National History Academy is built around learning at many of the defining sites of American history. But you will not just take a tour as a member of the general public would. You will gain behind-the-scenes access, often visiting with the Executive Director of the site. On many of these visits, a scholar will talk with you and spend part of the day with us.
Historic site visits provide context and truly “make history come alive.” Over the course of the summer, you will visit over 30 important places that help tell the American story, including Historic Jamestowne, Colonial Williamsburg, and Washington, DC; iconic National Parks such as Harpers Ferry, the C&O Canal, the Appalachian Trail, and the National Mall; the presidential homes and retreats of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Lincoln, and Eisenhower; numerous Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields, including Yorktown, Fort McHenry, Gettysburg, and Antietam, and sites related to the fight for Civil Rights, including places that tell the stories of Frederick Douglass, John Brown, W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr. You will also have once-in-a-lifetime experiences. In 2018, Academy students saw the Broadway hit Hamilton at the Kennedy Center and screened the movie Gettysburg in Gettysburg with the film’s director, Ron Maxwell.