Gala Farewell Dinner at the National Portrait Gallery & Smithsonian American Art Museum, site of Lincoln’s second Inaugural Ball
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln expressed his belief that the Civil War was being waged to preserve a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” – a “people’s war” that often pitted brother against brother. Witness the war as experienced by typical Americans on both sides on visits to Manassas National Battlefield, site of both battles of Bull Run; Ben Lomond Historic Site, a former Confederate hospital; the historic mill town of Occoquan, with a Potomac cruise highlighting the river’s role in the war; and America’s “most hallowed ground” – Arlington National Cemetery, once the estate of Robert E. Lee, and Lee’s former home, Arlington House.
Tonight, all gather for our stately farewell dinner in a spectacular Greek Revival structure, originally the U.S. Patent Office. It served as a Union hospital and morgue after Manassas, Antietam and Fredericksburg; Clara Barton and Walt Whitman nursed the wounded here. In March 1865, it was the site of Lincoln’s second inaugural ball. Narrowly escaping the wrecking ball in the 1950s, it became the National Portrait Gallery & Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1968. The evening includes a reception and private viewing of the America’s Presidents Portrait Gallery, featuring a fascinating look at Lincoln’s facial masks. Dinner is served in the same Great Hall that hosted the Lincoln inaugural; enjoy delicacies from that inaugural menu, a toast by Tauck family members, Civil War-era music and a dessert buffet... at your own private “inaugural ball!”
OCCOQUAN Both a thriving waterfront artists’ community
and a designated Virginia landmark, Historic Occoquan began life as an 18th-century mill town. Browse its charming shops and buildings, and embark on a boat ride along the Potomac, with commentary chronicling the river’s role in the war.
BEN LOMOND Historic site Costumed docents and living historians help tell the story of this Federal-style pre-Civil War home, which served as a Confederate hospital during and after the first battle of Manassas; its walls bear graffiti left by passing Union troops. Your tour of the house and slave quarters ends with a bang – an authentic musket demonstration.
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