Classic American Road Trips: Walking Tours of America's 50 State Capitals (Look Up, America!)

Hit the road and look up, America!

There is no better way to learn about America than to explore its state capitals and there is no better time to visit our capital cities than now. After two decades of flush pockets that saw private investment rehabbing decaying buildings and public money spent to preserve and spruce up
heritage structures, many towns have never looked finer. And likely won’t look this good for the foreseeable future with now cash-strapped cities unable to dole out the generous maintenance budgets of recent years. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for instance, $114 million was found to spruce
up the state capitol that Teddy Roosevelt called “the handsomest building I ever saw.” But already there is mounting despair in Keystone State preservation circles about how to pay for restoring the capitol statuary that weren’t included in the project.

There is no better way to see America’s capitals than on foot. While printed, self-guided walking tours of destinations like New York City and New Orleans are popular and easy to find, it is another story for most of our capital cities; places like Tallahassee, Florida or Frankfort, Kentucky or
Montpelier, Vermont - all worthy of discovery. Tours of Honolulu and Juneau have been included in Classic American Road Trips: Walking Tours of America's 50 State Capitals for completists - even if you can’t drive to the 49th and 50th state capitals.

A walking tour can be many things. Interested in heritage tourism? Looking for an educational trip for the kids? Need a fun exercise plan? Want to find subjects to take great photographs? Each capital city walking tour describes a mix of historical, architectural, cultural and ecclesiastical
landmarks. Street addresses and step-by-step directions will lead the way. A quick primer identifying architectural styles seen on American streets is included in the end.

So hit the road and look up, America!