American history East Coast itinerary?

[HollyBee]

I'm toying with the idea of trying to pull off a tour of the East Coast, studying history by visiting historic sites (supplementing along the way, of course). I'm wondering if it's possible to visit sites following a roughly chronological order of events. I have no idea the time this would require--I'm thinking of setting the whole thing up, then figuring out the ideal time needed to experience it properly, then whittling down from there based on vacation time constraints.

 

Here's what I have so far (btw, we are in the Atlanta metro area):

 

St. Augustine, FL

Williamsburg, VA

Jamestown, VA

Philadelphia, PA

Boston, MA

Gettysburg, PA

Washington, DC

Richmond, VA area (incl. Petersburg, VA)

 

And...that's all I have right now. This makes a round trip, more or less. I know the drive is LONG between St. Augustine and Williamsburg, so the two ideas I have are to: 1) stop in Savannah and Charleston along the way; or 2) make St. Augustine a separate little trip beforehand.

 

Any suggestions? Anyone BTDT? Thoughts on how long we should take in each location?

 

I'm also trying to figure out if we would do this by car and stay in hotels and with family (a few are on the route), or by RV (we don't own one--would need to rent).

 

Thanks!

[Lizzie in Ma]

How about the 1830's? Old Sturbridge Village is a living museum. We love it there.

"Old Sturbridge Village is one of the country’s oldest and largest living history museums, depicting early New England life from 1790-1840 with historians in costume, antique buildings, water-powered mills, and a working farm. Visitors can view antiques, meet heritage breed animals, and enjoy hands-on crafts."

http://www.osv.org/

[HollyBee]

How about the 1830's? Old Sturbridge Village is a living museum. We love it there.

"Old Sturbridge Village is one of the country’s oldest and largest living history museums, depicting early New England life from 1790-1840 with historians in costume, antique buildings, water-powered mills, and a working farm. Visitors can view antiques, meet heritage breed animals, and enjoy hands-on crafts."

http://www.osv.org/

 

 

That's great! I added it to the list. Thanks!

[TXMary2]

In Philadelphia our favorite spots were Ben Franklin's grave, Independence Hall, and Liberty Bell. The Betsy Ross house is neat. The Constitution Museum wasn't worth the money when we went - it was during election season and seemed pretty one sided ideologically. Also, the special exhibit when we went was Bruce Springsteen, which for the most part was boring and didn't interest my kids at all.

 

Boston - The Old North Church was awesome to experience, the old cemetary down the street was very cool. Paul Revere's house was fun - just follow the red line and you can see it all.

 

If you are going to be in Virginia, you should for sure see Monticello and Mt. Vernon.

[Pawz4me]

If you rent an RV you'll definitely IMO want to arrange a stop somewhere between St. Augustine and Williamsburg. We've been RV'ing for almost six years now, so have quite a bit of experience in setting up and breaking down our site (those things take time on both ends of your day) and driving a large vehicle. And that's way more miles than we'd ever consider attempting in one day. It's do-able, but you'll be so tired by the time you get to a campground and get set up, it really doesn't make for a pleasant day for anybody.

 

I love both Charleston and Savannah, but if I had to pick one it would be Charleston.

 

If you decide to do the trip in an RV let me know. I can recommend some campgrounds at a few of your stops.

[happypamama]

You could spend a week in Williamsburg, or Gettysburg, or Philadelphia, or several of those places and not see everything. Antietam is not far from Gettysburg, if you're interested in battlefields (though I have not been there myself).

 

Depending on when you are looking at coming, you might want to skip Gettysburg. Gettysburg is an adorable, lovely little town. DH told me recently that they're predicting 4 million people in Gettysburg this summer because it's the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg is not set up for 4 million people; I don't even want to imagine how bad the traffic will be. I love Gettysburg and would highly recommend it (and will be happy to suggest things to see; I've written other posts on the subject on this forum before, so you can search those), but not this summer.

 

There's also Fort McHenry (War of 1812, writing of the Star Spangled Banner) in Baltimore, which is not far from DC; you could easily hit DC, Baltimore, and Gettysburg without much trouble, and Gettysburg's only about four hours from Williamsburg, so not an unpleasant drive, especially if you hit DC and Baltimore in between.

 

Oh, and it might be tricky to do, but there's also St. Mary's City in southern MD.

 

If you opt not to do chronological order, you could easily head across eastern PA (and if you come in spring or fall, it will be stunningly gorgeous) from Gettysburg through Lancaster County to Philadelphia, hitting the Landis Valley Museum on your way. That will showcase 18th century Pennsylvania life and is particularly interesting to kids, as it's a living farm/village. There's also Old Bedford Village, but that's out west a bit more and not as big as Landis Valley.

 

And Boston! Boston's just such a neat city! Plimoth Plantation is about the one place up and down the east coast that we haven't been able to take the kids yet.

[Jennifer in MI]

When you finish this could you please share your itinerary??? My family would love to do something like this!

[ZooRho]

We did Boston, Philly, and a few things inbetween and it took us about 7-10 days, Cant' remember now too long ago.

 

We loved it. Too late now But I'll come back and comment a bit more

[Jeannie in NJ]

be sure and go to Valley Forge. When dh and I first moved to this area, we lived one year in the Valley Forge Apts. real close to the park. We went for walks there every day. It is a beautiful park, great for taking a nice long walk with stops to see the small log shelters/cabins that our soldiers lived in that winter. Beautiful trees there and lots of room for kids to run around.

[Ellie]

Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. You pretty much have to go through them to get to Williamsburg, and they pre-date the Revolutionary War.

[Parrothead]

I'd pick chas over Savannah just because I know my way around. But I wouldn't go that far out of my way if I were coming from st auggie. Savannah is right off the freeway. Stop there.

 

ETA:but then again savannah is just a few hour north of st auggie. How often do you want to stop?

[TKDmom]

:bigear:

 

I love the idea of doing this.

[HomeschoolMamaOfTwo]

Cool idea! I've never been to any of these places, except St. Augustine, and it sounds so fun to do! I'd love to see what you come up with when you are done!

[Rai B.]

be sure and go to Valley Forge. When dh and I first moved to this area, we lived one year in the Valley Forge Apts. real close to the park. We went for walks there every day. It is a beautiful park, great for taking a nice long walk with stops to see the small log shelters/cabins that our soldiers lived in that winter. Beautiful trees there and lots of room for kids to run around.

 

:iagree: Valley Forge and Plimoth Plantation. Stop by the Statue of Liberty on the way past New York. I haven’t been south of North Carolina so I can’t help there.

And while it’s not American history, the Higgins Armory Museum near Boston is closing this December. I’d visit there if I were going to Boston this year.

[ZooRho]

My advice on this is one to make sure the kids know this is NOT a vacation but a field trip.

 

There is a National Geographic book we found at the library to help

 

http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographics-Americas-Historic-Places/dp/0792234146

 

Get to places as soon as they open in the morning most places close by 5pm. and now that 9-11 and sequestration are affecting things double check the availability of places. also double check any rules about taking things into the buildings.

 

Check local calendars for things that may affect the places.

 

Plan a day to just chill out with the kids. something they want to do for fun.

 

Check out City Pass.

http://www.citypass.com/ they have deals for museums and things in many of those areas. You might also look for Groupons in those areas.

 

Plan on eating out in some of the areas and getting local treats.

 

We did drive all the way up to Boston we camped out in Salem Ma. great little town and more than witch stuff. We saw the House of Seven Gables which also has stuff about Nathaniel Bowditch-Carry on Mr Bowditch is about him great story should read it before going there. There are other things but we didn't see them all.

 

Boston has the Freedom Trail, USS constitnution, Bunker Hill and probably much more.

We also drove out to Lexington and Concord, totally fascinating. Also out that way there are lots of literary things check them out we just happened upon them and they were closing when we got there. we did walk on a trail that Nathaniel Hawthorne walked out on

 

Then we went to Philly. Independence Hall area. Franklin Institute is there too. A us Mint, Betsy Ross house. We also drove out to Valley Forge- the signs for it back then were VERY small. The Mall had more signs.

 

We also went through Washington Crossing Historic pack in NJ. the museum was closed but we could see the rest of things.

 

We did do the FT Mchenry Park too. HIGHLY recommend this. It is not a big place but very impressive and it won't take much time to visit it. Do see the program they do.

 

I live near Williamsburg. I do recommend visiting there and to Yorktown and Jamestown.

 

I have been to Gettysburg too.

 

And we have done DC. I did a short synopsis of my last visit there, in Oct of 2011. you could search my name for it. We had been several times already though.

 

IN NC you also have Old Salem Village.

and Kings Mt Battlefield- they call it the turning pt of the war. We also went to Cowpens in SC.

[HollyBee]

Wow, all great suggestions--thanks to all!

 

We have had a bit of a change in plans. Dh is going to Boston in May, so we're tagging along for the weekend. We'll have most of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday, then most of Monday before the kids and I fly back. So, I'm going to be studying and planning the things for just the Boston area. (I figured it made sense to take advantage of dh being up there). We're almost to the Revolutionary War in our history reading, so this will work out fine, even though I would have liked to have done the whole chronological trip. Life isn't perfect, eh?

 

Can anyone familiar with the Boston area tell me if we need to rent a car? I think we're staying somewhere near downtown, but I need to get the final word on that. I'm trying to get a feel for how good the public transportation is.

 

Thanks!

[ZooRho]

Wow, all great suggestions--thanks to all!

 

We have had a bit of a change in plans. Dh is going to Boston in May, so we're tagging along for the weekend. We'll have most of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday, then most of Monday before the kids and I fly back. So, I'm going to be studying and planning the things for just the Boston area. (I figured it made sense to take advantage of dh being up there). We're almost to the Revolutionary War in our history reading, so this will work out fine, even though I would have liked to have done the whole chronological trip. Life isn't perfect, eh?

 

Can anyone familiar with the Boston area tell me if we need to rent a car? I think we're staying somewhere near downtown, but I need to get the final word on that. I'm trying to get a feel for how good the public transportation is.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

not local but we did lots of walking on the freedom trail- we had one kid in a stroller. we didn't use any public transport in the city. We did take a ferry from the USS constitution to the main area to walk.