This weekend, What to Do & Where to Go goes Behind the Scenes to Heritage Days, a two-day, county-wide festival featuring historic, cultural and green sites in Montgomery County. All events and activities are presented free of charge.

Why spend a fortune tripping over the ruins of Pompeii this summer? (Really! Somebody ought to clean that place up, it’s a pedestrian hazard!) Instead, you can journey to another time at any one of the 33 heritage sites included in Heritage Days. With all the office buildings and strip malls sprouting up, many of us forget that Montgomery County was settled in the 1750s. But, dig around and you’ll find layers of local history under all that shiny newness. Let’s see what’s in your backyard, Bethesda!

Glen Echo Park—Enjoy a concert of patriotic music by the 229th Army Band on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Spanish Ballroom. On Sunday, Washington Revels Heritage Voices and Roustabout Band will perform period music at 1 p.m. Meet Anna Maria Weems, an enslaved girl who escaped to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Clara Barton House—Visit the home of the "Angel of the Battlefield"—the founder of the American Red Cross. This Victorian-style historic house was Clara Barton's home during the last 15 years of her life.

Uncle Tom's Cabin—Join a guided tour of the Riley farm where Josiah Henson, whose autobiography inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, was enslaved from 1795 to 1825. Explore an archaeological dig and make your own set of marbles to take home. Tours every half hour from noon until 3 p.m.; park at the Shriver Aquatic Center, 5900 Executive Blvd.

This weekend, take a journey down the street, across the county, back in time or over an ocean with Heritage Days. Click here to see the full brochure of all sites and activities.