Sample Two-Day/One-Night Itinerary
Sample Two-Day/One-Night Itinerary
AT A GLANCE
- One national battlefield
- Two museums and historic sites
- One evening activity
- One day in the nation’s capital
DAY 1
Washington D.C. – Less than an hour away from most lodging properties in the heritage area, take a day to see our nation’s seat of politics and power. Options are endless! Continue the Civil War theme with visits to the Clara Barton Missing Soldier’s Office, Ford’s Theatre, the Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials – all places that speak powerfully to the aftermath of war and the ongoing work of civil rights..
Dine and overnight in Hagerstown, Frederick or Westminster, where a variety of student-friendly lodging and restaurant options are ready to accommodate your group.
Evening options include a minor league baseball game with the Frederick Keys (Orioles affiliate) or Hagerstown Suns (Nationals affiliate), theater or concert-going, a lantern-lit walking tour (with or without ghost stories), or area amusement parks. Or, book an after-hours program at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine for a history lesson like no other.
DAY 2
If you are staying in or near Hagerstown,spend the morning at Antietam National Battlefield. Learn how the country’s bloodiest one-day battle in 1862 gave rise to the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Be sure to stop by the historic Newcomer House, part of a farm/mill complex that witnessed the battle, and the Pry House Field Hospital Museum. Before leaving Sharpsburg, visit Tolson’s Chapel, a post-Emancipation church and Freedmen’s Bureau school, where African American life in a newly free community is explored.
If you are staying in or near Frederick, spend the morning at Monocacy National Battlefield. Learn about the Civil War “Battle that Saved Washington.” Pre-Civil War history at this location is also fascinating. Find out about archaeology that revealed the largest extant slave habitation site in the mid-Atlantic.
If you are staying in or near Westminster, start with a walking or driving tour through historic downtown Westminster, where an important cavalry skirmish—Corbit’s Charge—delayed the advance of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart’s march into Pennsylvania just prior to the Battle of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. Then, head to Union Mills Homestead. The anguish of divided loyalties among Maryland families is powerfully evoked here, where the Shriver family hosted encampments of both Union and Confederate armies. A special treat is the working grist mill, expertly demonstrated by Ivan the miller, a great storyteller and artisan.
Enjoy a box or catered lunch, either as a picnic on en route to Gettysburg.
Gettysburg National Military Park – Visit the park’s Museum & Visitor Center for the film, cyclorama (1900s version of IMAX!) experience and museum. After this orientation, options for battlefield exploration include tours by bike, horseback, on foot or in the comfort of the motorcoach.
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