Hindenburg Artifact

Description

Elyse Luray of PBS's History Detectives speaks to Guillaume de Syon, author and expert on the Zeppelin, about the Hindenburg and the relationship between the U.S. and Germany at the time of the Hindenburg disaster.

Deutschheim State Historic Site [MO]

Description

The Pommer-Gentner house, built in 1840, is a sterling example of high-style German neoclassicism and is furnished to reflect the earlier settlement period of the 1830s and 1840s. Behind the house, visitors will tour a period garden and a small half-timbered barn containing an exhibit of 19th-century tools. The Strehly house, built in stages from 1842 to 1869, has a traditional German vernacular front. It once contained a full-service printing company that produced a German-language newspaper. About 1857, Carl Strehly built a winery next to the house that today displays one of a few remaining carved wine casks in the Midwest. Grapevines, planted by the Strehlys in the 1850s, can still be seen running the length of the backyard. Deutschheim's varied collections of German Americana are represented by galleries of changing artifacts and photographs.

The site offers tours, exhibits, occasional recreational and educational events.

Fort Stanwix National Monument [NY]

Description

The Fort Stanwix National Monument presents the fort's Revolutionary War history and its impact on the history of New York settlement. Collections consist of more than 476,000 artifacts. Three trails circle the fort. One follows the Oneida Carrying Place, while the other two interpret the siege of 1777. During the seige, Colonel Peter Gansevoort maintained control of Stanwix despite the concentrated British, Loyalist, German, Canadian, and Native American troops which surrounded the structure, earning it the nickname of "the fort that never surrendered." This victory is one of several which eventually led to political alliances with The Netherlands and France. The fort is located on traditional Oneida lands. The Oneida Carrying Place is an over land route between Wood Creek and the Mohawk River.

The monument offers an orientation talk, three trails, exhibits, guided curriculum-based educational programs, self-guided fort tours, audio-visual displays, weapons demonstrations, guided tours, living history programs, an activity for three through six year olds, Junior Ranger activities, and an area for building model forts. Reservations are required for all guided programs. The website offers lesson plans, a 1777 campaign Revolutionary War map, a word match, a crossword puzzle, a word search, and suggested reading lists for students and teachers.

Alanson B. Houghton: Ambassador of the New Era

Description

Scholar Jeffrey Matthews explores the life of Alanson B. Houghton, American industrialist, politician, and diplomat (to Germany, 1922-1925, and to Great Britain, 1925-1929). Houghton uses this exploration to examine U.S. foreign policy between World War I and World War II, citing Houghton's criticism of policy under Presidents Harding and Coolidge.

Audio and video options are available.

Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park [NV]

Description

The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park is one of Carson Valley's first and largest ranches. The ranch was home to German immigrant Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg, who founded the site in 1857. A local businessman, rancher, and politician, Dangberg started his ranch with just a log cabin. At the time of his death in 1904, he had created a 20,000 acre ranching empire that his sons expanded to 48,000 acres. More than five acres of the ranch are now owned by Douglas County and managed by Nevada State Parks. The county and state are restoring the original buildings, including a main house, a stone cellar, a laundry building, a carriage house, a garage, and a bunkhouse. These buildings and original artifacts are on display.

The site offers tours.

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park, Historic Site, and Sauer-Beckmann Farm [TX]

Description

The park's location is historically significant since it is in the heart of the former President's home country. The area has been influenced by three major cultures: Native Americans, Spanish, and German. Indians roamed the Hill Country first, leaving behind artifacts which tell of their nomadic life. The Spanish conquistadors followed, bringing a culture which was to endure to the present. German immigrants settled the Hill Country in the early 1800s and their descendants still call it home. Their culture has had a major impact on the development of the region and the park itself. All of these cultures are represented at the park. The Visitor Center contains memorabilia from President Johnson's presidency and interactive displays about the land and people that shaped a president. Attached to the Visitors Center is the Behrens Cabin, a two-room dogtrot cabin built by German immigrant H. C. Behrens during the 1870s. The furnishings are typical of such homes in that period. Visitors can further explore the history of these immigrants by viewing the 1860s Danz family log cabin located just west of the Visitor Center. Also located in the park is the Sauer-Beckmann Farm, a living history farm. Life on the farmstead is presented as it was in 1918. Park interpreters wear period clothing, do the farm and household chores as they were done at that time, and also conduct tours for the visitors.

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Zoar Village State Memorial [OH]

Description

Founded by the German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1817 as a communal society, Zoar today is an island of Old-World charm in east-central Ohio. Many of the German-style structures built by the Zoarites have been restored and are open to the public as Zoar Village State Memorial. Others are privately-owned, and serve as residences, shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfast inns. Visitors can experience the life of the agrarian Separatists by visiting the ten restored buildings (Number One House, Kitchen/Magazine Complex, Bimeler Museum, Garden House, Bakery, Tinshop, Dairy, Wagon Shop, Blacksmith Shop and Zoar Store), which are staffed with costumed interpreters and furnished with items made or used by the Separatists. Some buildings are staffed, others open by guided tour. Volunteers give craft demonstrations during the many yearly special events.

A second website, for the Zoar Community Association, can be found here.

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, classes and other educational programs, and recreational and educational events.