This year’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence will easily inspire planners to add history to their future meeting agendas. Our high school teachers were right: The past has much to teach us if we take the time to listen and try to learn from those who came before us. Luckily, much of our nation’s history has been carefully preserved and is being shared, so it’s easy to find something historic to explore in any American destination. Here are a few suggestions to get the ideas flowing.
The fight for freedom
Without the American Revolution, there would be no Declaration of Independence. In Massachusetts, head to Lexington and Concord, where the American Revolution began, and follow tour guides in Colonial dress through burial grounds and battle grounds. Build in an afternoon at the Concord Museum, which redesigned 16 exhibits and earned a 2026 Best Small Town Museum designation from USA Today. Make a stop at Minute Man National Historical Park and learn about the first battles of the Revolutionary War on the way back to the Inn at Hastings Park, a 22-room Relais & Chateaux property in Lexington.
Dig into the roots of the Revolution and learn how the war affected everyday Americans at Colonial Williamsburg, 301 acres of meticulously restored and reconstructed historic buildings described as the country’s largest outdoor living history museum. The Virginia destination is also well equipped for meetings with an exquisite inn, attractive lodges and even lodging in historic buildings, as well as ample and varied meeting spaces.
Gettysburg shares battle scars
Three days in the summer of 1863 left Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, forever changed, and today, the small town shares its stories and its still-visible scars with thousands each year. As the local visitors bureau points out, history has made it clear that the story of America cannot be told without Gettysburg.
Bus tours of the Gettysburg Battlefield, now a national park, are led by certified guides who describe the harrowing three days of battle and the sacrifices that were required to preserve democracy. History is all around, from the new Beyond the Battle Museum, which through a highly interactive exhibit shows how it felt to be a citizen caught in the crossfire. Meeting venues are rich in history as well, from the renovated Union Hotel or the 119-room Hotel Gettysburg, both downtown, to the Baladerry Inn, on the battlefield’s edge. Larger groups might migrate 5 miles from downtown to the Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center.
Be a leader like Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln has long been studied by aspiring leaders, and there’s nowhere better to learn about the 16th president than Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln sites are abundant in the state capital, where he practiced law and lived, and groups can have some fun playing Abe’s Hat Hunt as they visit the Old Capitol, his law office, his former home and other sites. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum will likely be the highlight of any visit. Downtown, the Crowne Plaza Springfield-Convention Center and the President Abraham Lincoln Springfield-Doubletree offer nearly 600 guest rooms and plenty of meeting space.
Our Founding Fathers also provide lessons in leadership. Visits to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, and to Montpelier, the estate of James and Dolley Madison, are more about these men’s minds than their homes and possessions. Nearby Charlottesville, Virginia, offers meeting venues that include Boar’s Head Resort and The Forum Hotel by Kimpton, both Four Diamond properties, and the new Virginia Guesthouse, a 217-room hotel and conference center on the University of Virginia campus.
Moving Civil Rights stops in the South
Memphis, Tennessee, and Montgomery, Alabama, have much to share about the Civil Rights Movement. In Memphis, even a stroll down Beale Street has Civil Rights connections; just step into the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery and be struck by black-and-white photographs taken by one of the city’s leading photographers during the upheavals of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. But the city’s most powerful Civil Rights stop is undoubtably the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, which incorporates the motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Downtown Memphis has plenty of conference hotels, including The Peabody, famous for its marching ducks. In Montgomery, Alabama, a conference can build a day around Civil Rights sites in this state capital, which has more U.S. Civil Rights Trail stops than any other town in the state, including the Rosa Parks Museum and the new Freedom Rides Museum. Guests who stay at the Trilogy Hotel, a renovated warehouse near the river, are just steps from the Legacy Museum, which provides a deep exploration of slavery in America and is one of several sites developed by the Equal Justice Initiative.
Take a spin in space
Since Alan Shepard took a 15-minute spin in outer space in 1961, Americans have thrilled to imagine what the universe holds. Because space exploration requires extraordinary teamwork, ingenuity and leadership, a visit to a space center can be rocket fuel for our brains. At Space Center Houston, the Johnson Space Center’s visitor center, small private tours and visits with former astronauts are special options. Nearby in Galveston, groups can meet at a beachfront resort like the 700-room San Luis Resort, Spa and Conference Center or downtown in the historic 135-room Tremont House. Another option that marries outer space with oceanfront: Florida’s Space Coast. Book a meeting at the recently renovated Plaza Resort & Spa or the new four-star Renaissance Daytona Beach Oceanfront Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, and motor down to the Kennedy Space Center for a half-day or full-day tour. Or head to Huntsville, Alabama, where the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will create custom leadership and team-building programs for groups. This growing city has 6,000 hotel rooms and a downtown convention center with several hotels and 30 restaurants nearby.
