Why Study History?

n the words of Robert E. Lee, “history teaches us to hope”, and we all need that. Studying history is also a lot of fun! Particularly when you visit the places where “history was made”. There is a certain thrill to stand on the battlefields where men sacrificed all in defense of their homes or for a noble cause. It is enjoyable to view the material culture in a museum of the past; we connect with our own ancestors when we see the artifacts of their lives. We get a sense of continuity with the past, especially when we think of our place in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom that has existed from the first family of history and will exist to the end of time. Consider joining other hopeful families on a Landmark Events tour as we joyfully “show the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that he hath done”.

“Vicksburg is the key; the war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.” —Abraham Lincoln

Join us on the bluffs above the mighty Mississippi as we embark on a family history tour of Vicksburg, scene of some of the most touching narratives and striking providences of the Civil War. With Pennsylvania-born Confederate Major General Pemberton pitted against the “Illinois bulldog”, Ulysses S. Grant, the consuming drama of Vicksburg played itself out with dire implications for both nations.

This tour will encompass three major battlefields and a museum: Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Vicksburg and the Old Courthouse Museum. Today, the Vicksburg National Military Park stretches over 1,800 acres of fields, woods, and ravines and features over 1,300 monuments, markers, plaques and tablets. It includes the Vicksburg National Cemetery, the final resting place of 17,000 Union soldiers, the largest number of any national cemetery.

* Unlimited family members in the same household

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together. And... by the goodness of God we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” —Edward Winslow, 1621

This Thanksgiving, consider joining a small group of grateful families as we gather together in Plymouth, Massachusetts to remember the Lord’s kindness and mercy, just as our Pilgrim Forefathers did almost 400 years ago. Armed with great faith that upheld them through incredible trials that claimed half of them by the end of the first winter, these 104 hearty souls now have over 30 million descendants! Come spend the week learning, remembering, feasting and celebrating the providence of God in our nation’s founding and the birthplace of her spiritual heritage.

* This is a motorcoach tour. Children 4 and under free if sitting on lap of family member.

“The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts in the hour of danger.” —Andrew Jackson

Join Landmark historian Bill Potter as we explore the ancient sites of northeastern Florida, redolent with the sea breezes of the Atlantic and steeped in a providential history that helped create the English civilization that became embedded north of Florida and brought about the abandonment of the outposts of Spain’s Empire in North America. We will tell the stories on site of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine and the French Huguenot colony at Jacksonville, Ft. Caroline. We will remember the courageous Reformed settlers who brought the Gospel to the natives of the region and their subsequent extermination by the Spanish for the capitol crime of rejecting the Catholic Church and following the Calvinist Reformation. We will examine the lives and times of fearless conquistadors, superstitious explorers seeking the fountain of youth, the ferocious no-holds-barred Scots-Irish General Andrew Jackson who seized Florida and would not give it back, and the natives who suffered through all the invasions and fought a war with the United States that was never concluded!

* Unlimited family members in the same household