The purpose of your site visit essay is to get out on the ground and learn some history by seeing and feeling rather than just by reading. My personal interest in history began when I was stationed in Germany and beginning visiting old castles, historic towns, and sites that existed even before the discovery of America. I saw the tombs of Holy Roman Emperors at the great Romanesque cathedral in Speyer, and I knew practically nothing about them. I resolved to find out. We also visited the former concentration camp at Dachau, and the feeling you get from being in a place like that is indescribable. Many students in the past have written that they drove by historic sites in the Virginia area for years without really knowing what was there. They were pleased that this assignment led them to go and investigate what they had been overlooking for much of their lives. Perhaps your visit will take you to a museum, where you will see real artifacts from history that give you a deeper feeling for the times they address. You are certain to enjoy this assignment, and you should look forward to broadening your horizons.

More About Site Visits

To begin this essay you should get background from your text and documents as appropriate and do extra research as needed. You should include in your source list the date of your visit. Your essay should give a brief description of the site (not too detailed, as I have visited almost all of them), but most important, you should describe what struck you as interesting. You might address the following:

• What did you learn at the site that you didn't know before?
• What did your tour guide (if there was one) say about the site?
• How did the atmosphere strike you--festive? somber? sad? peaceful?
• Did the site itself seem to convey a mood appropriate to the subject?
• What were the exhibits like? What did they contain?
• Did you learn anything from printed or other materials you got at the site?
• What did you hear visitors saying about their impressions?
• Were family or friends with you? What did they think?

Your final draft should be about 7-9 pages in length.

• Use cover page with title, title of the film, your name, date, and course.
• Include source page listing sources you used, the date of your visit, etc.
• Include a header with your last name and page number (which will appear on each page.)
• Print double spaced on one side of paper, leaving 1 inch margins. (Double space everything, including quotations, but do not put an extra space between paragraphs.)
• Use standard 10 or 12 pitch type font and format paper according to good practice.
• Standard English is required—excessive grammatical errors may affect your grade.
• There is no penalty for correct spelling; use a dictionary if you need to. Use spell checkers with caution.
• If submitting by email, use MS Word, Word Perfect or Rich Text Format (.rtf).

Suggested places and topics for site visit essay:

• The General Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk.
• The Woodrow Wilson Library and Home, Staunton, Virginia.
• National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport with plenty of WWII and other aircraft, including the Enola Gay, a Concorde, the Space Shuttle Enterprise and the “Blackbird”, SR-71.
• General George C. Marshall's Residencein Leesburg, Virginia.
• Arlington National Cemetery and Fort Meyer
• The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial—Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington.
• U.S. Marine Corps Museum, Quantico
• The Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Washington.
• The Smithsonian Institution home page.
• The National Park Service Home Page will give you links to many more sites in Maryland and Virginia and across the country.
• Vietnam Memorial on the Mall in Washington.
• FDR Memorial on the Mall in Washington.
• World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington.
• Frederick Douglass House Washington, DC.
• Arlington National Cemetery
• United States Holocaust Museum Wasgington, DC.
• Korean War Memorial on the Mall in Washington.
• U.S. Army Women's Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia

• National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia
• Essay on the Women's Movement and Visit to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
• Native American History and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.
• Many additional topics are suggested by exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution. If you are traveling or live out of the Virginia area, our country is rich is resources for historic research in libraries, museums, state capitals and other historic sites.
• The National Museum of American History is an excellent place to visit and can provide information for a variety of topics.
• Additional resources may be found on external History Web Sites.