ITINERARY:
Arrival Day This afternoon we will gather at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. (www.crystalcity.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp) Tonight we will have dinner at The Warehouse Bar & Grill in the center of Old Town Alexandria. (www.warehousebarandgrill.com/warehouse.htm)
Day 1 This morning we will make an early departure from the tour hotel and drive to Charles Town West Virginia, a tiny town in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Harpers Ferry. Upon our arrival we will take a city tour, including the Courthouse where John Brown where was tried and convicted as well as the site of his hanging. Our tour will further take us to several prominent historical sites pertinent to the Shenandoah Campaigns of 1862 and 1864 during the Civil War, including a visit to the “Bower” (Old Dandridge Plantation) and Shepherdstown where we will have lunch.
After lunch we will travel to the small town of Harpers Ferry which was the site of two events critical to the history of the Civil War. The first of these was the raid by John Brown and his armed gang of October 1859 on the United States Arsenal. Intent upon procuring weapons with which to arm and incite a slave rebellion in Virginia, Brown’s raiders stormed the sleepy village on the evening of October 16, 1859 taking the town and its citizens by complete surprise.
Although Brown had planned his raid for months, a small group of locals who resented the invasion of their community by a group of outside agitators rose up in unexpected armed resistance causing the raid to ultimately fail. As their plan unraveled before their eyes, Brown’s men seized hostages and sought refuge in an old fire engine house near the arsenal. Once in the engine house, the standoff between the raiders and the outraged citizens stretched out for two days. Responding to the public outcry in Harpers Ferry, the War department dispatched Colonel Robert E. Lee and a detachment of Marines to quell the rebellion. In the process of apprehending the raiders and restoring order several of Brown's men, including two of his sons, were either killed or mortally wounded. Brown was taken captive and hanged at nearby Charles Town two months later.
The second event of Civil War significance was a battle fought on September 15, 1862 was the lead operation of Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign which would cumulate at the great battle of Antietam Creek. Buoyed by their resounding victory at Second Manassas Lee and the Confederate government sculpted a plan to invade Maryland, bring the border-state into the Confederacy, and force political recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. With his plan to execute a raid into Maryland approved and in place, all that stood in Lee’s way was the small Union garrison stationed at Harpers Ferry. Realizing he had to remove this obstacle to keep his lines of communication open back to Richmond, Lee sent General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson and a small Confederate detachment to Harpers Ferry to dispose of the pesky Yankees. Executing the maneuver of his cannon to perfection, Jackson quickly dispatched the Union threat, capturing 12,000 Union troops, the largest surrender of United States troops in American history until Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II. We will spend the remainder of the day at the Historical Park in “lower town” Harpers Ferry where you will get the opportunity to shop the many quaint shops and take in the sights of the town.
Late afternoon we will travel to the Old South Mountain Inn where we will have dinner and enjoy the tales of a storyteller before traveling to Middletown Virginia and to the Wayside Inn (www.alongthewayside.com) for the night.
Day 2 This morning we will depart the Wayside Inn and drive to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and a morning tour of the Antietam National Battlefield. The Battle of Antietam was fought in September 1862, and was the signature battle of the Maryland Campaign, which marked the first of two incursions by General Lee into Northern territory. The Battle at Antietam has forever carried the dubious distinction of having been the single bloodiest day of battle during any war in American History, accounting for more than 20,000 American casualties.
At the conclusion of our tour at Antietam we will travel into Frederick, Maryland where we will lunch at Brewer’s Alley Restaurant and Brewery (www.brewers-alley.com). After lunch we will visit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine (www.civilwarmed.org) prior to returning to the Wayside Inn for dinner and the night. A storyteller will join us for dinner this evening and will acquaint us with the history of the Inn and the Middletown area. Rich in its own history, the Wayside Inn first began to serve travelers in 1797 as they journeyed across the Shenandoah Valley. Upon the building of the Valley Pike twenty years later the Inn became a stagecoach stop and a relay station where fresh horses were ready, and a place where weary travelers could rest and enjoy food and spirits. During the Civil War officers and soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies frequented the Inn. Although the occupation of Northern Virginia changed hands many times during the war, the Inn was spared the ravages of the war. The Inn and the Middletown area were both central to the Shenandoah Campaigns of 1862 and 1864.
Day 3 This morning we will arise early and drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1 - 3, 1863 in tandem with Grant’s siege of Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi, are considered by many as marking the turning point of the Civil War in favor of Union forces. With neither side particularly wanting to fight at Gettysburg, a series of prevailing circumstances forced the two sides together on the rocky hills surrounding this small town in south central Pennsylvania. The battle began when Henry Heth, one of A.P. Hill’s division commanders authorized a patrol to go into the town to requisition shoes for his troops. It was during this mission the rebel patrol came into contact with a Union patrol. As might be expected, the two opposing patrols engaged one another, setting into motion the greatest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere,resulting in28,000 Confederate, and 23,000 Union casualties.
Upon arrival we will tour the National Battlefield, after which we will have an afternoon at leisure exploring the quaint shops of Gettysburg. Tonight we will have an early dinner at the famed Farnsworth House (www.farnsworthhouseinn.com) after which we will attend a “Ghost Show” where storytellers tell of the many ghost which haunt the old house and the community. (www.farnsworthhouseinn.com/mourning-theater.htm) We will spend the night in Gettysburg.
Day 4 This morningwill be at leisure in Gettysburg. We will have lunch at the Cashtown Inn (www.cashtowninn.com) located eight miles west of Gettysburg, and the site of the gathering Confederate forces in the days immediately preceding the battle. We will be joined at lunch by a storyteller in period costume who will assume the character of the grand daughter of the owner of the inn during the great battle at Gettysburg and recount the many fascinating stories about the Confederate occupation of the old house.
After lunch we will take a more detailed tour of the battlefield working our way east from Cashtown along the Chambersburg Pike past McPherson’s Ridge and to Seminary Ridge and Little Round Top. When our tour is completed we will depart to Locust Dale, Virginia and the Meander Plantation (www.meander.net) where we will have dinner and spend the night. A storyteller will join us for dinner and acquaint us with the lore of the plantation before and during the great Civil War.
Day 5 This morning we will have a leisurely breakfast at the Meander and drive into Richmond where we will visit the famed Museum of the Confederacy (www.moc.org) where we will tour the museum exhibits and have a luncheon seminar with one of the museum historians. After lunch we will have a private tour of the White House of the Confederacy, the executive mansion and home to the Jefferson Davis family from 1861-65. Upon departing the Museum of the Confederacy, we will drive to, and tour St Johns Episcopal Church, the site of the 1775 second Virginia Convention where Patrick Henry made his famous "give me liberty or give me death" speech.
Upon departing St. Johns we will visit Hollywood Cemetery (www.hollywoodcemetery.org), the final resting-place for Presidents Jefferson Davis, James Monroe, and John Tyler. Also interred at Hollywood are many veterans of Army of Northern Virginia buried in what is today known as “Confederate Row.” These men, known as the “trench soldiers” were killed at Gettysburg during Pickett’s charge. After dinner at the Strawberry Street Cafe (www.strawberrystreetcafe.com) we will check-in at the Jefferson Hotel where we will spend the night.
(www.jefferson-hotel.com)
Day 6 This morning, we will rise early again and travel to the Jamestown Settlement. (www.nps.gov/jame)There we will walk in the steps of John Smith and Pocahontas as we explore Jamestown, the first English settlement in the New World, settled in May 1607, and the first capital of the Virginia Colony. After concluding our visit to Jamestown we will travel to Carter's Grove Plantation (www.history.org/History/museums/carters_grove.cfm) there we will transcend 400 years of American History. Carter Burwell, grandson of Robert "King" Carter, began to work on the mansion in 1750, and final work, as it is today, was not completed until the 1920s. We will visit the most famous room in the mansion where George Washington and Thomas Jefferson each made marriage proposals to Carter girls and were refused. We will visit the slave quarter of the plantation, as well as the active excavations of Wolstenholme Towne Site, an early English James River settlement wiped out by an Indian massacre in March, 1622.
After leaving Carter's Grove, we will travel to Colonial Williamsburg, (www.history.org/) where you will be able to visit the many reconstructed points of colonial history, i.e., the Colonial Governor's Palace, the George Wythe House, and the Colonial Capital, the original of which housed the Governor's Council, the house of Burgesses, and the General Court, as well as shop the many quaint shops of Williamsburg. Also visit the Raleigh Tavern, which was the informal capital of the Virginia Colony, where news and gossip of the day was exchanged. It was in the Apollo Room of the tavern that the burgesses met on at least two occasions when the Royal Governor dissolved the assembly. Many other historical attractions of the colonial period are available for your enjoyment. At dusk, join an hour long lantern walking tour and experience the grandeur of Colonial Williamsburg at night. After our nocturnal experience in Williamsburg we will return to the Jefferson in Richmond for the night.
Day 7 This morning our day will begin with a drive to Berkeley Plantation (www.berkeleyplantation.com) (also known as “Harrison Landing” during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign), on the James River where we will tour the Plantation grounds. Berkeley, built in 1776, is the most historic of the James River Plantations. Berkeley was the home of Royal GovernorWilliam Berkeley and the birth place of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and three time Governor of Virginia, as well as, William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States. It was here at Berkeley that English Settlers landed on December 4, 1619 and immediately celebrated the first official Thanksgiving in America.
In 1862, President Lincoln reviewed the troops Army of the Potomac camped at Berkeley, (Harrison Landing) at the end of the Peninsula Campaign under the command of Gen. George McClellan. It was during this encampment, that the bugle call "Taps" was composed on the plantation grounds. After spending the morning at Berkeley, we have lunch at the nearby Indian Fields Tavern, (www.indianfields.com/home.html) then travel to Petersburg and tour the famous Petersburg Battlefield and Blandford Church,
(www.craterroad.com/oldblandfordchurch.htm)gravesite of some 30,000 Confederate soldiers.
Upon leaving Blandford Church we will
return to our Richmond hotel for the night.
Day 8 After breakfast this morning we will drive to Monticello, home to Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. (www.monticello.org) upon departing Monticello we will drive down the mountain to the historic Michie Tavern (www.michietavern.com) where we will have a late lunch. After lunch we will depart Michie Tavern for Washington where our tour will end.
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