Hollyday Planner

For full details and pictures, see my blog

Day 1

• We had to finish driving the start of this trip on Day 1. Not exactly what was planned, but that’s the fun of road trips.
• 4:30p – Biltmore House – Vanderbilt home in Asheville, North Carolina. Timed tickets required.
• Bunker Hill Covered Bridge – Near Claremont, NC. Great quick picture spot.
• International Civil Rights Center & Museum – Greensboro, NC. Site of the Woolworth’s sit-in.
• Hotel in Chapel Hill, NC.

Day 2

(NC) Outer Banks

• Fort Raleigh National historic Site – Site of the lost colony of Roanoke
• Bodie Island Lighthouse – Lighthouses (tickets for tours/climb at Cape Hatteras visitors center)
• Kitty hawk & Kill Devil Hills– Wright Brothers National Memorial. These 2 towns are 8 minutes apart.
• Corolla, NC – The town, the beach & the Spanish wild horses. NOTE: The map shows a road for the beach but it is just a beach. And it does not go through to Virginia. You can drive down the beach but takes some special knowledge. We knew some locals & they took us. I would drive through the town to see the horses & take a walk down the beach.

(VA)Virginia Beach

• First landing state park
• Cape Henry Lighthouse
• Boardwalk

Day 3

(VA) Historical Triangle

• Get tickets to all sites here
• Colonial Williamsburg – Outside of the designated historical area, Williamsburg is a cute town. Also, across the street from historic William & Mary.
• Historic Jamestown – the original settlement site.
• Jamestown Settlement – living history museum.
• Yorktown Battlefield
• American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

(VA) Richmond – we decided to spend more time at the Historic Triangle and skipped Richmond. But here’s some fun things we had found.

• St. John’s Church
• Edgar Allan Poe Museum
• White House of the Confederacy
• Grand Kugel
• Hollywood Cemetery: James Monroe, John Tyler, Jefferson Davis, Confederate soldiers
• Chimborazo Hospital – Richmond National Battlefield Park
• Connecticut the Indian

(VA) Alexandria

• Mount Vernon Tour – George Washington’s House. Don’t skip! Timed tickets required.

(WV) Harpers Ferry

• Adorable small town. We found a restaurant & enjoyed walking around the town & historic sites.
• Harpers Ferry National Park

Day 4

• (VA)Shenandoah National Park – Skyline Drive.
• (VA)Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s House. Don’t skip. Requires timed tickets.
• (VA) Appomattox – Courthouse & McLean House
• (VA) Natural Bridge State Park
• (WV) Beckley – Where we stayed the night.

Day 5

• Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine Tour – We skipped so we could get an early start, but looked fun!
• Hatfield & McCoy feud sites – We used the map & drove ourselves. There are some cool looking ATV tours with a guide. You’d probably get better information from one of these & it looked fun. Sarah Ann, WV, through Pikeville, KY.
• Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
• Harland Sanders Cafe – Original KFC in Corbin, KY.
• Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, TN – Not our personal favorites. But obviously very popular. We found some good places to eat & fun things to do. But we did go down & enjoy the river.
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park – We want to go back & spend more time here.

Day 6

• The Lost Sea – Tickets required. Highly recommend.
• Virginia Falls Pocket wilderness – The Tent Graves
• NASHVILLE – Western Las Vegas. So much to do & see. Here’s some of our favorites.
  • Grand Ole Opry – So worth it. Tickets required. PRO TIP: the opry is now outside of downtown & near a shopping mall. Traffic will be horrendous when leaving..
  • Parthenon – Exact size replica.
  • Ugly Nathan Bedford Forrest Statue – Drive by & snap a pic.
  • Old Tennessee State Prison – I don’t remember there being a tour option. But you can see where they filmed the Green Mile & Ernest goes to Jail
  • Country Music Hall of Fame – great history on display.
  • James Polk Tomb – on the grounds of the state capitol.
  • Hidden Heart of Stone – we looked but didn’t find it.
  • Ryman Auditorium – take a tour, watch a show, or just see this historic building.
  • Broadway St – live music is everywhere. Take a walk down Broadway & stop in anywhere.
  • Tour buses – these were everywhere & looked like a blast. If this were a couples trip or girls trip, this would be on my list.

Day 7

• Memphis, TN
  • Graceland – Tickets required. we spent about 3 hours here & saw all of it.
  • Beale Street – we did lunch here to avoid the crowds. BB King’s Blues Club is the famous restaurant.
  • National Civil Rights Museum – site of Martin Luther King Jr assassination.
  • Sun Records Sun Studio – Swing by for tickets.