Drive Around Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland & Delaware; Your Guide to Great Drives

by Tom Bross, Patricia Harris, David Lyon, Tim Nollen, Barbara Radcliffe Rogers, and Stillman D. Rogers

• ISBN13: 9781841575612
• ISBN10: 1841575615
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2006-03-01
• Publisher: Thomas Cook Publishing

Summary

Genteel country living is the theme of the Brandywine Valley communities north of Wilmington, Delaware, where it seems that every third shop sells either country home dcor, garden accessories, or antiques.

Table of Contents

About Drive Around Guides	8	(2)
Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware at a glance	10	(2)
Introduction	12	(2)
Travel facts	14	(10)
Driver's guide	24	(6)
Getting to Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware	30	(2)
Setting the scene	32	(8)
Highlights and touring itineraries	40	(2)
Washington DC	42	(20)
The political powerhouse of the USA
Arlington and Alexandria	62	(8)
Colonial gentility and historic buildings
Northern Virginia	70	(8)
Civil War battlefields, rolling hills and fine inns
Shenandoah	78	(12)
The sublime beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the fertile Shenandoah Valley
The Piedmont	90	(12)
Small cities full of cultural delights
Richmond	102	(12)
The state capital with a rich and turbulent history
Richmond battlefields	114	(8)
Visit the site of battles that tore the emerging American nation apart
Fredericksburg area	122	(8)
Prosperous former tobacco-trading port and George Washington's childhood home
Tidewater	130	(8)
The tidal creeks, inlets, bays and coves of Virginia's coastal plain
Virginia's historic triangle	138	(10)
History preserved and brought to life at Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg
Hampton Roads	148	(10)
Surf-washed beaches and oceanside boardwalks
Baltimore	158	(14)
Transformed docks filled with museums, shops and places to have fun
Annapolis	172	(10)
The home of the US Naval Academy
Eastern Shore	182	(10)
Barrier islands with beaches, dunes and wild horses
Rockville to Frederick	192	(8)
The historic C&O canal and the Great Falls of the Potomac
Western Maryland and borderlands	200	(10)
Battlefield sites and rolling mountain roads
Southern Maryland	210	(10)
Escape from the crowds in this land of fishermen and shoreside parks
North Chesapeake Bay	220	(8)
Tidal estuaries and pleasure boats
Ocean City and Delaware Shore	228	(10)
Barrier islands, boardwalks, birds and seaside fun
Wilmington	238	(8)
A city rich in art, museums and history
Brandywine Valley	246	(8)
Colonial towns, antiques and lush countryside
Philadelphia	254	(14)
The bustling, artistic `City of Brotherly Love'
Valley Forge to Gettysburg	268	(14)
Venerated sites associated with America's traumatic wars
Capital speak	282	(1)
Index	283	(4)
Feedback form	287

Excerpts

Genteel country living is the theme of the Brandywine Valley communities north of Wilmington, Delaware, where it seems that every third shop sells either country home décor, garden accessories or antiques. The rolling green countryside and lush farmlands of this area straddling the Pennsylvania-Delaware border have fascinated landscape painters for two centuries, and the pastoral visions of American realist Andrew Wyeth are especially prized here. Most visitors never see the modest town centres of Brandywine Valley communities, as principal attractions lie on the Baltimore Pike, Rte 1. The Delaware River towns south of Wilmington complement the Brandywine Valley with a more pervasive sense of history, augmented by the preservation of an entire early colonial town and an important Union fortress from the Civil War. Both areas boast superb bird watching, as they lie along the principal migratory flyway of North America's Atlantic coast.

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Excerpted from Drive Around Washington DC: Virginia, Maryland and Delaware
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.