Fascinating Civil War Travel Event with Filmmaker Ken Burns

We can always count on the wonderful tour operator, Tauck World Discovery, to create amazing life-seeing travel experiences, and now they’ve created a trip that  will no doubt thrill history buffs with an exclusive five-day Civil War event being hosted by 12-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns in and around Washington, D.C., May 22 to 26.

The one-time Civil War event will be highlighted by Tauck-exclusive experiences, including private access at a number of historic venues and a keynote address from Burns during an interactive evening with the filmmaker. The Tauck/Ken Burns event coincides with this year’s 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and a PBS rebroadcast of Burns’ groundbreaking film “The Civil War” slated for early April. The Burns film has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards.

Each full day of the Tauck/Ken Burns event will examine a different facet of the Civil War, with attendees splitting into groups of 15 to 30 to experience a series of private, interactive guided sightseeing modules related to that day’s theme. Themes to be explored on selected days include “The Meaning of Freedom,” which probes the role of slavery leading up to and through the Civil War in special visits to the Frederick Douglass House and the African-American Museum of the Civil War, and on a walking tour of historic U Street.

Other themes include “Lincoln’s War,” which examines the 16th president’s remarkable leadership, complex personality and enduring legacy in private tours of Ford’s Theatre, the Library of Congress, and Lincoln’s newly opened summer cottage, the personal retreat he frequented during his presidency. “The People’s War” ventures outside of Washington for a guided tour of the Manassas battlefield in Virginia. Like Burns’ films, each day’s theme will be explored “from the ground up,” emphasizing the human drama and deeply personal experiences of the people, from common foot soldiers to national figures whose lives were impacted by the Civil War.

The event will also be highlighted by three exclusive after-hours evening events, each hosted in a different historic building after it has closed to the public for the day.  The premier gathering for many guests, however, will be the interactive evening with Burns inside the National Archives. The evening will include a keynote address on the Civil War and its legacy from Burns, an opportunity for guests to meet and chat with the filmmaker, and private after-hours viewing of the Rotunda. Following cocktails and dinner, attendees will conclude the evening with a memorable nighttime visit to the Lincoln Memorial.

Prices for the event are from $3,590 per person, double occupancy, plus air. Included in the price are airport transfers, most meals, admission to all sites and attractions, local guides, ground transportation, all evening programs and entertainment, taxes and luggage handling. Guests can select lodging from four historic five-star hotel properties in Washington, D.C., including the Willard Intercontinental, which hosted both Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant in the 1860s. One hundred years later, Martin Luther King Jr. completed his “I Have A Dream” speech in the Willard the day before his historic rally on the National Mall. Other choices for accommodations include the St. Regis, the Hay-Adams and the Fairfax at Embassy Row. Availability for this Tauck/Ken Burns Civil War event is limited.   Call me for more information and to reserve your place.

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