The Early American History Trip - Suggestions?

[casa3805]

Originally Posted by socdiva

The best day of our trip to Williamsburg and the surrouning areas was our day spent at the original Jamestown settlement which has only been discovered and "unearthed" in the past 15-18 years. Everyone thought it had eroded into the river. Fabulous history!

Thought I had made this post over the weekend but my phone was not working real well (we were camping!)

I agree with the above. Kinda. I love Williamsburg the best. But was amazed a few years ago to find the Jamestown settlement being dug out. What a great place to visit especially since I grew up there learning it was out in the river. And it was fun!! But then, just to add to the spreadsheet, take the Jamestown ferry to Surrey and get some peanut soup at the Surrey Inn. Then you may as well head on over to Smithfield for some of that world famous Smithfield ham.

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by casa3805

Thought I had made this post over the weekend but my phone was not working real well (we were camping!)

I agree with the above. Kinda. I love Williamsburg the best. But was amazed a few years ago to find the Jamestown settlement being dug out. What a great place to visit especially since I grew up there learning it was out in the river. And it was fun!! But then, just to add to the spreadsheet, take the Jamestown ferry to Surrey and get some peanut soup at the Surrey Inn. Then you may as well head on over to Smithfield for some of that world famous Smithfield ham.

I saw this and got too busy to comment... it has been added!

[rebelstand]

Just wanted to update everyone...

I have ordered the homeschooling curriculum. I am hoping to follow the suggestion of letting the curriculum dictate our travels. I can't wait to open the curriculum and see where it will lead us!

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Hope it involves coming to Baltimore

[exthemius]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

Hope it involves coming to Baltimore

Of course...I still need to place that order, get'em delivered and figure out what month we'll be there!

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

Hope it involves coming to Baltimore

was there ever any doubt?

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by exthemius

Of course...I still need to place that order, get'em delivered and figure out what month we'll be there!

jeez...no pressure on me

[rebelstand]

Shawn has just found out something that is going to cause us to change our plans drastically. Instead of a meandering trip through the midwest to get to the BASH and the east coast, we are now going to have to truck pretty fast up to Massachusetts. So much for letting the curriculum guide our Journey ... but thanks to you guys I have an entire spreadsheet full of places to visit!

[rebelstand]

We have been back on the road for a few weeks. So far we have visited Graceland and The Andrew Johnson Homestead.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Nicki,

Still in Tennessee?

Glad your on the road, hope all goes well.

Bob

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by rebelstand

We have been back on the road for a few weeks. So far we have visited Graceland and The Andrew Johnson Homestead.

Glad you are out and about.

We really enjoyed Graceland. Very well done, comprehensive, didn't seem to be trying to gouge one out of every possible nickel and dime.

Travel safe,


Maggie

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Nicki,

Still in Tennessee?

Glad your on the road, hope all goes well.

Bob

Still in Tennessee at least till the weekend. Then we are headed up Baltimore way

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by doug&maggie

Glad you are out and about.

We really enjoyed Graceland. Very well done, comprehensive, didn't seem to be trying to gouge one out of every possible nickel and dime.

Travel safe,

Maggie

Graceland was interesting but the real attraction, at least for the kids, was the planes and cars!

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by rebelstand

Graceland was interesting but the real attraction, at least for the kids, was the planes and cars!

Oh, yes, those were Doug's favorite parts!


Maggie

[Gene]

I missed this thread and now see you are on the road.

Buffalo—lots of Victorian architecture. Mansions on Delaware Ave. are impressive and one or more probably have tours: they did years ago. City Hall has some great Art Deco features and the top floor gives a great view of the area. You can also see how a once great industrial city and port dies.

Bethlehem, Pa. Site of an 18th century Moravian settlement, I believe they have restored it. The site of the Bethlehem Steel Co. plant (another victim of the post-industrial era) is being redeveloped.

Easton, Pa.—classic old town with a central square at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers. The old canals may still be visible. If you take US 611 south, you follow the Delaware River, the old canal, and many historic sites.

Antietam battlefield in Md.—I believe this was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and teaches about the ugliness of war. Nearby is Harper's Ferry—historic park, site of John Brown's effort to start a slave uprising and a town that changed hands numerous times during the war.

Coal country in NE Pa.—towns like Hazleton and Mahoney City were surrounded by slag heaps from irresponsible mining and I doubt it has changed. Teaches about environmental disasters. Pa. is a beautiful state, but some parts were ravaged.

US 80 across Alabama and Miss. is sometimes called the Civil Rights Highway—Selma, Montgomery are on that highway.

Charleston has been mentioned. Outside town are plantations to view. Drayton Hall has been preserved without being restored with period furniture. You can see how it was more authentically.

Savannah is another city from the past with numerous squares and many restored mansions.

Roanoke Is. has what I recall are replicas of the original British colony in what is now the US. Kitty Hawk is nearby—site of first airplane flight.

Asheville, NC, also has a number of Art Deco buildings including city hall and downtown.

Boston's Faneuil Hall is where Sam Adams and other radicals held town meetings to rally the citizens. Nearby are Paul Revere's house, Old North Church, Boston Commons and many other sites.

We've visited some of the president's homes that had significance to us—Mount Vernon seems small by today's standards and so does Monticello. The Hermitage (Jackson) near Nashville still has the original wallpaper and is well preserved. The Lincoln house and historic district in Springfield has been mentioned. There is also a building with his law office nearby.

We found Mammoth Cave interesting and took two tours. Reservations are a good idea. The most basic tour goes past the saltpeter mine—used for gunpowder during the Revolution I think.

Cumberland Gap—where the late 18th century pioneers crossed to the west and later became the gap where the first federal highway went—The National Road, much later US 40 more or less. 200+ years ago the same fights went on about federal vs. state power and whether the feds should build a road to the west.

Enough for now. I have tried to point out some places and attractions more off the beaten path or not mentioned.

Gene

[rebelstand]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I missed this thread and now see you are on the road.

Buffalo—lots of Victorian architecture. Mansions on Delaware Ave. are impressive and one or more probably have tours: they did years ago. City Hall has some great Art Deco features and the top floor gives a great view of the area. You can also see how a once great industrial city and port dies.

Bethlehem, Pa. Site of an 18th century Moravian settlement, I believe they have restored it. The site of the Bethlehem Steel Co. plant (another victim of the post-industrial era) is being redeveloped.

Easton, Pa.—classic old town with a central square at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers. The old canals may still be visible. If you take US 611 south, you follow the Delaware River, the old canal, and many historic sites.

Antietam battlefield in Md.—I believe this was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and teaches about the ugliness of war. Nearby is Harper's Ferry—historic park, site of John Brown's effort to start a slave uprising and a town that changed hands numerous times during the war.

Coal country in NE Pa.—towns like Hazleton and Mahoney City were surrounded by slag heaps from irresponsible mining and I doubt it has changed. Teaches about environmental disasters. Pa. is a beautiful state, but some parts were ravaged.

US 80 across Alabama and Miss. is sometimes called the Civil Rights Highway—Selma, Montgomery are on that highway.

Charleston has been mentioned. Outside town are plantations to view. Drayton Hall has been preserved without being restored with period furniture. You can see how it was more authentically.

Savannah is another city from the past with numerous squares and many restored mansions.

Roanoke Is. has what I recall are replicas of the original British colony in what is now the US. Kitty Hawk is nearby—site of first airplane flight.

Asheville, NC, also has a number of Art Deco buildings including city hall and downtown.

Boston's Faneuil Hall is where Sam Adams and other radicals held town meetings to rally the citizens. Nearby are Paul Revere's house, Old North Church, Boston Commons and many other sites.

We've visited some of the president's homes that had significance to us—Mount Vernon seems small by today's standards and so does Monticello. The Hermitage (Jackson) near Nashville still has the original wallpaper and is well preserved. The Lincoln house and historic district in Springfield has been mentioned. There is also a building with his law office nearby.

We found Mammoth Cave interesting and took two tours. Reservations are a good idea. The most basic tour goes past the saltpeter mine—used for gunpowder during the Revolution I think.

Cumberland Gap—where the late 18th century pioneers crossed to the west and later became the gap where the first federal highway went—The National Road, much later US 40 more or less. 200+ years ago the same fights went on about federal vs. state power and whether the feds should build a road to the west.

Enough for now. I have tried to point out some places and attractions more off the beaten path or not mentioned.

Gene

I will add these suggestions to the spreadsheet I created. Thanks!!

[ROBERT CROSS]

"Buffalo—lots of Victorian architecture. Mansions on Delaware Ave. are impressive and one or more probably have tours: they did years ago. City Hall has some great Art Deco features and the top floor gives a great view of the area. You can also see how a once great industrial city and port dies."

Don't forget the Wings....

Bob

[Gene]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Don't forget the Wings....

Bob

I'm not sure the wings are historical.

Buffalo also has Allentown which is now probably very cool. Lots of Victoriana and some house date to the very early 1800's. There's one on Irving Pl. that was built not long after Buffalo was settled in 1803. It is close to Allen St. on the south side—I think it is 3 stores, brick and very rectangular. Probably was surrounded by farmland then. This is one mile from downtown. A lot of houses were built in the 1880's on the other end of the block. I think 64 Irving was built in 1886—I once owned it. North St. (the other end of Irving) had a very expensive houses before 1900, but by the 1970's, a lot were gone and replaced by apartment houses. Allentown went downhill eventually, but by the 1960's was being gentrified.

Ask Bob Cross for a tour—he lived close to Allentown years ago.

The county courthouse downtown is classic Victorian to the max and is quite ugly. Nearby is the Prudential bldg, a Louis Sullivan design: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudent...anty)_Building. Not so far to the Ellicott Square Bldg on Main St.: Ellicott Square Building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Once the largest office building in the world, the interior courtyard is pretty cool. There were two major railroad stations. The one close to downtown was in shambles by the 1970's, but the marble interior was still spectacular (it was easy to get through the fences around it). The other station was still operating, but rail service by then was spotty. Delaware Park was designed by Frederick Law Omstead (Central Park in NYC) and was kind of shabby by the '70's, but still showed the designer's famed park designs. Pretty Boy Floyd also lived in Buffalo for a while in the 1920's in an apartment building with features more advanced than seen most places. By the '70's it was a wreck.

Buffalo was a major port from the time the Erie Canal was finished until the St. Lawrence Seaway was built. The railroads supplanted the canal for commerce. Grains were shipped from the midwest and milled in Buffalo and then sent by rail to east coast. Steel and auto plants in neighboring cities made this an industrial center. The Seaway enabled ships to keep going to the coast or Europe and the grain mills all closed. Buffalo, despite the famous weather, was one of America's most important cities and when the Seaway opened had around 650,000 people in the 1950's. By the '70's, it was down to 350,000 and now around 250,000. The Seaway was a bad idea for Buffalo. The destruction of cities around the Great Lakes started in Buffalo and the spread. What a waste! Living in a dying city is not easy and the winters of '76-'77 and '77-'78 were enough for me.

Anyone who goes to Buffalo to see the sights will be mostly alone. There is still a lot of significant architecture.

Gene

[BIGED52]

Let's not go all historic! If you are going to be in Mass. Think about Salem, Ma. and the Puritan witch trials. Loads of museums and sites in the area and not to far from Plymouth Rock! Colonial battle sites like Breeds hill and Bunker Hill lots of other places to see and check out in Boston too! Paaark the Caaar! Happy Trails, Ed

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Uhm, Ed, those are all place of historical significants. It is kind of hard to avoid history even when trying to just see the sights.
The Kelly's are passing through Baltimore very soon to have some axles swapped out on their trailer. When they do, I promise to send them off on a tour where the history is balanced out with some pure fun. I however, find history to be highly stimulating. Maybe they can go fly kites at Fort Mc Henry. Fun at the site where the Star Spangled Banner was written, learning and fun all in one visit. Being from far from the sea, I think they will need to visit one of our downtown markets and sample some crab cakes, soft crab sandwiches or some Lake Trout. Perhaps they will be more into BBQ(coming from where BBQ is king) and I will have to send them for some Pit Beef(darn, now I am hungry and it is just breakfast time). They could also go visit the Aquarium or the Science Center. Does science count as learning when history is the objective?