DC & Philadelphia Class Trip

This morning we begin our day at the U.S. Capitol. We start out at the Visitor’s Center before touring the historic areas of the building, including the Crypt, the Rotunda, and the National Statuary Hall. We make a photo stop at the Library of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court before exploring the Tidal Basin, a reservoir between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel which each spring serves as the focal point of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. We visit the nearby Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial which commemorates both FDR and the era of American history during which he was president, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial which contains the Stone of Hope, a granite statue of Dr. King, and the Jefferson Memorial. After lunch, we head to Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington. Here we visit Washington’s mansion (subject to availability), the Museum and Education Center, the Slave Memorial, and Washington’s tomb. We enjoy dinner together and spend the night back in Washington, D.C.

After breakfast we visit Arlington National Cemetery, a military cemetery where the dead from America’s conflicts, beginning with the Civil War, have been buried. We visit the gravesites of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, where an “Eternal Flame” burns. We visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and witness the Changing of the Guard. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument dedicated to U.S. service members who died and whose remains have not been identified. The changing of the guard occurs every half hour. We stop for a photo at the Marine Corps War Memorial, which honors members of the United States Marines who have given their lives for their country since 1775. The statue here depicts the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima. From this memorial we enjoy also a panorama of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. Following this we drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where we visit Gettysburg’s famous Civil War Monuments. The 1863 Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War and also it’s deadliest battle. It was here that Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “Gettysburg Address.” We spend the night in Gettysburg.

We begin the day with a guided tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park and Visitor Center. Here we see one of America’s largest collections of Civil War Memorabilia as well as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, America’s largest painting which depicts Pickett’s Charge, a Confederate attack during the Battle of Gettysburg. We then travel to Lancaster County, P.A. which is known for its Amish community. The ancestors of the Amish began immigrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s as Pennsylvania was known for its religious freedom. The Amish are known for their pacifism, their simplicity of life, and their eschewal of certain modern technologies. We tour Amish country, seeing their farmlands and their way of life. We enjoy an Amish dinner before making our way to Philadelphia, where we spend the night.

We begin our day with a guided tour of Philadelphia. We visit the Free Quaker Meetinghouse, which was built in 1783 and housed Quaker meetings until 1836, Elfreth’s Alley, a well-preserved colonial street,  the Betsy Ross House where Betsy Ross is said to have lived when she sewed the first American flag, and Christ Church, which dates to colonial times and contains the baptismal font in which William Penn was baptized. Attenders of this church included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. We enjoy a tour of Independence National Park, including Carpenter’s Hall, where the First Continental Congress met in 1774, Congress Hall, which served as the location of the United States Congress from 1790 to 1800, Franklin Court, which contains remnants of Benjamin Franklin’s house, Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and ultimately adopted, and the Liberty Bell. This famously cracked bell became a symbol of American freedom and now rests within Liberty Bell Center. We have dinner together and spend the night in Philadelphia.

After breakfast we visit the National Constitution Center. The Center is both a museum and a national town hall and makes it its mission “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis in order to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.” To this end it utilizes both hands-on exhibits and theatrical performances. After our visit here concludes we begin our journey back home.