How to Plan a Historical Vacation

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By Kimberley Riccio
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Are you looking for a new idea for a vacation? Try a Historical Vacation. Are you thinking that you cannot get your family excited up for a “historical vacation”? No Worries! The task is not difficult with the right planning. Trips to historical sites can be fun, full of action, and educationally engaging even for the most non-nerdy of your family. A bonus will be providing a fun yet educational vacation for you and your family. Children love imagining battles; far more fun is seeing a live performance of a battle. Historic events also have the add advantage of allowing sightseers to participate in the event. A vacation to a historic site brings the history to life are far better than just a summer of dual reading in some history book just waiting for school to start again.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

parper and pen
map
library for research
computer for research
a desire to learn on vacation

Step 1

Choose a historical time that interests you or your family. Do you like Civil War or Revolutionary war timeframes? Do you like American history over World history? Do you like medieval castles or Wild West re-enactments?
Step 2

Choose one or two timeframes that you can do a little research to get an idea of the destinations that were associated with the time. Such as trips to Philadelphia on Independence Day, or Normandy at D-day, will bring a sense of what happened on those dates in those places. Get the kids involved in picking dates and researching sites.
Step 3

Choose one or two destinations with historical significance that match to your time period. Alternatively, pick a base city and day trip to historical sites. For Civil War buffs, picking a base location like Wilmington, DE is ideal. Day trips into Philadelphia for colonial history, Ft Delaware for a Civil War prison fort, Gettysburg for a battlefield, or Harpers Ferry, or down to Washington DC for one of many historical museums and monuments.
Step 4

Do a little more research on events in your choose destinations. Check to see if there are battle re-enactments, historical festivals, or demonstrations that are available or tickets to be reserved. Check on trails for hiking or ships for sailing. Trips along the Lewis and Clark trail provide hiking, canoeing, and camping.
Step 5

Check out historical societies and re-enactment clubs for information and events. Many of the local communities have societies or clubs that hold events in or near historical sites.
Step 6

Choose months to travel that are “shoulder seasons.” During these periods, the history is a live, but the crowds are lower. Choose a month when you and your family can ask questions of the tour guides without needing to shout over the roar of the crowds.
Step 7

Plan family camping trips close to your chosen historical sites; for fun create your camp as a historical recreation of a camp from the historical site you are visiting. If you are looking at the west, create your camp to be similar to the old west camps. Plan and pack picnic lunches for historical sites in national or state parks.
Step 8

Check on historical Inns or B&Bs in the area. Most of the historical sites have buildings and homes that are on the historical record. Many of these homes are now lovely B&Bs. Sleep in a room that may have been the room George Washington slept in.
Step 9

Keep it fun for everyone. Get involved with the seminars and the demonstrations. Many of the re-actor will allow you to participate in the event. Take advantage to pound out a horseshoe or pump the billows on the fire at an old west blacksmith shop. Take evening or night tours that involve looking for ghosts – who knows you might be able to have a chat with someone famous.