Variation on a theme and visit to Washington DC.....the #1 son and I will have a few days to visit Civil War sites in and around the DC area at the end of July.

We will take one day to drive the 85 miles up to Gettysburg. We will also do the Custis/Lee homestead at the National Cemetary.

For those like minded Civil War buffs, what other sites have you visited or recommend that are within a few hours drive of the DC area?

Never been to DC but how about Fords theater?


Ford's Theatre and the Petersen Boarding House
511 10th St NW, Washington DC 20004-1402
202-426-6841

Pale....i've been to Gettysburg...it was awesome. I've never been to D.C. or Virginia either, but personally, i'd like to go to a couple of different places in Va.; Harpers Ferry, Appomattox, Petersburg (ok, that's 3).

didn't you live through the Civil War?

no, I was not a survivor.....

You need to go to Harpers Ferry, John Brown hid out there during the civil war, it is where the Potomac meets the Shenandoah(I think). Very quaint town, lots of history and some of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. I would pass on Gettysburg, basically just a field. Antietam has a lot of re-enactments several times a year so you should check it out. If you like to road trip, I would suggest going down to southern maryland on the west side of the bay, there are quite a few old cemeteries and other historical markers.

Ouch....calling Seminary Ridge and Little Round Top just a field. That hurt me a little.

well when I moved to the dc area, I was in a huge civil war phase and was let down when I visited Gettysburg. There are so many other great places to visit.

I have nothing else to compare it to...never been to another Civil War site.....but i loved it. It was different than i thought...i had the naive belief that we would just walk around and see all the stuff.....you'd have to have a week to walk around and see everything as spread out as it is. But actually being on Seminary Ridge seeing what Pickett's men saw as they went to make the charge and standing on Little Round Top....both were goosebump moments for me.

I like finding the lesser known places, with out the crowds of people,(just not a people person) I always did the museum thing on weekdays and during the winter for the most part. There is so much though in that area that even living there for almost a total of 10 years I haven't seen it all.

For as much as i love that era and history in general, i somehow have never made it to Virginia or anywhere in the Deep South, even though i've been in probably 25 states. I need to fix that.

Come on down here to Alabama! We'd love to have you!

Chief...hope you have an amazing trip with your son!!!

Alabama sounds great....Mississippi is first on my list...my Dad's family is from there (i can never remember the name of the town off the top of my head...think it's Northern Mississippi).

Thanks everyone, we are leaning toward First and Second Manassas (Bull Run to the Yankees), Antietam, Harpers Ferry (more for Washington than Brown), and Gettysburg.

If you're driving to Gettysburg it might be worth going a little further to see the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg.

Pale let me know when it gets closer and I can give you recommendations on restaurants and some other things to do, maybe you should pay for me to go and I can be your tour guide, plus you might have a heart attack trying to navigate the beltway!!

Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, The Wilderness, and Chancellorsville are nearby in Virginia. Especially Spotsylvania and the Wilderness - I've heard they've been threatened by development recently.

Fredericksburg is pretty cool, if you go up to the height where the Cenfederates were dug in, you can almost see the battle in your mind - the town's laid out in front of you, with the field from the river...I glad I wasn't part of that Union assault; about a mile in open, flat fileds to the town, then you still had to get up the hill to the Rebel fortifications. A bad choice to fight there...

That's what I love about Gettysburg. It's open fields, sure, but when you picture thousands of troops charging each other, it gives you goosebumps.

There's a couple good brew pubs in Gettysburg also.