General Recommendations on Civil War Travel!

When you get to the battlefield, site, etc....Get out of your car and WALK/HIKE it!!!! (if possible). By touring in a vehicle you miss SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Also a good guidebook is indispensable if you don't want to hire a guide. For Gettysburg, this is a great guidebook.

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Something struck me when I was at Cedar Creek and this thread reminded me of it. Many auto tours are CD oriented. Sadly, nowadays cars may not even have a CD player. Such was my experience recently with a rental car (Jeep Compass I think). They gave me a CD and I couldnt use it. And I noticed the same with my father's new Honda CRV. It has a bazillion other hitech gadgets but no CD player.

NPS may have to start transitioning to downloadable tours for your smartphone, like the CWT apps...
 
When you get to the battlefield, site, etc....Get out of your car and WALK/HIKE it!!!! (if possible). By touring in a vehicle you miss SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Also a good guidebook is indispensable if you don't want to hire a guide. For Gettysburg, this is a great guidebook.

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I have the same for Antietam and have used it several times and is wonderful
 
Something struck me when I was at Cedar Creek and this thread reminded me of it. Many auto tours are CD oriented. Sadly, nowadays cars may not even have a CD player. Such was my experience recently with a rental car (Jeep Compass I think). They gave me a CD and I couldnt use it. And I noticed the same with my father's new Honda CRV. It has a bazillion other hitech gadgets but no CD player.

NPS may have to start transitioning to downloadable tours for your smartphone, like the CWT apps...

Cr*p like THAT is of absolutely NO use or interest to me; I don't own a cell phone or mobile device and don't plan on getting one! Fortunately I'm enough of a Luddite to rely strictly on the printed page which still seems to work.
 
When you get to the battlefield, site, etc....Get out of your car and WALK/HIKE it!!!! (if possible). By touring in a vehicle you miss SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Also a good guidebook is indispensable if you don't want to hire a guide. For Gettysburg, this is a great guidebook.

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The driving tour doesn't have to be just in a car. At each stop, we get out and walk that sector of the battlefield, climb observation towers, check all markers and signs and take lots of pictures. If you try to walk the entire battlefield at Gettysburg or Antietam or Wilderness/Chancellorsville or Chickamauga, you'd better plan for a long visit. We've done a driving tour at Gettysburg that took three and a half days. I can't imagine how long it would take to walk.
 
The driving tour doesn't have to be just in a car. At each stop, we get out and walk that sector of the battlefield, climb observation towers, check all markers and signs and take lots of pictures. If you try to walk the entire battlefield at Gettysburg or Antietam or Wilderness/Chancellorsville or Chickamauga, you'd better plan for a long visit. We've done a driving tour at Gettysburg that took three and a half days. I can't imagine how long it would take to walk.
In the book that shared in the previous post, I did a "Day 1" walking tour on my last visit and it was a total of slightly more than 9 miles and lasted from pre dawn until about sundown. Talk about getting your exercise!!!! The Day 2 and Day 3 are much longer and you see a WHOLE lot of the park. You also get to see alot of stuff most people never get to see. :D
 
The driving tour doesn't have to be just in a car. At each stop, we get out and walk that sector of the battlefield, climb observation towers, check all markers and signs and take lots of pictures. If you try to walk the entire battlefield at Gettysburg or Antietam or Wilderness/Chancellorsville or Chickamauga, you'd better plan for a long visit. We've done a driving tour at Gettysburg that took three and a half days. I can't imagine how long it would take to walk.
An example - we stopped at the Virginia monument and walked the route of the PPT charge to the wall and back.
 
In the book that shared in the previous post, I did a "Day 1" walking tour on my last visit and it was a total of slightly more than 9 miles and lasted from pre dawn until about sundown. Talk about getting your exercise!!!! The Day 2 and Day 3 are much longer and you see a WHOLE lot of the park. You also get to see alot of stuff most people never get to see. :D
Wow. 9 miles is like walking a long golf course twice.
 
Cr*p like THAT is of absolutely NO use or interest to me; I don't own a cell phone or mobile device and don't plan on getting one! Fortunately I'm enough of a Luddite to rely strictly on the printed page which still seems to work.

While I get where you are coming from (though I have a Iphone, the extent of my social media is this forum and LinkedIn, no Facebook for me and I am prime demographic for FB, though not a female, lol) unfortunately the majority of people have a smart phone, and technology in cars is moving toward the streaming music services or satellite radio rather than CD players. While CDs are still good today, they are going the way of the audio cassette.
 
That one is next for me. Now that I live much closer to Maryland, I plan on spending a good deal of time at Antietam. :D

believe it or not, I found the Antietam guidebook cheapest on target.com, cheaper than amazon or any other book seller. I believe they sell it at the VC at Antietam as well.
 
Cr*p like THAT is of absolutely NO use or interest to me; I don't own a cell phone or mobile device and don't plan on getting one! Fortunately I'm enough of a Luddite to rely strictly on the printed page which still seems to work.
Even though I do own a cellphone and an iPad Mini and have a CD player in my truck,I still do it the old-fashioned way too for the most part. I can't stick to the script either. I like to dismount and march on foot too much to to do audio tours. :D
 
Even though I do own a cellphone and an iPad Mini and have a CD player in my truck,I still do it the old-fashioned way too for the most part. I can't stick to the script either. I like to dismount and march on foot too much to to do audio tours. :D

I'll admit to the CD player (for music) and agree with spontaneity in touring.
 
When you get to the battlefield, site, etc....Get out of your car and WALK/HIKE it!!!! (if possible). By touring in a vehicle you miss SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! Also a good guidebook is indispensable if you don't want to hire a guide. For Gettysburg, this is a great guidebook.

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Yep, I'm on my third copy of this one, having worn the first two out.

And I TOTALLY agree with the walking part. I know that not everyone can, but the best way to really experience the battlefield is get out on it and walk.
 
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