Hi. I posted this on another forum, so hopefully I鈥檒l hear back from someone! :-P My family is doing a one week vacation next summer. I have two boys, one will be 12 and the other 8. My wife and I decided to do a Colonial America themed trip because our oldest will be learning some american history in the upcoming school year. We have 9 days, traveling from New Hampshire. We want to hit Philadelphia, Washington, and Williamsburg.
We are going to make an entire year out of the theme, visiting Minuteman National Historical Park (Lexington and Concord) on Patriot鈥檚 Day in April, and in June, visit Bunker Hill and walk the Freedom Trail in Boston...see Boston Tea Party, Old North Church, Paul Revere House, Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, graves of revolutionaries...etc. I love colonial and revolutionary american history, so I have brought my boys up with the same passion. Not too worried about them being bored with all the history involved. We do the Lexington Green battle reenactment every year. I figured if they get tired of the 1770s, we%26#39;ll end the trip with Busch Gardens. So far we have come up with this itinerary:
DAY
1: Drive to Philadelphia
2. Philadelphia - Independence National Historical Park (Visitor Center/Independence Hall/Liberty Bell/ National Constitution Center/Ben Franklin Grave)
3. Valley Forge National Historical Site; drive to DC
4. Washington - White House (outside view), National Mall (Washington/Lincoln/Jefferson/war memorials鈥tc), US Capitol Building and the new visitor center, tour
5. Washington - National Archives (Charters of Freedom), National Museum of American History; maybe an hour at the end of the day seeing the most significant items at the National Air %26amp; Space Museum
6. Mount Vernon in the morning (3 hours enough?), then head to Colonial National Historical Park, primarily to see Yorktown for a few hours in the afternoon鈥?google maps says 2.5 hours away from Vernon, so I rounded to 3 hours to be safe, should be in Yorktown by 3:00? Closes at 5:00, so this is my biggest concern if we鈥檒l have enough time there. If the visitor center closes at 5:00, can we still drive around into the evening? Someone let me know how I can make this day worth it for both places, because I would like to take part in the siege walking tour. I would like to spend atleast 3 hours at each.
7. Colonial Williamsburg
8. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
9. LONG drive back over Chesapeake Bay Bridge to home in New Hampshire
Thanks in advance for you help! Cheers鈥ike
colonial/revolutionary america themed vacation help
Quick thoughts, thats a little ambitious, but doable.. Your missing some stuff in Philly but hitting the main things. Pre-order your independence
hall tix on line to make sure you get an early time.
Day 4 in washington is light, but you%26#39;ll need the rest. Can%26#39;t speak to day 6.
colonial/revolutionary america themed vacation help
I%26#39;m a Philly native and have taken plenty of out-of-town friends on tours of the city, especially the little known and less touristy parts.
I agree with the other poster in regards to ordering tix in advance. Not that long ago, there was never a line to get into Independence Hall or to really see the Liberty Bell. That has all changed.
In June, I took my gf%26#39;s mother and friend (both native NYers who%26#39;d never been to Philly proper) on my ';Taste of Philly'; walking and driving tour.
The wait to get into the State House (aka Independence Hall) was 3 hours. The line snaked around and around. The wait for the Liberty Bell was at least an hour. I miss the old glass pavilion it was housed it. I%26#39;d have my friends put their noses up to the glass is there were more than a dozen people in line to get in.
Read up on the Bell, it had little to nothing to do with Independence. Once you know the ';story'; you might elect to avoid it all together other than just to say you saw it.
Don%26#39;t forget Betsy Ross%26#39;s house a couple blocks away to the north. Ben Franlin%26#39;s House, post office and print shop are on 3rd and Market. Be sure to go to the underground museum circa 1976 and ';talk'; to dead presidents!
I recommend visiting the nationally acclaimed Franklin Fountain for some non-colonial homemade turn-of-the-century ice cream at 2nd and Market. Independence MALL is at 5 and Market.
For cheesesteaks, try Campo%26#39;s right on Market between 2nd and 3rd. Quality steaks and they are on South Philly seeded rolls. I recommend that you stay away from Jim;s on South St. And, it%26#39;s not worth going to South Philly to try Pat%26#39;s or Geno%26#39;s. It%26#39;s easy to get lost going there and the neighborhood can be rough. If you do decide to go to Pat%26#39;s and Geno%26#39;s, take a cab (don%26#39;t have them wait for you after the drop you off!!!) and order one steak from Pat%26#39;s and then cross the street to Geno%26#39;s and order one there. Eat them side by side. Then hail another cab and have them take you straight up 9th Street through the Italian (and now ';Mexican';) Market. You%26#39;ll see the same street scenes in the original Rocky movie.
If you do the Rocky steps, take a cab there. At the top you%26#39;ll find Rocky%26#39;s bronzed footprints and a statue at the bottom of the steps to the left.
Philly is as walkable as Boston, which is where I%26#39;m headed to next week in fact.
Elfreth%26#39;s Alley is the oldest residential street in the US and is usually a quaint starting point for any of my homemade tours. It%26#39;s in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge, too!
Visit Washington Sq which is 1/2 a block behind Independence Hall. There%26#39;s a statue of Washington and it%26#39;s the burial ground for a number of Revolutionary soldiers and the grave of the Unknown.
From NH to Philly, it%26#39;s about 6 hours. Leave early enough and you can get a lot of the little things I mentioned done the first day and leave the 2nd day for the bigger items: Independence National Historical Park -- Visitor Center/Independence Hall/Liberty Bell/ National Constitution Center (which is all part of the same thing), Ben franlin%26#39;s House. His grave is a few blocks away.
Betsy Ross%26#39; house takes about 15 minutes to run through it. There are colonial dressed actors out front in the courtyard. I think they are more entertaining than the house itself which may or may not have been the actual house she lived in! SHHHH! Don%26#39;t tell anyone that.
I%26#39;d check out the Quaker Meeting House that is on the grounds of the Independence National Historical Park (northeast corner). There is usually a really good actor there in a rocking chair who is a real present day Quaker.
A block or 2 north is something very uncolonial... the US Mint.
I%26#39;d visit Christ%26#39;s Church on 2nd above Market where Washington prayed, Carpenter%26#39;s Hall and Tun Tavern, which no longer stands, Carpenter%26#39;s Hall is traditionally held as the place where the Marine Corps was founded. The 2nd National Bank is worth a visit, as well.
Valley Forge is really a half day trip, at best. Give yourself about 30 to 45 minutes to get there on I76 with light to medium traffic. I haven%26#39;t been there in years, but have heard there are a lot of improvements. The log cabins are neat, especially for kids. They may have colonial actors there now. One of the largest malls on the East Coast is a stone%26#39;s throw from VF, King of Prussia Mall.
Down aways from VF and KofP Mall is the Battle of Brandywine site just north of the Delaware border.
Just off 95 in DE near the very last exit before Maryland is the site of the only Rev. War battle fought in DE, Cooch%26#39;s Bridge. If you want to visit a site, I%26#39;d go with Brandywine. It%26#39;s huge part of the larger Chadds Ford/Brandywine Valley area. Cooch%26#39;s Bridge is hard to access with the traffic and you%26#39;d miss it if you blinked.
The Battle of Germantown took place about 6 miles from Independence Hall. It%26#39;s within Philadelphia and very quaint and not a site most people visit. A little off the beaten path, but not as much as Cooch%26#39;s Bridge.
The trip to DC will take you 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours depending upon traffic. The Valley Forge area can be EXTREMELY congested near and during rush hour, especially on I76. I95 South shouldn%26#39;t be a problem (watch for PA State Troopers near the Philly airport and in DE near Newark by the MD border) until you get between Balto and DC. The Beltway can be murder at rush hour, as well.
You may find you%26#39;ll need more than 1 1/2 days in Philly after all.
Have fun!
You should really visit Washington Crossing PA/NJ. It%26#39;s a little less than an hour north of the city and is at the very least as interetsting as Valley Forge. You can hit it on you way in by getting off the NJT at Exit 7, and take I-195 West to NJ-29 North. It%26#39;s about a 30 minute ride from Exit 7. You can park on the PA or NJ side and walk across the bridge. The PA side is more interesting, IMO.
Also, IMO, you are doing yourselves a disservice by not spending more time in DC. While it has nothing to do with Colonial America, there is so much to see there. When you visit the Vietnam War Memorial, bring tissues. Get to The National Archives first thing in the morning- before they open. The line gets very, very long, and it is really the one thing in your entire tour that should not be missed. You will wish you spent more time at the Air %26amp; Space Museum, though.
Also, keep in mind that Colonial Williamsburg is a re-creation, not the real thing.
Bobbyjack - welcome to the Philly forum. Great post!
Many locations along the East Coast have sites from the Revolutionary War, but only Philadelphia (and more broadly Pennsylvania) is the place where our country%26#39;s foundation was laid. My advice to you while in Philly is to skip sites that have to do only with the War and focus on establishment of US government, particularly the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What many people don%26#39;t realize is how much our civil liberties were inspired by the laws of William Penn. The National Park focuses on the narrow span of years of the Revolutionary War and does not get into early Philly history.
By the way, the ';fighting'; Quaker Meetinghouse is a neat stop but has little significance to the establishment of the nation. You%26#39;d learn more at either the Atwater Kent Museum or the Arch Street Meetinghouse at 4th and Arch. (This is still an active Friends Meeting.)
Also, if you want to see another extraordinary aspect of Colonial Philly, tour the Old Philadelphia Congregations. These sites are still active religious communities with Colonial or Federalist Era roots. They are witness to the diversity that resulted from the tolerence here. Even if you don%26#39;t visit the sites, I recommend the website holyexperiment.org.
With regard to the Liberty Bell, I agree that with limited time I%26#39;d skip it in favor of Franklin Court. Also, I%26#39;d skip the Betsy Ross House (more lore than history) in favor of Elfreths Alley, a more expansive look at the homes of the Colonial working class.
If you were going to spend more time here I%26#39;d say take half a day to tour Cliveden, where the Battle of Germantown was fought. The home, with furnishings, documents, paintings, etc., was given to the National Trust in 1972 after being in the same family almost continuously since the Colonial Era. Incredibly comprehensive tour.
Lynn
Mike
If you haven%26#39;t already, take a look at ushistory.org. This is, IMO, the best website for planning a visit to Philly.
Lynn
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