naturegirl Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I want to travel to New England plus New York state this fall and do an American history trip, specifically colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Has anyone done this or does anyone here live in those areas who would like to tell me some not-to-be missed places? I also plan to hit Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC in the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Plymoth plantation and Old Sturbridge Village (MA) are on our list for this year but we haven’t gone yet. We’ve done Monticello and Jamestown (VA) and enjoyed them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I put together a wishlist of trips. ? Jamestown/Williamsburg Provincetown/Plymouth Plantation/Aptucxet Trading post Sleepy Hollow Salem Boston's Freedom Trail Philadelphia New Bedford, MA whaling museum/Mystic Seaport, Conn. Washington DC / Montecello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 7 hours ago, naturegirl said: I want to travel to New England plus New York state this fall and do an American history trip, specifically colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Has anyone done this or does anyone here live in those areas who would like to tell me some not-to-be missed places? I also plan to hit Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC in the spring. How old are your children? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 The Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Ledyard, CT is wonderful and so is Mystic Seaport. We’ve been to both several times. My list for this year includes: Plymouth Plantation Philadelphia Washington, D.C. Jamestown, VA If I can squeeze them in I’d also like to do Old Sturbridge Village, the Boston Freedom Trail, Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Yorktown Battlefield and Williamsburg Virginia, Monticello, Mount Vernon, and the Pequot and Seaport Museums. But that’s a lot for one year... Homeschool Days in VA are coming up in September for Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. They’re all very close to each other too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetterthanIdeserve Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 We have taken two trips to New England in the last year. Last summer we spent 9 days in Washington, D.C., and I honestly wished for another week to see more sights. Definitely do your research to figure out what you (and your kids) want to focus on. My favorite Smithsonian is the National Museum of American History, but three hours there may be plenty depending on the ages of your kids. One recommendation I have is to walk with the kids a lot before you go. I think we averaged 8 miles of walking the first several days of our trip. We used public transportation for the first half our trip. Frequent snacks and cold drinks helped our kiddos make it through our major sight seeing days in the summer heat. The last four days of our trip, my husband was at a conference, so I scaled back to 4-5 hours of sight seeing. We would go out in the morning, come back to the hotel for the hot afternoons, and then go out again in the evenings with my husband. One of my highlights was visiting the White House, but it was scheduled (I think we gave the four dates that my husband was available, and they chose the first morning we were there) for 7:15 our first morning and with the time difference it was like getting up at 4:00 am for my kids. So, they didn't enjoy the experience as much. Bummer! This summer we did 10 states in 10 days in New England. Crazy ambitious but an amazing experience. The Boston Freedom Trail, a NYC harbor cruise that included the Statue of Liberty, and Philadelphia over Independence Day were our major historical visits. I hadn't anticipated Philadelphia being a major highlight of the trip, but the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Benjamin Franklin museum on the 4th was such a fun experience. We got a Declaration of Independence printed on a replica printing press there that made a fun souvenir for the kids. Speaking of fun souvenirs, there is a line of pencil sharpeners shaped like significant historical items, such as a printing press, the Liberty Bell, a cannon from the Old Ironsides, and the USS Nautilus. My boys enjoyed collecting these. I would have also like to visit the American Revolution museum there, but we didn't make it. You should also check out Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in America. It's in the historical district and free. Not much to it, but I enjoyed it. Again, cold treats came to the rescue on a hot summer day. So consider visiting the Franklin Fountain ice cream parlor in the historic district - I liked their phosphates! We had considered visiting Fort Ticonderoga when we were in upstate in NY, but chose not to - mainly because of an unexpected expense the day before. I'm sure you're already aware of this, but traveling in New England is noticeably more expensive than traveling in the Midwest! We knew that, but I still cringed at the costs of hotels and food in the cities, especially at Niagara Falls (but so cool). We chose to camp four of our nights this last vacation to save money. Camping in the Adirondacks, NY, the White Mountains in NH, and on a beach in Maine was so much fun (if you're a camper, look into Hermit Island campground), even with all the rain we got. I had never flown and camped before, but my family of five got all our camping gear in two large duffel bags plus one tent bag. One of the unexpected blessing from the trip (especially related to camping) was my kids finding things for which to be grateful when things didn't go exactly as planned. Our goal is to visit the 48 contiguous states before my 13yo graduates from high school. She's up to 25 states, I believe. Hawaii and Alaska would be great too, but I told the kids, they may have to pay for that themselves. ? I hope you have some wonderful experiences! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) On July 26, 2018 at 2:29 AM, naturegirl said: I want to travel to New England plus New York state this fall and do an American history trip, specifically colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Has anyone done this or does anyone here live in those areas who would like to tell me some not-to-be missed places? I also plan to hit Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC in the spring. I think the challenge here is the amount of time. VA alone could be a week, easily. DC of course is as many days as you can give it. PA is sort of more mature, with Gettysburg, Falling Waters. But yeah, if I'm remembering the age of your dc correctly, a VA/DC trip would be FABULOUS right now, perfect age. I was just telling my dh we should take my ds. I took dd years ago, and I lived there a number of years growing up. There's just a LOT to do there, stuff to dig into and not rush. Have done NY but haven't gone up more into New England, haven't done Boston. Actually I'm not much of a history lover. I think, like BID says, you're probably going to end up hitting a lot of nature that way, the more time you try to spend. Just depends on what you want. Just as an observation, the VA stuff comes earlier in history than your sort of Ben Franklin, etc. stuff. You might like to do VA first. You can even hit the beach for a while yet, do the horses at Chincoteague (you have a girl, yes?), go through the fields after they've harvested peanuts and dig for your own, etc. Fall is a VERY nice time to do VA. Gorgeous. Monticello, the caverns, the Richmond science museum, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the triangle (Yorktown, Williamsburg, Jamestown). Then drive up and do DC and hit Mount Vernon on the way. If your dc hasn't done the beach, stay on the beach for a few days. There's a marine science museum that is super worth doing. Besides, if you take my chaste advice and hit VA in the fall, then you'll have gone to the Peanut Shoppe in Williamsburg and sampled enough to be able to do all your Christmas shopping from their catalog, yum. I'm just helping you out here. Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I was just realizing I got pregnant after that trip to VA, because I sat there eating the Peanut Shoppe chocolate covered peanut brittle (SO good) by the tin that Christmas, hehe. That's when we realized something was up, because I was so unusually hungry, lol. But it is really good. You want this stuff. Edited August 4, 2018 by PeterPan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) So, our first year of homeschooling my husband had a contract job in New York and we were going to go up, visit him, and some of my friends/relatives in nearby states, and do some homeschool stuff while we were there. It never happened because the job ended early, but I planned for it and made these pinterest boards of both things to do and projects to do when we got back or during the trip (like while driving). New England: https://www.pinterest.com/galel/hs-new-england/ New York: https://www.pinterest.com/galel/new-york/ Edited August 4, 2018 by goldenecho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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