As the United States throws itself a bang-up 250th birthday party, the Mid-Atlantic will be front and center. Ground zero could be Philadelphia, home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Or perhaps Washington, D.C., with the nation’s capital boasting copies of its original founding documents.

If you’re traveling this summer, don’t miss smaller commemorations, either. The Eastern Shore’s tribute to a pair of homegrown heroes. Allegany County’s trail of pedigreed trees. Or George Washington’s favorite soaking spot in West Virginia.

In honor of America’s original 13 colonies, we’ve collected a baker’s dozen regional destinations—all relatively close to Baltimore—worth visiting during this celebratory season.

PENNSYLVANIA

When the Founding Fathers formally bade Great Britain adieu in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, Pennsylvania became the birthplace of a revolution that quickly enmeshed even its peaceable Quaker settlers.

York (52 miles)

Who knew this modestly sized colonial town—an hour’s drive north of Baltimore today—once served as the U.S. capital? It’s true. The Second Continental Congress fled Philadelphia for nine months beginning in September 1777 when the Brits occupied the city. At the York County History Center, learn how John Adams, John Hancock, and other delegates from the 13 original colonies convened at the county courthouse to adopt the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution’s precursor.

Here, leave enough time to explore the campus. Don’t miss the acclaimed, hands-on History Center Museum, opened in 2024, where touchscreens literally put the past at your fingertips and guided tours include a reconstructed courthouse where the Continental Congress met.

Valley Forge (100 miles)

Ninety miles east of York, in suburban Philadelphia’s King of Prussia, lies one of the Revolution’s most hallowed grounds, Valley Forge. Now a 3,500-acre National Historical Park, it marks the riverside encampment where Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army endured disease, starvation, and brutal weather in the winter of 1777 and ’78.

Drive, hike, or bike a scenic 10-mile loop to see the soldiers’ recreated log barracks, tour the stone house that served as Washington’s headquarters, and take in stirring monuments, including the National Memorial Arch, honoring the soldiers’ “incomparable patience and fidelity.”

Philadelphia (99 miles, or 1-hour train trip)

Next up, Philadelphia, where you can’t swing a cheesesteak this year without hitting some reminder of the city’s bragging rights. Weekly neighborhood “Saturday Firstivals” mark Philly’s many other national feats—first bank, zoo, flower show, hot-air-balloon flight, World’s Fair, and even…Slinky.

For the core historic celebration, head to the Old City District, home of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Benjamin Franklin Museum.

While taking in those must-see attractions, leave ample time for the nearby Museum of the American Revolution and the National Constitution Center. The former hosts a truly inspiring exhibit, “The Declaration’s Journey,” tracing the history and impact of the document from 1776 through struggles for civil and women’s rights, to freedom movements around the world. The latter brings the story of that founding document to life—almost literally in Signers’ Hall, where you stroll among 42 life-size bronzes of the framers (including three Marylanders).

Brandywine (78 miles)

Forty-five minutes west via I-95 lies Chadds Ford and the Brandywine Battlefield Park, honoring the largest single-day land battle of the Revolution. On September 11, 1777, British forces led by Gen. William Howe clashed with Washington’s Continental Army. Some 30,000 soldiers fought on multiple fronts near the Brandywine River. Howe’s troops eventually won, forcing the fledgling American government to flee Philadelphia for York, but the patriots’ battlefield tenacity boosted troop morale.

At the Visitors Center, watch an  orientation film and see military artifacts. Take guided tours of the houses of two Quaker farmers caught up in the conflict, including one that was used as Washington’s headquarters.

MARYLAND’S EASTERN SHORE

Although no major Revolutionary War battles occurred on its soil, Maryland supplied some of the war’s most stalwart patriots, and the Eastern Shore’s fertile fields became the “Breadbasket of the Revolution.” For some, independence took longer to arrive.

Easton (69 miles)

Massachusetts has Paul Revere’s midnight dash; Maryland has Tench Tilghman’s 200-mile marathon. Gen. Washington’s trusted aide-de-camp, Tilghman carried news of Britain’s surrender from Yorktown to Philadelphia, an arduous journey thought to have shortened his life. On the Eastern Shore, Tilghman’s native Talbot County hasn’t forgotten him, or its more famous son, abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

About an hour from Baltimore, stop first at Old Wye Mill, a restored gristmill that, twice monthly, grinds grain as it has since 1682. During the Revolution, its flour sustained Washington’s troops. Today, its artisanal flours are still for sale. Talbot’s county seat, Easton was the Eastern Shore’s colonial capital. A historical marker denotes Tilghman’s long-vanished birthplace, “Fausley,” but you’ll learn more about him—and Douglass—at “We the People of Talbot County,” a new exhibit at the Talbot Historical Society’s Larry Denton Museum.

Also visit “Bear Me Into Freedom,” a unique exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in nearby St. Michaels where you can “ask” questions of a Douglass hologram and receive AI generated replies. Better yet, go stand in front of his bronze statue at the nearby courthouse and take some time to ponder his legacy yourself.

Oxford (79 miles)

On to Oxford via the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, which has been plying the Tred Avon River since 1683. Once a bustling colonial port, Oxford endures as a quiet village reflecting its seafaring past. The now-shuttered Robert Morris Inn was the home and place of business of wealthy merchant Robert Morris Sr., whose son, Robert Morris Jr., personally financed the patriots’ war effort before a central bank could be established.

The old inn, closed since last fall, is awaiting its own savior to restore the property to its former glory. Here, visit the small Oxford Museum, where you can learn more about the Morris family. Look for Tench Tilghman’s gravesite in the Oxford Cemetery.

Chestertown (75 miles)

Heading home, make a detour to Chestertown, up north in Kent County. Known for its reenactment of a 1774 patriots’ protest each summer, the town boasts plenty of colonial cred. Stroll the historic district and admire the buildings—Widehall, River House, and the circa-1746 Custom House—that define this former British port of entry.

Chestertown’s Washington College, founded in 1782 and named for George himself, was the first college chartered in the nation. Originally the residence of a prominent colonial slave trader, the Custom House is now home to the college’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, a wellspring for powerful projects like Chesapeake Heartland, in which students and scholars preserve local African-American history.

Every Memorial Day weekend, residents and reenactors don tricorns to celebrate the Chestertown Tea Party Festival, commemorating the day when tax-weary townspeople teatotaled a cargo of the British beverage into the harbor. The original event has yet to be historically verified, but the legend merrily lives on.

THE NATION’S CAPITAL

The nation’s current capital literally was a swamp in the 1770s—marsh surrounded by woods and plantations. Back then, prominent politicians and thinkers of the day lived across the Potomac River in Virginia.

Washington, D.C. (40 miles, or 45-minute train trip)

D.C.’s waterlogged landscape has changed, to say the least, and now includes a wealth of free, federally run museums. Don’t miss the National Archives, where the nation’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights—are preserved for viewing. To avoid long waits, make timed reservations online.

The Smithsonian Institution’s museums are collectively celebrating “Our Shared Future: 250.” See Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and 249 other priceless historical objects at the National Museum of American History. Meanwhile, the National Portrait Gallery will showcase an impressive wax diorama last on view 50 years ago. In intricate detail, the restored work depicts members of the Second Continental Congress at the signing of the Declaration.

Alexandria (60 miles)

Old Town Alexandria exudes colonial American history. Tour Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, two 18th-century hostelries whose patrons included the Washingtons and other prominent Virginians. A new exhibit highlights colonial women, specifically Hannah Griffith, an enterprising businesswoman and tavern operator. The city will honor its 277th birthday plus America’s 250th on July 11,  culminating with a grand fireworks display.

Potomac River (70+ miles)

Here, less than an hour’s drive from Alexandria, you can tour two stately Potomac River estates, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and George Mason’s Gunston Hall. If you haven’t visited Mount Vernon recently, you’re in for a treat. A new exhibit immerses visitors in Washington’s “Revolutionary Life.” Eavesdrop on vital political conversations he held in Philadelphia. Interactively face decisions he made as general. And meet historical interpreters at a mock Continental Army encampment.

Long before libertarianism existed, there was George Mason, a planter-politician fiercely protective of individual liberties (except, notably, those of his slaves) and wary of government tyranny. He helped write Virginia’s Declaration of Rights. Learn more about him at Gunston Hall, his 1759 estate, whose grounds include a Georgian-style mansion, formal gardens, and a visitors’ center.

MOUNTAIN TOWNS

By the time the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, the Western frontier had breached the Appalachian Mountains, where a certain future president made his mark as a young surveyor and a promising officer.

Big Pool (100 miles)

Ninety miles west of Baltimore, in Big Pool, Maryland, sits Fort Frederick, built by English colonists for protection during the French and Indian War and repurposed to imprison His Majesty’s troops during the Revolutionary War. The fort’s 18-foot-tall stone wall and two barracks have been restored so visitors to this state park can, for example, inspect the spartan quarters in which the POWs lived in overcrowded conditions.

Berkeley Springs (108 miles)

To the west of this citadel of armaments and suffering, Berkeley Springs remains a recuperative retreat in West Virginia. Its healing, thermal waters have beckoned spa-goers since 1776, when founders named the town Bath. George Washington not only slumbered here, but he also bathed in its springs.

Today, Berkeley Springs State Park has recreated his bathtub, a stone-lined trench touted as “the country’s only outdoor monument to presidential bathing.” Dip your toes where George soaked his saddle-sore tush, then book a full spa treatment, including massages and saunas, at the park’s bathhouses. A natural 74.3 degrees year-round, the springs running through the park are free to serenity-seeking soakers.

Cumberland (140 miles)

Further still into the western panhandle of Maryland, mountainous Cumberland guarded the colonial frontier and forged the military career of our first commander-in-chief. As a young officer during the French and Indian War in decades prior, Washington served at Fort Cumberland. The fort itself is gone but one original structure survives: a 1750s log cabin that served as Washington’s headquarters and now sits in lovely Riverside Park.

Although you can’t enter, a peep into its window displays offers a glimpse of 18th-century military life. Washington first visited Cumberland as a surveyor and last visited in 1794 as the first U.S. president. Learn about his local connections at the Allegany Museum’s “Crossroads of America” exhibit. Don’t miss its detailed model of Fort Cumberland and an AI-aged bust of Washington as he looked in the 1750s.

Follow Allegany County’s Liberty Tree Trail to find 15 genetic descendants of Maryland’s original Liberty Tree, a tulip poplar beneath which the colonial Sons of Liberty met. Local forester Champ Zumbrun has become the Johnny Appleseed of Liberty Tree conservation, propagating and sharing seedlings from this living symbol of American independence.

If there’s one word to describe December, it’s palpable. The final month of the year has an aura that none of its 11 predecessors possesses. There’s the warmth of overdue family gatherings. The chance to indulge that holiday sweet tooth. The joy of celebrating the religious and cultural traditions dearest to us. The unmistakable nip in the air. And, of course, the satisfaction of self-reflection and anticipation of the year ahead.

Looking to expand your seasonal sensibilities even further? Well, if travel is a path to discovery, then exploring the many celebrations of various Mid-Atlantic communities this winter could be as eye-opening as it is entertaining.

Visit Philadelphia, for example, where eight days and nights of festivities commemorate Hanukkah. Or attend one of the East Coast’s largest Kwanzaa festivals in Virginia’s vibrant capital city of Richmond. Travel to historic Bethlehem (Pennsylvania, that is), where Moravians observe Christmas with carols, candles, and a special holiday market. Or channel Charles Dickens as New Jersey’s Cape May gets decked out for its over-the-top, Victorian-style yuletide cheer. To usher in the new season, there’s also a traditional Swedish winter solstice ceremony in a centuries-old Delaware church.

Wherever you end up for your winter holidays, here’s our guide to some celebratory cities worth a visit.

Dec. 25 – Jan. 2: Hanukkah in Philadelphia

Fifty years ago, a local rabbi lit a rustic, four-foot-high menorah in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and helped popularize a now-ubiquitous national tradition: the ceremonial public lighting of outsized Hanukkah menorahs. And to this day, the City of Brotherly Love’s sizeable Jewish population continues to celebrate Judaism’s joyous eight-day Festival of Lights in a big way for residents and visitors alike.

Now it’s a city-wide affair. Catch menorah lightings at city landmarks such as Independence Hall, Rittenhouse Square, and South Philly’s Singing Fountain. Following the lighting of a giant electric menorah at the Betsy Ross House, where its namesake is said to have sewn the first American flag, the Old City Jewish Arts Center serves traditional foods like potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) and distributes Hanukkah gelt coins to kids.

Enjoy another beloved Philly tradition when menorah-topped vehicles parade through Center City and Main Line Philadelphia during their separate parades. On Dec. 28, the Chevra, a group of young Jewish professionals and graduate students, throws what’s billed as the city’s largest Hanukkah fest. The bash at Rittenhouse Square features live music, dancing, and a familiar, if secular, sartorial tradition, an ugly Hanukkah sweater contest.

While you’re in town, don’t miss the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and the nation’s only museum dedicated to interpreting the American Jewish experience. Its collections include everything from Irving Berlin’s piano to a Liberty Bell menorah lovingly crafted by a folk artist who survived the Holocaust.

Hanukkah’s Origins: Honors the rededication of the Second Temple in ancient Jerusalem as well as the temple’s miraculously long-burning jar of purified oil.

Customs: Nightly lighting of the menorah, a candelabra whose eight flames represent the number of days the temple’s one-day supply of oil burned. Jewish households accompany the lightings with scripture readings, prayers, hymns, and special foods.

Greeting: “Chag urim sameach.” (“Happy Festival of Lights.”)

For a full schedule of Hanukkah events, see visitphilly.com.

Dec. 26–Jan. 1: Kwanzaa in Richmond

Kwanzaa, in Swahili, refers to the harvest, and it’s in this spirit of giving thanks that millions of African Americans gather annually for this seven-day celebration of family, community, and pan-African history, culture, and values. Families share meals, light symbolic candles daily, honor their ancestors, educate children about African culture, and reflect on the future.

In fact, it’s a colorful, deeply significant celebration that happens to owe its origins to a Marylander. Kwanzaa’s founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga, was born in Wicomico County on the Eastern Shore. He devised the holiday in 1966 to promote African traditions while teaching at California State University, Long Beach.

Two years ago, Karenga delivered the keynote address at one of the East Coast’s largest Kwanzaa celebrations, the Capital City Kwanzaa Festival in Richmond, Virginia, now in its 33rd year.

Hosted by the Elegba Folklore Society, Richmond’s festival distills the week-long holiday into a one-day comprehensive celebration of African culture. View the ceremonial Kwanzaa candle lighting with its affirmation of Nguzo Saba, aka the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa (more on that below).

Enjoy music and dance performances. Participate in workshops and children’s activities. Sample African-inspired cuisine at the festival’s African Market, where you can also shop for crafts, clothing, and home decor.

While in Richmond, visit the Jackson Ward Historic District. Called the birthplace of Black entrepreneurship, the neighborhood is among the largest national historic landmark districts associated with African-American history and culture, and was established before the Civil War.

Customs: Each candle lit duriing Kwanzaa represents one of the Seven Principles by which African peoples strive to live: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work & responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith).

Greeting: “Habari gani?” (“What’s the news?”) To which celebrants respond with Kwanzaa’s principle of the day.

For more information, visit efsinc.org.

Dec. 1–24: Moravian Christmas in Bethlehem

Christened “Bethlehem” on Christmas Eve of the year it was founded (1741), this eastern Pennsylvania town became the New World’s first permanent settlement for German-speaking Moravians. Dubbed “The Christmas City,” Bethlehem packs its holiday calendar with celebrations that echo these European religious roots, from simple candlelight church services to soaring choral performances and a popular holiday market called Christkindlmarkt.

The Moravian calendar begins on the first day of Advent (Sunday, Dec. 1, in 2024), when Moravians host fellowship meals called Lovefeasts, as well as special worship services and musical performances through Christmas Eve.

On that day, Bethlehem’s Central Moravian Church conveys the Christmas story as it has for centuries, with a children’s service and an evening celebration featuring hymns, choral music, a brass quintet, and the lighting of traditional beeswax candles. (Bethlehem has so many original Moravian buildings that it recently became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

Visit the Central Church and the town’s historic buildings-turned-museums throughout December to admire another moving Moravian tradition, the putz. From the German putzen (“to decorate”), these lovingly crafted, elaborate dioramas depict the story of Christ’s birth in multiple scenes using hand-carved figurines, plus rocks, moss, and other natural materials.

But there’s more. Shop aisles of artisan works at the massive Christkindlmarkt, held for six weekends beginning in mid-November, on the banks of the Lehigh River. Or explore other venues and activities: Buy a multi-pointed Moravian star at the Moravian Archives store, practice your German at a Moravian singstunde gathering (where Advent carols are sung in both German and English), or listen quietly to holiday carols in the hushed, candlelit Old Moravian Chapel, built in 1751.

Customs: Moravians traditionally use beeswax candles in religious ceremonies to symbolize purity and the light of God.

Traditional Treats: Wafer-thin Moravian sugar cookies, Moravian sugar cake, and Eastern European nut rolls and rolled kiffle cookies.

For a schedule of holiday events and tours, visit christmascity.org.

Dec. 8: Swedish Christmas in Wilmington

It’s an old Scandinavian ritual: On the shortest day of the year, the household’s eldest daughter, her head crowned with a candlelit wreath, leads her candle-carrying siblings upstairs to deliver sweet buns and coffee to their parents. The roots of this ceremonial breakfast in bed can be traced all the way back to fourth-century Italy and the times of Saint Lucy (“Santa Lucia” to Scandinavians), a Christian martyr and patron saint of the blind.

On her feast day, Dec. 13, she is honored for bringing light into the world and foretelling the end of long winter nights in a ceremony that blends pagan and Christian traditions.

Although we celebrate the winter solstice on Dec. 21, under the Julian calendar the year’s longest night was Dec. 13. In Scandinavia, it marks the traditional start of the Christmas season and is reason to reenact a simple yet elegant procession in homes and churches throughout the land. But you needn’t hop a plane to Stockholm or Oslo for the pageantry.

On the second Sunday in December, one of the nation’s most historic churches, Holy Trinity, aka the Old Swedes Historic Site, in Wilmington, Delaware, opens its doors to the public to honor Santa Lucia. Portraying her, a young woman from the community, dressed head to toe in white, leads a costumed procession down the aisles of the 326-year-old stone church, set aglow by candlelight. Lucia is followed by girls dressed in white, “star boys” (starngossar) wearing tall, pointy hats, and red-dressed elf-like helpers (tomtar), played by young children. There’s music, of course, and guests can enjoy both coffee and Swedish baked goods after the ceremonies.

Be sure to tour the adjacent Hendrickson House, an 18th-century Swedish-American home decorated for Christmas, and go holiday browsing at its gift shop. Nearby, visit the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel, which brought the first Swedish settlers to the area in 1638. Traditional Treats: Lussekatter saffron buns.

Greeting: “God Jul.” (“Merry Christmas.”)

Nov. 23–Dec. 31: Victorian Christmas in Cape May

Without the Victorians, the modern American Christmas might be unrecognizable: no roly-poly Santa Claus (hitherto a svelte Saint Nick), Christmas cards, or lavishly decorated Christmas trees. Also, no federal holiday (finally enacted in 1870), or umpteen Hollywood versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

For a deep dive into a Dickensian-era Christmas, head to Cape May, a Victorian gem on New Jersey’s southern seashore. Hundreds of preserved 19th-century buildings—ornately designed houses, hotels, inns, and businesses—make the entire city a National Historic Landmark District.

Every December, these “painted ladies” don their holiday finery and welcome visitors with candlelight tours, themed trolley rides, and street caroling. The season begins Nov. 23 with a Christmas tree lighting at Holiday HQ, aka the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate, a prominent Cape May physician’s 18-room mansion-turned-museum.

Register early for the most coveted ticket in town: Cape May’s annual self-guided Christmas Candlelight House Tours (Dec. 7, 14, and 21)—you’ll stroll streets lit by gas lamps and a multitude of twinkly lights while visiting select homes, B&Bs, and the Physick mansion, all decked out for the holidays.

If you can’t snag tickets, don’t despair; There are yuletide outings aplenty. BYO blanket and hop on Cape May’s open-air Jolly Trolley for one of their themed tours, during which you can admire holiday lights, hear from Mrs. Claus, or learn about the spirits who haunt the Physick Estate to this day. Swing by Cape May’s favorite Enchanted Vendor Village at Congress Hall, an iconic local resort once frequented by presidents and politicians. And don’t miss the West Cape May Christmas Parade, with festive floats parading through town on Dec. 7.

Victorian Customs: Parlor games were popular holiday amusements, including two depicted in A Christmas Carol: Blindman’s Buff (aka Bluff) and the guessing game Yes or No.

Traditional Treats: The yuletide tradition of wassail—a hot beverage of cider or wine with spices—is said to have originated as a pagan tradition, paying homage to the fruits of fall harvests that helped provide sustenance through the dead of winter. Now tied to caroling and Christmas, the drink can be enjoyed at the town’s historic Cold Spring Village during Wassail Day, an afternoon festival with wagon rides, wreath contests, and crafts on Dec. 7.

For more holiday happenings, consult the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, capemaymac.org.

Looking Ahead…

Jan. 29: Lunar New Year in Washington, D.C.
Asian Americans will welcome the Year of the Snake in 2025 when the Lunar New Year begins on Jan. 29. Join the festivities in the Nation’s Capital, including a return performance by the renowned National Ballet of China at the Kennedy Center Opera House, special family activities at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and its American Art Museum, and the popular, ultra colorful Lunar New Year Parade through the streets of Chinatown.

For a calendar of events, visit washington.org.

Jan. 27: Lailat at Miraj in Lanham
On this first major Islamic holiday of the new year, Muslims commemorate the journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem by reflecting on his life and teachings. At the nonprofit Diyanet Center of America in Lanham, Maryland—its magnificent exterior reflecting classical Ottoman architecture—and other mosques around the Washington metro area, congregations offer special prayers and recite passages from the Qur’an.

Learn more about the Islamic faith at the Islamic Center of D.C. during the holy month of Ramadan, from Feb. 28 through Mar. 30, during which community members fast daily from sunrise to sundown, breaking their abstinence with a communal meal (iftar) and holding nightly communal prayers (taraweeh).

Located on Embassy Row in the Nation’s Capital, the center serves practicing Muslims and promotes a better understanding of the faith by opening its mosque to all for regular prayers.