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What's New • April 2008
Greetings, Regulars and Other Friends

• Icons of the Confederacy
• Land of Infinite Beauty and Fascinating History
• Kit Carson: Larger than Life
• Bad Hand Mackenzie Tour
  
• HistoryAmerica News Bits

Icons of the Confederacy

There is no better way to enjoy the autumn wonders of Virginia and at the same time take an exceptional learning vacation than to join HistoryAmerica TOURS for Icons of the Confederacy: With Lee, Davis, and Jackson in Virginia, October 6–12, 2008. Historian Guide Robert E. Lee Krick will present Robert E. Lee; Lee's best-loved subordinate, Stonewall Jackson; and the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. No one knows them as well or can better communicate the lasting effects they had on Virginia and consequently on the entire United States.

This tour has an advantage that is rarely found on HistoryAmerica tours. Every night is spent at one location. No need to pack and unpack several times; just relax and enjoy the ambiance and many conveniences of the elegant Omni Hotel in downtown Richmond.

Land of Infinite Beauty and Fascinating History

Keep your eyes open for a full-color spread of the map of the Nova Scotia tour that will be arriving in your mailboxes soon. It also can be found with the Nova Scotia tour on our website. (Click the miniature below to download the PDF of the map, 991K.)

This 10-day tour that starts August 27 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will cover the rich history of the region as best told by Historian Guide Brian Cuthbertson.

Nova Scotia is home to one of the first permanent settlements in North America, the initial battleground for the world-changing Seven Years War (French and Indian War), and a witness to the horrific loss of life from the sinking of the Titanic. This is a land that will make your heart weep for its beauty and for the stories that unfolded on its shores.

Join HistoryAmerica TOURS and travel to Nova Scotia: Fulcrum of the Seven Years War. Don't wait too long to join this great tour!

Kit Carson: Larger than Life

August 3 will mark the start of one of HistoryAmerica TOURS more intimate journeys. Mike Koury, historian guide of Kit Carson: Mountain Man and Much More, will take you back to a time when much of the West was still a vast and imposing uncharted land. Here you will meet Kit Carson, who at the age of 14 left home to seek his fortune, becoming a trapper, hunter, and trader in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area. In constant contact with the local Indians, he met his first two wives, an Arapahoe and a Cheyenne. In this same area but years later as a brigadier general in the U.S. Army, he would force 8,000 Navajo people on a deadly journey known as the "Long Walk."

Join in the discovery of Kit Carson. Learn how a man who lived among Indians and was their respected friend became involved in such a tragic event. These mysteries and others await you on Kit Carson, August 3–10.

Bad Hand Mackenzie Tour

Gathered at the Hutchinson County Museum, participants on the Bad Hand Mackenzie tour heard the story of the military career and the dazzling accomplishments of "the most promising young officer in the army." This new tour led by Historian Guide Neil Mangum featured frontier forts and outposts and a fabulous BBQ dinner on the rim of Palo Duro Canyon. Sharon McDermott, one of the owners of HistoryAmerica TOURS, returned from the trip full of enthusiasm for the program itself and its dramatic tales, but most of all for the pleasure of being in the company of this extremely congenial group of bright, interesting travelers who said they were enjoying themselves as much as she was.

HistoryAmerica News Bits

A blizzard on May 2 brought 3 feet of snow to the Black Hills. With roads impassable it was impossible to get to the office for a couple of days. The beauty of these storms is now evident as we are enjoying all the flowers that are in bloom due to this much needed moisture. It is truly spring here in the office of HistoryAmerica TOURS and we have a vase full of lilacs to prove it.

In response to calls and requests for a tour on the American Revolutionary War, we are pleased to announce that Ed Bearss has signed on to lead a 2009 tour covering the campaigns in the Southern Colonies.

We were thrilled to receive an evaluation of the 2008 Vicksburg tour from Dr. Charles Smallwood, a Ten Tour Club member, where he stated, "You have done a great job of carrying on what Pete and Julia Brown have started. Congratulations and thank you."