Colonial Prince William County (1650-1775)

This tour covers many aspects of the earliest areas in Prince William and Virginia History from contact with Native Americans by Europeans through to the Revolution. This tour geographically stays in mostly the eastern side of the county while using historic private and public sites and locations to focus on tobacco, commerce, and industry in Prince William as well as covering the most important persons of the time. This tour also sets the stage for those involved in the French and Indian War and include some of the events and persons that helped called for liberty as we neared closer to the Revolutionary War.

Revolutionary Prince William County

This tour focuses on the important decisions and actions by Prince William County residents who were in the middle of that struggle leading to the road of Revolution. We will visit many of the historic sites of those that took action to resolve the grievances with England. Learn about the leading actions by local Prince William County residents as we moved closer to Revolution and Independence. Throughout the tour you will hear about the many Prince William men that served with Washington and about some of those that gave their lives so that we could be free from British control.

Antebellum Prince William County (1789-1861)

This tour covers the most important historic sites, Industrial, Agricultural, and Political along with telling the narrative of some of Prince William’s most important personalities in that time period. This tour geographically cover mostly the central and western landscapes of Prince William County. This tour will take you back to that time period by visiting the historic town of Buckland, Haymarket, along with the Brentsville Courthouse District to get you back into the antebellum mindset. The narrative will include the changing world locals faced concerning agriculture, slavery, and railroads which helped to transform the county as we moved closer to the Civil War.

African-American History in Prince William County

We will discuss the roles African-Americans contributed to the building of Prince William County from the late seventeenth century. We will continue to visit sites which help to tell their story through slavery, civil war, and freedom which includes developing their own communities in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. We will examine historic sites that help to explain the important contributions made by African Americans while living in Prince William County, often under very difficult conditions.

Prince William’s Civil War sites

This tour will serve as an overview tour to introduce you to the Prince William’s many Civil War sites. We will also examine the political climate in Prince William County at the onset of the Civil War. This overview tour takes us to the important sites of First Manassas, Potomac River defenses, Occoquan, and Second Manassas as between 1861 and 1862 Prince William County was on the front line of the deadliest war in American history. The role played by Prince William County citizens and Prince Williams geography will be examined also as we continue to look at the important Civil War sites of Bristoe Station and Buckland Mills in 1863.

Dumfries: The Oldest Incorporated Town in Virginia (Five Hour Tour)

We will visit the sites where once stood the docks overlooking the Dumfries Harbor onto Quantico Bay. Here we will examine the importance of tobacco, tobacco transportation, and the importance of Dumfries and Quantico Bay as one of the leading American tobacco ports in the Eighteenth Century.

Occoquan: John Ballendine’s Vision and Nathaniel Ellicott’s Reality (Five Hour Tour)

We will do a walking tour of Occoquan which will include information about life here with the Dogue Indians when John Smith’s 1608 voyage came to the Occoquan River. While in Occoquan we will talk about Occoquan as an important iron, mill, and transportation site and the location of some of Prince William’s oldest surviving buildings.