REDISCOVERING THE CIVIL WAR IN THE AGE OF COVID

The coronavirus made tourism tricky—even lethal. Museums and other indoor attractions shuttered. Flying seemed risky.

Like many Americans, I quickly contracted a debilitating travel bug. How could I cure a crippling case of wanderlust yet avoid contracting a lethal contagion?

I live in Washington, D.C., where the National Mall offers safe outdoor opportunities to tour the city’s postcard-worthy monuments and statues. Trouble is, like most locals, I have seen them all, many times over. To slip the homebound shackles of Zoom calls and Netflix binges, I knew I needed to get out of the city.

Then it hit me: few parts of the United States offer as many pandemic-safe attractions as you can find within a 90-mile orbit of our