Vacations aren’t always meant for theme parks, overpriced restaurants, and souvenirs that you will never look at after you get home. Some of the greatest delights are those you least expect – and simply gazing at some of the country’s most amazing architecture makes a good vacation even better.
If you come from a part of the country where most of the homes are post-war construction, venturing through New England and the deep south especially will expose you to the type of buildings you’ll never see back home, many of which have historic qualities, fascinating backstories, and sometimes ghosts; some are even open to the public. “Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is known as much for its historic homes as it is the notorious battlefield,” said Tim Bakke, Director of Publishing at The Plan Collection. “With plenty of homes built in the 19th – and even the 18th – century, just looking at these homes is the best and most direct way to get a first-hand look at life in the early United States.”
The oldest home in Gettysburg is the Dobbin House, built in 1776 and currently in use as a restaurant. The grand stone-built home, once home to Rev. Dobbin’s 18 children, was used as part of the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. Besides enjoying the delightful 19th century menu available at the restaurant (try the Adams County roast duck, made with tart apples and hard cider!), Dobbin House offers free tours, so you can take a look at the hiding places, the home’s underground spring, and the historically-decorated rooms complete with period-specific antiques.
Dobbin House in Gettysburg, PA. Photo by Charoenkwan Blacharski.
Gettysburg is one of a handful of places in the United States where the country’s history is deeply integrated into everyday life, and you can’t help but feel the drama and anxiety of the Battle of Gettysburg as you stroll past the Jenny Wade House, which was featured on the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures show. One of the first things you’ll notice before you even go inside are the bullet holes in the front door, giving visitors a stark reminder that the horrors of war are not always in distant lands.
Jenny Wade House, Gettysburg, PA. Photo by Charoenkwan Blacharski.
The antebellum architecture seen throughout Louisiana is another opportunity to go back in time, and Bakke points to the splendid antebellum mansions as one of the best examples of 19th century architecture, some elements of which are still evident in modern designs.
St. Francisville’s Myrtles Plantation, currently a bed & breakfast and known as one of the most haunted homes in America, was built in 1796 and still exhibits that wonderful antebellum splendor with giant rocking chairs on the veranda, and expansive grounds lined with live oaks, crepe myrtle trees, azaleas, and all of the other flora and fauna that were so typical of antebellum homes.
Myrtles Plantation
Of course, while in Louisiana, it’s essential to go to New Orleans, where the Garden District has some of the most intriguing and beautiful homes. According to Marko Mihajlovic, tour director at TourMakers, antebellum homes are “an integral and important part of the US history, and yet in a way alien and certainly not the first association travelers have when the US is mentioned.” Marko also recommends a visit to Chertien Point Plantation, a 12-room mansion on an old 3,000-acre cotton plantation. Adorned with slave-artisans’ woodwork and two massive live oaks on either side of the house, this one is truly legendary and filled with history. Legend has it that during the Civil War, Union soldiers spared the home when the owner came out and showed a Masonic sign. The mansion is also rumored to have been frequented by pirate Jean Lafitte, and of course, there are plenty of stories about lost treasures on the grounds.
Also in the Garden District is the Henry Howard Hotel, a quaint, 17-room hotel oozing with southern charm that is close in to everything you’ll love about New Orleans. A HotelsCombined Award of Recognition award winner for the best hotel in the state, it was originally built as a double-gallery townhouse in 1867. The Greek Revival home boasts Italianate elements and classic New Orleans galleries with walk-through windows and Corinthian columns.
New Orleans, LA. Henry Howard Hotel.
Sometimes those homes are less evident but no less historic, and according to Emile L’Eplattenier, real estate marketing and sales analyst at Fit Small Business, “One of my favorite homes in Manhattan [New York] is Alexander Hamilton’s former home, Hamilton Grange. Originally designed as a country home on 32 acres, as the city grew around it, Hamilton Grange found itself in a far less pastoral setting surrounded by a church and an apartment building on lovely (but still as tightly packed as any Manhattan street) Convent Avenue. I actually walked my dog past Hamilton Grange dozens of times before I even bothered to read the park services plaque dedicating it as a historic landmark.”
Hamilton Grange House
Emily Hines, who blogs about her on-the-road tours at Em’s On The Road, looks to neighboring Mississippi for architectural inspiration as well. “Longwood Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi, is one of the most unique homes I’ve visited. It is designed in the Moorish Revival style with a 16 sided onion dome, and one of the last remaining octagonal houses in the country.” Interestingly, the home was to have had 32 rooms and 30,000 square feet when complete, but constructed was halted due to the Civil War. Visitors can tour the home and visit the completed first floor, then venture upstairs to see the intricate framework of the rest of the house and the inside the unfinished dome.
You don’t have to be an architect to appreciate a slow drive through an historic neighborhood in New England, the deep south, or other historic parts of the United States, enjoying a rare look at some of the nation’s most historic homes. Take a little time to detour off the beaten tourist path. You may just come back home with a few ideas for an historic-inspired home of your own.
