Gaines’ Mill Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

- Civil War Series - Following General Robert E. Lee’s defeat the day prior at Beaver Dam Creek, the Confederate Army won a decisive but costly victory on June 27, 1862 in the Battle of Gaines’ Mill. Attempting to catch the Federal Army as it was retreating south to the James River, Lee sent the …

Continue reading Gaines’ Mill Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

Beaver Dam Creek Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

- Civil War Series - The Battle of Beaver Dam Creek—also known as the Battle of Mechanicsville or Ellerson’s Mill—is widely remembered today for being General Robert E. Lee’s debut as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. With the Union Army on the doorstep of Richmond in June 1862, Lee embarked on a series …

Continue reading Beaver Dam Creek Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

Drewry’s Bluff Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

- Civil War Series - As Union gunboats approached Richmond, the Confederate capital, on the morning of May 15, 1862, they were greeted with a hail of heavy artillery fire from what would come to be known as Drewry’s Bluff, a Civil War fortification perched high above Virginia’s James River. Named for local property owner …

Continue reading Drewry’s Bluff Trail (Richmond National Battlefield Park, VA)

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, TX

There’s no doubt that the iconic Alamo, site of the famous battle in 1836, is the most famous mission in San Antonio, Texas. Although the oldest in the area, the Alamo was neither the largest nor the most populated of the Spanish missions along the San Antonio River. Throughout much of the 1700s, Catholic missionaries …

Continue reading San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, TX

Weir Farm National Historic Site, CT

Weir Farm National Historic Site is the only National Park Service unit in Connecticut and the only NPS site in the country dedicated to the visual arts. Weir Farm, the summer home of Julian Alden Weir, commemorates the life and works of one of America’s most prominent Impressionist painters. Visitors today to the 68-acre park …

Continue reading Weir Farm National Historic Site, CT

Nature Trail (George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA)

- Revolutionary War Series - The roughly one-mile Nature Trail at Virginia’s George Washington Birthplace National Monument offers a short journey through peaceful woodlands situated across Dancing Marsh from the main historic area. The forest was the old stomping grounds of George Washington, who, despite moving area from the Pope’s Creek area when he was …

Continue reading Nature Trail (George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA)

George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA

- Revolutionary War Series - George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Tidewater Virginia is, at least to some degree, a fraud. Yes, to the best of our knowledge, the Revolutionary War hero and first U.S. president was born here, on what was once Pope’s Creek Plantation, in February 1732. The structures that exist today, however—from …

Continue reading George Washington Birthplace National Monument, VA

Thomas Stone National Historic Site, MD

- Revolutionary War Series - Thomas Stone National Historic Site commemorates the life of Thomas Stone, a Maryland planter and politician during the Declaration of Independence. Aside from signing the Declaration of Independence, there is little notable about the soft-spoken Stone, but his lovely home and estate—known as Haberdeventure—is well-preserved today by the National Park …

Continue reading Thomas Stone National Historic Site, MD

Coastal Trail – Lands End Section, including Mile Rock Beach (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA)

Coastal Trail - Lands End Section, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, December 2017 The windswept shoreline of Lands End forms the northwest tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and is easily accessible from northern California’s iconic cultural capital. For those looking for a brief urban escape, the Land’s End section of the Coastal Trail offers …

Continue reading Coastal Trail – Lands End Section, including Mile Rock Beach (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA)

Road to First Manassas Driving Tour

- Civil War Series - At the start of the Civil War in 1861, both the Union and the Confederacy foresaw a quick conflict, expecting to be done fighting by summer’s end. Politicians in the North believed the Federal Army would conquer Richmond, the Confederate capital, in one fell swoop, while top Southern general P.G.T. …

Continue reading Road to First Manassas Driving Tour