Our Early American History Tour
lasted 5 weeks
and covered over 6000 miles
and 22 states plus Washington, D.C.

This was a historical tour,
so most of the sites are historical in nature,
chosen from places my children
wanted to see from their U.S. history study.

See Early American History Tour ~ Overview
for complete information about this trip.

(Unless otherwise noted, lodging was in hotels,
usually Comfort Inn & Suites.)

ITINERARY

DAY 1:

    • From Central Texas, drove to Marshall, TX – stayed at Comfort Inn

DAY 2:

    • Drove through Arkansas and Tennessee to Bowling Green, Kentucky

DAY 3:

    • Drove along Ohio River through Ohio Valley
    • Saw Serpent Mound in Peebles, OH
    • Drove through Appalachians in West Virginia
    • Stayed at historic Hotel Morgan (Clarion) in West Virginia

DAY 4:

    • Saw Fort Necessity, Washington’s Tavern, and the National Road
    • Drove to Pittsburgh
    • Saw (picnicked at) Point State Park, intersection of the three rivers and site of Fort Pitt
    • Drove to Lockport, New York

DAY 5:

    • Day at Niagara Falls
    • Stayed in Lockport

DAY 6:

    • Went on Erie Canal cruise through the locks
    • Drove to Albany, NY – stayed at historic Clarion

DAY 7:

    • Saw Saratoga National Historic Park – drove around battlefield
    • Drove through Adirondack Park
    • Camped at Moreau Lake State Park in the foothills of the Adirondacks

DAY 8:

    • Scenic drive through Adirondacks, Vermont, Green Mountains, New Hampshire, and then to Lexington, Massachusetts
    • Stayed at Hanscom AFB (4 nights)

DAY 9:

    • Saw Minute Man National Historic Park – drove along Battle Road seeing sites
    • Saw Battle Green in Lexington
    • Saw sites in Concord – North Bridge, Old Manse, Emerson’s House, Concord Museum, Sleepy Hollow (Cemetery)

DAY 10:     (Boston)

    • Went on Freedom Trail  (self-guided walking tour):
        • Boston Common
        • New State House (Capitol)
        • Old State Meeting House
        • Old State House & Boston Massacre Site
        • King’s Chapel & Graveyard
        • Old Bookstore where Revolutionary propoganda printed
        • First Public School
        • Street with Taverns where Revolutionaries secretly met
        • Faneuil Hall
        • Paul Revere’s House
        • Old North Church

DAY 11:     (Boston)

    • Saw Bunker Hill
    • Saw USS Constitution “Old Ironsides”

DAY 12:   (Plymouth)

    • Drove to Plymouth
    • Saw Mayflower II, Plymouth Rock, Plimouth Plantation
    • Drove to Newport, RI – saw mansions on Bellevue Lane
    • Drove to Mystic, CT – stayed in Comfort Inn

DAY 13:     

    • Drove to Pennsylvania
    • Tried to stay at Pine Grove Furnace State Park but full so camped at Caledonia State Park

DAY 14:

    • Gettysburg National Military Park – audio driving tour, museum, monuments, cemetery
    • Stayed in hotel in York, PA

DAY 15:

    • Drove through Pennsylvania Deutsch Country – Amish just west of Philadelphia
    • Camped in woods of French Creek State Park

DAY 16:    (Philadelphia)

    • Independence National Historic Park (Site of Continental & Constitutional Conventions and U.S. Capitol until 1800):
        • Congress Hall
        • Independence Hall
        • Old City Hall   (where first Supreme Court met)
        • Liberty Bell
        • Christ Church
        • site of President’s House
    • Ate Classic Philly Cheesesteak at Sonny’s

DAY 17:  (Philadelphia)

    • Mütter College of Physicians  (we went here because of my oldest son’s interest in medicine; he is now in pre-med studies at the university)
    • Valley Forge National Historic Park

DAY 18:

    • Washington Crossing Historic Park:
        • spot Washington crossed the Delaware River,
        • the hill the British could be seen, and
        • replica boats that might have been like what he used
    • Drove to New Jersey

DAY 19:

    • Statue of Liberty National Monument – Liberty Island & Ellis Island
    • Drove to New York City – stayed in Clarion hotel in midtown Manhattan
           (provided breakfast & valet service/parking for van)

DAY 20:      (New York City – Midtown & Upper Manhattan)

    • Empire State Building
    • Times Square
    • Broadway
    • Rockefeller Center/Plaza
    • Flagship Toys R Us, FAO Schwarz, Lego
    • Central Park

DAY 21:     (New York City – Lower Manhattan)

    • Battery Park
    • National Sept 11 Memorial & Museum
    • Wall Street
    • Drove to Delaware – stayed in Newark, DE

DAY 22:     (Maryland)

    • Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine
    • Antietam National Battlefield
    • Drove to Washington D.C. – stayed at Bolling AFB  (4 nights)

DAY 23:    (Washington DC)

    • Washington Monument
    • Smithsonian:
        • American History Museum
        • Natural History Museum
        • National Air & Space Museum
        • International Spy Museum

DAY 24:     (Washington DC)

    • West Potomac Park:    (morning)
        • WWII Memorial
        • Vietnam Memorial
        • Lincoln Memorial
        • Korean Memorial
        • MLK Memorial
        • FDR Memorial
        • Thomas Jefferson Memorial
    • White House    (afternoon)

DAY 25:   (Washington DC)

    • U.S. Capitol
    • Library of Congress

DAY 26:

    • Supreme Court
    • National Archives   (Declaration of Independence, Constitution)
    • National Gallery of Art
    • Drove by Pentagon
    • Mount Vernon   (Washington’s home)

DAY 27:

    • Took a morning of rest
    • Manassas National Battlefield Park

DAY 28:

    • Drove toward Historic Triangle (Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg)
    • Stopped at Petersburg National Battlefield by Richmond
    • Saw Yorktown National Battlefield

DAY 29:

    • Toured Historic Jamestowne & Jamestown Settlement
    • Colonial Williamsburg
    • Drove to and saw Appomattox Court House National Historic Park
    • Drove through Washington National Forest ~ camped at Cave Mountain Lake in the Jefferson National Forest

DAY 30:

    • Drove to and toured Monticello  (Jefferson’s home)
    • Drove 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway
    • Camped at Shenandoah National Park

DAY 31:

    • Drove Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park
    • Drove to and camped at Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

DAY 32:

    • Scenic Cades Cove loop drive  (lots of people looking for black bears)
    • Drove west through Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi – hotel in Hattiesburg, MS

DAY 33:   (New Orleans)

    • National WWII Museum
    • Stayed in Baton Rouge for the night

DAY 34:

  • Drove to Texas – visited family
  • HOME!!!

Places Originally Planned but Ultimately Omitted

There were a few places on our original “might see” list
that we ended up not visiting due to time, priorities, or location. 

Additionally, toward the end of the trip,
we decided to cancel our plans to visit
more war-related sites and battlefields, especially in the south,
because we had seen so many already
and they were going to require many additional hours of driving
for just a few sites.  

Here are the places we considered, but ended up not visiting:

      • Patton Museum in Fort Knox, Kentucky

      • Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio

      • Ft Ticonderago National Historic Landmark (would have loved to go here, but too far)

      • Harvard – first college in the colonies 1636

      • Mark Twain House & Harriet Beacher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut

      • Morrison National Historic Park in New Jersey (Washington’s HQ during Am Rev)

      • Thomas Edison’s Museum at Menlo Park

      • National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Virginia

      • Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.

      • The Pentagon (needed advanced reservations)

      • Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia (Civil War)
                 (we were battlefield weary by this point)
      • Natural Bridge of Virginia (too expensive – looked at from afar)

      • Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina

      • Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina

      • Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park in Tennessee (battlefield weary)

      • Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi (would have loved to see, but battlefield weary)

Here are the places we considered or attempted to stay/camp
but could not due to weather or them not being open/available: 

      • Miles Standish Park in Plymouth

      • Langley AFB in Virginia