“There is no real place called Mercy Street although it would have been right there on the 100th block of N. Fairfax Street," according to Meredith Barber, tour guide for DC Military Tours.

Barber paints a graphic scene of troops thrown on the street with nurses triaging them where they lay. Barber is giving the Sunday afternoon Mercy Street Walking Tour that relates events in the new Civil War television mini-series with the places where they happened in Alexandria.

Barber walks from the Alexandria Visitor's Center around the corner to Carlyle House, which had been owned by a wealthy furniture factory owner in 1750 but was turned into a Civil War hospital when Union troops took over the city. "Up there on the second floor were the officers and down below were the others. In the corner was the kitchen. That's where the grimy cook, the character you love to hate on Mercy Street, would have been cooking supper." In front of Carlyle House there was a 700-bed hospital and by the 1970s it had become tenement apartments. When a choice had to be made between the two historic buildings, the Mansion House Hotel was torn down.

And around the corner, "Welcome to Gadsby’s Tavern — very historic." Barber said that George Washington had a townhouse just down the block but had no kitchen so he used to eat at the closest fine dining place, Gadsby’s Tavern. "And George Washington danced in the ballroom and dined in one of the dining rooms here." She continues, "You know the scene in Mercy Street where the Union Army takes over and has a big celebration? That would have happened in the big ballroom here in Gadsby’s Tavern."

Down the block is the Alexandria Farmer's Market, the oldest in the United States, where George Washington defied social conventions and sold his tobacco. “Now just down the block is the apothecary from 1790 ....”

Barber says her 75-90 minute tours include people from all over the world — recently a man from France, a couple from Alaska and a lot of people from Long Island. She says there aren't a lot of children on the tours but it is a "kid-friendly" presentation. Barber explains, "I tell a lot of stories."

Tom Schultz, owner of DC Military Tours, says history can be boring but Barber makes it come alive. "It comes off the page. People walk away not knowing they have had a history lesson."

Barber says the tours are a give and take and each learns from the other. "I engage my tour and find out what they are interested in."

They both receive a lot of questions about the architecture of the buildings; a common question is why some buildings have a star. Schultz explains the star is both decorative and structural since it is the screw holding the tension rod that keeps the building straight.

Schultz says he first met Barber through family connections when she was 7-years old and the families were on a candlelight tour of Mount Vernon. "She asked pointed, germane questions about history, very advanced for her age."

Now Barber is attending the College of William and Mary and Schultz has hired her as a tour guide for the Mercy Street tour as well as general tours on Wednesday-Saturday.

Barber credits her grandparents with her early interest in history. "They used to take me to the Saratoga Battlefield when I lived in New York. You could fly kites, and you could also learn about history."

Schultz, a retired 20-year Navy veteran, also offers experiential military tours designed for a specific request. For instance on Friday, he took about 30 military veterans to Ft. Myer to see the Presidential Salute Battery with the loading and firing of cannons and 21-gun salute. Schultz says he got the idea for the Mercy in Alexandria Walking Tour in January when there are often no tour customers. Schultz says PBS has announced a second season of Mercy Street so he is expecting a renewed interest. Although the mini-series was filmed in Petersburg and Richmond, "it all took place within three blocks of where we are sitting."