Fall Foliage Tours

In late June and early July 2019, an individual contacted us about creating a customized Fall Foliage Tour.  Although it never came to fruition, it has led Houston Historical Tours to create this page for your benefit. 

Fall foliage tours can serve many purposes:

  • Meditative, tranquility, and philosophical.
  • Historical.
  • Exploring a new region of the country.
  • Beauty and Romance.
  • Rejuvenating.

You will get out of it what you want to glean.

You should be able to answer many questions before contacting us.  If you are not sure of the answers to these questions, wait to contact us after you know the exact answers.  Do not demand or expect us to spend hours planning a tour based on insufficient and indefinite information.  Here are some of the most pertinent questions:

  • How many people will you have in your party?
  • How many bedrooms will you want – single versus double occupancy?
  • Do you want to fly to and from a destination city or do you want to take a cross country trip to and back?
  • Do you prefer or does it matter whether you stay in resorts, motels, guest homes, or bed and breakfasts (B&Bs)?
  • Do you want an East Coast or West Coast Tour?
  • How many weeks do you want?
  • Do you want to include tours of historic sites, museums, parks, waterfalls, mansions, festivals, theaters, and or cultural centers?

If you want a cross country driving tour beginning out of Houston, add at least:

  • 1 additional week for an East Coast Tour.  The most direct, not the most scenic, route from Houston to Bangor, Maine is approximately 2,078 miles.  This alone will be a 3.5 to 5 day trip one-way with a few sites to see along the way.
  • 2 additional weeks for a West Coast Tour.  The most direct, not the most scenic, route from Houston to Seattle, Washington is approximately 2,333 miles.  This alone will be a 4 to 5 day trip one-way with a few sites to see along the way. 

If you like, we will stop in other locales to tour, to see the leaves changing in additional states, and to take back roads less traveled.

For each tour, we will be taking different return routes that are bound to be more captivating and time consuming.


 

If you prefer to fly, you can make your own reservation on the carrier of your preference.  We can either pick you up at the airport if you provide us with the detailed information of the:

  • Airport name,
  • Terminal,
  • Airline name,
  • Flight number, and
  • Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA).

We can also provide you with the address of the accommodations and meet you there.  If people are arriving on multiple flights, we will begin at the site of the accommodations.

Depending on clients’ requests, tours may begin in one city and state and finish in another city and state.  If a person is making airline reservations, the person should be prepared to fly out of a different city and state than in the one that he or she arrived.

Tours normally begin at 9:00 or 9:30 AM each morning.  The later time is based on when we are visiting sites that do not open until 10:00 AM.

The sun sets earlier throughout the season with Daylight Savings Time (DST) ending on the first Sunday in November.  Thus, tours in November will experience sunset between 4:15 to 5:30 PM, depending on the latitude.  Thus, tours usually end between 4:00 and 6:00 PM.

A retainer fee of $500 for a one week tour, $1,000 for a two week tour, and $500 for each additional week researched will be paid in advance of the research.

Planning for such a tour includes many variables:  routes, accommodations, meals, sites, reservations, days in a given area, et cetera.  Because many large companies have reservations made YEARS in advance, inquiries and retainers should be made no later than May 31st.  Final reservations and payments need to be made by June 30th to be able to ensure the availability of rooms at reasonable rates.

You have 2 basic geographical choices:  The East or the West.  Because Eastern states are smaller than Western states, you have options that could include 14 states in the East and only 3 states in the West.  Both areas are beautiful.  Fall leaves turn colors earlier in the north by early September and later in the south by November.

All of the Eastern states border on the Atlantic Ocean or a bay connected to the Atlantic Ocean with 1 exception:  Vermont.  Each of the three Western states borders on the Pacific Ocean.

An advantage of a Western Fall Foliage Tour is that fewer people realize or consider that Western seaboard states also have trees with leaves that change colors and fall.  In other words, sites are less crowded, can be cheaper,  and because of fewer settlements, can be more expansive in their natural beauty.

Requests need to be based on reality.  Leaves change at different times of the year based on the climate and only so many miles can be traveled within each day and within each week.  The leaves will not be changing in South Carolina until mid- to late October and we cannot cover the whole Atlantic or Pacific seaboard in one week.  Each week’s tour will cover 1 to 3 states, depending on the size of the state and individual requests.

The maximum number of people on these tours will be 9.

 

States From North to South


#

Eastern

Western

1

Maine

Washington

2

New Hampshire

Oregon

3

Vermont

California

4

Massachusetts

 

5

Rhode Island

 

6

Connecticut

 

7

New York

 

8

New Jersey

 

9

Pennsylvania

 

10

Delaware

 

11

Maryland

 

12

Virginia

 

13

North Carolina

 

14

South Carolina

 

Time Frames for Planning


#

Time Frame

East

West

 1

2nd Week of September

 

Washington.

 2

3rd Week of September

Connecticut.

Washington.

 3

4th Week of September

Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Washington.

 4

5th Week of September/
1st Week of October

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Washington.

 5

2nd Week of October

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

Oregon and Washington.

 6

3rd Week of October

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia.

California, Oregon, and Washington.

 7

4th Week of October

Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. 

California and Oregon.

 8

5th Week of October/
1st Week of November

Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.

California and Oregon.

 9

2nd Week of November

Connecticut and South Carolina.

 

Inland areas, particularly on the opposite side of mountains from the ocean, become colder and have peak foliage earlier than coastal areas.  For example, Virginia’s inland areas will see the leaves change colors in mid-October, while the coastal area will result in leaves changing colors in late October and early November.


 

Miscellaneous Activities to Do On a Eastern Foliage Tour
This is not an all-inclusive list.  Feel free to ask about additional areas and enhance it.  The states are in alphabetical order.  All major cities can have a city tour.


#

States

Sites

 1

Connecticut

Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport, and Foxwoods Casino.

 2

Delaware

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Hagley Museum and Library, Nemours Estate, Mt. Cuba Center, Trap Pond State Park, Killens Pond State Park, Lums Pond State Park, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Salted Vines Vineyard & Winery, Nassau Valley Vineyard, Harvest Ridge Winery, Wineries, and Delaware on Tap, Dogfish Head Brewery, Fifer Orchards & Country Store Fall Festival, the Wilmington & Western Railroad, and the Delaware Saengerbund Oktoberfest.

 3

Maine

White Barn Inn, lighthouses, and lobster to eat.

 4

Maryland

Fall Harvest Festival at Summers Farm in Frederick, Star Bright Farm Fall Festival in White Hall, Fall Fun Festival at Gavers Farm in Mt. Airy, Forrest Hall Farm Crazy Corn Maze in Mechanicsville, Lawyer’s Winterbrook Farm & Moonlight Maze in Thurmont, Carroll County Corn Maze in Westminster, the Maryland Corn Maze in Gambrills, Amish Country, Maryland Crab & Oyster Trail, the Patuxent Wine Trail, Sotterley Plantation, Chesapeake City Historic District, the Harriett Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center and State Park, historic Annapolis, Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Cover Point Lighthouse, Drum Point Lighthouse, Piney Point Lighthouse, Point Lookout Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Hooper’s Island Lighthouse, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and the Escape Route of John Wilkes Booth.

Site-seeing in Washington, DC is also an option.

 5

Massachu-setts

Cape Cod, Boston Public Garden, Fenway Park, Quincy (Faneuil Hall) Market, the Freedom Trail, Boston Tea Party Ships and Museums, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Pilgrim Monument, Mayflower replica, New Bedford, Salem – home of the infamous witchcraft trials, Yankee Candle Company, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and more.

 6

New Hampshire

Route 112 is the Kancamagus Highway, Moose Alley, Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, America’s Stonehenge in Salem, Santa’s Village in Jefferson, Cathedral in the Pines, and the famous Budweiser Clydesdales.

 7

New
Jersey

Bellview Winery or over 40 more, the Delaware River Scenic Byway, Washington’s Crossing, the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, the Bayshore Heritage Byway, a number of casinos, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, High Point State Park, Allamuchy Mountain State Park, Pocono Mountains, Catskill Mountains, and Wallkill River Valley.

 8

New York

Where does one start in the Empire State?  The Statue of Liberty National Monument, Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the list goes on and on.

 

This is not an all-inclusive list.  Feel free to ask about additional areas and enhance it.  The states are in alphabetical order.  All major cities can have a city tour.


#

States

Sites

 9

North Carolina

The 1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse, Cape Lookout Lighthouse, the 1875 Currituck Beach Lighthouse, Bodie Island Lighthouse, the 1870 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Ocracoke Lighthouse, Oak Island Lighthouse, Old Baldy Lighthouse, Hamlet Historic Railroad Tour, Old Salem Museums & Gardens, Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields, various gardens, Great Smoky Mountains, The Outer Banks, historic homes such as the 1770 Tryon Palace, the 1785 Somerset Place Plantation, the Executive Mansion, the 1795 Blandwood Mansion, Reynolda House, the 1840 Smith-McDowell House Museum, the 1895 Biltmore, and the Allison-Deaver House, the Harriet Jacobs Trail, The International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Tobacco Farm Life Museum, Carl Sandburg Home, birthplace of Pepsi, and a variety of aviation museums and monuments.

 10

Penn-sylvania

The Pumpkinland Festival at Linvilla Orchards, Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion, National Apple Harvest Festival in Adams County, Bethlehem Harvest Festival, Fall Foliage Weekends in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania State Flaming Foliage Festival, Amish Country, quilts, historic Philadelphia, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin’s home, and the Appalachian Mountains.

 11

Rhode
Island

Newport and its variety of mansions from the late 1800s and early 1900s, Rose Island Lighthouse, and Bristol’s Blithewold Mansion and Gardens.

 12

South Carolina

Corn mazes, Oktoberfest, the Habersham Harvest Festival and Shrimp Festival in Beaufort, pumpkin patches, farm excursions, the Apple Harvest Festival in York, Pumpkin Festival in Pickens, Blues Festival in Camden, Jazz Festival in Cheraw, Sweet Potato Festival in Darlington, the Blue Ridge Mountains’ Highway’s 76, 107, and 28 to Mountain Rest, Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields, and historic colonial Charleston with its homes and buildings dating to the 1700s.

 13

Vermont

Quechee Gorge, the Ben & Jerry Factory, 5 covered bridges of Bennington County, organic farms, Heady Topper beer, Simon Pearce glassblowing workshop in Quechee, and the Vermont Teddy Bear factory in Shelbourne.

 14

Virginia

The Blue Ridge Mountains, harvest festivals, corn mazes, wineries, Shenandoah Valley, Blue Ridge Highlands, Fairfax County, Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Shore, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Revolutionary and Civil War sites, Williamsburg, and Jamestown.

Site-seeing in Washington, DC is also an option.

 

Miscellaneous Activities to Do On a Western Foliage Tour


#

States

Sites

 1

California

Silver Lake in the Inyo National Forest, Mono Lake, Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Sonoma County, Amador County, and Napa Valley wineries, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and other museums.

 2

Oregon

Green Ridge Lookout, the Metolius River Tail, the Forest Park Maple Trail, the Kentucky Falls Trail, McDowell Creek Falls County Park in the Cascade Foothills, Ramona Falls Trail and Clackamas River Trail in Mount Hood, the Willamette Valley, Crater Lake, Wallowa Mountains, Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, Hood County Fruit Loop, Portland’s Japanese Garden, Rose Garden, and Lan su Classical Chinese Garden, Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch, Brooks Wines, Liepold Farms, Anne Amie Vineyards, the Original Pancake House, and Powell’s Books store.

 3

Washington

Mount Rainier and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Parks, the Hoh Rainforest, Steven’s Pass Scenic Byway, Cascade Loop, the Columbia River Gorge, Washington Park Arboretum, Bellevue Botanical Garden, Kubota Garden, wineries, REI’s headquarters, Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, the underground Seattle tour, a number of Seattle museums, Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, a trip to the islands around Puget Sound, the Northwest Chocolate Festival, Festival of Pumpkins, and the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival.