Eastern US Field Trip: What to do in CT, RI, PN, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WV, NC, SC

[hana]

My cross-country/Southwest trip has been postponed until fall (I didn't realize how soon it would get so hot there!) So, in the meantime, we are going to do an Eastern corridor trip. We've lived in Maine for quite some time, so, for now, we are skipping Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts. We are also skipping New York, Washington, DC, and Florida for now.

 

If you were doing an extended field trip, where would you consider a can't miss in the following states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina. We may even get as far as eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and Georgia.

 

We're thinking national parks and seashores (Shenandoah, Cape Hatteras, for sure), historical sites (especially the Civil War sites from Gettysburg down), a science museum or two (suggestions?) and maybe an amusement/theme park to add some fun. We'll likely be camping.

 

Any ideas to enrich our trip are welcome and appreciated. :-)

 

Oh, and "we" are me, dd age 12, and ds age 9. If we plan an awesome trip, granddaughter age 5 may wish to come, too.

[hana]

trying a little bump

[happypamama]

Gettysburg, definitely, but not this summer; they're predicting 4 million people here this summer for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg is a cute little town; it's not made for 4 million people. I'd go to Philadelphia or Lancaster instead.

[happypamama]

Also, Williamsburg, and if you are heading over to Delaware, you could head down to the eastern shore of MD and VA and go to Chincoteague and Assateague too.

[JustEm]

In Delaware, you could visit Fort Delaware. It held confederate prisoners during the Civil War, particularly those from Gettysburg. Also, check out Cape Henlopen if you're looking for camping/beach. It is a state park. The camping is inexpensive and about a mile from the beach.

[athomemom]

The Outer Banks is always on the top of my list. The Blue Ridge Parkway is also lovely. There are many, many, things to do in VA!

[happypamama]

Oh, and the Museum (Military Air Command or something like that) at the Dover Air Force Base in Dover, DE (middle of the state) is very cool. My 4 and 7yo boys were really interested in it last fall (my 10yo girl too), as was my 30-something boy. ;)

 

Depending on how much time you've spent at the beach, Cape Henlopen and Rehoboth Beach are pretty cool (southern DE). We actually prefer Cape Henlopen, as it's quieter. Lewes is a cute historic town over that way, and although we didn't get to see it because the timing didn't work out, there's the Zwanandael Museum in Lewes too. (We grew up over that way but just finally got a chance to take our children to do some of the touristy stuff last fall; we had a great time hitting a ton of things between Dover, DE and the eastern shore of Virginia.)

 

And the Outer Banks of NC is just wonderful.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

There are many battlefields in the Fredericksburg, VA area. One of our favorite family weekend trip places is Cherry Crest Farms in Lancaster, PA.

[3monkeys]

Charleston SC is full of history.

 

http://www.patriotspoint.org/

https://www.middletonplace.org/

http://southcarolinaparks.com/ctl/introduction.aspx

http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/

 

That is just a few off the top of my head but it goes on and on. Don't miss just walking around downtown King Street and going through the market. You can also take carriage rides that tell you a lot of history.

 

Columbia, SC is the capital. There is an awesome zoo, Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens. State Museum is great as well.

[cavscout96]

In and around Charleston, SC:

 

Patriots Point

Ft. Sumter

Whitepoint Gardens/Battery Park,

several plantation homes and 1 dating from Revolutionary War (name escapes me)

 

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In and around Savannah, GA:

 

Savannah historical distric/squares, make sure to visit Chippewa square with James Oglethorpe's statue.

Owens-Thomas house (the Marquie de Lafayette stood on the small balcony and reviewed passing troops on his return to the US after the Rev. War.

Georgia History Museum (original draft of US Constitution).

Forsyth Park and fountain

Telfair Art Museum and Jeppeson Center Annex (my favorite work http://awanderingtraveler.blogspot.com/2008/12/black-prince-of-crecy_09.html ; it is over 10 feet tall and nearly 20 feet wide!)

Savannah College of Art and Design

Eat at the Olde Pink House

[MinivanMom]

Gettysburg

Lancaster County (you could go to Hershey Park nearby or just tour the Hershey factory)

Philadelphia (Independence Hall, etc)

Washington D.C. (the zoo or any of the museums)

Williamsburg

Jamestown Settlement

Blueridge Parkway

Smoky Mountain National Park (hike an easy waterfall like Laurel Falls or Grotto Falls if you have time)

The Outer Banks of NC

NC Museum of Art (in Raleigh)

[naturegirl]

I lived in West Virginia for many years. While there's not a lot there that is truly spectacular, there are some interesting places to see. Harpers Ferry is a nice historical park. The Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley areas are pretty. If you are looking for Civil War sites, the covered bridge in Philippi was used by both Union and Confederate soldiers. They do a re-enactment there each year.

 

Pittsburgh, PA is a nice city to visit, if make it to that part of Pennsylvania. The Natural History Museum there is great, and riding the incline up Mount Washington is fun and offers a wonderful view of the city.

 

If you do make it to Tennessee, we really liked the Great Smoky Mountains. It was a beautiful National Park with lots of historical information.

[hana]

Thank you all for these great ideas! We are really looking forward to this. :-)

[brookspr]

I lived in southeastern CT for almost 20 years. I agree with Heigh Ho about the Nautilus Submarine Museum in Groton and Newport, RI. There are also lots of small museums in SECT (New London-Groton area). Here is a bit from the New London website for visitors:

 

During your stay in New London get a first hand look at life in colonial times by visiting the Hempstead Houses, tour the Shaw-Perkins Mansion which was the home of Revolutionary War Naval Agent Nathaniel Shaw or schedule an appointment to the Robert Mills U.S. Customs House, the nation’s oldest operating customs office where the ship Amistad was docked for over a year.

 

From Wikepedia:

 

The harbor was considered to be the best deep water harbor on Long Island Sound,^[5] and consequently New London became a base of American naval operations during the Revolutionary War. Famous New Londoners during the American Revolution include Nathan Hale, William Coit, Richard Douglass, Thomas & Nathaniel Shaw, Gen.Samuel Parsons, Printer Timothy Green, Reverend Seabury. New London was raided & nearly burned to the ground on September 6, 1781 Battle of Groton Heights, by Norwich Native Benedict Arnold in the attempts to destroy the colonial privateer fleet and storage of goods and naval stores within the city. Often noted that this raid on New London and Groton was to divert General Washington and the French Army under Rochambeau from their march on Yorktown, Virginia. The main defensive fort for New London, Fort Griswold, located across the Thames River in Groton, was well known by Arnold who sold its secrets to the British fleet so they could avoid its artillery fire. Ft. Griswold was attacked and the British suffered great casualties before eventually storming the fort and slaughtering many of the militia who defended the fort. All told more than 52 British soldiers and 83 militia were killed and more than 142 British and 39 militia were wounded, many mortally. New London suffered more than 6 militia killed and 24 wounded while Arnold and the British and Hessian raiding party suffered an equal amount.

 

If you are going to be in that area, Mystic Seaport is a historical maritime museum worth checking out. Old Mystic also has the oldest working steam powered cider mill in the U.S., although it doesn't open until late summer/early fall.

 

The Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, CT is worth a stop, and it's not far off the highway.

Also check out the website ctmuseumquest.com for information on museums, hikes, and a trail map for where the underground railroad ran thru CT.

The slave ship Amistad is also usually somewhere along the coast of CT (New Haven, Groton, Mystic) and they give free tours of the boat.

 

If I can think of anything else, I'll update with another post.

[QTMom]

In NC, The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh and there is also a history museum right next door and a children's museum that is not far from there. We loved the Natural Science museum there was so much to do and see. My kids are begging to go back. Also in NC, we love to go to Asheville to the Biltmore House. There is so much to do there. The Biltmore House is amazing and the gardens are so breathtakingly beautiful. They also have a petting zoo that is past the winery, places to hike and live music near the winery in the evenings (I think just on weekends, but I may be wrong). We also love the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC and Grandfather Mountain is not too far from there and Tweetsie Railroad is also not far from Grandfather Mountain in Boone, NC. In SC, we loved Charleston and can't wait to go back. There is so much to do and see and the history is awesome. In TN, the Smoky Mountains are so much fun. There are lots of places to hike and picnic. We love Dollywood and Pigeon Forge and there is also a waterpark now at Dollywood. We haven't been to the waterpark yet, but I have heard it is really fun. Also, Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains is really nice. We can't wait to go back there too! I hope you plan an awesome trip. There are so many great places to go!

[speedmom4]

I second the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. It is unbelievable and offers wonderful insight into an amazing historical time period. They also have homeschool educational days throughout the year that could be fun to do with kids. A few years ago they had a program that allowed homeschoolers to participate in an archaeological dig. I wish we had done that!

 

Have fun!

 

Elise in NC

[Candid]

NC things to do.

 

At the beach on Roanoke Island, go to The Lost Colony outdoor drama. Other beach take ins: climb Hatteras lighthouse, Wright Brothers memorial, and NC Aquarium.

 

Further down the coast in Wilmington is the USS North Carolina.

 

A bit further in is Tryon Palace.

 

A lot further inland is Old Salem, nearby is the NC Zoo.

 

Finally lots of fun stuff up in the mountains: Great Smokey National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Biltmore House.

[Chris in VA]

VA--

 

Mt. Vernon is 6 mi from me--it's got a great hands-on educational museum that would be perfect for your kids (and interesting for you, too), with movies (it snows in one auditorium!) and interactive exhibits. The house is interesting, and there's also a barn and animals, and up the road, a gristmill (you can buy cornmeal ground on the stones Geo W used!) and a distillery (but you can skip that if you don't want to visit that part).

 

Just a few miles from there is the Pope-Leighy house, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural wonders. He used space in such a cool way! There's also Woodlawn on the same property, where a relative of GeoW lived, and George Mason's house is about 12 mi from Mt. V and has a great tour.

 

If you are taking a few days in DC, these make nice side trips. Mt. V is actually a whole day trip--great gift shop and restaurant, too.

 

ETA--I suppose I should mention our church, Pohick. We are where GeoW was on the vestry and the building committee. We are also a pretty neat Civil War site--there's grafetti from soldiers, and we are the site of the first aeronautical balloon launch program used in the US (in the Civil War). We have docents that will show you around and tell you all about the Rev War and Civil War connections (and are not proselytizers). Here's a link to our website--this particular part tells about our history across the centuries.

[sillymommy]

I second a stop n Newport RI. The Mansions are great. Admission at The Breakers includes an audio tour-one for kids, one for adults. In the kids'tour, the narrating character is the house itself! It's fun.

 

Check out Washington's home, Mt. Vernon, in VA. And Jefferson's Monticello near Charlottesville, VA.

[Dahliarw]

Definitely Mt. Vernon. Spectacular, wish I could live there.

 

Go down south in VA to Colonial Williamsburg. One of my favorite places and super educational! Lots of stuff for kids of all ages. My kids liked the brickmaking the best, they actually got to stomp in the mud to help mix in the straw to make bricks! And eat in one of the taverns, quite the experience. If you go to the visitor's center first, they have a (free) passport thing for kids. You get it stamped for visiting various places in CW and the kids get a little prize if they go to all the places. My kids loved this! They also have a children's orientation tour that is great for a brief overview of CW that doesn't get too boring for shorter attention spans.

 

While you're there, spend a fun day a Busch Gardens. European themed and absolutely fantastic. One of the best amusement parks I've been to outside of Disney as far as theming. We loved it!

 

If you do go across PA, I have spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh (I went to CMU). It's a ncie little city, and the incline is fun, but I don't think you're missing much if you don't go there. We do LOVE Kennywood there as far as amusement parks go. Really fun rides and it has a neat history.

 

If you go to MD, we LOVE the Aquarium in Baltimore. It is absolutely fantastic!

[NDQuilts]

On the western side of PA we have:

The tall ship Niagara and Maritime museum in Erie PA and the Perry Monument (war of 1812)

Pittsburgh PA offers

1. The Carnegie museum of Natural History

2 The Carnegie Science Center/ Buhl planetarium

3. The duck boats and the USS Requiem (WW II sub)

4. The Andy Warhol Museum

5. Falling Water

 

Titusville PA has the OC&T Railroad and was the birthplace of the US Oil industry. Small museum about early oil drilling.

 

In other states, I'd do Lexington/concord and Boston. Philadelphia for the Liberty bell and Independence Hall. Mount Vernon. Monticello. Jamestown. Colonial Williamsburg. Yorktown. Biltmore. Just for the craziness of the road, Deal's Gap. Appalacian trail. A whale watch on the ocean.

 

Gettysburg will be crazy this year due to the anniversary, but every civil war site will be the same. If you do not like crowds, avoid the first week of July. If you have no preference, then the best reenactments will be that week.

 

Between Gettysburg and Philly is Lancaster and Amish country. The Sight and Sound Theater is great for dramatization of the Bible.

 

I'm sure there is more. Enjoy your trip!

[tuckabella]

Yes, the Sight and Sound Theater is GREAT.

 

Being from Rhode Island, I have to say, yes, visit Newport. If you sy for a meal, try coffee milk, the state drink. It's lie chocolate milk made with chocolate syrup, but it is coffee syrup. Newport Creamery has great ice cream. If you need something indoor, the Children's Museum in Providence was a lot of fun. We visited this winter sometime. There is also The Museum of Work and Culture. I haven't been yet, but I hear great things about it from people at home.

[mamatohaleybug]

Oh my! There are SO MANY things to see and do. Good luck deciding!

 

In WV, you must not miss the Green Bank National Radio Observatory. Amazing!!!

[ChicoryChick]

Southeastern, PA - Valley Forge National Park (although it's prettiest in the spring) and Historic Philadelphia. Depending how much time you want to spend in each area, if you shoot up the 422 corridor from Valley Forge you could check out Daniel Boone's birthplace, not sure its a must see though.