1

summer is a GREAT time to visit Gettysburg.

I have childhood memories of a railroad museum in Pennslvania's Stroudsburg or east stroudsburg or something like that. Narrow gauge railroad, actually a cool place to take a kid on the weekend. Lancaster and Carlise are . . . well there's not really any "there" there, but nearby are some neat hiking/swimming destinations that can be wonderful in summer.

I dunno, if you're in to the Amish thing Lancaster and environs may be worthwhile. (I kinda grew up with them so they are not really a tourist attraction to me) and if you're into history and old buildings and scenic towns Carlisle is actually a nice place to spend half a day. It's just that there are not many destinations there. It's more about atmosphere.

The Daniel Boone homestead near Morgantown was pretty cool but I went to the mill pond with my son and we kinda hit the jackpot. I cannot guarantee everyone will have the great experience we did.

Edited by: LongIslandBob

2

Thanks for the Strasburg tip. Google Earth has a pretty nice photo of the fields around the town

3

It went by the name "East Broad Top"
http://www.ebtrr.com/
and it's in Rockhill Furnace (gotta love the name) just outside of Carlisle PA. It could be disappearing.

But my grandfather spoke about East Stroudsburg while we went there (sorry for the misdirection).

4

What an interesting itinerary.

See if the Amish will still have something called a "Mud Sale" that late into the summer. These are auctions held by small towns to help raise money for the local fire departments. The Lancaster County official tourist website has details of all of them. They are free and generally have few tourists.

Wright Patterson is incredible. The collection they have is really great. If you are into aviation, the Wright Bros. original bicycle shop is still standing in nearby Dayton. It's in a dumpy part of town, but worthwhile if you are into history.

Not sure how much you plan to travel within Ohio, but you mentioned an interest in Native American history. The Sepent Mound (an ancient burial ground) is located east of Cincinnati. I've never been, but it's part of learning Native Am. history in grade school.
http://www.ohiohistory.org/museums-and-historic-sites/museum--historic-sites-by-name/serpent-mound

Kentucky should not be missed. Mammoth Caves NP is excellent with cool temperatures in the summer. Also, the Corvette factory is located very close by in Bowling Green. Further north is Bourbon country where you can visit many of the distilleries (Woodford Reserve was my favorite).

To get to Asheville, you need to cross the Great Smoky Mtns. I recommend spending a few hours hiking on the Appalachain trail.

5

It may be part of your purpose, and if so that is great, but July will be the 150th anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg. I will be extremely busy. That said, there is a reenactment scheduled that is supposed to be one of the larger reenactments that has been held.

I earlier did a post on hiring private guides at Gettysburg. If you want to do so I wouldn't wait to long if you are there this summer. If you are interested in Gettysburg, Antietam Battlefield is not very far away.

6

Oh I've been to Gettysburg twice and each time I promised myself "next time i'm gonna take the horseback tour instead of the driving tour."

If you've got the budget for that do it.

7

It's slightly out of your way, but the farm artifact museum in Doylestown PA might be your speed.

8

If you're going to see Wright Patt, stop in the nearby interesting center of Yellow Springs (shops, restaurants, college town) and also visit the adjoining lovely Glen Helen to do some hiking. Make a special stop at Young's Dairy just outside of the village for home-made ice cream, their own milk, and whole wheat donuts hot from the oven.
http://www.yellowspringsohio.org/

9

There is fabulous bluegrass music in and around Asheville, plus lots of good hiking off the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is also the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, though I think the better hikes are in the surrounding national forests.

10

Impressive itenerary indeed. If you're going to be in the Dayton area you might like Sunwatch Village. It's a real 1000 yr old pre-historic village site with some recontructed buildings. Fort Ancient is right down the road and has a very nice museum ( covering paleo to early historic natives in the area) and earthen walls that would stretch 3 miles end to end. Serpent Mound is quite impressive not only for its beauty but for all the astronomical,geometrical,and ancient alien ;) aspects. The Hopewell and Serpent Mond sites have been nominated for UNESCO WOrld Heritage list. Ancient Ohio Trails is an excellant website and there are many expert locals on facebook sites for Serpent Mound at friends of SM and Adena Core. I am a voluteer at Fort Ancient. FA has a "pow wow" the first week of June and Serpent Mound has a 3 day festival around summer solstice when the serpent appears to swallow the setting sun.