From St. Augustine to Hampton Roads is a historical route along the Atlantic coast of the Southern United States, showcasing the colonial and antebellum history of the South.
The coast has too many natural and cultural attractions to mention. This article describes pre-Civil War locations which are designated as National historic areas, National monuments or similar on state level, or those that have service for the public or great historical importance.
The road is around long. Driving is the most practical way to get around, with I-95 following some of the coastal route.
Destinations
- St. Augustine, 29.89461°, -81.31436°. St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish Empire in 1565, and is the oldest continuous European settlement in today's United States.
- Fort Matanzas National Monument. A small Spanish fort dating to the 1740s.
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. Built as a Spanish fort in the 17th century before changing to British and American hands.
- Jacksonville. Northeast Florida's largest city, founded at the site of Fort Caroline, as Florida had been ceded to the United States.
- Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Within Jacksonville.
- Fort Caroline National Memorial. Site of the first French colony in what would become the United States.
- Kingsley Plantation. A well-preserved Southern plantation on Fort George Island. Well worth the trip to see.
- Cumberland Island National Seashore.
- Dungeness. A ruined mansion that is part of a historic district.
- Fort Frederica National Monument. The fort was established by General James Edward Oglethorpe in 1736, to protect the Georgia border from Spanish invaders to the south. The community life of the settlers at Fort Frederica, and the battles which were waged in the name of Georgia, are fascinating history.
- Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Farm of Charles Pinckney, a principal framer of the U.S. Constitution. see: Mount Pleasant
- Savannah, 32.08097°, -81.09077°. Founded in 1733. Captured by the British during the Revolutionary War.
- Fort Pulaski National Monument. A masonry fort that was the site of a crucial naval battle during the Civil War.
- Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. The Beaufort area came under the control of the Union Army in November 1861. As a result, it was one of the first places in the United States where emancipated slaves voted, bought property and created churches, schools and businesses.
- Charleston, 32.78121°, -79.93154°. This charming city has a neighborhood with a large number of well-preserved antebellum mansions. Many houses in other parts of town are elegant and of some age, too. 2015-04-27
- Old Slave Mart. One of the few surviving buildings in the United States where slaves were traded. It has now been converted to a museum.
- Fort Sumter National Monument. An island fort at the mouth of Charleston Harbor that is famous as the site of the opening battle of the Civil War.
- Fort Moultrie. Where South Carolina colonists fended off British attack during the American Revolution.
- Georgetown (South Carolina). Established in 1732, making it the state’s third oldest city, behind Charleston and Beaufort.
- Historic Mansfield Plantation. A historic rice plantation on the banks of the Black River. "The most architecturally intact rice plantation in the USA" is home to the only remaining winnowing barn in all of Georgetown. Slave houses are still standing and being restored and converted into a museum.
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Oak Island. Site of Fort Caswell Historic District.
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Wilmington (North Carolina). In 1739 or 1740, the town was incorporated with a new name, Wilmington, in honor of Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington. Wilmington was the site of the only violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government in United States history, the Wilmington Insurrection, when a mob of 2,000 white Democrats massacred an estimated 60 black residents and the duly-elected city government (including several white men), and installed a white supremacist government in its place despite the city's population being more than 55% African-American at the time. This was following the 1898 election in which a coalition party that promised free public education for all and equal voting rights for every African-American man in the city had secured a majority of city council seats.
- Bellamy Mansion Museum, 503 Market St. (Wilmington (North Carolina)), 34.236°, -77.943°. Built for planter Dr. John D. Bellamy in 1859, the Bellamy Mansion is Wilmington's most spectacular example of antebellum architecture. Today, the mansion operates as a museum of history and design arts, and is owned by Preservation North Carolina. See exhibits on architectural history, historic preservation and design arts, and see the newly restored carriage house and gardens. Plans are being made for restoring the slave quarters.
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Moores Creek National Battlefield. An early battle in the American Revolution in which American soldiers routed British forces from North Carolina.
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Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Site of the Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in the Americas.
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Tryon Palace and North Carolina History Center, 529 South Front Street (New Bern), 35.105806°, -77.044306°. A reproduction of Governor Tryon's mansion. New Bern was the capitol city of the Colony of North Carolina before the Revolutionary War. The original palace burned at the end of the 18th century. The Palace that stands today was rebuilt on the original site with North Carolina state funds during the 1950s. There are tours, special events, lectures and re-enactments.
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Fort Macon State Park, 34.695556°, -76.688889°. Fort Macon is a five-sided brick and stone fort with 26 vaulted rooms, which was used during the 18th and 19th centuries to protect the area from naval attacks by pirates or enemy warships. Today the site features exhibits about the fort's history, restored quarters, and occasional re-enactments. Guided tours are available. Visitors can also fish, hike, swim and picnic in the park grounds surrounding the fort.
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Harkers Island. A fishing village with the Cape Lookout lighthouse.
- Virginia Beach. Today Virginia's largest city. Known for the Cape Henry Lighthouse.
- First Landing State Park. The first place where members of the Virginia Company landed. They went on to settle Jamestown.
- Williamsburg, 37.270833°, -76.706944°. Includes the Jamestown settlement, the first British colony to survive in what's now the United States; Colonial Williamsburg; and other preserved relics from the colonial and revolutionary periods. 2015-04-27
- Southampton County, Virginia. Home to some of the most famous fugitives from slavery, including the narrator John Brown (not to be confused with the namesake abolitionist), Anthony W. Gardiner (ninth President of Liberia), Dred Scott (subject of the Dred Scott decision of the U.S. Supreme Court), and Nat Turner (leader of an 1831 rebellion).
- Colonial Williamsburg, 37.27125°, -76.7°. America's largest outdoor living history museum. A fully operational 18th century city with tradesmen and tradeswomen working in their shops. The ticket prices vary depending on the length of your stay and begin at $36 for a one-day pass for adults. Enjoy a step back in time and see how 18th-century people of all social classes would have lived. Participate in a court proceeding, tour the Governor's Palace, and see how the American Revolution affected the people of this historic town.
- James River Plantations, NA°, NA°. A collection of historic sites located in and around the Williamsburg area. Some such as Berkeley, Chippokes, Lee Hall, and Shirley are open for guided house tours on a daily basis. Others, such as Bacon's Castle and Smith's Fort are open for guided tours for certain months throughout the year. Edgewood, North Bend, Piney Grove, Sherwood Forest and Westover are open for self-guided grounds tours and for guided group house tours by appointment.
- Hampton, Virginia, 37.03000°, -76.34528°. The Fort Monroe National Monument.
See also