Historical Driving Tours

Because the state of Virginia is so rich with history, one of the most well-liked vacation ideas is to take a historical driving tour. There are many individual monuments, battlefields, and other places that can be visited within a day or two. However, for a truly powerful effect that is both interesting and enlightening, a week-long driving tour visiting important locations that tell the story of a people and a time can be an excellent option. Two of the most common are the World War II driving tour and the African American History driving tour.

 

·        World War II Driving Tour. Some of the main stops will be the US Naval Torpedo Station, the Fort Hunt Park (former POW interrogation camp) and Mount Vernon (George Washington’s estate) in Alexandria; the Arlington National Cemetery and Fort Meyer, US Marine Corps War Memorial, Netherlands Carillon (thanks from the Dutch after the war), and the Pentagon in Arlington; and the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center, Herndon Dulles Visitors Center, the Quantico Marine Corps Base and its National Cemetery, and the Training Ground of the OSS during WWII in Dulles, Virginia.

·        African American Driving Tour. On this journey, you will visit Richmond where the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia are located as well as the Bill Robinson Statue, Capital Square, Virginia Union University, the Richmond National Battlefield and some Civil War sites. In Petersburg, you will visit the Petersburg National Battlefield Park, the Pamplin Historical Park, and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier as well as Pocahontas Island, the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Memorial, the Underground Railroad House, and famous desegregation parks. Near the North Carolina border is the Prestwood Plantation and the Booker T. Washington National Monument. In Lynchburg, you will find the Legacy Museum of African-America History, the Anne Spencer House and Gardens, and the Black History Walking Tour of the Old City Cemetery. Also, in Charlottesville, you will be able to see the Thomas Jefferson estate Monticello with its slave quarters, the University of Virginia and the Carter Woodson Institute as well as numerous African American cemeteries.