Mid-Atlantic Region
Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware.
Delaware
- Visited: First State National Historical Park
Maryland
- Visited: Antietam
- Visited: Assateague Island National Seashore
- Visited: Catoctin Mountain Park
- Not yet: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
- Visited: Clara Barton National Historic Site
- Not yet: Fort Foote Park
- Visited: Fort McHenry National Historic Site
- Not yet: Greenbelt Park
- Visited: Hampton National Historic Site
- Visited: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
- Visited: Monocacy National Battlefield
- Not yet: Piscataway Park
- Visited: Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail
- Visited: Thomas Stone National Historic Site
New Jersey
- Visited: Gateway National Recreation Area / Sandy Hook Lighthouse
- Visited: Great Egg Harbor National Wild and Scenic River
- Visited: Morristown National Historical Park
- Visited: Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
- Not yet: Pinelands National Reserve
- Visited: Thomas Edison National Historical Park
- Visited: Thomas Edison NHP - Black Maria Studio
Pennsylvania
- Visited: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
- Visited: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- Visited: Edgar Allan Pоe National Historic Site
- Visited: Eisenhower National Historic Site
- Visited: Flight 93 National Memorial
- Visited: Fort Necessity National Battlefield
- Visited: Friendship Hill National Historic Site
- Visited: Gettysburg National Military Park
- Visited: Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
- Visited: Independence National Historical Park
- Visited: Johnstown Flood National Memorial
- Visited: Steamtown National Historic Site
- Visited: Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Historical Park
- Visited: Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River
- Visited: Valley Forge National Historical Park
- Visited: The Soldiers' Huts - Valley Forge National Historical Park
Virginia
- Visited: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
- Visited: Arlington House, Robert E. Lee Memorial
- Visited: Booker T. Washington National Monument
- Visited: Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park
- Not yet: Colonial National Historical Park
- Not yet: Fort Monroe National Monument
- Visited: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park
- Visited: George Washington Birthplace National Monument
- Visited: George Washington Memorial Parkway
- Visited: Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site
- Visited: Manassas National Battlefield Park
- Visited: Petersburg National Battlefield
- Visited: Prince William Forest Park
- Visited: Richmond National Battlefield Park
- Visited: Shenandoah National Park
- Not yet: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
- Visited: Manassas National Battlefield Park - Stonewall Jackson Monument
West Virginia
- Visited: Appalachian National Scenic Trail
- Not yet: Bluestone National Scenic River
- Not yet: Gauley River National Recreation Area
- Visited: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
- Visited: New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
Recent Posts
George Washington Birthplace National Monument
George Washington was born here on February 22, 1732, to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Although he spent only the first few years of his life at this plantation before the family moved to another property along the Potomac River, his birthplace is remembered as a significant historic site. The brick house is the Memorial House, constructed in […]
Hampton National Historic Site
I remember touring Hampton National Site in Maryland during a road trip south. Located in Towson, Maryland, Hampton preserves the story of one of the largest and most influential estates in early America. We visited to not only see the grand Georgian mansion, as well as the farm buildings, gardens and working areas that reveal how the estate functioned. […]
Clara Barton National Historic Site
One of the most memorable stops during a family road trip was the Clara Barton National Historic Site in Glen Echo, Maryland. This tells the story of a woman whose life was devoted to service, compassion and humanitarian aid. The large Victorian house served as Clara Barton’s home during the final fifteen years of her […]
Appomattox Court House National Historic Park
The drive to Appomattox Court House took us through the rolling hills and quiet countryside of Virginia. As beautiful as the landscape is today, it is hard not to think about the hardship, sacrifice and bloodshed that the Civil War brought to this region and to the nation. Knowing that history makes arriving at this small village even […]
Appalachian Trail
I took this photo in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, an important landmark along the Appalachian Trail. This sign marks a pathway that stretches nearly 2,200 miles from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, making it one of the longest and most famous hiking trails in the world. The Appalachian Trail was conceived […]
Antietam National Battlefield
Located near the town of Sharpsburg, Antietam was the site of the Battle of Antietam fought on September 17, 1862. It remains the bloodiest single day in American military history with over 22,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing in just one day of fighting between Union and Confederate forces. The landscape at Antietam now seems peaceful in […]
Assateague Island National Seashore
On a road trip to meet our daughters for a family vacation, we stopped at Assateague Island National Seashore. One of the unforgettable experiences there was seeing the famous wild horses wandering freely through the landscape. In this photo, one of the horses calmly stood along the boardwalk. Encounters like this are part of what makes Assateague such […]
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
The drive to Maryland’s Eastern Shore during a trip to Washington, DC became far more meaningful when we made a side journey to Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center. Some historic sites teach you facts, while others leave you standing quietly, reflecting on the courage and strength of the people connected to that place. This was […]
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
A great opportunity to re-visit Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in 2026. Walking through the historic town once again and visiting John Brown’s fort and museum brought history back to life in a powerful way. Few places in America hold so many lawyers of history within such a small landscape. The town is forever tied to the events […]
First State National Historical Park
For decades of my National Park explorations, Delaware was the only state that did not have a location within the National Park Service…….until 2013, when President Barack Obama established First State National Historical Park as a new unit of the National Park Service. Delaware is known as “The First State” because it was the first […]
Gettysburg National Military Park
On our first visit to Gettysburg National Military Park, we hired a Park Ranger to guide us through the battlefield and bring the events that unfolded here to life. Standing on these fields, it became clear that Gettysburg is far more than monuments and cannons. It is a landscape where the course of American history […]
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park
On our travels to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, we took the time to visit some of the historic sites in Virginia. One of them was Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, a Civil War battlefield that holds the memory of one of the war’s most devastating encounters. This statue commemorates Andrew A. Humphreys and his […]
