New tours on tap for 2027 . . .

AIRPORT: fly into and out of Rapid City, South Dakota. This tour will cover two decades of U.S. Army operations along the Powder River in southeastern Montana between the years 1859 and 1879. Guests will spend Friday, April 2nd sightseeing in the Black Hills before arriving in Broadus, Montana that evening. Stops en route to Broadus will include Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and an extended lunch break in Deadwood, South Dakota. At the close of the event, on April 4th, the tour van will visit Devil's Tower en route back to Rapid City. [Powder River photo: John A. Moody & Robert H. Meade, USGS]
In the autumn of 1846, the Donner-Reed Party crossed some of the most dramatic landscapes of the American West—following a supposed shortcut across Utah and Nevada before reaching the Sierra Nevada too late to cross safely. This small-group historical journey retraces that story from Fort Bridger, Wyoming to Fort Sutter in Sacramento, California, combining surviving trail landscapes, museums, historic sites, and on-location interpretation. [Painting: Emigrant party on the road to California. Illus. in: "California: its past history; its present position; its future prospects. London : The proprietors, 1850, frontispiece. Library of Congress]

QUICK LINKS
— TOURS --
WAR on the POWDER RIVER
WILDERNESS & SPOTSYLVANIA
MODOC WAR of 1872-73
​DONNER-REED ODYSSEY on the CALIFORNIA TRAIL
— CONFERENCE --
​SELDOM HEARD HISTORY of the CIVIL WAR ERA
C-SPAN2 2026 CONFERENCE TALKS
​2027 FLYER

      MAY 2027

4th annual Central Coast Conference

Seldom Heard History of the Civil War Era
Stanton Center, Monterey, California, April 30–May 2, 2027 

A full weekend of presentations in the Stanton Center Theater in beautiful Monterey, California. The Stanton Center is situated on the Custom House Plaza, bordering the Monterey State Historic Park. The schedule of presentations will be posted soon. For 2027, we're excited to welcome another stellar lineup of historians. ​
Featured Speakers: GORDON RHEA, Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands • BRIGADIER GENERAL TY SEIDULE, Professor Emeritus of History, West Point, Joshua Chamberlain Fellow at Hamilton College • HILARY GREEN, Professor of Africana Studies, Davidson College • KEVIN LEVIN, Boston-based educator, Author and Historian • JON GRINSPAN, Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

C-SPAN2 recorded five presentations from the 2026 Central Coast Conference (May 2026). View those presentations HERE

Previously announced for next year . . .

      JUNE 2027

The Wilderness & Spotsylvania
June 3–6, 2027 (Fredericksburg, VA) Exclusive hiking tour with historian
​Gordon Rhea

On this entirely unique, four-day tour, Gordon will conducts hikes along every step of the NPS trails on these two battlefields, interpreting along the way. He'll also take the group to some rarely-seen private sites, to discuss the monumental opening battles of Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign. HQ hotel will be in Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

​Gordon Rhea and Dave Woodbury
​following the Overland Campaign of 1864

      AUGUST 2027

Modoc War
​in the Lava Beds

Historian-guided battlefield tours
August 12–14, 2027
(Klamath Falls, Oregon)

​​​
Photo: Kintpuash, or "Captain Jack" of the Modoc, in
1864. He led 52 warriors in a lengthy confrontation with
the U.S. Army in the Lava Beds of Northern California.
​[Oregon Historical Society]

      OCTOBER 2028

STRANGERS
​in a STRANGE LAND:
The Portolá Expedition
​of 1769-70
A guided tour following the route of the first overland exploration of California by Europeans, from San Diego to the "discovery" of San Francisco Bay. 
TOUR DATES: October 25-31, 2028
Gaspar de Portolá statue, Monterey, California

RECENTLY COMPLETED

Chief Joseph, & the Flight of the Nez Percé — plus a one-day tour of the Battle of the Little Bighorn
August 22 to September 1, 2026
​with historian Neil Mangum
RESCHEDULED: The previously posted tours for the Battles for South Mountain, and The Apache Wars, are being rescheduled. Watch this space for updates. 

WOODBURY HISTORICAL TOURS • PO BOX 60085 • PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94306