The Mid-Atlantic States is land of the extremes. If New England provided the brains and dollars for 19th century American expansion, the Mid-Atlantic States provided the muscle.
A region of contradictions, a visit to the Mid-Atlantic dispels all pre-conceived ideas about its industrial past; there are more wooded hills than factory chimneys, more fields than concrete roads, and more farmhouses than office buildings. It may contain many of the nation’s biggest industries, but it is also home to some of the most beautiful countryside in the nation.
But even more important than all that…this is where the United States of America was founded.
From the Founding Fathers to Andy Warhol, Globe Trekker’s journey through the Mid Atlantic States of America features a glimpse into the characters and colorful history of the region, covering parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Traveller Brianna Barnes starts in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and discovers that the notoriously popularised “Jersey Shores” has a softer, nostalgia-tinged side as she travels south to the Wildwoods on a 1950’s themed weekend.
After taking the car-ferry from Cape May to Lewes, Brianna heads for the Chesapeake Bay, where she checks out a classic American Diner with a patriotic tradition, the U.S. Naval Academy, and then goes crabbing for the famous Maryland Blue Crabs.
Heading north, she stops by south-eastern Pennsylvania’s historic Brandywine Valley in Delaware and the Hagley Museum to see the origins of the Dupont family fortunes: a historic gunpowder factory. Onwards to Philadelphia, America’s first capital city and a great place to get to know the Founding Fathers up close and personal. After making a pilgrimage to some of Philly’s famous ‘cheese steak’ outlets and learning about that cult food from a champion eater, she makes a triumphant run up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and discovers she’s not the only fan of the famed Hollywood legend ‘Rocky Bilboa’.
Leaving Philadelphia, Barnes heads deeper into Pennsylvania to Amish Country, the new Flight 93 memorial, and then Pittsburgh to check out the Andy Warhol Museum.
Finally, heading south into Virginia, Barnes practices a classic American highway tradition by pulling over at a curious roadside attraction which in this case is ‘Foamhenge’, a full scale replica of Stonehenge made out of Styrofoam! Her final destination is Monticello, the beautifully restored home and gardens of Thomas Jefferson.
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