My wife and I are touring in September to see "the Fall" and note that most of the options include dinner. I was wondering if anyone had experience of the options and were able to make recommendations positive or negative.

I would also be interested to hear anything about east coast US tours as I intend to travel there next year.

Also, could anyone make some comment on the Savannah and Charleston areas as I have heard that they are very beautiful - and also the Plantation houses (the River Road etc) of the south.

Much appreciated.

Definitely take the Washington Illumination Tour. Washington is amazing and beautiful at night - really pretty. Ending up at the Iwo Jima memorial will get a gorgeous view. I hope it stops at the WWII memorial - that is really nice at night too.

Both of the hotels in DC are nice. The Hilton Washington is the hotel where Ronald Reagan and others were shot in 1981.

If you need any other info about DC or Arlington just ask. I'm from the DC area. I've also been to NYC quite a bit too.

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Originally posted by Colleen Anne2:
I would also be interested to hear anything about east coast US tours as I intend to travel there next year.

Also, could anyone make some comment on the Savannah and Charleston areas as I have heard that they are very beautiful - and also the Plantation houses (the River Road etc) of the south.

Much appreciated.

Colleen Anne, one year driving back from Florida, we decided to take a route along the east coast to visit Savannah and Charleston especially. They're gorgeous, gorgeous, full of history and mystery. I'm not an Amereican civil war scholar or anything but know enough about it to realize the hallowed ground we were walking, the battle fields we were driving through, the impossible terrain, the horrendous and foolish loss of lives, and these two very lovely cities are in a way iconic of all of that. They represent everything we today rightly abhor about the antebellum South, the slave industry, the great plantation houses only possible because of slave labour, and yet, and yet, they are still so very beautiful and evocative.

I'm also a great fan of what's called the Southern gothic genre of writing, William Faulkner's work in particular. Please do this tour if it includes these places. You won't regret it. Are you going to come up to our East coast as well?

We just returned from a trip down the Carolina beaches. We returned to Charleston. Last time there we did the walking tour--this time we took a coach tour. Both are wonderful. Several years ago we did a tour of Savannah and went to Jekyll and St. Simons Islands. This is a very enjoyable and historic part of the US. Go for it.
The plantations are very nice especially in the spring when the azealeas are in bloom.
And as Brenda mentioned, any visit to a Civil War Battlefield is interesting. The park service does a nice job. I especially like the "light shows"-- where they recreate the battle strategy with little lights.

Suegreg: We'd love to return to that area. I really was enchanted and absolutely fascinated. I love the way Savannah is laid out in squares around parks. Is it true that the commander of the Union troops (was it Andrew Jackson? As I said, I'm a bit hazy about the nitty gritty details of the Civil War) thought Savannah was so beautiful he ordered his men not to set it on fire on his march South laying waste to all in his army's path? We also went to Beaufort where I believe several movies set in the South have been filmed. I don't know the islands you mention but I'm going to look them up right away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BrendaC,

Thanks BrendaC and suegreg.

Brenda, the loose plan for next year is to do a tour (there are a few around with various companies that are almost identical) that begin in New York, go north along the coastal areas to Niagara, then cover some of eastern Canada (Toronto where I have friends, Montreal and Quebec) and comes back to NY via the Amish Country, Washington DC etc. I would then probably stay on in NY a few days.
I would then like to head South. TT has a tour called "Tastes nad Sounds of the South" but this starts in Nashville and Memphis and I don't think that the Grand Ole Opry and Graceland are quite "me". The tour eventually gets to Plantation houses near Natchez and the River Road, but I think I will probably be better off doing the 'Southern' part on my own and trying to see Savannah and Charleston in the process. A friend of mine in Pennsylvania may do this section of the trip with me.
The plan is then to end up in Florida where I also want to catchup with two lots of friends from previous tours.

I once had a boss who was a Civil War expert (strange for an Australian). He used to travel all over the world giving or attending lectures etc and we used to hear all about various bits in the office, whether we liked it or not (fascinated me). It was a real obsession with him.

I hadn't come across the word 'antebellum' until I started researching this trip (I had to look it up). We don't use the term here.

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Is it true that the commander of the Union troops (was it Andrew Jackson? As I said, I'm a bit hazy about the nitty gritty details of the Civil War) thought Sacannah was so beautiful he ordered his men not to set it on fire on his march South .

That would be Sherman and I believe he spared the city because they surrendered.

Colleen Anne,
Driving would be a good option. As I mentioned both Charleston and Savannah have many tour operators running tours around those cities and the guides are very informative. In Charleston you cn pick tours that go up the river to the plantations. But it is really easy to drive there.
On Jekyll Island south of Savannah, you can see what was the summer colony of the very rich back around WWI. This was the place for "cottages" a misnomer if ever there was one. Our guide said that when all were in residence some 90% (or some figure like that) of the world's wealth was there. The place is now owned by the state or national government. I forget which. Nice tours are available and you get to go into some of the "cottages".

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Originally posted by Lorax:

quote:

Is it true that the commander of the Union troops (was it Andrew Jackson? As I said, I'm a bit hazy about the nitty gritty details of the Civil War) thought Sacannah was so beautiful he ordered his men not to set it on fire on his march South .

That would be Sherman and I believe he spared the city because they surrendered.

Lorax, that's not the explanation you're given in the South about why the city was spared . But thanks, yes, of course it must have been Sherman.

Don't forget to tour the Maritime provinces. The scenery there is spectacular and the fall colours rival those of the New England states.

MLT,

What do you term the Maritime provinces please??

CA2: Our Maritime provinces are Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Then there's Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland is a large island and Labrador in on the North East coast of Canada.

CA2 Nova Scotia is particularly beautiful around Cape Breton Island. The Cabot Trail is an incredible drive and the houses, harbours, etc, are very picturesque. You can go down into a coal mine underneath the ocean and see the working conditions of the coalminers. Fort Louisburg is one of the original fort settlements in Canada and well worth a visit. During the summer months, they have people actively acting out the historical times. The Alexander Graham Bell museum is well worth touring as well. The Citadel in Halifax is worth a visit. We were lucky on the day we visited that one of the visiting International Tatoo military bands was rehearsing there. Peggy's Cove is delightful, and watching the tidal bore at the Bay of Funday is something else. PEI has become quite commercialized to what it used to be. The Japanese tourists love visiting Ann of Green Gables author's home. It has actually been built into quite a tourist trap now. A shame. New Brunswick is particularly lovely around St. Andrew's. Newfoundland and Labrador, the people make the province. They have the most unique sense of humour in all of Canada. They actually have an accent totally different to the rest of Canada. A delight to listen too. The New England states and our Maritime provinces are similar in many ways, and very unique to the rest of the states. A visit to Canada needs to be broken down into manageable portions. Do the west coast and western Prairie provinces. Then do the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario as a separate holiday. Both are quite manageable in a four week vacation.

Where does the Newfoundland accent come from anyway? Anybody know?