The Lincoln Memorial  may be one of Washington, D.C.’s most-visited sites,  but Lincoln buffs should venture a few miles off the mall to Lincoln’s Cottage, the Gothic revival house located on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. In Lincoln’s time, the area around the White House was apparently humid and swampy, so the cottage location...

The Booker T. Washington National Monument in southwestern Virginia offers more than just history. We had some fun encounters exploring this national park and meeting the farm animals.

I had never heard of Paul Jennings until we encountered him on a Nerd Trip to Montpelier, home to our fourth president James Madison. Jennings was a slave who served as Madison’s personal assistant during the White House years and afterward. Jennings is a fascinating witness to history, writing the first White House memoir, called “A Colored Man’s Reminiscence of James Madison,” published in 1865. I bought a copy at the Montpelier gift shop.

As we celebrate Lincoln’s birthday, here are some unique facts about our 16th president as well as Lincoln Nerd Trips encounters.

“Mt. Vernon is not nerdy!” insisted my friend Susan B. when she first heard about the concept of Nerd Trips. Apparently, not everyone is comfortable with the idea that somewhere they’ve visited has been labeled as nerdy. Susan grew up in Washington, D.C. and visited Mt. Vernon nearly every year, often on a school field trip.
Her declaration was the first salvo in what I call “the Great Nerd Debate.” What exactly makes something nerdy?