One of our last historic tours while staying in Virginia was touring the White House of the Confederacy and the Civil War Museum in Richmond. Civil War Museum The Civil War Museum was very well done and impressively unbiased. The museum was built in and around the ruins of the historic Tredegar Iron Foundry. This foundry had produced iron works for every major American conflict until its destruction by Hurricane
Cape Henry Lighthouse was the last and probably least well-done location toured during Preservation Virginia’s Homeschool Days. This could easily be explained away by the fact the lighthouse sits on Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story and thus access isn’t as easy as the other four sites they showcased during the events. While they had themed activities, the activities they offered were a timed walking tour covering the base of the
On our third week of Preservation Virginia‘s home school days, we visited Bacon’s Castle. Regrettably, it seems like the quality of the locations was dropping off by this point. This day was shared with the Smith’s Fort Plantation site. The best part about this location was the two outdoor activities. One was planting a peanut that The Girl got to take home. The other was a demonstration of natural dyes
While staying in Virginia, we got to participate in Preservation Virginia’s inaugural Homeschool Day events. The first location of their month-long event was hosted at John Marshall House. As the sign above says, this was the home of John Marshall. He was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was largely responsible for shaping it into the third branch of the United States Federal Government, giving
Much like Jamestown, Yorktown also has two areas (three if you count the modern town of Yorktown): Yorktown Battlefield and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. American Revolution Museum at Yorktown The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is one that you can’t really do in one day. Like its counterpart, Jamestown Settlement, it consists of two areas; an expansive indoor exhibit area, with artifacts from pre- and post-colonial American history,
While staying in Virginia, we had the opportunity to visit many historic sites. One of these was the Jamestown Settlement, the first permanent English settlement in the New World! Did you know Virginia has two Jamestowns? Jamestown Settlement was established in 1957 near the site of the original James Fort. The second is Historic Jamestowne, established in 1607 by The Virginia Company of London. The chief difference between the two
While staying in Virginia, we had the opportunity to visit Colonial Williamsburg. Not once, but 3 times! It should say a lot about this location that we found so much to see, do, and learn that we kept going back. Colonial Williamsburg is unique among the other historic sites, museums, and living history locations we’ve been to in the past. While Camlann in Washington was an immersive experience, it was
On our last day touring Washington, DC, we toured the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was the day we elected to try the Washington, DC train system as it was a weekend day and the fare per person was only $2. However, since it was the weekend, it also meant that we had to contend with the weekend crowds. This was a bit of an issue at the Museum
The National Air and Space Museum was one of the best-organized air and space museums we’ve visited. While not as expansive as The Houston Space Center or The Museum of Flight, one thing that the National Air and Space Museum can brag about is the sheer number of historic relics. Most large air and space museums will have models or reproductions of the Wright Flier. This museum has the actual
While staying in Virginia, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to tour our nation’s capital! So while staying at the Pohick Bay Regional Campground, we made several trips across the Potomac into DC. On our first day, we wanted to tour the National Archives. Additionally, we wanted to take in as many monuments and memorials as we could along the National Mall. Thomas Jefferson Memorial The first memorial we hit