North American History: The Explorer’s Class
I retired September 2019 and that winter I spent six weeks in Savannah and a week in New Orleans. I sold my house and went on the road full time in September 2020. All these great, leisurely road trips have allowed me to visit amazing historical sites and museums across the US and several Canadian provinces. While many, like the Gettysburg battlefield, the National WWII Museum or Smithsonian museums, are well-known and busy tourist attractions, others are not sites I would have made time for on limited 2-week vacations.
Some sites deserve more time than I had for a visit; especially some of the large museums deserve two days, but I found them all very interesting. I may not learn as much as I would in a history class but it’s been a wonderful experience, and I’ve learned a lot from great guides, museum docents, and rangers at National Park sites. “History live!”
National Battlefields
- Battlefield Memorial Park, Savannah, GA. Revolutionary War site maintained by the state.
- NPS Gettysburg National Military Park, PA
- NPS Vicksburg National Military Park, MS
- Battle of Franklin: Carter House and Carnton Plantation, TN. Privately owned Franklin Trust maintains the houses and battlefields.
- NPS Stones River National Battlefield, TN
- NPS Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, VA, includes Chancellorsville and the Wilderness
- NPS Antietam National Battlefield, MD
- NPS Monocacy National Battlefield, MD
- NPS Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, GA
- NPS King’s Mountain National Military Park, SC, Revolutionary War
- NPS Cowpens National Battlefield, SC, Revolutionary War
- NPS Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, GA
- NPS Lookout Mountain National Battlefield, GA (managed as part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga NMP site but has its own visitor center),
- NPS Shiloh National Military Park and Corinth Contraband Camp, TN
- NPS Tupelo National Battlefield, MS
- NPS Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, MS
- NPS Pea Ridge National Military Park, AR
- NPS Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, MO
- NPS River Raisin National Battlefield Park, MI, War of 1812
- NPS Petersburg National Battlefield, VA
- NPS Yorktown Battlefield, VA, Revolutionary War
- NPS Manassas National Battlefield Park, VA
The NPS maintains eleven National Battlefields (NB), nine National Military Parks (NMP), four National Battlefield Parks (NBP), and one National Battlefield Site (NBS). I couldn’t find any difference on the NPS site between the designations. When I asked a ranger at one of the sites, another came up and they started discussing it, agreeing it was just different designations at different times when the parks were created and had no specific differences. The first five battlefields preserved, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, Antietam, Vicksburg and Shiloh are all national military parks.
Seventeen are Civil War sites, four Revolutionary War sites, three from the Indian War and one from the War of 1812. The NPS lists more “battlefields” on their website but many are designated forts, historical sites, or monuments. I hope to have time to visit more!
There are obviously many more Civil War battle sites, some maintained by states, some privately owned, like the Battle of Franklin sites in Tennessee. Some of the state maintained or privately owned sites have been managed by Daughters of the Confederacy or Sons of Confederate Veterans, so, unfortunately, focus on the “Lost Cause” / “War between the States” narrative and ignore slavery and the historical reasons for the war.
The NPS app for android/iPhone offers great walking and driving tours of the sites and I highly recommend downloading the app. Download the park inside the app for offline use, too, before visiting. Some of the parks offer guides. I paid for guides at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, both booked through NPS.gov. My Gettysburg guide, William, was excellent. I paid for the 3 hour tour and we could have talked longer. My Vicksburg guide was, unfortunately, a “proud confederate”; those were her exact words. When there are 300+ mentions of slavery in the 11 state secession documents, no, it was not about taxes.
I also paid for an excellent guide, Sharon, at Antietam.
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery–the greatest material interest of the world.”
Mississippi Secession Document
Forts
- Fort York, Toronto, ON
- NPS Fort Pulaski National Monument, Savannah, GA
- Old Fort Jackson, Savannah, GA
- Fort Ontario, Oswego, NY
- NPS Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC. The NPS offers a ferry to Fort Sumter from the downtown Visitor Center; it’s a great trip through the harbor. Fort Sumter is a NPS battlefield site.
- Fort Clinch, Amelia Island, FL
- NPS Fort Pickens, Pensacola, FL. I’ve visited multiple times when in Pensacola, the drive out through the Gulf Islands National Seashore is beautiful and it’s so much fun to wander the fort. During the summer, the NPS offers ferries from downtown Pensacola. Gulf Islands NS is part of the NPS battlefields.
- Fort Martin Scott, Fredericksburg, TX. The website doesn’t do it justice. Very interesting, a great guide with lots of information.
- NPS Fort Marcy ruins, Santa Fe, NM
- Fort Humboldt State Historic Park, Eureka, CA. Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant was stationed here.
- Fort Negley, TN
- NPS Fortress Rosecrans and Redoubt Brannon, TN
- Fort Granger, TN
- NPS Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL. The oldest masonry fort in the US, it was built by the Spanish starting in 1672.
- Fort Mose State Historic Park, St. Augustine, FL. Interesting history, first legally sanctioned free black settlement in the current US (formerly Spanish territory).
- NPS Fort Matanzas, St. Augustine, FL. On an island so requires ferry tickets.
- Fort Macon, Beaufort, NC
- NPS Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Manteo, NC
- NPS Fort Marcy, VA
- Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, NY
- His Majesty’s Fort at Crown Point, Crown Point, NY
- “Halifax Defence Complex”: Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, Fort McNabb, Georges Island, York Redoubt, and Prince of Wales Tower, Halifax, NS
- Citadel of Quebec, Quebec City
- Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores, AL
- Fort Gaines, Dauphin Island, AL
- Fort Blakeley State Park, AL
- NPS Fort Smith National Historic Site, AR/OK. Another amazing history lesson. Learned so much here about “Indian Territory” and Judge Isaac Parker.
- Fort George National Historic Site, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
- Fort Mississauga National Historic Site, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
- Old Fort Erie, Fort Erie, ON
- Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, NY
- NPS Fort Stanwix National Monument, Rome, NY. Was lucky to visit on “end of siege day”, August 23. Fort Stanwix is on the list of NPS battlefields.
- Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island, MI
- NPS Fort Monroe, Fort Monroe, VA
History Museums
- Molly Brown House Museum, Denver, CO
- Shipwreck Museum, Key West, FL
- Siuslaw Pioneer Museum, Siuslaw, OR
- Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, OR. Has Howard Hughes Spruce Goose for display and you can tour the cockpit. They have guided tours of their exhibits of aircraft, landers, drones and more.
- Pin Point Heritage Museum, Savannah, GA
- Prohibition Museum, Savannah, GA
- Savannah History Museum, GA
- Telfair Museums: Telfair Academy, Owens Thomas House & Slave Quarters, and Jepson Center, Savannah, GA
- National WWII Museum, New Orleans, LA. I bought the 2 day ticket and could have spent more time.
- Seminary Ridge Museum, Gettysburg, PA
- Charleston Museum, SC. Considered the country’s first museum.
- NPS Old Slave Market Museum, Charleston, SC
- The South Carolina Historical Society Museum, Charleston, SC
- The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, Charleston, SC
- Friends of the Hunley, Charleston, SC. Used during the Civil War, the Hunley is the first successful combat submarine. Found in 1995 and raised in 2000, it’s being restored.
- Amelia Island Museum of History, Amelia Island, FL
- The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, Montgomery, AL. One of the best museums I have ever visited. Powerful, depressing history, well presented. Hard to see it all in one day. The art from Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo is amazing.
- Freedom Rides Museum, Montgomery, AL. In the old Greyhound bus station, great exhibits. The NPS Freedom Rides National Monument is in Anniston Alabama.
- The Rosa Park Library and Museum, Montgomery, AL
- Bullock State Museum, Austin, TX
- National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX. Formerly the Admiral Chester Nimitz Museum. It was in the Nimitz family old hotel and was greatly expanded to include the entire WWII Pacific theater. Two days to see it all!
- New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe, NM
- Deschutes Historical Museum, Bend, OR
- The National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, KS. Not quite as large as the WWII museum in New Orleans, so you can do it in one day but it will be a long day.
- Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN. Free and I made multiple visits when in Nashville, lots to see. Great Civil War section.
- Pensacola Museum of History, Pensacola, FL
- Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, FL
- Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Hatteras, NC
- National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC. Good museum, but the Legacy Museum in Montgomery is much better.
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. Must see!
- National Museum of American History, Washington, DC
- National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. Excellent museum, history, and art.
- National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, VA
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Fredericksburg, MD
- Adirondacks History Museum, Elizabethtown, NY
- Saint Albans Museum of History, Saint Albans, VT
- US Oval, site of the War of 1812 Museum and the Clinton County Historical Museum, Plattsburgh, NY
- Yarmouth County Museum, Sweeney Fisheries Museum, and the Firefighter’s Museum, Yarmouth, NS
- Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, NS
- Musee des Plaines d’Abraham, Quebec City, QB
- Musee de la Civilization, Quebec City, QB
- Morrin Centre, Quebec City, QB
- Chateau Ramezay, Montreal, QB
- Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, Montreal, QB
- Montreal Museum of Archeology and History, Montreal, QB
- Lincoln Museum, Hodgenville, KY
- Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, Kennesaw, GA
- Marietta History Center, Marietta, GA
- Upcountry History Museum, Greenville, SC
- National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, Chattanooga, TN
- Money Museum, Kansas City, MO, the history of money, coins dating back to the Revolution, and much more.
- Old Courthouse Museum, Sioux Falls, SD
- Fort Erie Historical Museum, Fort Erie, ON
- Museum of Ojibawa Culture, St. Ignace, MI
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Paradise, MI
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, OH
- Museum of the American Revolution, Yorktown, VA
- Archaearium, Jamestown, VA
- Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA. They are restoring the USS Monitor turret that was recovered in 2011.
- National Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC. From the Wright Brothers to early space exploration, Gemini, Apollo, and Mars.
Historical Sites and Memorials
- Siuslaw River Bridge Interpretive Center, Siuslaw, OR
- Whitney Plantation, The Story of Slavery, Edgard, LA. Highly recommended! One of, or perhaps the only, plantation telling history from the perspective of the enslaved.
- NPS Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, NY. Loved this, great history, includes the Wesleyan Church, Elizabeth Cady Stanton house and Mary M’Clintock house.
- Seward House Museum, Auburn, NY
- Erie Canal Heritage Park, Port Byron, NY
- Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, Summerville, SC
- McLeod Plantation Historic Site, Charleston, SC
- NPS Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, Beaufort, SC
- Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park, Amelia Island, FL
- NPS Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, AL
- National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, AL. Visit after the Legacy Museum, powerful memorial for lynching victims.
- NPS Natchez National Historical Park, Natchez, MS
- NPS Forks of the Road Slave Market, Natchez, MS
- NPS Emerald Mound, Natchez, MS
- USS Lexington Carrier Museum, Corpus Christi, TX. There are five carrier museums, New York, South Carolina, Texas and two in California. I’ve been to all the other cities, not sure why I picked this one but assume the carriers and exhibits mostly the same.
- NPS San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, San Antonio, TX. Besides the Alamo, it includes Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan and Mission Espada. See them all!
- Spanish Governor’s Palace, San Antonio, TX
- Los Luceros, Santa Fe, NM
- Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, NM
- NPS The Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, NM
- NPS Pecos National Historical Park, NM. Also a Civil War battlefield site.
- Old Town Historic State Park, San Diego, CA
- Mission San Diego de Alcala, CA
- Mission San Luis Rey de Franca, CA
- Mission San Juan Capistrano, CA
- Mission San Buenaventura, CA
- Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, CA
- Mission San Juan Bautisa, CA
- NPS Old Custom House, Monterey, CA
- NPS Minidoka National Historic Site, Jerome, ID. One of the WWII Japanese internment sites. I would like to visit Manzanar in California, too. Very interesting, great video, and exhibits.
- Independence Rock Historic Site, Alcova, WY
- NPS Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, including Delta-01 Launch Control and Delta-09 Silo sites, Philip, SD. Must see! Considered part of the NPS battlefields.
- Lewis and Clarke at Kaw Point, Kansas City, KS
- Quincy Mine and Keweenaw National Historical Park, Hancock, MI
- NPS Plaza Ferdinand VII, Pensacola, FL
- Colonial Archeological Trail, Pensacola, FL
- First Settlement Trail, Pensacola, FL
- USS Alabama Battleship Museum, Mobile, AL
- Ximenez-Fatio House Museum, St. Augustine, FL
- NPS Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, NC
- Memorial for Enslaved Laborers, Charlottesville, VA
- NPS Washington Monument, Washington DC
- NPS Jefferson Memorial, Washington DC
- NPS Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (and Eleanor), Washington, DC
- NPS George Mason Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
- Ford’s Theater and Peterson Boarding House, Washington, DC
- NPS Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS National WWII Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Pershing Park and the WWI Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS Emancipation Memorial, Washington, DC
- NPS US Marine Corps Memorial, Arlington, VA
- Pentagon Memorial, Arlington, VA
- NPS Chatham Manor, Fredericksburg, VA
- NPS Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, WV
- NPS Thurmond Historic District, Thurmond, WV
- Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, Beckley, WV
- Kent-Delord House, Plattsburgh, NY
- John Brown Farm Historic Site, Lake Placid, NY
- Chimney Point State Historic Site, Addison, VT
- Ethan Allen Homestead and Museum, Burlington, VT
- Argyle Township Courthouse and Gaol, Argyle, NS
- Le Village Historique Acadien, Pubnico, NS
- Fort Needham Memorial Park, Halifax, NS, memorial for the explosion when two ships collided in 1917. Never heard of this event but one ship was loaded with explosives for WWI, it was the most powerful explosion until the nuclear bomb in 1945. 1900 people were killed, and another 9000 were maimed or blinded.
- St. Paul’s Lighthouse Museum, Dingwall, NS
- Baile nan Gaidheal or Highland Village, Iona, NS
- Membertou Heritage Park, Sydney, NS
- Green Gables Heritage Place, Prince Edwards Island National Park, PEI
- Story of Confederation, Charlottetown, PEI
- Charlotte County Archives and Old Jail, St. Andrews, NB
- St. Andrew’s Blockhouse National Historic Site, St. Andrews, NB
- Plains of Abraham and Battlefields Park, Quebec, QB
- Lachine Canal National Historic Site, Montreal, QB
- Historic Blakeley State Park, Spanish Fort, AL
- NPS Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, Tuskegee, AL
- NPS Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville, GA. Site of the former Civil War prison and the national POW museum.
- NPS Martin Luther King National Historical Park, Atlanta, GA
- NPS Ninety Six National Historic Site, Ninety Six, SC, one of the Revolutionary war battlefields.
- NPS Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, Flat Rock, NC
- NPS Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, AR
- USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial, Sioux Falls, SD
- Battle of Ridgeway National Historic Site, Fort Erie, ON. I learned about the Fenian Raids.
- Harriet Tubman National Historic Site, Auburn, NY
- Ganondagon State Historic Site, Victor, NY
- Colonial Michilimackinac, Mackinac City, MI
- NPS Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Appomattox, VA
- NPS Historic Jamestowne at Colonial National Historical Park, Jamestown, VA
- NPS Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, Washington, DC
- NPS Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, DC
Presidential Sites
- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL
- Truman’s Little White House, Key West, FL
- NPS Eisenhower National Historic Site, Gettysburg, PA
- Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
- James Monroe’s Highland, Charlottesville, VA
- James Madison’s Montpelier, Charlottesville, VA
- George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, VA
- George Washington’s Ferry Farm, Fredericksburg, VA
- Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Nashville, TN
- NPS Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield, IL
- NPS Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Hodgenville, KY
- NPS Jimmy Carter National Historic Park, Plains, GA
- FDR’s Little White House State Historic Site, Warm Springs, GA
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, Atlanta, GA
- NPS Harry S. Truman National Historic Site, Independence, MO
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Independence, MO
- NPS Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, St. Louis, MO
- NPS Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, West Branch, IA
- NPS William Howard Taft National Historic Site, Cincinnati, OH
Historic and National Cemeteries
- Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, GA
- Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah, GA
- St. Louis Cemetery, Number One, New Orleans, LA
- Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY
- Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC
- Cedar Hill Cemetery and Soldiers Rest, Vicksburg, MS
- Natchez National Cemetery, MS
- El Campo Santo cemetery, San Diego
- Old Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. Santa Rosa, CA
- Old Burial Grounds, Beaufort, NC
- Arlington National Cemetery, VA
- Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC
- Old Burying Ground, Halifax, NS
- St. Michael’s Cemetery, Pensacola, FL
- Old Plateau Cemetery, Africatown, Mobile, AL
- St. Augustine National Cemetery, FL
- Andersonville National Cemetery, GA
- Marietta National Cemetery, GA
- Chattanooga National Cemetery, TN
- Shiloh National Cemetery, TN
- Corinth National Cemetery, MS
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