These are journeys I have designed and led for past clients. They are examples, not a menu. Every Azimuth itinerary is built individually, in conversation with the traveler, around the interests, schedule, and pace that matter to them.
Historic Cities/Sites
Most of my city work is in Washington, where I spent my career, but I also lead expeditions in Philadelphia, Charleston, Boston, New York, and other cities whose history shaped the development of the United States. Many include historic cemeteries, from national military sites to local burial grounds with their own stories.
Unseen Arlington National Cemetery: America’s Most Sacred Shrine
A privately guided four-hour expedition through the rarely seen sections of Arlington. I worked here for years. I know what is worth your time.
Washington: Monuments, Memory, and Power
A two-day exploration of the National Mall, the memorials, key sites of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government. We cover the architecture, the political fights that produced it, and the people behind the monuments.
Philadelphia: Birthplace of the Republic
A journey through Independence Hall, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the institutions where the American experiment took shape. We work through the founding generation’s actual arguments, not the gift-shop version.
Charleston: Port City of the Atlantic World
An exploration of Charleston’s colonial streets, waterfront defenses, and the trade and conflict that built the city. The slave economy, the Revolution, the secession crisis, and the architecture and food traditions that survived all of it.
Battlefields
I have led battlefield tours across the United States and abroad: Revolutionary War sites in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina; War of 1812 sites in Maryland; U.S.–Mexican War battlefields in Texas; Civil War landscapes across nine states from Pennsylvania to Mississippi; and frontier war sites across the northern plains and the American West. Each expedition is built around the ground itself.
Antietam: America’s Bloodiest Day
A terrain-focused exploration of the September 1862 campaign and the single bloodiest day in American military history. We work through the morning, midday, and afternoon phases as Lee and McClellan saw them, and close on the strategic consequences for Lincoln, the war, and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Cowpens: Turning the Tide in the Southern Campaign
An exploration of Daniel Morgan’s tactical plan, the leadership of American and British commanders, and the battle’s role in shifting momentum during the Revolutionary War in the South. The ground is small and walkable; the lesson on command decisions is outsized.
First Bull Run: Consequences on the Conduct of the War
A four-hour battlefield exploration of the opening campaign of the Civil War. We explore how the fighting on Henry Hill impacted the scale and character of the war to come.
Gettysburg: The Retreat and Pursuit
A full-day expedition focused on the command decisions following the three days of fighting. By retracing the routes the U.S. and Confederate armies took during the retreat and pursuit, we learn much about the commanders Robert E. Lee and George G. Meade.
Overland Campaign: Grant Changes the Course of the War
A multi-day, multi-site expedition tracing Grant and Lee from the Wilderness through Spotsylvania to Cold Harbor. We cover the strategic shift Grant brought to the eastern theater, the cost it imposed, and the campaign that broke the Confederacy.
Culinary and Beverage
Wine, spirits, and food expeditions in regions where the agriculture and the history are inseparable: Virginia wine country, the Finger Lakes, Napa and Sonoma, Kentucky’s bourbon region, and Washington.
Virginia Wine Country Exploration
A full-day private visit to vineyards in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, with discussion of the region’s agricultural history and the terroir behind the wines being made now. All of this in the footsteps of some of the Civil War’s most well-known campaigns and battles.
Washington D.C.: The History of the American Cocktail
A journey through Washington’s historic restaurants and bars, working through the classic American cocktails that came out of them and the political and social history that shaped their making. We drink along the way.
Finger Lakes: Wine and Landscape in Upstate New York
An exploration of one of the most distinctive cool-climate wine regions in North America. We work through the glacial terrain that shaped the lakes, the people who built the modern industry, and the producers making the Riesling and cool-climate reds the region is known for today.
Plan Your Expedition
Every Azimuth journey is designed individually. The examples shown here illustrate the kinds of expeditions we create, but each itinerary is developed in conversation with the traveler.
Email or call to start planning your Azimuth expedition.
[email protected] · +1 (703) 520-5310