Heritage Highways

Arrive at Washington D.C., pick up your rental car at the airport and make your way to your hotel for the evening. Spend a relaxing evening in one of the many restaurants located in the city. You have the whole day tomorrow o explore the Capital City. Wander around the National Mall which is surrounded by the Smithsonian Museums, watched over at one end by the Capitol Building and at the other by the grand Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. The tall Washington Monument looks over the Mall and the White House. It is here in the Mall that you can also find the haunting Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean Veterans Memorial. The statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in a rotunda overlooking the Tidal Basin and bronze statues of Franklin D Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor are also nearby. Across the river in Arlington and only a short metro stop away you will find the Arlington Cemetery and the site of the Kennedy graves. Spend the evening in one many restaurants in Georgetown or Foggy Bottom.

Leave the city and heading south to Mt Vernon, George Washington’s handsome riverside plantation home that overlooks the Potomac River. Carry on south to Fredericksburg, a fierce battlefield during the Civil War. Fighting raged here from 1861-65, inflicting losses estimated at around 105,000. Visit the 40-block area of the town which has been designated a National Historic District. Continue on to Williamsburg, where restoration and preservation have turned the clock back 200 years.

Spend this morning at Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Battlefield before driving to Norfolk, Virginia’s premier port city. Continue south to the famous barrier islands that form a giant sandbar known as the Outer Banks of North Carolina. All along the coast, historic lighthouses sparkle like gems, including the Cape Lookout Lighthouse which was built in 1859 and the Okracoke Island Lighthouse that was erected in 1823. Spend two nights Kill Devil Hills. Have another full day tomorrow to relax and enjoy the beautiful beach areas. Visit Kitty Hawk, the site of the Wright Brothers first flight and to Kill Devil Hills where a monument for the Wright Brothers stands.

Today as, you leave the Outer Banks, visit Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest in America. Take the ferry across to Okracoke Island, visiting the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina. From Okracoke Island you can take the ferry to the mainland. Take some sightseeing time in the quaint coastal town of Beaufort before arriving in Wilmington.

Enjoy this morning in Wilmington, a major seaport located on the Cape Fear River and the site of numerous movies, including Cape Fear! Visit the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial before crossing into South Carolina to historic Charleston. Stroll by pastel-coloured houses and elegant plantation style homes as well as many landmarks that describe the proud past of this charming city.

This morning we suggest an optional boat tour to Fort Sumter, the site of the first shot fired in the Civil War. Then drive through Plantation Country the classic Southern seaport of Beaufort, where time seems to stand still. Arrive in Hilton Head Island, the well known resort with sparkling sand beaches, great golf courses and lush foliage. Enjoy Hilton Head Island’s stretch of glistening beaches, relax in the sand and bask in the sun. Or visit nearby Savannah, once the world’s foremost cotton port, whose shaded squares form the foundations for one of the largest urban historic-landmark districts in the country. The cobblestone riverfront and public squares are shaded by majestic oaks and add to the city’s charm.

Today you will be leaving the coast and driving back into North Carolina to the foothills of the Smoky Mountains of the Carolina’s, stopping enroute at Chimney Rock Park for a spectacular view of the area. Arrive in gracious Asheville/Hendersonville in the evening. Two nights in Asheville. Tomorrow morning discover Asheville and also see Biltmore House, the former home of George Vanderbilt. Drive a short distance to the Cherokee Indian Reservation, gateway to majestic Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country. It contains the largest virgin forest in the East, inhabited by an impressive variety of plants and animals.

Follow the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the most scenic roads of America, towards Boone and the commanding Grandfather Mountain. Travel north into Virginia and onto Roanoke.

Continue north on the Parkway. You might have time to see Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson designed and built on a glorious mountian top and located just outside Charlottesville. Then enter the Shenandoah National Park, where you will experience the natural wonders along each mile of the Skyline Drive. Be sure to also Visit Luray Caverns, one of the most beautiful caves in America.

On your way back to Washington D.C. you will have time to visit the Manassas National Battlefield before heading back to the airport to catch your overnight flight home.