I was wondering what is the most historic place you have visited and what impression did it leave on you?

I think possibly the most historic place I've visited is Knossos on Crete. The city is in layers and is about 3000 years old. Interesting but didn't move me. It was just interesting.

The most historically moving place I've been to was Tyne Cot cemetery outside Ypres. That reduced me to tears which I'm not ashamed of. 50 odd thousand graves. How can anyone not be moved by that? Pretty much a whole generation gone.....

Possibly the most tranquil place I've visited was the US cemetery above Omaha beach. It was a sunny day (no I'm not going to write a poem) and it looked beautiful when you looked out to the Channel. When you looked from the wall into the cemetery it didn't look like a cemetery ,if that makes sense. It just looked peaceful.

Well related to this site for me it would have to be Fort Ticondaroga in Upper State NY. I would go there every year with my parents and take the tour. It was one of the key forts in the Revolutionary war. I remember the gradure and pagentry that was war during that period.

And then after that I guess Gettysburg for obivous reasons. Gettysburg left me with an empty feeling. Empty (bad) like something was missing. It was quite strange. I've been to Appomattox. For such a historical site, it was low key and subtle.

I've been to Peachbowl and Arlington and both were very serine and almost peaceful as if they were laid to rest at the right place.

Gettysburg, hands down. I was there in my early 20s with my Dad on July 2nd, of all days. We got there at about 6 am and it was foggy. We were walking down Chambersburg Pike and I heard horses. I figured it was Amish folks in their buggies. Out of the fog rode about 50 Union cavalrymen. I almost fell over. They were reenactors, of course.
Later that afternoon, standing on Little Round Top looking across the the Valley of Death I almost broke down and cried thinking about those poor bastards trying all day to get up that hill, in 90 degree heat.

Amazing place. One of those places I think everyone needs to see before they die.

Shaun

Hmmmm, that's a hard question to answer!
I've been to all the usual sites in Philadelphia, and D.C.

Aside from them?
Ive been to the site in Jersey where the concrete ships are and Iwhere John dillinger was killed, Ive stood on the spot that the Mayor of Atlanata stood on as he watched Atlanta burn,

H.M.S. VICTORY. and the spot where my mums house stood in S outhampton after it was destroyed one night by a German airial mine. Sorta makes you think how lucky we are in this day and age

For me it has to be the Normandy Beaches and Gettysburg. When my dad was stationed in Germany my parents took us to the site of a Concentration Camp, Auschwitz I believe it was. Being there was a very great experience but It felt so horrible I can't even write in words how it felt its one of those things you have to experience for yourself, very sad indeed.

AJ

Definitely the most historic place I have been is Auschwitz, both surviving parts of it (Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz Birkenau). It didn't feel sad as such, just a bit 'odd'. Other historic places I've been include all along the Normandy beaches, Bastogne and that area, Dresden, and if you consider it 'historic', Colditz castle. I was suprised at how few people there were at Colditz, considering how famous it is.

Not a bad list for a 15 year old, I think.

Dave

Historical Sites:

Arlington National Cemetery - the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns is VERY moving. The row upon row of perfectly place headstones. Also, President Kennedy's grave site.

Gettysburg - Looking across the open ground from the Union position to where the Confederates came out of the woods is sobering. Trying to imagine 15,000 men breaking from those woods in an attempt to take the Union position really makes you think on the discipline of those Johnny Rebs. Also, the fact that only half made it back when the attack failed.

Dachau - experienced this hellish place on a cold and damp morning. From the time I arrived until I left a feeling of sorrow was nearly overpowering.

Concord Bridge - where the "shot heard round the world" was fired.
Liberty Hall - Where the Declaration of Independence was signed

Antietam - Standing on Burnside's Bridge and looking over the battlefield I could only imagine the carnage of the bloodiest day in the Civil War.

Ford's Theater - Where Abraham Lincoln became the last casuality of the Civil War.

West Point - As a kid I was with a tour group and actually got to eat lunch in the dining hall with the cadets. All that history.

Rome. Florence, Venice, London - too many locations of historical significance to mention.

I think Frank and I have shared similar experiences. The first thing that popped into my mind was Rome. I was only 10 so what I saw and did didn't affect me at the tme. I still have access to what I saw in my head (I ain't senile yet!) and I can put it in perspective now. I've been all over Germany, the horrors of Dachau affected me quite strongly when I visted it when I was 20. I can only imagine how bad Auswitz would have been.

About 15 yars ago, I went to Gettysburg for the second time, this time I shed my drunken buddies who were more nterested in drinking beer and one wanted to see Devil's Den as one of his ancestors had fought there and died (we were from Alabama) The second time I got out and walked the grounds of Little Roundtop, the Wheatfield, Devils Den , Culps Hill and lastly the route of "Picketts Charge". This was just awe inspiring. NOthing I have ever seen before or since ever affected me like this. I was amazed at my younger sister who visited the site 5 yaers ago for the first time. and came back and started talking abut the feelings she got.. If I ever get the opportunity again I plan to go to see NOrmandy, Ypres, Verdun, and Auswitz.

The Parthenon in Greece, to walk up the steps that lead to the site is truly an experiance I will not forget , walking with history.
Regards
Pete

Gettysburg. My father took me there in the early 1960's when I was about 10-11 years old. It was the first time I had ever felt a connection with the past. The feeling has stuck with me ever since...just the solemness and knowing what had taken place there.
Camp Chase Ohio. A Civil War POW camp in Ohio impressed me as a child also. I don't know if it is even still around.

Cheers,
Charles

Berlin - Lots of interesting stuff all around not just the Wall

Istanbul, Paris, London, Prague, Stuttgart ( automotive history ), Basel, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Arnhem, the Normandy beaches, Bayeux, Bergen Belsen, Munster.. just to name a few.

Gettysburg, Mission San Diego, Boston and the Freedom Trail, which passes by the site of the Boston Massacre, Old Fort Niagara NY and Fort # 4 in New Hampshire, (French and Indian period), Forts Ticonderoga and William Henry, in New York, site of King Philip's Stockade in Springfield MA, America's first concentration camp used to round up remaining memgbers of the Agawam tribe, Deerfield (site of a famous raid that took a good number of hostages back to Canada 29 February 1704), Fort Knox, Bardstown KY, site of the inspiration for Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home, the La Brea tarpits, Provincetown , Eastham and Plymouth MA, site of the Pilgrim's first landing, encounter with the Wampanoag and settlement.

Gettysburg, Culloden, East Berlin, Normandy or the site of Fort Sumpter - you decide...

Wherever i've been it's reinforced the love and hatred I feel (in equal doses) for histoty...Jim

as far as 'evocative' is concerned - leave me with a certain Lake 'Wannsee' in Berlin...

Al,

You were supposed to pick one, not make the rest of us look like pikers...

Shaun

Most of the WW1,WW2 and Middle East battlefields: Ypres, Sanctuary Wood, Vimy Ridge, Verdun, Normandy, Cassino as well as the usual tourist things while growing up in Germany. The one that impressed me the most though was Masada although the wreckage in the Gidi and Mitla passes even after 10 years was sobering.

I have to go with two places, both battle sites of the American Civil War where the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry were heavily involved. Antietam, where I walked through head high corn in the Miller Cornfield. That had to have been the worst fight of the Civil War, sunrise through wet corn. Then there's Gettysburg. That's turned into an American Icon. Hopefully the locals will realize the historical significance of their heritage and will refuse to sully the site with some gambling casino.

-Charlie

Of all the places I've been, I think the top few would be (in no order):

-- Hadrians Wall
-- Gettysburg & Antietam
-- Kill Devil Hills (or Kitty Hawk) -- the First Flight, Wright Brothers
-- The Korean War Museum in Seoul (& other places in country)
-- The Arizona Memorial

John

I’ll have to say West Point. I was there many times during the mid 80’s. At that time I was a Cadre Instructor at Camp Smith, Peekskill, NY for the PLDC program. During our downtime we would head up to the Point to take in the sights and sounds, and to shop. I remember thinking to myself while walking the grounds of the great men and Generals that once walked the same path before me. The West Point Museum represents the major categories that reflects the Point’s history. Eisenhower Hall, Trophy Point, Battle Monument and not to forget the first weekend in December at Michie Stadium, the Army-Navy game. A great place indeed.

I've been to most of the sites in Boston, i.e. the Old North Church, Concord Bridge, Lexington Green (which was little more than a traffic median when I saw it), Bunker Hill, and Old Ironsides. I've also been to the underground city in Seattle, which is kind of like stepping back in time and seeing what the city once looked like.
My favorite place I've visited is the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I went on the bus tour around the whole area and walked the area around last stand hill, but my fondest memory is of just standing near the top of the hill and looking out over that vast rolling plain. The sight of the tall grass stretching as far as the eye could see as it swayed gently in the wind gave me a profound feeling of peacefulness and tranquility unlike any other I've experienced. That sight made me feel that, for just a little while, I had a sense of what it must have been like to be a pioneer crossing the plains. I don't remember how long I stood there, but I could have done so all day.

Great response guys! It's fascinating to hear the rollcall of historic places.

I forgot to put mine in the thread: Being stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The place which left the greatest impression on me was Hacksaw Ridge. I just remember looking at the terrain and thinking "How could anyone make it up this, let alone FIGHT up this area?" It gave me such an appreciation for those who came before.

Thats a pretty hard one to decide,

Most of Britain is pretty 'historic', our village chuch is 900 years old and the village itself is mentioned in the doomsday book. Most British cities have been there for a while

Depends what you consider historic,

Other places ive been,

Normandy
Arnhem
Somme
Hadrians wall
Culloden
Dublin (kilmainham gaol etc)

Well I'm not as much of a globetrotter as some of you . The one place that i have been that I'll never forget is Saddams palace at Babalon over looking the Euphraties river just north of Al Hillah.I guess that Saddam could be the modern Hitler -one person having such a effect on so many people both in his country and around the world . You get a feeling of just how much power he had , and if he had agreed with the US that he could still be in power . It just shows what greed will do to you , having it all isnt everything .

here is a photo gallery link of the palace and the area around it

http://www.ngms.state.ms.us/155th/