Husband and I plan to rent a car and drive from DC to Gettysburg for a weekend in May or June, spending 2-3 nights in the area. We will probably spend 1-2 days at the battlefield and are looking for suggestions for lodging and additional sightseeing. We spend lots of time in DC so want to focus this trip on area outside the city. We love antiques, quaint old towns and great restaurants. It looks like we definitely should see the town of Gettysburg but any suggestions for which other towns we should check out? We would prefer to stay in a historical hotel or inn, any recommendations for exceptionally nice ones?

If you or your husband play golf, this may be the place for you.
http://www.penngolf.com/
A beautiful Golf course with a lodge/inn.
Jean Stapleton's husband is director at the nearby Totempole Playhouse. Margaret's first film role was in a Smokey Bear movie when she worked for the PA Bureau of Forestry.

We aren't golfers but the Penn NationalInn looks like what we are looking for. I wonder how open they are to non-golfers...

Look at the Quality Inn General Lee's headquarters. It is right on Seminary Ridge adjacent to the battle field. My wife and I stayed there and were impressed with the rooms and price and the location cannot be beat.

I forgot to mention that this actually was general Lee's headquarters ( the main building anyway )

One year we headed out of DC on River Road and went along the Chesapeake and Potomac canal to the Great Falls of the Potomac NM. Then continued on to Monocasy Battlefield (which was very undeveloped) then up to Harper's Ferry, WV, where there is a National ParK VC and they take you down into town. The town is partly occupied by people and partly Park Service houses/museums including the place where John Brown was caught. Then we went up to Gettysburg.

Great Falls is interesting and only about a half hour from DC.

Harper's Ferry is very worth a visit and I would guess not much more than a couple of hours from Gettysburg.

Monocacy was a pleasant stop for a Civil War buff (nut who managed to find a Civil War Battlefield in New Mexico).

New Oxford is close to Gettysburg, and a very good antique town with lots of shops. That will only take you 15 minutes via Rt. 30. Or you can take Rt. 30 straight to Adamstown, where there are 3 open air markets on a Sunday morning (Renninger's, Shupp's Grove and Black Angus), plus an astounding number of shops. About 1 hour and 15 minutes ... and then wind your way back through Lancaster, and then stop in New Oxford unless you're antique-d out by then. En route, sort of, are the Cloisters at Ephrata, and an unusual clock museum in Columbia. Stop for lunch in Lancaster -- any of the PA Dutch buffets might be an unusual dining experience (I think they're all about the same, not terrific, but it's food you most likely won't find elsewhere on your trip).