Welcome to Alexandria's Footsteps To The Past!

The owner of this family-operated business is a native Alexandrian and a ninth generation Virginian who has spent untold hours of research on the historic hometown of George Washington and Robert E. Lee.  

Footsteps to the Past tours are brought to you by a staff of unparalleled researchers, historians, and story tellers...guides whose knowledge, infectious enthusiasm, and dedicated expertise will both entertain and educate you.

We specialize in tours that take you out of the ordinary, to tell you the little-known but revealing stories of our former residents, from beloved president and patriots to the unsung heroes and heroines whose actions built this city, and our country, into what it is today.

Please telephone 703-683-3451 for information, cost or reservations for tours offered by Alexandria's Footsteps to the Past.

We are pleased to announce that Alexandria's Footsteps to the Past and Potomac Valley Paranormal lead investigators are offering BY APPOINTMENT ONLY the opportunity to participate in a ghost hunt where you will meet ghost hunters and see and use paranormal investigation equipment.  Please telephone 703-683-3451 to get your name on the waiting list for future hunts.  Cost $35.00/person.

                               SCHEDULED TOURS

Footsteps to the Past offers the following scheduled tours beginning at the Ramsay House Visitor Center, 221 King Street:

HISTORY TOUR:

Did you know...that Alexandria was the most important Scottish city of the 1750s...that the world's first global war started in an Alexandrian's dining room...that a 17 year-old apprentice surveyor named George Washington assisted in laying out the town and that he was already a war hero 15 years before the Revolutionary War...that America's narrowest house is in Alexandria...that ocean tides can flood the city even though the Atlantic is 200 miles away...that Alexandria hasn't always been in Virginia...that Alexandria was once our country's westernmost seaport!!! 

A fascinating educational and entertaining 90-minute tour walking to many of Old Town's significant landmarks, as well as little known sites.  You will learn about the early history of Alexandria and walk where George Washington and other Virginia patriots walked. (This tour is ideal for private groups and can be arranged by appointment.)

During this tour you will also hear about THE WAR OF 1812.  For example, did you know three British warships sailed up the Potomac to Alexandria but did not burn the town...that the British occupied Alexandria for approximately two weeks...that Mother Nature ran the British out of town and put out the fires burning our Nation's capital!!! 

Tours depart daily from the Ramsay House Visitor Center, 221 King Street as follows:  

   MARCH - Mon-Sat: 1:30 pm and Sun: 10:30 am; 

   APRIL-SEPTEMBER - Mon-Tues: 1:30 pm, Wed-Sat: 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, Sun: 10:30 am;  

   NOVEMBER-DECEMBER - Mon-Sat: 1:30 pm and Sun: 10:30 am. 

(Group Tours offered by APPOINTMENT ONLY during the months of January and February.)

HISTORICAL HAUNTS: 

Did you know...in the city where many of George Washington's friends sleep...and sometimes stir...there are documented stories of strange occurrences...at sites where profound tragedies occurred...real history that will haunt you!!!

Spend an hour with an experienced lantern-carrying guide who will tell you about the early history of our town while you visit documented ghost and paranormal sites.  An original, entertaining light-hearted walk that even the skeptic will enjoy.  This one-hour tour is ideal for private groups, such as Family Reunions, Weddings, Birthday/Slumber Parties, School/Scout/Youth Groups and Office/Convention Groups.  (Group tours by appointment only.)

Historical Haunt Tour offered from MAY THROUGH OCTOBER, as follows:  

    Wed-Thurs: 7:00 pm;  Fri-Sat: 7:00 & 8:30 pm;  Sun: 7:00 pm.

During NOVEMBER the tour is offered:

    Fri-Sat: 8:30 pm;  Sun: 7:00 pm. 

Tours begin at the Ramsay House Visitor Center, 221 King Street.  

IN THE EVENT OF SPECIAL EVENTS OR SEVERE WEATHER, OUR DAILY HISTORY AND HISTORICAL HAUNT TOURS MAY BE CANCELLED. PLEASE CALL 703-683-3451 FOR CANCELLATION INFORMATION.

The following tours are offered BY APPOINTMENT ONLY and depart Market Square at the corner of King Street and N. Fairfax Street:

A two-hour walk with a guide who will tell you about events leading to the Union occupation of Alexandria and life in the city during the Civil War.

45-MINUTE HISTORY WALK:

This tour is offered for those who may have difficulty walking or those whose schedule does not permit the 90-minute tour.  

ONE HOUR HISTORY TOUR FOR STUDENTS:

This tour covers the highlights of the 90-minute tour and is appropriate for students ages 9-13. 

Please call for special rates.

BLACK HISTORY TOURS:

Did you know...that Alexandria was the site of a civil rights sit-in, 20 years before Greensboro, NC...that famed astronomer and naturalist Benjamin Banneker once spent a winter here, and that you can still see evidence of his visit...that Alexandria was once the country's largest slave dealing center, processing more than 10,000 individuals...that one slave dealer's office became part of Harriet Beecher Stowe's research for Uncle Tom's Cabin, while another is now the office of the Urban League!!!

You'll learn all this and more on one of our 2 African-American History Tours.  You'll walk through several African American neighborhoods, including one whose founding celebrated Haitian independence, and the one featured in the movie  "Remember the Titans."   Along the way, you'll meet many memorable Alexandrians, including a woman who purchased her own and her husband's freedom from the money she earned selling vegetables at the City market, as well as a remarkable woman who became the leading advocate for preserving much of the city's African American heritage, including the slave office that sent her father to Texas.

Our North Tour  is offered by appointment only on Monday afternoons and highlights the colonial era, Underground Railroad, schools, and ends at the Black History Museum.  Our South Tour  is offered by appointment only on Sunday afternoons and highlights churches, slave pens, cemeteries, and ends at African American Heritage Park.  (We recommend taking the North Tour first, then the South Tour.)

Each walking tour is approximately 90 minutes and begins in front of City Hall.

Please call 703-683-3451 for information, reservations and rates. 

HIDDEN TREASURES IN PLAIN SIGHT - PUBLIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE TOURS:

Do you know...what colonial building style was named for a fish?  Or where you can find a house that's only seven and one-half feet wide?  Or where in town we celebrate our African American heritage?  Our Hispanic heritage?

From majestic statues to free-flowing murals, from public monuments to modest homes, discover the beauty that's "hidden in plain sight" with any of our three public art and architecture tours.

Old Town Art and Architecture

In this one-hour walking tour your guide will show you 7 major works of art and point out the wide variety of Alexandria's architectural styles, including "flounder" houses, a "spite" house, and superb examples of 18th and 19th Century building styles, as well as the results of our 1980s urban renewal projects.  Tour begins at the Lyceum, 201 S. Washington Street.

In-Depth Art and Architecture 

For those with more time, our 3-hour expanded tour takes you to 10 other sites, including those honoring our African American heritage and a memorial to September 11.  And our comprehensive four and one-half hour tour covers the expanded tour plus 7 more sites, including several in the Art-Deco, artsy neighborhood of Del Ray and lively Chirilagua.  The expanded and comprehensive tour begins at the King Street Metro Station and combine a motor coach/van and walking tour.

A one-hour motorcoach tour of historic Old Town Alexandria where you and your guide will step off and on at key sites.  Please call for rates.

SPECIALTY TOURS:

In addition to all the tours listed above, our guides can give you a variety of specialty tours, including Scottish Heritage, and more.  Please call 703-683-3451 for reservations, cost, and additional information.  Remember, we offer group rates for all of our tours! 

For more information about Alexandria, VA, please visit www.visitalexandriava.com and www.rectorrobertsproductions.com.