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National Park Travels Next planned trips: Group 23
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Trip: 14

(Civil War, more Civil War, Revolutionary War, and some wild horses!)

Visited from Sep 12, 2024 to Sep 21, 2024

(Group 9)

I combined this group with Group 8 making for an ambitious attempt at visiting over 40 sites. This group concentrated on the sites further outside of the metro DC area to the west and south in Virginia and across the Delmarva peninsula to the east.

Some of the most vicious fighting of the Civil War happened in Virginia and is preserved at Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Wilderness, Richmond and Petersburg. As a history buff, I enjoyed walking the sites where so much history happened.

Heading down the peninsula on which George McClellan led troops in a failed attack on Richmond, I visited the first permanent English settlement and Jamestown, then crossed the peninsula to Yorktown, site of the British surrender in the Revolutionary War.

Overdosing on history, I drove across the 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Asseteague National Seashore, home to herds of free-roaming feral horses. Turning back toward Washington, I stopped at the Harriett Tubman Underground Railroad NHP. Tubman escaped slavery, making it to Pennsylvania, only to return several times to Maryland and lead hundred of others north to freedom.

After visiting some urban parks that are under the NPS management, I visited the home of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. I spent some time along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and visited perhaps the most unusual national park: Wolf Trap. This is an outdoor concert venue nestled in northern Virginia not far from Dulles Airport. Posters show the variety of big-name groups that have performed there.

After seeing all of that, I continued the trip with group 8, which took me into the heart of Washington.

Park units visited during this trip

Click on any of the parks listed below to see the page specific to that park.

The park page will have my comments about the site, photos and links to both the NPS official page and my blog entry for the park.

The interactive map in the top right of this page shows the location of each unit. You can zoom in and move around on the map. The rectangle icon in the top right will expand the map to full screen. Clicking on any unit in the map will open a small information window. The map and icons on it are based on the same information found in the Google Earth KML files, which you can create and download from the Home page.

Group Photo
(New River Gorge National Park and Preserve)

©2023 SKM All text and photos not otherwise credited