I had never been here before and didn't realize how close it was to Stratford Hall. It is free to…read moreenjoy on the outside grounds. It was very easy to find close to Colonial Beach VA in the same area where other famous people were born. Its close to George Wasington Birthplace also. The Visitors Center and actual House now museum was closed due to Covid-19 but the Grounds and park was open. There is plenty of signs and its a very very nice park to check out when visiting the area. Great to learn history with the kids and walk around the hiking trails!! Beautiful area! Highly recommend and impressed!

I recently spent a whole week in Virginia (with my girlfriend who puts up with me), driving and…read morevisiting all sorts of presidential history locations. I wasn't sure what to expect here, but am pleasantly surprised to see the Monroe Foundation building a replica home. It looks like they are trying to make this more than a roadside attraction/sign. For now, though, it's just a simple roadside attraction. Not disappointed, but not overwhelmed, by any stretch of the imagination. The small museum is only open on the weekends, so we missed that, disappointing. I was also particularly disappointed with the state of what I'm calling "the walk through history" on the site. This is the long straightaway (I posted a photo), and it is a walk featuring periodic (granite?) markers. These markers highlight the different major events throughout Monroe's life... This walk could be more well manicured. NONE of the QR codes worked; nothing popped up when scanned with our phones. Disappointing. Overall, I'm happy to see there is work being done here to preserve and improve the location. It's worth a quick stop.

We were treated to a private tour of the home and grounds, purely by luck, and the glimpse into…read morewhat took place at that home during both the Revolutionary and Civil was was astounding. One of the most remarkable preservations was the carefully sculpted plaster ceiling whose delicate features had survived since 1775 despite cannon fire tearing a hole in the wall! I won't delve into the details that our guide recalled with not only amazing retention but with showmanship, however, the historical significance was worth the trip. Definitely worth the price of admission (I think it was around $12) and your time during a trip to historic Fredericksburg.

Tony and I spent the night in Fredericksburg MD in hopes of being able to get into some of these…read morelovely historic sites But many of them were closed due to Covid-19 This Plantation home was the house of Fielding Lewis and his wife Betty Washington, the sister of George Washington. Their mother, Mary Washington is buried very close to her home. The Plantation grounds were closed but we were able to see the house and outer buildings from the gate. We are planning another trip back in the late spring

I live in this house and it's not where this map states that it is. I'm the house to the left. The…read moremap is wrong, the address is wrong and it's not a business.

Another unique historical landmark in St Leonard, Md. Built around 1897 and rumored to be the…read morefirst bldg in Calvert with indoor plumbing and running water. President Taft was a friend of Congressman Parran, and the President stayed here at times.

Pretty substandard NPS. Reasonable location to preserve but the interpretative execution is…read moreextremely antiquated. (Eg park film is from mid 70s.). Friendly rangers. Nice junior ranger program. Would not go out of way to visit this park.

We took the guided tour here. Our tour guide, the park ranger were very passionate and…read moreknowledgeable. If you love history, this place is worth visiting.

An excellent private historical site. We have been here before and took a private tour. That was no…read morelonger offered due to the foreign virus. There are live human guides around but they do not walk the place with you but are available to answer any questions you might have. The recorded tour was very good with many options to hear the story of the place and its inhabitants. The enslaved and indentured folks who lived and worked here are well represented in the tour. We really enjoyed it and highly recommend a stop. We spent 2 solid hours inside the Plantation house and walking the grounds. You can stay as long as you wish. Cost was minimal $14 each and value was excellent. You could choose just a house or exterior tour we chose both. Mark & Nancy.

Fantastic! The team were easy to work with. Great place to see and alot of family events near by. I…read morewill definitely be finitely back!

During the bloody Civil War battle of Fredericksburg, the Confederate Army devastated the Union…read moretroops as they tried to charge the hill at Marye's Heights, leaving wounded and dying soldiers scattered across the battlefield. When night fell after the day's pitched battle, countless (overwhelmingly Union) soldiers lay freezing and dying on the ground, where both sides could clearly hear them crying out for water. Hearing these dying pleas, Confederate soldier Richard Rowland Kirkland, decided to do something about their pain. Kirkland asked the commanding general if he could head out to the battlefield and provide water to the wounded men, but his request was denied. However after listening to the men's cries a while longer, Kirkland pressed the point and the general allowed him to take to the exposed battleground and provide aid. Kirkland's request to carry a white flag so that he would not be shot by the active Union soldiers was denied. Undeterred, the brave soldier set out with his canteen to soothe the dying men. Though many were apprehensive at first, the Union forces soon caught on to his charity and did not fire on Kirkland. The generous soldier was able to make several separate trips out onto the battlefield with water, each time risking being shot by the tense men on either side. Kirkland's selfless actions earned him the nickname "Angel of Marye's Heights." In 1965, a statue honoring Kirkland was unveiled at the Fredericksburg battlefield site. The Sons of Confederate Veterans posthumously awarded Kirkland their Confederate Medal of Honor, which was created long after the war's end in 1977. The lone bronze memorial memorial commemorates Kirkland's bravery and humanity in the face of imminent death.

Another Henrico County owned gem! Reminiscent of days past along the historical…read moreMountain Road corridor! Frequently, visitors to the area pull up to the gas pumps looking for gasoline!

Cute little gas station from circa 1925. Very nicely maintained. Of course, it is no longer…read moreoperating. You can park in the little lot and get out for a look at the old pumps. Worth a stop for a taste of history. There is an interpretative sign in front. Nice park to picnic at across the street.

Easy parking, well-marked wooded trails with benches throughout for resting, and steep but…read moremanageable access to the river. It's a great place to spend some hours communing with nature. YES - Family friendly

Decent hiking area in a Civil War battlefield. The path seems way too short, but most visitors are…read morehere for a history tour, not a nature walk. I finished the hike in just over an hour, and that was at a leisurely pace with lots of stops to take pictures. The beginning of the path has some dips, but overall wasn't especially strenuous. I'm not sure if there's a parking fee; there is a booth at the entrance but in February it was empty. The main attraction are the trenches dug by the Confederate army. They are surprisingly well preserved, and the path follows a small portion of them. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like 'in the day', but the history plaques give you some details to go off of. The Battle of North Anna was a relatively small scale affair compared to other Civil War battles. As part of the 1864 Overland Campaign, Grant's Army of the Potomac was pressing south towards Richmond, and Lee was doing his best to stop him. But Grant (despite stories to the contrary) actually disliked bloody frontal attacks, and was constantly trying to outflank Lee's army rather than attack an entrenched opponent. North Anna was one of those many occasions where he tried - and failed - to maneuver around the master of maneuver. On May 24, Lee's earthworks on the south side of North Anna river stopped Grant cold. He tested Lee's lines for a way around, including an assault lead by a brigade who's commander was as inexperienced as he was drunk (that is, very). Needless to say, it didn't work out too well for them. After a few days Grant decided this place wasn't worth the effort, so he again sidestepped Lee's army and resumed his push towards Richmond. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/north-anna.html

Bottom Line: A very small museum that takes visitors back in time when beach goers arrived at…read moreChesapeake Beach via rail and gives insight to the resorts and attractions that used to be here. Imagine wearing a wool suit or Victorian dress in the middle of the summer in Washington DC when it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity and air conditioning was very rare. For the middle to upper middle class Washingtonians in the early 1900s a way to beat the heat was by taking a thirty mile train ride to the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay where the water was clear (yes, back then you could be in chest deep water and see your toes) and the breezes were cool. This museum pays tribute to the Chesapeake Beach Railroad that transported beach goers to the Chesapeake Beach resort town from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The museum building itself is the original train station of the Chesapeake Beach Railroad. Before there were cars there was railroads and this station was and is located just a few hundred yards from where the Chesapeake Bay meets the shore. The train station has been restored and consists of a few rooms and the outdoor platform. The museum has lots of old vintage pictures of the train and resort as well as various artifacts, some of which I've captured in my photos: I really enjoyed the roughly 15 minute video about the railway. The video covers the route of the railway including the various stops between DC and the beach. The video also talks about the various locomotives and train cars that served the line. I also enjoyed learning about the building of the track and brides and opposition from the behemoth Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Museum is housed at The Chesapeake Resort and Spa and great for children and adults. The images…read moreand information here is well worth taking a look

Nice little museum did you a good history around that area. Very outdated. The staff is mainly…read morevolunteers, but they are knowledgeable and very friendly.

"Was it everything you hoped for and expected?" our intrepid captain asked as he was ferrying us…read moreback from the island. For me, the answer was yes. Maybe that's because my expectations were realistic and not that high; this is a very small island and there is not much on it at all. But if it's a tourist trap, it's a very pretty tourist trap, worth a visit for the sheer novelty of it. The historicity of the location is somewhat interesting, but what drew me is the idea of being out on the Potomac on one of the most isolated spots you'll likely find within driving distance of the nation's capital. This place is way out there. I mean, even if you're already in Southern Maryland, it's a significant drive from most anything of consequence. It is at least a bucolic ride, and you can expect clear roads. The museum is small but reasonably well done, but really just something to do as you to wait for the ferry. Waiting for the boat, I was greeted by a pair of stingrays flapping pleasantly at the surface of the water (not pictured, sorry); you're not far from ocean here I guess. The boat is small and the ride quite rough on a windy day, which I'm guessing is a lot of days; if you get seasick or have mobility challenges I would recommend against it. The north side on which you arrive is decidedly barren and cactus-ridden (sandal-wearers beware). However, walking to the south quickly leaves one on a clear trail surrounded by thick underbrush. The only things you're likely to hear are wind, birds, and bugs (thankfully, the wind factor tends to minimize the biting/stinging ones). A few locals might be out fishing, but you're likely to have a lot of peace and quiet. A picnic area, a monument, and a lighthouse are the main landmarks. The island is eroding away, and has been reinforced by rocks on all sides; the one appreciable beach is on the south side. Trying to traverse the wilder parts of the island is dicey at best, but if you simply want to bathe in the sun and sea air, you can find a place. The ferry runs on very limited hours (10-3 on weekends in season, and that's it), but I found somewhere between 1.5-2 hours on the island sufficient for a fairly complete visit, one that can be interspersed with a day trip by some of the other scattered Southern Maryland Parks. The cost isn't a ton ($7 for museum and a ride to the island), but note that they do charge for children over five.