The U.S. National Park Service has a wealth of information on some of the key battlefields of the Civil War. Not least among them is Gettysburg, located nearby Dickinson College in Adams County, PA. Along with pages discussing the battlefield itself, the National Park Service features a web exhibit of the day-to-day life of Civil War soldiers. The site includes definitions of some Civil War era military terms and brief descriptions of what soldiers of the time would have experienced during their long encampments. Most interesting are the image galleries included in the site. These are contemporary, high quality digital images of artifacts related to encampment life. Among these artifacts are game boards, musical instruments, diaries, letters, and personal photographs. Certainly a site worth checking out!

For anyone looking for a neat place to visit, I must highly recommend Harpers Ferry. The town is idyllic and has been historically preserved so that it still looks much as it did in the 19th century. There are several museums to visit, numerous historical buildings to explore, and scenic hiking in the surrounding mountains. I first visited the town on a class field trip, and, especially for older students who can be let run free to explore the museums and buildings at their own pace, Harpers Ferry makes an excellent field trip destination. The town was not only the scene of John Brown’s infamous raid, but of several battles between the North and the South throughout the Civil War and thus holds a unique perspective into both the war between the states and the era which created and endured this conflict.

This is a website dedicated to Harriet Tubman’s home and includes a short overview of her history with the house. It has numerous links to other websites to explore.

This web page is dedicated to the Niagara region of the US-Canadian border which was the final stage in many slaves’ journeys to freedom in Canada. It has a nice section where one can learn about different abolitionists of the time period, view historical markers about the underground railroad, or view pictures of various important people and places. There is also a section with games, a puzzle, and a quiz.

The Historical Society of Frederick County has converted the home of Roger Brooke Taney, the Supreme Court Chief Justice who issued the Dred Scott ruling, into an historical site which includes his house, detached kitchen, root cellar, smoke house, and slave quarters. Guided tours are available, and special events are held at the home.

For anyone looking for an educational field trip or just for a personally enriching day trip, St. Louis’s Old Courthouse could be interesting. Not only is this the place where Dred Scott first sued for his freedom, it is also the site of a women’s suffrage case as well. Two of the court rooms have been restored to look much as they did in the 1870s and there is a museum dedicated St. Louis history.