We are heading to the Charleston area from Connecticut this summer and looking for a good place to spend the night on the trip back. Going down we will stop in Williamsburg at the Williamsburg Woodlands which we normally do. We'd like to stay someplace different on the way back. Can anyone help with suggestions? Would like something other than just off the Highway. Perhaps where there might be a nice little town or sights and some good restaurants? We have 8 and 11 year old sons so I was thinking perhaps of Petersburg VA for battlefield sights? Any thoughts?

A couple of suggestions:

The Inner Harbor area of Baltimore - there are a lot of attractions geared to children - Aquarium, boats int he harbor, science museum, ships you can visit.

Washington, DC
Annapolis, Maryland
New Castle, Delaware - not specifically geared towards children, but the old town is very nice, right on Delaware River with a nice park on the water.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them. Anyone have any other ideas that might be a bit further south?

Try going over the Chesapeake Bridge and stay somewhere on the Eastern shore of Va, Md, or Del. Some neat "village" type places there. If you stay away from the beaches it is less crowded. (It might be advantageous to get reservations)

You'll have a better CIVIL WAR experience in Fredericksburg,Va and lots more to do downtown-along with good restaurants to pick from rather than Petersburg Va- The "Crater" is almost flat , so there goes you're battlefield experience in that city-the only thing left is the Centre Hill Museum--to me,it's not worth the stop..keep going 1 1/2 hr N to Fredericksburg--in the historic district they have a huge visitors bureau that list what is going on for the weekend--alot of times that have battle re-enactments that the kids would enjoy.