Personalized Civil War battlefield tours with an award-winning historian. Also available are tours of Virginia’s numerous historic sites, presidential estates, and Revolutionary War battlefields.


Rick Britton is an award-winning historian living in Charlottesville, Virginia. Along with his writing, he teaches classes on Virginia’s amazing history, illustrates maps for books and websites, and conducts tours of Virginia’s numerous fascinating historic sites.

Civil War Battlefield and Navigator Tours

These tours treat visitors to fascinating excursions into the Old Dominion’s past! Owner/operator Rick Britton has over 25 years of experience leading tours large and small. Using his extensive knowledge of Virginia history, he weaves for his visitors a wonderfully rich tapestry of colorful people, momentous events, and long-forgotten anecdotes. Navigator Tours specializes in Charlottesville History Tours, Civil War Battlefield Tours, and tours of Central Virginia’s wonderful Presidential Estates.


Listed below are Rick Britton’s most popular tours. All of them can be tailored to your interests, time constraints, and group size.

Your Guide

A historian of the Old Dominion, Rick Britton specializes in 18th- and 19th-century Virginia history. His areas of expertise include the Civil War in Virginia, the life of Thomas Jefferson, and the history of the Central Piedmont (or Central Virginia). With over 200 published articles and essays under his belt—the vast majority on the history of Virginia—he’s the author of Albemarle & Charlottesville: An Illustrated History (2006), the award-winning Jefferson: A Monticello Sampler (2008), and Virginia Vignettes: Famous Characters & Events in Central Virginia History (2015).

Civil War Battlefield Tours

Fredericksburg Battlefield Tour
Chancellorsville Battlefield Tour
Combined Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville Tour
First Manassas Battlefield Tour / First Bull Run Battlefield Tour
Gaines’s Mill Battlefield Tour
Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Tour / Appomattox Court House Tour
Brandy Station Battlefield Tour
Trevilian Station Battlefield Tour
Other Battlefield Tours

Charlottesville History Tours

The Civil War in Charlottesville Tour
The Thomas Jefferson in Central Virginia Tour
The University of Virginia Tour
The Revolutionary War Tour
The Presidential Estate Tour
Other Charlottesville Tours

Rick Britton
Tour Group with Rick Britton
Tour Group with Rick Britton (far right)
Hand-drawn Battle of Manassas Map