American Furniture: From Virginia to Vermont
April 01 - December 31
This exhibition in the Elizabeth Ridgely and Miodrag Blagojevich Gallery highlights pieces from Read on
Tramp Art Exhibit at Colonial Williamsburg Folk Art Museum
January 01 - September 07
Explore this intriguing art form through the study of six objects ranging from a seven-foot-tall Read on
Orientation Walk
January 01 - December 31
Take a 30-minute orientation walk that will help you plan your visit. Get the latest information on Read on
First Thursdays at The Mariners' Museum:
January 03 - January 02
Meet up with friends after work and join us at The Mariners’ First Thursdays at The Mariners’ Read on
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Shades of Blue and Gray - Civil War TourTake a step back in time and experience what life was like during the Civil War in America's Historic Triangle. Follow the footsteps of both Union and Confederate soldiers on the numerous trails and battle lines within the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Williamsburg makes a perfect middle point between Virginia Beach and Richmond, so be sure to take in all the region has to offer for Civil War history buffs. You can also visit Civil War Williamsburg for additional information. |
 Vivian Bunting
Consumer Sales Manager, Tourism
757.229.6511
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NOTE: You can download a printable version (PDF) of this itinerary by clicking here.
Visit Pamplin Park
2:00pm-5:00pm
The Pamplin family has built what has become one of the
finest historical sites in the South. The award-winning
National Museum of the Civil War Soldier forms the Park's
centerpiece. Here, the story of the three million common
soldiers who fought in America's bloodiest conflict is
told in breathtaking fashion using the latest museum
technology. An impressive artifact collection is set
amidst lifelike settings. The entire experience is keyed
to an audio tour featuring the words and "voice" of real
participants in the war.
Depart for Williamsburg
5:00 pm
Check-in to your Williamsburg Accommodations
6:15 pm
Choose from limited to full-service properties with
exterior or interior corridors, indoor or outdoor pools,
with deluxe continental breakfast or full breakfast
buffet, priced from budget and moderate to deluxe.
Dinner
7:30 pm
Choose from a wide variety of restaurants. For
group dining information,
click here.
Return to your Williamsburg Accommodations
9:00 pm
| Day Two |
Breakfast at your Williamsburg Accommodations
8:00 am
Depart with your local guide for a full-day of
touring
8:45 am
Riding Tour Introduction to the Battle
of Williamsburg including Redoubt Park and Fort Magruder
9:00 - 10:00 am
At redoubts one and six and the Bloody Ravine, we'll
observe how a spirited defense delayed a numerically
superior army and allowed the Confederate troops to
retreat to an area around Richmond.
Guided tour of Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area -
the Battle of Williamsburg
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
America's largest living history museum is best known for
interpreting 18th century life. But today
we're going to explore the year 1862 - the saddest year in
Williamsburg's history when the huge Union army of General
George B. McClellan rolled up the Virginia peninsula from
Old Point and overcame Confederate defenders of the town,
centered around Fort Magruder, just east of Williamsburg.
From May 4, 1862 until Lee surrendered at Appomattox three
years later, the 2,000 residents of Williamsburg were kept
under military guard. Pickets patrolled the roadways and
no one could enter or leave town without permission of
Union army authorities.
Lunch in the Historic Area
1:00 - 2:30 pm
Choose from a variety of dining options, including
colonial taverns, sandwich shops and fine dining.
Free time to explore the Historic Area
on your own or shop at Merchants Square (suggest a 3:00pm
return shuttle to hotel for guests to relax before dinner)
2:30 - 5:00 pm
Located adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area,
Merchants Square is an 18th-century style retail village
with more than 40 shops and restaurants. The shops at
Merchants Square offer
everything from traditional and designer clothing to
handmade candies, antique quilts, folk art and a variety
of exclusive Williamsburg reproductions. The restaurants
on Merchants Square offer choices from a quick sandwich to
the freshest seafood, steaks or contemporary American
regional cooking.
Return to your Williamsburg Accommodations. Dinner on
own and free time for additional shopping at New Town,
Premium Outlets, Williamsburg Outlet Mall or Yankee Candle
5:30 pm
| Day Three |
Breakfast at your Williamsburg hotel
8:00 am
Depart with your local guide for a full-day of touring
8:45 am
Cruise aboard the Miss Hampton II
(lunch included)
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
This double-decked tour boat provides narrated cruises of
the Hampton Roads Harbor and Chesapeake Bay. Today, we'll
sail the waters of Captain John Smith and the first
Jamestown settlers continuing past historic Fort Monroe
and the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, the oldest
continuously operating lighthouse in America. After an
awe-inspiring view of the Chesapeake Bay the cruise will
stop for a 30-minute guided walking tour of the Civil War
Island Fortress of Fort Wool. Afterwards, get an in-depth
view of the massive warships at the Norfolk Naval Base,
home to aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines and
various types of support ships. The return trip to
Hampton features a captivating narrative of the famous
Civil War Battle of the Ironclads: the Monitor and the
Merrimac.
Tour the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe
1:45 - 3:45 pm
The largest stone fort ever
built in the United States, Fort Monroe is currently
headquarters for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine
Command. Within the historic fort's stone walls is the
Casemate Museum, which chronicles the history of the fort
and the Coast Artillery Corps. During the Civil War, Fort
Monroe was a Union-held bastion in the center of a
Confederate state and helped shelter thousands of slave
refugees. See the cell where Confederate President
Jefferson Davis was imprisoned.
Riding tour of Yorktown
4:15 - 5:00 pm
Best known as the scene of the decisive battle of the
American Revolutionary War where American victory was
achieved, the Yorktown Battlefield was also the anchor of
the Warwick Line during the Civil War. Both battles
involved siege warfare and here you’ll discover why one
succeeded and the other failed.
Depart for Williamsburg and return to hotel to
relax before dinner
5:00 pm
Dinner
6:30 pm
Choose from a wide variety of restaurants. For
group dining information,
click here.
Shadows of Gray and Blue Candlelight Walking
Tour
8:00 pm
May 1862 marked the first pitched battle
of the Peninsula Campaign. Nearly 41,000 Union soldiers
and 32,000 Confederate soldiers were engaged, fighting an
inconclusive battle that ended with the Confederates
continuing their withdrawal towards Richmond, VA.
The fighting at Williamsburg was as intense as any on the
Peninsula and many soldiers lost their lives. Some
soldiers and citizens engaged in this battle did not move
on to their eternal resting place, but instead have
continued to linger here between the living and the dead.
Join this candlelight walking tour through the streets of
Colonial Williamsburg and hear some of the legends of the
tortured souls who still reside here. Based on stories
from Jackie Eileen Behrend's award-winning book, The
Hauntings of Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.
Some stories last more than a lifetime!
Return to your Williamsburg Accommodations
9:30 pm
| Day Four |
Breakfast at your Williamsburg Accommodations
7:30 am
Depart with your local guide for a full-day of touring
8:15 am
Explore the Warwick Line
8:45 - 10:15 am
This morning we'll cross a bridge into history and explore
Dam 1 along the Warwick River where we'll walk through
Confederate earthworks and learn how General Magruder
fooled General McClellan and extended the Civil War for
over two years.
Visit Endview Plantation
10:30 - 11:30 am
The three wars fought on
American soil have all left their traces at Endview
Plantation. The Revolutionary War brought 3,000 militia to
its fresh water spring. The War of 1812 saw its use as a
training ground, while the Civil War found Endview serving
as a Confederate captain's home and a hospital for both
sides. Built in 1769, Endview was home to members of the
Harwood and Curtis families for over 200 years. An ongoing
archaeological program and historic maps have identified
the locations of several outbuildings, including a
smokehouse, kitchen and barn. Artifacts from the site, as
well as pictures and memorabilia of the Harwood family,
are also on display.
Visit Lee Hall Mansion
11:45 am - 12:45 pm
Completed in 1859, Lee Hall Mansion was home to affluent
planter Richard Decauter Lee, his wife Martha, and their
children. One of the last remaining antebellum homes on
the Virginia Peninsula, Lee Hall Mansion was used as a
headquarters by Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston
and John B. Magruder during April and May of 1862.
Hundreds of artifacts, including a tablecloth from the USS
Monitor, are on display in the museum's 1862 Peninsula
Campaign Gallery.
Lunch
1:00 - 2:15 pm
Guided tour of the Mariners' Museum
2:45 - 5:00 pm
America's National Maritime
Museum offers a captivating look at centuries of seafaring
adventures. Explore over 60,000 square feet of gallery
space with rare figureheads, handcrafted ship models,
paintings, small craft from around the world, and much
more. Experience the dramatic new USS Monitor
Center that brings to life the historic battle between the
Civil War ironclads, the USS Monitor and the CSS
Virginia. This new center features notable artifacts
from the Monitor including the iconic rotating gun turret,
which is on view as it is conserved in the
state-of-the-art Batten Conservation Complex, the largest
of its kind on the East Coast.
Depart for your Williamsburg Accommodations - dinner is on
own this evening with optional shopping
5:00 pm
| Day Five |
Breakfast at your Williamsburg hotel - check
out and load luggage
7:00 am
Depart for Charles City, VA
8:15 am
Visit Berkeley Plantation
9:00 - 10:15 am
Berkeley is Virginia's most historic plantation. On
December 4, 1619, early settlers from England came ashore
at Berkeley Plantation and observed the first official
Thanksgiving in America. See the birthplace of Benjamin
Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and
President William Henry Harrison, "Old Tippecanoe."
"Taps" was composed at Berkeley when General McClellan
headquartered 140,000 Union troops in 1862 during the
Civil War.
Depart for Richmond
10:30 am
Visit the White House and Museum of
the Confederacy
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Located in the historic Court End district of downtown
Richmond, the Whitehouse of the Confederacy is one of the
nation's finest historic, architectural and decorative
treasures. As the official residence of the first and
only President of the Confederate States of America during
the Civil War - Jefferson Davis - the building has earned
a unique Stature in American history as the social,
political and military center of the Confederacy. The
Museum of the Confederacy houses the world's largest and
most comprehensive collection of Confederate artifacts
including the personal belongings of many legendary
Confederate generals and those of the common soldier.
Lunch
1:15 - 2:15 pm
Visit Hollywood Cemetery
2:45 - 3:45 pm
Much more than a cemetery, Hollywood is a living story in
stone, iron, and landscape. It recalls Virginians of
bygone years whose lives shaped and influenced our own.
With stunning views, Hollywood overlooks the James River,
near the site where Captain Christopher Newport planted a
wooden cross a few weeks after the founding of Jamestown.
Hollywood Cemetery was designed in 1847 by the noted
architect, John Notman of Philadelphia, and has been
operating as a cemetery in Richmond since 1849. Hollywood
serves as the final resting place of two American
presidents, six Virginia governors, two Supreme Court
justices, twenty-two Confederate generals, and thousands
of Confederate soldiers. Hollywood's paths wind through
135 acres of valleys, over hills, and beneath stately
trees of natural beauty and tranquility. The architectural
beauty of monuments, statues, buildings, fences, and tombs
enhances the setting.
Depart for return home
3:45 pm
For more information, contact Vivian Bunting, Consumer Sales Manager, Tourism.
*The above itinerary is only suggestion. For a more customized tour to match your group's wants and needs, feel free to browse our group tour attractions, shopping, dining and lodging options OR contact one of our local tour services - no one knows the ins and outs of the Historic Triangle better than they do! Should you have any questions or comments about this itinerary or simply want to start planning your trip, please contact us via email at Vivian Bunting, or call 800-368-6511.
We strive to keep all information accurate and updated. If you notice any mistakes or changes, please contact Joanna Skrabala, Manager, Tourism & Interactive Programs, via email or call 800-368-6511.
