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Home/ Trip Ideas/ Scenic Drives/ Scenic Byways
Capital Region Scenic Byways
The call of the open road is irresistible in the Capital Region. Check out our collection of scenic byways in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland. From the mountains to the coast, pick the road trip holiday that’s just right for you.
Twenty three miles and 174 years long, the Colonial Parkway takes travelers on a journey through British colonial history in America.
The Historic National Road was the country’s first federally financed road building project.
Outstanding scenery and recreational opportunities make the Blue Ridge Parkway, “America’s Favorite Drive”, one of the most popular units of the National Park System.
See the truly special landscape of the Mid-Atlantic Region and gain an appreciation for the working life of Maryland's Eastern Shore farmers, watermen and merchants.
This parkway serves as a gateway to the nation's capital and a living memorial to first president, George Washington.
The Skyline Drive, part of Shenandoah National Park, runs 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains starting in the north of the Shenandoah Valley at Front Royal to Waynesboro, where it meets the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a scenic and historically rich landscape following Routes 15/20 from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia; and is recognized as holding more American history than any other region in the country.
Harriet Tubman led many African Americans to freedom in the North along Maryland’s Underground Railroad, which was not a true railroad but rather a secret network of roads, waterways and hiding places.
Baltimore’s historic Charles Street takes you from natural wooded landscapes of Baltimore County to the city’s grand downtown skyscrapers and popular Inner Harbor.
Take a trip on Maryland’s Religious Freedom Byway and watch the struggle for religious freedom in the new world unfold.
This scenic, 100-mile trail follows the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812 as British troops made their way along the Chesapeake Bay, leading up to the fight in Baltimore made famous by Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Civil War Trails
More Civil War battles were fought in the Capital Region than anywhere else in America.
Civil War Trails across Virginia and Maryland bring the stories of these battles and those who fought them to life on the very grounds were the action took place.
Walk in a soldier's footsteps across the battlefields of Virginia and Maryland, attend Civil War related events, or don 1800s garb and take part in a battle reenactment. Visit the many historic churches, homes, museums and cemeteries while making your way along the trails.
This scenic byway is a 90-mile historic and scenic driving tour that follows the route taken during Robert E. Lee’s September 1862 Maryland Campaign during the US Civil War, in his attempt to gain foreign support for the Southern cause. The campaign resulted in the Union victory President Lincoln needed prior to announcing a proclamation freeing the slaves.
Robert E. Lee’s army of Northern Virginia had recently surrendered to Union forces, and the mending of America was just getting underway when John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC.
