Eastern USA : what to include

[yikesanotherbooboo]

We ( DH , me and DS (15)) are hoping to pop to USA in August for about 2 weeks. We want to include Washington but beyond this are undecided. We would def hire a car and we like cities/ history/ nature. We are not necessarily beach people and are not keen ( who is? ) on miles of traffic jams. We have been to NYC but could def go back... like idea of Boston but also antebellum/ civil war stuff. What/ where is don't miss? How to travel about ? Itinerary? Tips? DS fine in car but none of us want days on end of travelling ... happy to do odd longer drive then settle.
Any one able to help?

We went last August and did an east coast trip. We flew into Washington then we went to Philadelphia, NY and Boston. We took the Amtrak train between each of these cities which was a lot of fun and very relaxing. After Boston we hired a car and drove to Cape Cod for a weeks relaxation. We were away for 3 weeks in total. We loved all those cities. Could have stayed longer in Washington as there is so much to see and so many museums etc. I liked NY least as it was very hot and busy. My DDs however were keen to go there. We had a blast.

Why not drive down into Virginia - theres a civil war trail you can follow, do the Skyline Drive (totally amazing), Blue Mountains, and go to the homes of the first presidents and stay in Charlottesville. Lots of nice historical stuff round there, maybe down to Richmond.
Its only 2 hours driving from Dulles to Charlottesville, though thats on the main roads and you'd want to enjoy the drive, and under 2 hours from Charlottesville to Richmond.

Some random ideas:

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia
Nantucket
Coast of Maine (utterly beautiful and great seafood)

Thank you...
any thoughts on best airports to fly into ... we depart from any London

We flew BA Heathrow to Washington Dulles. Then we flew back to Heathrow from Logan international Boston.

Savannah is about 8 hours drive from DC and if you want antebellum I would head there and Charleston. Lots of history in both of those cities and they are beautiful. Closer to DC there are plenty of historical sites in Virginia and also Shenandoah Nationa l Park which is stunning.

I second taking skyline drive. It is truely beautiful.
I also second Savannah. If I could live anywhere on earth it would be Savannah. Just beautiful and, if you read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil before you go, full of hidden gems.
Totally jealous of you op