Saturday, August 9 only

ANREW ELLICOTT HOUSE AND PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY
Saturday, August 9 9:30 am to 4:30 pm 6 hours $82.00 per person
The rich farmland of the Pennsylvania Dutch country was settled in the colonial years by several religious groups. These groups were primarily of German descent, seeking religious freedom. The Pennsylvania Dutch have retained the convictions and customs of their ancestors, which is reflected in their dress, their work and the ways in which they spend their leisure time. The Plain People, as they are also known, include members of the Amish, Mennonite and Brethren faiths. Simplicity is the keynote with each sect manifesting this differently---some eschew any motive power except the horse, others do not use electricity or modern plumbing. Most dress in plain colors and clothing.
This tour incIudes a visit to an Amish farm and a guided tour of the farmhouse will be followed by time to visit the barns, machinery, carriage sheds and springhouse. Lunch will be at an Amish farmhouse where the group will enjoy the such specialties as relishes, homemade bread, meats, vegetables and shoo-fly pie.
On to Andrew Ellicott's house, where Meriwether Lewis stayed as he studied celestial navigation with Ellicott. After a tour of the house, a drive through the backcountry of Lancaster County seeing the Amish at work.
(Includes: Round trip or deluxe motorcoach, guide, admission to Amish Farm azd House, lunch, taxes, and all applicable tips.)

THE BARNES FOUNDATION
Saturday, August 9 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm 3.5 hours $46.50 per person
The Barnes Foundation houses one of the world's finest private collections of Post Impressionist and early French Modern Art. Only a total of 500 very fortunate people may visit this world-renowned art collection each week and often reservations have to be made three months in advance.
The collection is housed as no other in the world, with a history like no other in the world! Mixed in with approximately 800 works of art including 180 paintings by Renoir, 69 by Cezanne, 60 by Matisse, and works by Picasso, Modigliani, Rousseau and many of the Masters, are examples of iron work of German craftsmen, African sculpture, and antique furniture. These were all permanently arranged by Dr. Barnes to illustrate a specific concept in art. Surrounding the Foundation is an arboretum of extraordinary variety.
(Includes: Round trip on trolley bus, guide, admission fee to museum and all applicable tips.)

Tours offered on two dates: Saturday, August 9, and Thursday, August 14

HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA
Saturday, August 9 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm 4 Hours $38.75 per person
Thursday, August 14 8:30 am to 12:30 pm4 Hours $38.75 per person
Part Walking/Part Busing
Guided tour includes stops at Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross House, charming Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously occupied residential street in America, and quaint Society Hill with its many beautifully restored colonial homes. We will drive along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris), passing by the many magnificent buildings that line this boulevard: City Hall, the Swann Memorial Fountain, the Rodin Museum, the Franklin Institute, and the acclaimed Philadelphia Museum of Art.
(Includes: Deluxe motorcoach, guide, admission fo historic sites and all applicable tips)

VALLEY FORGE
Saturday, August 9 Noon to 5:00 pm 5 Hours $41.25 per person
Thursday, August 14 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm 5 Hours $41.25 per person
Visit the 3,600-acre National Historical Park where George Washington and his Continental Army endured the winter of 1777-78. No other place associated with the American Revolution symbolizes the suffering, sacrifice and ultimate triumph of the soldier. No battle was fought here, but there was survival against other enemies---low morale, hunger, disease and the forces of nature. You will pass authentically reconstructed huts and earthen fortifications, known as redoubts. Visit Washington's Headquarters, the Pentagon of the 18th century, and pass by the Grand Parade where this "rag tag" band of soldiers was transformed into an Army. No tour of Valley Forge is complete without a visit to the beautiful Washington Memorial Chapel built to honor Washington and his men.
(Includes: Round trip on deluxe motorcoach, guide, admission fees, all applicable tips.)

August 14 only

ANDALUSIA AND PENNSBURY
Thursday, August 14 10:00 am to 3:00 pm 5 Hours $67.75 perperson
(Cost of box lunch TBA))
Andalusia - This beautiful house was once home to Nicholas Biddle, one of the most famous and influential Americans of the early 19th century. The 1806 house, designed by Benjamin Latrobe, was subsequently renovated in the Greek Revival style in 1835 by Thomas U. Walter, who added the famous columned porch. Andalusia is also known for its gardens. Hear about Biddle's experiments in growing grapes, mulberry trees and other plants, and of his career as president of the Second Bank of the United States. Biddle edited the1814 edition of the Lewis and Clark journals; his own copy s housed here.
PennsburyManor-Located 24 miles north of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, this reconstructed 43-acre plantation was William Penn's 17th century country estate. While the family spent only two years here, Penn meticulously planned the house and gardens. Construction on the house may even have begun before Penn's arrival in October 1682, and was well under way before circumstances forced him to return to England at the end of 1684. The turning tide of political affairs detained Penn in England for fifteen years, far longer than he wished to remain away from America, and left him dependent upon the trans- Atlantic mail service of the period to administer his colony and to complete his "beloved manor." With him on his second trip in the fall of 1699 were his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, Letitia, grown daughter of his first marriage as well as James Logan, who was to become the master of Stenton and a principal figure in prerevolutionary American history. Enjoy a guided tour of the manor house, various outbuildings and gardens.
(Ircludes: Round trip on deluxe motorcoach, guide, admissions, box lunch, taxes ard gratuities).

A FOOD LOVER'S TOUR OF THE HISTORIC ITALIAN MARKET
Thursday, August 14 8:00 am to l:00 pm 5 Hours $67.50 per person
Enjoy walking through the country's oldest outdoor ethnic market and a bustling neighborhood brimming with amazing sights, smells and tastes. The tour begins with a visit to a Sicilian pasticceria (pastry shop), where you will sample sflogiatelle, a delicious clam-shaped pastry, and as well as the famous cannoli. From there, on to visit the Original Spice Corner, a shop brimming with exotic spices from around the world. Samples and discounts will again be offered.
Next stop is an authentic salumeria (Italian deli) to savor samples of cheese and other Italian delights. The tour continues with a pasta-making demonstration where you will hear the legends behind the making of some of Italy's most famous pasta sauces. The final stop will be Fante's, the kitchen specialty store rumored to be the favorite stop of the Frugal Gourmet, featuring everything from French tinware to imported souffle dishes. Here, as in the other sites visited, a discount will be available for shoppers wishing to purchase some of the wares.
Lunch will be at an Italian restaurant in the market area. Bon appetit!
(Includes: Round trip on deluxe motorcoach, guide, lunch and all applicable tips)

MERCER MUSEUM AND FONTHILL
Thursday, August 14 9:30 am to 3:30 pm 6 Hours $82 per person
A lovely drive north and west of Philadelphia takes us to Doylestown, a town filled with museums, bookstores, shady streets and well-groomed Federal & Victorian buildings. In sharp contrast to this "Main Street USA" image are the concrete monuments built in the early 1900's by Henry Mercer, an eccentric archeologist, historian and anthropologist.
"Seeing is believing" is the only adequate preface for a visit to Fonthill and the Mercer Museum. Built of poured concrete, they are both most unique and interesting sites. We will first tour Fonthill, Mercer's castle-like home of 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 32 stairwells & more than 200 windows. Mercer, famous for his own tiles, finished the rooms' floors, walls and ceilings with tiles from China, Spain, Persia, and Holland - as well as his own. The house displays about 900 prints and objects that Mercer collected from across the world. Lunch at Maxwell's Restaurant in Doylestown offers a chance enjoy great food and some time to rest up for the volume of visual information that lies ahead.
At the Mercer Museum, you wander through with an audiotape to see The Tools of the Nation-Maker, Mercer's collection of over 50,000 colonial artifacts. Not a conventional museum, you start at the top and leisurely walk down six-tiered floors which circulate around a central court - a Conestoga wagon and a whaling boat hang from the ceiling and the implements of various trades such as shoemaking and lumbering are exhibited in separate surrounding rooms. This is a self-guided tour. (Don't miss the vampire-killing kit!)
(Includes: Round trip on deluxe motorcoach, guide, admissions, lunch, taxes, and all applicable gratuities.)

LONGWOOD GARDENS AND WINTERTHUR
Thursday, August 14 9:00 am to 5:00 pm 8 Hours $88.50 per adult $78.50 per child, under 12
Located in the Brandywine Valley, Longwood Gardens features 1,050 outdoor acres, 20 indoor gardens and 11,000 different varieties of plants. View the seasonal highlights of the gardens and enjoy the glass conservatories, always in bloom. Outdoor gardens include the Flower Garden, Italian Water Garden, Fountain Garden, the Eye of the Water, the Waterfall and the Chimes Tower. Lunch on your own at the delightful Terrace Restaurant.
The tour continues on to the Winterthur Museum located on over 900 acres. Last owned by Henry Francis duPont, Winterthur features the world's premier collection of American decorative art from 1640 to 1860. For over a quarter of a century, duPont collected the finest examples of furniture, paintings, textiles, ceramics, silver, and other domestic furnishings and placed them in room settings to create a period atmosphere. The naturalistic garden, with native and exotic plants, ponds, woods and meadowlands can also be explored.
(Includes: Round trip on deluxe motorcoach, guide, admissions, and all applicable tips.)

Thursday, August 14, and Friday, August 15

HARPERS FERRY, GETTYSBURG, ELLICOTT'S HOUSE AND AMISH COUNTRY
Thursday, August 14 through Friday, August 15 2 days, 1 night $273.50 per person
Depart Philadelphia and travel to Harpers Ferry. Lunch at the Bavarian Inn, Shepherstown, W. VA - where you can order delicious German dishes such as Bratwurst, Pork Roast & Sauerbraten. (Other selections available.) At Harpers Ferry explore a special exhibit relating to the experience of Meriwether Lewis. Exhibit deals with such topics as why Lewis came to Harpers Ferry, items that he obtained, how these items were used along the journey, journal entries, and the relationship between Lewis & Jefferson. A full-sized replica of the iron boat Lewis designed and had built will be on display as well as other relevant information. Walk through lower town to see the exhibits on the history of Harpers Ferry - lifestyle of the residents, area industry, the Federal Armory & the Arsenal African Americans, John Brown's raid and the Civil War.
On to Gettysburg for a guided lantern walking tour through the historic section to get a pulse on the effect of the battle on the town of Gettysburg. Dine at Dobbin's House, one of Gettysburg's oldest & most historic homes, with a choice of Baked Chicken w/ mushrooms, Broiled filet of Flounder or Primal Rib of Beef.

Friday, August 19 Breakfast on your own, then it's off to the guided Battlefield Tour - two hours of fascinating history describing the strategy and the human interest stories of the most famous battle of the Civil War. Spend some time talking with Abraham Lincoln, as portrayed by James Getty. On to Lancaster to have lunch in a family style restaurant. Then it's off to tour Andrew Ellicott's House where Lewis stayed when he studied with Ellicott to learn about celestial navigation. On the home stretch - drive through the Back County to see working farms of the Old Order Amish. Pass one-room schoolhouses, an Amish cemetery, carriage maker and more. Stops at a roadside stand and a quilt shop. Then it's back to Philadelphia
(Includes: Round trip on private motorcoach, meals as noted, guide for entire trip, all admissions, all gratuities and taxes, overnight accommodations in Gettysburg. Accommodations are based on two persons sharing - Single room accommodations available for an additional $55.)

Download the Registration form for the pre- and post- meeting tours.

Meeting Headquarters:
Loews Philadelphia Hotel
1200 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
phone: 215.627.1200