Visit Virginia for a truly historic holiday experience

As we come upon that special season, whether your favorite holiday is Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas, Virginia offers numerous unique experiences with a historical twist. Afterall, you can’t be the Birthplace of America and not have some seriously scary haunted spots; or the perfect pumpkin pie recipe, handed down through more than 400 years; and of course,a host of holiday celebrations that harken back to America’s very roots. Let us show you how celebrating your favorite holiday in Virginia can almost magically transport you back in time.

In Middleburg, the nation’s horse and hunt capital, Christmas in Middleburg draws thousands of visitors, who line the streets each year to watch the parade and the Middleburg Hunt & Hounds Review. Come along with us for this video tour of the event!

Alexandria is also home to the Campagna Center's Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend, which acknowledges the city’s distinct Scottish heritage.See the parade in action and take a listen to those lovely bagpipes here.

Many of Virginia’s unique experiences pay homage to our roots in the old world and the Christmas season offers some excellent opportunities to witness how the holidays were celebrated in years past.

Step back in time at Colonial Williamsburg, the world’s largest living history museum, withGrand Illumination every December. The colonial Christmas festivities feature unique 18th-century decorations, music and stories – as well as Father Christmas! – and are punctuated each night with an amazing fireworks display above the Governor’s Palace.

While Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated everywhere in the world, and certainly not on the same day or in the same style as it is celebrated in America, the concept of giving thanks for all our blessings is certainly a powerful message everywhere today. Virginia hosted the first American Thanksgiving in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation, just outside of Jamestown, the first permanent English Colony in the New World. From then on, Americans have given thanks across the table every year, sharing their bounty with friends and family. Tours of Berkeley Plantation are available daily or you can visit in November for the Virginia Thanksgiving Festivalto discover the history behind America’s holiday.

With significant historic destinations like Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, Jamestown, and Mount Vernon, Virginia draws countless visitors looking to learn more about America’s past. In addition to these monumental landmarks, if you walk more than a few feet in any direction in Virginia, you’re almost guaranteed to step foot onto the hallowed grounds of an American Revolution battlefield or a Civil War site. But such rich history also brings an eerie side effect: a long list of supposedly haunted sites.