Four Top Historic & Military Travel Picks

For many Veterans Advantage members, this is both the busiest and the most significant time of the year. Not only does it bring us closer to the hectic holiday season, but it's also highlighted by Veterans Day, November 11, a time for all of us to reflect on and give thanks to those who have served our country. To help you prepare, we echo those themes by profiling some of America’s most historic and enjoyable travel destinations.

A trip to these places reminds us to be grateful for all this nation has to offer, both in terms of our freedoms and our national treasures. Towns across America will line its streets with special parades and remembrances for our nation’s bravest. And to help you prepare, we echo those themes, by also highlighting some of America’s most historic and enjoyable travel destinations you can see during this time of year.

Atlantic Coast: Pennsylvania
Philadelphia holds the distinction of being our nation’s birthplace, and the sites of its historic district recounts many of the struggles and triumphs during the early years for the original colonies. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are at the center of America’s most historic square mile – an area that also boasts the Declaration House, the National Constitution Center, the Betsy Ross House, Franklin Court, and more. New Hall, located at Fourth & Chestnut streets, was the first site for the Department of War under Henry Knox, its first Secretary (‘War’ was later changed to ‘Defense’). Today, it is a museum dedicated to the impact of the military on our nation’s major conflicts and accomplishments.

The Army-Navy Game, an annual game generally played on the last weekend of the college football regular season in early December, pits the football teams of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, (Army) and United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, (Navy) against one another. It is one of the most traditional and enduring rivalries in college football, and literally thunders through the “City of Brotherly Love” with fight songs and rivalry throughout the weekend.

A short drive down the road is historic Gettysburg, where you can find the National Military Park of Gettysburg, and relive one of the most decisive & bloodiest periods of the Civil War, as well as the setting for President Abraham Lincoln’s most memorable speeches.

Atlantic Coast: Colonial Williamsburg
Known as “Revolutionary City,” Colonial Williamsburg reflects the city’s role during one of America’s most defining periods. Williamsburg was the thriving capital of Virginia when the dream of American freedom and independence was taking shape. For 81 years, from 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the political, cultural, and educational center of what was then the largest, most populous, and most influential American colony.

With performances adhering to the most historically accurate details throughout the year, visitors can witness the collapse of the royal government, join the debate over the Declaration of Independence and watch Washington and his troops march to Yorktown.

Close by, there’s Monticello, home of President Thomas Jefferson, which is today a National Historic Landmark reflecting the vision of its creator, who is also widely known as the chief author of the American Declaration of Independence. It was from Monticello, on January 18, 1803, that President Jefferson sent a confidential letter to Congress, asking for $2,500 to finance a trek to the American West--up the Missouri River and beyond to the Pacific Ocean -- a journey of discovery that would become the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The American Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico & Colorado
The first explorers and settlers of the Southwest were American Indians; they gave the vast area much of its distinctive culture. Some of the earliest and most expansive attempts at colonizing were made by the Spanish. Arizona and New Mexico, admitted to the Union in 1912, are two of the youngest states in the nation; yet these two states and Colorado contain venerable adobe communities and ancient, long-abandoned prehistoric ruins collectively representing thousands of years of human habitation. Arizona’s Aztec Ruins National Monument, for instance, is the site for structures which date as far back as the 1100s.

Adjacent to this region is Texas, and the capital of Texas, which is best known for its blend of its historic origins and its modern American flavor—“TexMex,” as it’s popularly called. Austin calls itself home to the President Lyndon Johnson Library and Museum, cycling hero Lance Armstrong, country music legend Willie Nelson and a night-life that is uniquely hip, yet heartland.

The claim that everything’s bigger in Texas shouldn’t merely be taken literally, as the town defines America’s great Western expansion in a big way. For tourists, that means a luxurious stay at the Driskill, Texas’ premier luxury hotel positioned in the heart of the state capital. Cattle baron Colonel Jesse Driskill built the hotel in 1886 to rival the palaces of New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco and to serve as a showpiece for his adopted frontier town. You can book a room at the Driskill by searching our VA Travel/Austin Hotel listing.

For the military historian, no trip to Texas would be complete without a jaunt to San Antonio, home of The Alamo, the setting for a key battle in the liberation of Texas and its eventual addition to the United States.

Pioneer Country: Wyoming & Montana
And then, there’s always Pioneer Country, and Wyoming & Montana are the places to soak it all in. It represents a history of native peoples and an emigrant frontier.

In the 1840s and 50s, nearly a half million pioneers, gold rush Forty-Niners and Pony Express Riders embarked along the Oregon Trail during the greatest overland migration the country has even seen. Risking their lives, they traveled across the continental divide to settle the western wilderness. Today, visitors can experience first-hand adventure on these Historic Trails, visiting important landmarks, historic sites and trading posts that were once vital to earlier travelers.

For a similar experience, “Big Sky” country beckons in adjacent Montana. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806 was the first group of white explorers to cross Montana, and it’s a natural site to help commemorate the nation’s bicentennial celebration of that historic journey.

Both states are also home for breathtaking ski runs during the Winter.