I recently completed visits to all national park units in the Mid-Atlantic region in my Long Range Model 3, including First State in Delaware, 4 in New Jersey, 5 in West Virginia, 13 in Maryland, 16 in Pennsylvania and 17 in Virginia. [Links go to details on my ad-free blog]. I encourage all Tesla drivers to go out and explore their local National Park Sites, and below, I pick my favorite from each of the six states in the region.
New Jersey does not deserve all the grief it gets from NYC talk show hosts. Get off the turnpike; it’s scenic and interesting. Great Egg Harbor River is lovely, Morristown is historic, Paterson Great Falls is impressive and Thomas Edison is fascinating.
West Virginia is almost heaven. Harpers Ferry is one of my favorite parks and it hosts the Appalachian Trail HQ. The three river parks, Bluestone, Gauley and New—a National Park—, contrast the dangerous and polluting history of coal mining with the beauty of nature when given our protection.
Maryland may be a small state, but it is packed with parks from Catoctin Mountain, down the C&O Canal, past the Greenbelt, down to Piscataway, out to the Underground Railroad and all the way to Assateague’s seashore. It’s also packed with history, from Hampton & Stone, to Forts Washington & McHenry, to Antietam& Monocacy and Clara Barton.
Pennsylvania’s parks are historic. There’s early US history at Fort Necessity, Hopewell Furnace, Independence, Kosciuszko, Valley Forge and Friendship Hill. There’s transportation history at Allegheny Portage and Steamtown. There are imagined terrors from Poe, and real terror at Johnstown Flood and Flight 93. There’s Gettysburg, where Eisenhower lived. And there are the Gap, Middle and Upper parts of the Delaware River, first explored by Europeans in the 17th century, who traded with the natives who lived here for millennia.
Virginia has the first British colony (see photo) and the birthplaceof our first President. Many of Virginia’s parks are Civil War battle sites, including Manassas, Cedar Creek, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Petersburg. Others relate to slavery, the end of the war & civil rights, including Arlington House, Fort Monroe, Appomattox, Booker T. Washington and Maggie L. Walker. I enjoyed driving Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive, the Potomac Heritage Trail to Prince William Forest and the GW Parkway on my way to Wolf Trap. Virginia is for park lovers.
My favorite parks in each state are First, Edison, Harpers, McHenry, Independence and Colonial, but your favorite parks should be based on your interests.
New Jersey does not deserve all the grief it gets from NYC talk show hosts. Get off the turnpike; it’s scenic and interesting. Great Egg Harbor River is lovely, Morristown is historic, Paterson Great Falls is impressive and Thomas Edison is fascinating.
West Virginia is almost heaven. Harpers Ferry is one of my favorite parks and it hosts the Appalachian Trail HQ. The three river parks, Bluestone, Gauley and New—a National Park—, contrast the dangerous and polluting history of coal mining with the beauty of nature when given our protection.
Maryland may be a small state, but it is packed with parks from Catoctin Mountain, down the C&O Canal, past the Greenbelt, down to Piscataway, out to the Underground Railroad and all the way to Assateague’s seashore. It’s also packed with history, from Hampton & Stone, to Forts Washington & McHenry, to Antietam& Monocacy and Clara Barton.
Pennsylvania’s parks are historic. There’s early US history at Fort Necessity, Hopewell Furnace, Independence, Kosciuszko, Valley Forge and Friendship Hill. There’s transportation history at Allegheny Portage and Steamtown. There are imagined terrors from Poe, and real terror at Johnstown Flood and Flight 93. There’s Gettysburg, where Eisenhower lived. And there are the Gap, Middle and Upper parts of the Delaware River, first explored by Europeans in the 17th century, who traded with the natives who lived here for millennia.
Virginia has the first British colony (see photo) and the birthplaceof our first President. Many of Virginia’s parks are Civil War battle sites, including Manassas, Cedar Creek, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Petersburg. Others relate to slavery, the end of the war & civil rights, including Arlington House, Fort Monroe, Appomattox, Booker T. Washington and Maggie L. Walker. I enjoyed driving Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive, the Potomac Heritage Trail to Prince William Forest and the GW Parkway on my way to Wolf Trap. Virginia is for park lovers.
My favorite parks in each state are First, Edison, Harpers, McHenry, Independence and Colonial, but your favorite parks should be based on your interests.
