within in that state sandwich is on the table.

My one "for sure" is going to check out the Constitution and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives museum, and Independence Hall.  Also want to take in the Washington Monument / National Mall area.

I'm really into "wow, that was George Washington's house" kinds of things.  There's something cool about being that close to something of historical significance. 

For those that have toured the White House, how arduous did it get scheduling that (I'm guessing you can't just walk up and ring the bell).

I'll be going either spring/summer or summer/fall if it makes a difference (Cherry Blossoms, etc.), but it will be "walk around" weather.

While I likely won't get to it on this trip, is walking the Freedom Trail worthwhile? [ETA: next trip I plan on pushing a little more north]

Thanks in advance yall

 
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Monticello, Mount Vernon & Manassas would be my top 3 for a first timer. The latter is the site of two major battles, and Second Bull Run is pretty amazing ground to drive n walk.

For that next trip further north, Harper’s Ferry, South Mountain/Antietam, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge are good choices.

D.C. attractions are not my thing. Been to them all, I hate crowds & long lines. You could do a couple days at the Smithsonian and just scratch the surface - the air & space museum was incredible. The WH, Monuments and Memorials are tick the box, gotta do it if you’re there stuff. Everyone should do it, but honestly none of it ranks high IME.

Family trip with the kids?

I did all the Capitol stuff plus Valley Forge growing up and loved it. The last twenty years my weekend getaways have been focused on ACW battlefield parks.

Gettysburg is a special place. It’s massive and there is so much depth to what happened there. Antietam is def doable in one day, and you could do Harper’s Ferry + South Mountain another day (surreal vistas - only battlefield that’s all right in front of you.)

I’m skipping over some other battlefields I think are great but only if you’ve read a lot about the Civil War. 

 
Pro Tip - hire a licensed battlefield guide from the visitors center. Those folks are worth every penny. That goes for any battlefield.

 
BobbyLayne said:
Monticello, Mount Vernon & Manassas would be my top 3 for a first timer. The latter is the site of two major battles, and Second Bull Run is pretty amazing ground to drive n walk.

For that next trip further north, Harper’s Ferry, South Mountain/Antietam, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge are good choices.

D.C. attractions are not my thing. Been to them all, I hate crowds & long lines. You could do a couple days at the Smithsonian and just scratch the surface - the air & space museum was incredible. The WH, Monuments and Memorials are tick the box, gotta do it if you’re there stuff. Everyone should do it, but honestly none of it ranks high IME.

Family trip with the kids?

I did all the Capitol stuff plus Valley Forge growing up and loved it. The last twenty years my weekend getaways have been focused on ACW battlefield parks.

Gettysburg is a special place. It’s massive and there is so much depth to what happened there. Antietam is def doable in one day, and you could do Harper’s Ferry + South Mountain another day (surreal vistas - only battlefield that’s all right in front of you.)

I’m skipping over some other battlefields I think are great but only if you’ve read a lot about the Civil War. 
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Thanks for the tips!  This will just be me and my wife travelling.

 
Statorama said:
Thanks for the tips!  This will just be me and my wife travelling.
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Yeah, skip D.C. 😂

Def book Gettysburg. Like, today. Weekend rooms are tough to find during peak season, but you should be able to find stuff for midweek. My personal favorite BnB is Farnsworth House. Recommend eating there even if you don’t get a room.

For Sharpsburg, MD, see if Jacob Rohrbach Inn has any availability.

Those are both far enough away from Beltway traffic that the drives will be very enjoyable (IME.)

You’ll both love Washington & Jefferson homes.

 
I agree with everything Bobby Layne recommended although I enjoy DC a lot more than he does.  Arlington National Cemetery would be a must visit for me. 

Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement are also worth the trip. 

 
If in your travels you stop to see Ft McHenry (Star Spangled Banner) in Baltimore, it’s in a safe area. Perhaps an idea to stop between DC and Philly. It’s right off of 95. 

 
Tom Hagen said:
I agree with everything Bobby Layne recommended although I enjoy DC a lot more than he does.  Arlington National Cemetery would be a must visit for me. 

Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement are also worth the trip. 
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Good call - all three of those are great.

My aversion to D.C. should be ignored. 20 years in NYC, the last thing I wanna do is go vacation in an urban area. 

:lol:

 
Bobby Layne and others above already provided most of the best answers for the Mid-Atlantic area, but I’ll contribute another — Annapolis, MD.

Annapolis is a relatively short drive from DC, but will give you a whole different feel.  The historic downtown which is right on the Chesapeake Bay has the oldest still in operation State House, beautiful red brick buildings and colonial homes, and of course the United States Naval Academy.  The Naval Academy has a maritime museum on campus.

Your wife will love all the restaurants and shopping downtown as well as the midshipmen walking around in uniform.

 
If you ever go that far north, Fort Ticonderoga is a place that gives one an Ur feeling, historywise, mostly because there's so little civilization around it that one can imagine the time of its utility.

As far as Freedom Trail, i been sick of it since i was 8yo, of course, so now i send em on their own, but very few of those i send do anything but love it  :shrug:

 
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Statorama said:
I'm really into "wow, that was George Washington's house" kinds of things.  There's something cool about being that close to something of historical significance. 
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For this sort of experince, you already know the obvious choices, but I’ll reiterate the places I most had this particular sense of wonder:

1) Independence Hall.  Two of the most significant events in the founding of the country, all in the same room.  That was one of those “wow, this is where it all happened” moments that has stayed with me for years.  It’s not a full-day event, but the Mint is right across the street and has a fairly nice short exhibit and tour as well.

2) Mt. Vernon (Washington’s estate) and Monticello (Jefferson’s).  Not much in the way of significant events happened in the actual locations, but you’ll get a great sense of what life was like day-to-day for two of our country’s founders.

3) The Capitol, especially if you can get visitors access to the gallery while Congress is actually doing something significant.  (That’s hard to predict in advance...living in day-trip range made it much easier to time visits.)  Try to see both House and Senate.  The chambers are historic, and business is still done more or less the way it has been for decades.

4) I would definitely have the White House on this list.  I haven’t been since before 9/11, so can’t speak to the difficulty of access, except to note that you need advance reservations and have to submit certain ID info with the request.  But after Independence Hall, I don’t think there’s a single place more significant to American history than the Oval Office.

5) The Supreme Court is an underpromoted tour that has a similar sense of history about it.  Those chambers are similar to the legislature ones in preserving the historic feel and sense of majesty.  And it’s usually a much shorter line.

Aside from “special places” I agree with other posters that Gettysburg is the must-see battlefield for Civil War history, but really liked Antietam as well. Learned a lot at that one and it’s a more compact tour than Gettysburg.

 
Some spots to highlight.

In Philly area, Independence Hall and Liberty Bell are pretty standard.  Betsy Ross house too.  Valley Forge is a bit west of Philly.  Washington Crossing is a bit north of Philly.

Heading out west from Philly.  You could stop in Lancaster at James Buchanan’s Wheatland.  Then in Gettysburg - hit the battlefield and tour Eisenhower’s farm.  

In Maryland, Antietam is in the western part of the state.  Harper’s Ferry, WV not far from there.  Could do Fort McHenry in Baltimore, but that is kind of meh compared to the other spots.

DC - you’ve got it with National Archives, monuments, etc.  Mount Vernon is just outside DC and pretty amazing.

VA - Bull Run pretty close to DC.  Heading down 95 S, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and The Wilderness battlefields are all pretty close to each other.  Richmond has some good battlefields and a Civil War museum too.  

From Richmond, you can go west to Charlottesville area and see Jefferson’s Monticello, Madison’s Montpelier, and Monroe’s Ash Lawn.  Appomattox Courthouse is not far from there either. 

Southeast from Richmond, towards Norfolk, you’ve got Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg.  You could spend a couple of days in that area too.

 
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Charleston yet- it’s gorgeous and the whole city is history.

 
Gettysburg is don’t miss. Downtown DC can get pretty crazy but you can book advance tickets for the National Archives. Seeing the actual Declaration of Independence and teaming that with a trip to Independence Hall in Philly is pretty cool. And the Air & Space annex at Dulles Airport is less crowded than downtown and pretty amazing. The Enola Gay? Come on. 

I’m a big fan of Ford’s Theatre. Great little museum in the basement, and again you’re walking in the literal footsteps of history. 

Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown form a nice little visit, but for your first big foray, I second the advice above and say Mount Vernon/Monticello combined with DC, Philly and Gettysburg are the places to start.

 
Just saw this.

This is my wheelhouse. I will post when i have time tomorrow. But, quick cheatsheet..... you must do Ft. McHenry, Arlington, Mt. Vernon, National Archives, Gettysburgh Battlefield (need 2 days minimum), Colonial Willaimsburg, and Independence Hall in Philly.

Oh, and the Ben Franklin tour and Museum in Philly.... and the Constitution tour in Philly, the Supreme Court tour, anything in the Capitol Building, if you want the White House you need a letter from your Congressman a few months in advance.  Make sure you take the time to do the Lincoln Assassination Tour that starts at Fords Theatre.  

If you want to try to get in the Boston area there are 76 more things to do in that corridor.

New Jersey has a few sights that you should hit. 

Did I say go to Arlington? Do not miss Arlington. 

Or Independence Hall in Philly.

Need like 3 days in Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown and Yorktown sites.

And no self respecting American can ignore Gettysburg.

You sure you only want to do 2 weeks? I might need like a good 45 days to get everything into your trip plan that you need to do.

 
Seems as good a place as any.  William Faulkner on Gettysburg:

For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. 
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