Battlefield Tours of Virginia’s Story

 

 

Thank you for considering us for your journey

Battlefields Tours of Virginia came about because of the need to get visitors mobile with a battlefield guide and to achieve an excellent comprehensive private battlefield tour experience.

Many visitors get the Gettysburg experience first and then come to Virginia looking for similar offerings, only to have a difficult time finding a battlefield tour.

We’ve addressed this need and created a team of knowledgeable battlefield guides, primarily based out of the Central Virginia area.

Founded in 2018 and known initially as “Fredericksburg Tours” we only offered private battlefield tours of the Fredericksburg area battlefields at first.

Many of our satisfied clients eventually toured all the Fredericksburg area battlefields. Afterward, they started asking us to offer more battlefield tours because they had difficulty finding other battlefield tours in Virginia.

By 2022 we had expanded tours to the Culpeper, Shenandoah Valley, and Richmond area battlefields. At that time, we decided it was best to change our name to “Battlefield Tours of Virginia” to better reflect what we do.

In the future, we may add more battlefield tour offerings in Virginia. Thank you for considering us to be your battlefield guide in Virginia.

If you have any questions at all, please get in touch

Meet your Guides

We look forward to meeting you!

John Kanaster

John is the owner and operator of Battlefield Tours of Virginia. He is driven by a passion to get visitors mobile with a local battlefield guide and create the best private battlefield tour experience.

He is a U.S. Army veteran who worked for the government for over 25 years.

Greg Mertz

Greg retired after a 40-year career with the National Park Service as a historian at the Gettysburg battlefield, the Eisenhower home, and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania area battlefields.

The majority of his career was spent years teaching tour guiding skills and supervising new employees, interns and volunteers.

Don Pfanz

Don was born in Gettysburg, Pa. to legendary Gettysburg author/historian Harry Pfanz. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

During his 32-year career with the National Park Service, he worked at Fredericksburg National Military Park, Petersburg National Battlefield, and Fort Sumter National Monument. He is a founding member of what is now the American Battlefield Trust, our nation’s largest battlefield preservation organization.

​Gary Barr

Gary is a retired social studies teacher from the Charlottesville, Va. area where he also operated a private historic tour service for over a decade.

Today, he resides near the Chancellorsville battlefield and continues his passion for history & sharing it with others.

Steward Henderson

Steward is an accomplished historian, author, and speaker. He is one of our area’s leading African American historians and a contributing author for the Emerging Civil War.

Steward is the co-founder of the 23rd Regiment United States Colored Troops living history unit and a member of the 54th Massachusetts.

Mike Block

Mike a military veteran, recently retired after nearly 40 years of service. Since 2004, he has been active as a public historian in Culpeper County.

Mike leads tours, staff rides and gives lectures, in addition to serving on non-profit boards supporting historic preservation.

John Roos

John is a very passionate historian with a good sense of humor. Originally from New Jersey, not far from New York City, he was drawn to the charm of Fredericksburg & its four area battlefields.

John did an internship with the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public history.

Doug Crenshaw

Doug Crenshaw studied history at Randolph-Macon College and the University of Richmond.

He is a Board member of the Richmond Battlefield Association, past president of the Richmond Civil War Roundtable, and a speaker, presenter, and tour guide.

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