Mid-Atlantic Travel Ideas

Bored? If you live in the Mid-Atlantic region, you shouldn't be. Here are a few places to go, with links to details about them from published stories written by this freelance writer:

Hopewell Furnace National Historic site
to pick apples in a 19th-century-style orchard:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/at-hopewell-furnace-national-historic-site-in-pa-pick-up-some-history-along-with-your-fruit/2013/09/26/600b2490-223d-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_story.html

The Underground Railroad in Blairsville, Pa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/escapes-going-underground-in-blairsville-pa/2011/08/12/gIQAvwOGeJ_story.html

Pennsylvania Dutch country:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/escapes-hunting-for-hex-signs-in-pennsylvania-dutch-country/2012/03/28/gIQANULviS_story.html  

Richmond, Va., slave trail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/escapes-in-richmond-following-the-footsteps-of-the-slaves/2011/04/12/AF0rlpJE_story.html 

Richmond, Va., State Capitol
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501944.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501944.html

Richmond, Va., Virginia Historical Society (March 5, 2010, The Washington Post)

It looked like a fossilized animal dropping on red fabric inside a black-frame box. I wondered, "Why do people keep things like that?" Then I read the handwritten description: "Original Civil War twists of tobacco from the tobacco warehouse in Richmond." Aha. That's why.
Near the box with the twists stood tins of Pride of Virginia chewing tobacco as well as relics of tobacco's legacy, such as a cigarette pack depicting a child smoker and brands with such names as Bad Habit and Consummate Ass. Talk about truth in labeling -- and this was before smoking was acknowledged as a health hazard.
I was in the "Virginians at Work" exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society's Center …

Ephrata, Pa., Cloister
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/escapes-living-the-cloistered-life-in-ephrata-pa/2011/02/24/ABrlhrM_story.html 

Lancaster, Pa., and What's Open Sundays
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041503325.html 

Columbia, Pa., and the National Watch and Clock Museum
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/escapes-winding-through-exhibits-on-clocks-and-ice-cream-in-columbia-pa/2011/06/22/AGQEEksH_story.html  

Doylestown, Pa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903057.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903057.html

Scottsville, Va.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/30/AR2008093002664.html 

Cape May, N.J.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR2010040802419.html

Philadelphia Zoo
From Kids Post in The Washington Post