Day 1: Indianapolis, IN / Gulfport, MS / Mobile, AL
Air departure from Indianapolis to Gulfport, MS. Depart from the airport by motorcoach. After included lunch in Gulfport we travel the scenic route to Biloxi for a tour of Beauvois, the last home of Jefferson Davis and the site of his retirement. There you’ll also learn of the restoration of Beauvois after Hurricane Katrina. We continue to Mobile. The Museum of Mobile has graciously extended their hours for our group. Their gallery is devoted to Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes and the C.S.S. Alabama, which captured 65 U.S. merchant ships A newly acquired artifact, one of the guns of the Confederate raider, CSS Alabama is now resides at the museum. This evening feast on fresh seafood at Felix Fish Camp situated on one of the most scenic ports of Mobile Bay. Hampton Inn, Historic District, Mobile, AL (L,D)

Day 2: Mobile, AL / Dauphin Island / Montgomery, AL
At the outbreak of the war, Mobile was a prosperous cosmopolitan city, the hub of deep water, river and rail transportation and communication. After the fall of New Orleans in 1862, Mobile became the main Gulf port remaining open to blockade runners and a vital east-west rail link for Confederate troop movements. Only a short drive from Mobile, Dauphin Island is just off the Alabama coast, making it the southernmost point in the State. A barrier island, it has protected the coast from many storms and hurricanes…and Union soldiers. Learn the role of Fort Gaines in the Battle of Mobile Bay, one of the wars most notable naval conflicts. We’re traveling in the beautiful spring season where azaleas abound, enjoy not-to-be-missed Bellingrath, where you have time for lunch and a tour of the home, or wandering the expansive gardens. Mid-afternoon, we travel to Montgomery where we overnight for 2 nights. Dinner on your own tonight at the hotel or a nearby restaurant. Hilton Garden Inn, Montgomery, AL (B,L)

Day 3: Montgomery
Visit the First White House of Confederacy where Confederate President Davis and his wife lived in 1835 before the capital of the Confederacy was moved to Richmond; and the Alabama State Capitol where Jefferson Davis took the oath of office, becoming provisional president of the new Confederate States of America, on the steps of this 1851 building. At the Alabama Department of Archives and History you’ll find Civil War Confederate uniforms, flags, weapons, letters and diaries; antebellum planter class artifacts and records. After lunch on your own, take in the Freedom Rides Museum you’ll learn how 21 young people helped change our nation’s history using nonviolent protest. The Rosa Parks Library and Museum depict events that started the bus boycott and early Civil Rights movement. Stop by the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pastored and began his quest for civil right. Dinner included this evening. Hilton Garden Inn, Montgomery, AL (B,D)

Day 4: Birmingham, AL / Atlanta, GA
En route to Birmingham, we’ll stop at Confederate Memorial Park, the site of Alabama’s only Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans. Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Alabama, is a moving tribute to the men and boys that took up arms in defense of their home state during the Civil War. Enjoy tour and lunch at Rucker Place, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1900 by Civil War General Edmund Winchester Rucker as a wedding gift for his daughter. In Birmingham, talk in richly detailed exhibits in the Civil Rights Institute which reveal slices of black and white life in Alabama from the late 1800s to the present. A series of galleries tells the stories of daily life for African-Americans in the state and the nation and how dramatically different it was from the lives white people of that era took for granted. The powerful Movement Gallery presents the Civil Rights Movement for 1955 to 1963. Here a picture emerges of the bad old days of "Bombingham," a reference to the relentless violence that rocked the city in the late 1950s and early '60s. In the final exhibits, the Processional Gallery uses life-size figures representing all ages and races to portray the "walk to freedom." Hampton Inn, Georgia Tech, Birmingham, AL (B, L,D)

Day 5: Atlanta, GA / Indianapolis, IN
Visit the Atlanta History Center where you can take in their signature exhibit: “Turning Point.” Explore the most critical conflict in our nation’s history through one of the nation’s largest exhibitions on the Civil War featuring more than 1,500 original artifacts, photographs, dioramas, videos, and interactive components. After included lunch, take a stirring journey through time in Atlanta's Cyclorama. Sit at the center of a sweeping panorama of the Battle of Atlanta, fought on July 22, 1864, during the American Civil War. When you visit the Cyclorama in Atlanta's Historic Grant Park you can also see artifacts of the war displayed in the Civil War Museum and a steam locomotive known as the Texas, a veteran of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862. (B,L)


Commercial Air: Book Now to ensure your place on this trip because this trip operates on commercial air. Space is limited and may not be available less than 90 days before departure. Included air fare subject to change.