The Mariners' Museum [VA]

Description

The Mariner's Museum presents information and artifacts relevant to the field of maritime history. Highlights include more than 150 small vessels from over 36 countries; August F. Crabtree's miniature ships; displays on shipbuilding, cartographic, and navigational advancements between 1400 and 1700; the largest international maritime library in the western hemisphere; and the USS Monitor Center. The center includes a full-scale replica of the Monitor, the first U.S. Navy ironclad warship, used in the Civil War. The museum also owns and maintains a 550-acre park.

The museum offers exhibits, maritime science and history educational programs which complement state educational standards, scavenger hunts, distance learning programs, outreach speakers, lectures, research library access, research assistance, paddle boat rental, and fishing boat rental. Payment is required for research assistance. The website offers virtual exhibits, artifact of the month, and images for educational use.

Burritt on the Mountain: A Living Museum [AL]

Description

The 163-acre Burrit on the Mountain: A Living Museum consists of the 1936 mansion of Dr. William Henry Burrit, physician and inventor; a historic park with restored 19th-century houses and period crops; a barnyard; and animals. Exhibits cover the history of the land and people of Tennessee and Alabama's Southern Cumberland region. Living history demonstrations include blacksmithing, spinning, and cooking over an open hearth.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, living history interpreters, demonstrations, nature trails, educational programs, summer camps, Field Trip Fridays, monthly home school programs, traveling trunks for rent, and in-classroom outreach programs. Reservations are required for Field Trip Fridays.

Gropius House

Description

Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. He designed this house as his family home in 1937, when he came to teach at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Modest in scale, the house was revolutionary in impact. It combined the traditional elements of New England architecture—wood, brick, and fieldstone—with innovative materials rarely used in domestic settings at that time—glass block, acoustical plaster, and chrome banisters, along with the latest technology in fixtures. In keeping with Bauhaus philosophy, every aspect of the house and its surrounding landscape was planned for maximum efficiency and simplicity of design. The house contains an important collection of furniture designed by Marcel Breuer and made for the Gropiuses in the Bauhaus workshops.

The house offers tours and educational and recreational programs.

Lake Erie Islands Historical Society Museum [OH]

Description

The Lake Erie Islands Historical Society Museum presents information on the history of the Lake Erie Islands area in Ohio. The museum includes a boat building and information on Oliver H. Perry (1785–1819), victor of the War of 1812's Battle of Lake Erie; Jordan Freeman, one of Perry's crewmen; the Native Americans of the area; and everyday life circa 1900. Collections include an extensive variety of model ships and one of two remaining Francis Metallic Lifeboats in the United States.

The museum offers a 15–minute introductory film, exhibits, children's programs, tours, lectures, seasonal events, a research library, and archives. Reservations are required for school groups.

The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association [FL]

Description

The Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station, built in 1887, is the second tallest masonry lighthouse in the United States and the tallest lighthouse of any kind in Florida. The lighthouse keepers' dwellings and other historic light station buildings now house the lighthouse museum, which features exhibits on lighthouse life, Daytona Beach and Florida history, lighthouse and Fresnel lens restoration, shipwrecks, and the lighthouse keepers and their families. The Ayres Davies Lens Exhibit Building houses one of the largest collections of restored Fresnel lenses in the world, including the rotating first order Fresnel lens from the Cape Canaveral lighthouse and the restored original Ponce Inlet lighthouse first order Fresnel lens. The boat yard houses a local historic charter boat, the Gay Wind.

The association offers a 20–minute introductory film, guided tours, self–guided tours, museum exhibits, educational programming, and a picnic site. Local schools can make use of traveling trunks, in-classroom outreach presentations and activities, and/or a traveling exhibit. Reservations are required for group tours, and Volusia County Public School and home school group tours are free of charge. The introductory film can be rented by local teachers for pre-visit preparation. The website offers a virtual tour, a historical summary designed for students, pre– and post–visit activities, and additional teacher resources.

Coastal Georgia Historical Society, Maritime Center, and St. Simons Lighthouse

Description

The Society operates both the St. Simons Lighthouse and the Maritime Center. The Lighthouse was built in 1872 and today presents and interprets the history and culture of coastal Georgia. The Maritime Center at the Historic Coast Guard Station researches, collects, and preserves artifacts, and other memorabilia and interprets events and information pertaining to the maritime history and marine ecology of the Georgia coast—such as the history of the U.S. Coast Guard Station, the evolution of Georgia's chain of barrier islands, and the Georgia marshland ecosystem—and to present related exhibitions, promotional activities, and educational programs of interest to the general public.

The society offers educational programs and occasional recreational and educational events; the center and lighthouse offer exhibits and tours.

Apple River Fort State Historic Site

Description

The Apple River Fort was the site of an important battle during the Black Hawk War. It was the only fort attacked by Black Hawk during the turbulent summer of 1832. On June 24, 1832, the settlers at the fort turned back an attack by some 200 Sauk and Fox warriors led by Black Hawk. The war, which lasted only 16 weeks, ended the threat of Indian attacks in the area and opened the region to further settlement. Many notable men participated in the Black Hawk War including a young Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and General Winfield Scott. Abraham Lincoln and his militia company arrived at the fort the day after the battle. Today, the fort has been reconstructed and is open for self-guided tours. Special events throughout the year highlight many aspects of life in Jo Daviess County in 1832. Exhibits at the Interpretive Center, on the trail, and at the fort tell the story of the Sauk and Fox, the early settlers, and the conflict that became known as the Black Hawk War.

The site offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

Sam Rayburn House Museum [TX]

Description

The Sam Rayburn House Museum consists of a 12-room house, built in 1916 as the residence of politician Sam Rayburn's parents, brother, and sister. At the time, Rayburn (1882-1961) was in his second of 24 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives; and he visited the house and surrounding farm frequently. The house and its contents reflect their appearance in 1961, the time of Rayburn's death.

The museum offers tours.

California Citrus State Historic Park

Description

This park preserves some of the rapidly vanishing cultural landscape of the citrus industry and tells the story of this industry's role in the history and development of California. The park recaptures the time when "Citrus was King" in California, recognizing the importance of the citrus industry in southern California. In the early 1900s, an effort to promote citrus ranching in the state brought hundreds of would-be citrus barons to California for the "second Gold Rush." The design of the park is reminiscent of a 1900s city park, complete with an activity center, interpretive structure, amphitheater, picnic area, and demonstration groves. The land contained within the park still continues to produce high-quality fruits.

The park offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.