The Iron Industry Museum traces the development of the industry in the state. Located at the site of the first iron forge in the Lake Superior region, it presents indoor exhibits and outdoor interpretive paths that lead visitors through the 19th-century origins of the industry forwards.
The museum offers exhibits and a short audiovisual presentation.
The Oglebay Institute maintains two museums: the Wheeling Mansion Museum and the Glass Museum. Built in 1846 by Hanson Chapline, Oglebay Institute's Mansion Museum was originally an eight-room farmhouse; today, it serves as a museum of local history. Situated adjacent to the Mansion, the Oglebay Institute Glass Museum displays cut-lead crystal, Victorian art glass, Peachblow, pattern and depression and Northwood's carnival glass, and many other glass examples showcasing Ohio Valley history. Visitors can also watch skilled glass artisans at work.
The museums offer exhibits, educational programs for school groups, workshops and classes, and recreational and educational events.
The Texas Maritime Museum provides exhibits on the history and technology of offshore petroleum production and transportation; the history and development of Texas seaports, maritime communities, and maritime commerce along the Gulf; the exploration and settlement history of the Texas Gulf Coast, including by the Spanish and the French; and an overview of the Texas seafood and fishing industry.
The museum offers exhibits, tours for school groups, in-class outreach presentations, traveling trunk "treasure chests" for loan, and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Hershey Story takes visitors on a journey through the life of Milton S. Hershey: the man, his chocolate company, the town that bears his name, and his legacy. It explores the accomplishments of an American entrepreneur through interactive museum exhibits and laboratory classes.
The museum offers exhibits, in-museum interactive classes and scavenger-hunt tours for school groups, workshops for visitors, and educational and recreational events.
The Museum highlights the technology and technological history of metal mining and metallurgy, as well as the social history of the American Mining West. With a collection of mining equipment and artifacts, visitors can experience America's rich mining history through mining equipment such as steam engines, drills, and pumps in actual operation; social history vignettes illustrating historic home life in mining communities; hands-on experiences including panning for gold and a kids' change-station; scale models of equipment and mines; and a mine recreation offering a glimpse into a working underground, as well as changing exhibits.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, research library access, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.
Visitors to the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar where can discover the Tredegar Iron Works, once the industrial heart of the Confederacy; explore the Center's flagship exhibit, "In the Cause of Liberty," in the restored 1861 Gun Foundry; learn about the people and events that impacted Tredegar and the Confederate Capital at the Richmond National Battlefield Visitor Center; walk the Tredegar site with a museum guide, hear stories from the home front, or learn the secrets of prison camp survival; and see history come alive as costumed interpreters explore recruitment, training, camp life, and battle experiences of the Civil War soldier.
The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
Mission Mill Museum interprets the history of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill which produced wool products from 1889 to 1962 and represents one of Oregon's earliest and strongest industries. Mission Mill also interprets the history of Jason Lee's Methodist Mission to Oregon which settled in the Willamette Valley in 1834 before the major Oregon Trail migrations. The missionaries brought formal education, industry, and large scale agriculture and advocated for U.S. government in the Oregon country. The Museum preserves Mission houses; an Oregon Trail settler's house; a historic church; and the structures, equipment, and original water-powered turbine of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill with related artifacts. The museum's two histories are shared with visitors through individual and group tours, interpretation, speakers, living history, children's programs, hands-on activities, and special events.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, workshops, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.
This site was once part of a thriving sugar plantation owned by David Levy Yulee. Yulee was a member of the Territorial Legislative Council, and served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate after Florida statehood. The park contains the remnants of the once-thriving 5,100-acre sugar plantation: a 40-foot limestone masonry chimney, iron gears, and a cane press. The steam-driven mill operated from 1851 to 1864 and served as a supplier of sugar products for southern troops during the Civil War.
The park offers tours and educational programs.
The importance of forestry in Florida dates back to the early 1800s. The museum celebrates the heritage of Florida's forest industry. The heart of the museum is dedicated to longleaf pines and the 5,000 products manufactured from them. The 50-plus-year-old longleaf pines growing on the museum grounds provide a majestic canopy and create an enjoyable walking trail for visitors. Adjacent to the museum is an authentic 19th-century Cracker homestead, much like those scattered throughout Florida at the turn of the century.
The park offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
There is still gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum, in historic Mariposa. This is where explorers John C. Fremont and Kit Carson found the rich Mariposa Vein and opened the first mill to crush ore and extract gold in California. Visitors can discover for themselves California's mineral wealth, colorful history, and geologic diversity as they view the official mineral collection of the state of California. The collection, which began in 1880, contains over 13,000 objects including mining artifacts, rare specimens of crystalline gold in its many forms, as well as beautiful gem and mineral specimens from California and around the world. The museum displays the Fricot "Nugget," a rare specimen of crystallized gold discovered in the American River in 1864. This 13.8-pound specimen is the largest remaining intact mass of crystalline gold from 19th-century California, when these finds were more common but usually were simply melted down. Visitors can also take a trip back in time as they walk through a mine tunnel and see how gold was mined in the mid-1800s, when California was a wilderness, being transformed by rapid development. The museum's assay office and working scale model of a stamp mill will help visitors discover how gold was found and extracted from the rocks.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and educational and recreational events.