Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society [VA]

Description

Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society is home to a variety of resources for visitors. First, the society owns and operates a museum, which has exhibits on local history as well as an electronic map that gives visitors a strategic overview of General Stonewall Jackson's famous Shenendoah Valley campaign of 1862. In addition, the society offers genealogical and historical archives, which are available to the public by appointment.

The site offers general information about the society, museum, and research resources. In addition, the site offers visitor information for the museum as well as an online gift shop.

Landmark Inn State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Landmark Inn State Historic Site offers a respite for weary travelers. Ten rooms provide historic lodging. The inn began in the mid-1850s as a general store and small hotel. Today, the inn's staff welcomes guests. Next to the inn's lobby and general store are exhibits and a reception hall open for daily visits.

A second, individual website for the site can be found here.

The site offers tours.

Smith's Castle [RI]

Description

This 1678 home developed over decades into one of the greatest New England plantations of the 18th century. Today, Smith's Castle is an historic site where four centuries of Rhode Island history are preserved and interpreted through tours, historic reenactments, and educational programs for both adults and children.

The site offers tours and educational programs.

Brunswick Town / Fort Anderson [NC]

Description

A major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina's Cape Fear River, Brunswick was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the Confederacy. Colonial foundations dot the present-day tour trail, which crosses the earthworks of the Confederate fort.

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

Butler-McCook House and Garden [CT]

Description

For 189 years the Butler-McCook House and Garden was home to four generations of a family who participated in, witnessed, and recorded the evolution of Main Street between the American Revolution and the mid-20th century. The house's exterior looks much as it did when it was built in 1782. Behind it is a restored Victorian ornamental garden, originally laid out in 1865. Inside are the original furnishings ranging from Connecticut-crafted colonial furniture to Victorian-era toys and paintings to samurai armor acquired during a trip to Japan. The objects were accumulated over the course of more than 125 years by members of this clan, which included physicians, industrialists, missionaries, artists, globe trotters, and pioneering educators and social reformers. The Main Street History Center's keystone exhibition, "Witnesses on Main Street," uses the Butler and McCook families' words and experiences to chronicle their neighborhood's transformation from a clutch of clapboard dwellings, taverns, and artisans' shops into a modern urban enclave of multistory steel, brick, and stone structures housing major financial, industrial, governmental, and cultural institutions.

The house offers exhibits and tours.

Drake Well Museum [PA]

Description

The Drake Well Museum memorializes the site where, in 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the oil well that launched the modern petroleum industry. The Museum tells the story of the beginning of the modern oil industry with orientation videos, exhibits, operating oil field machinery, and historic buildings in a park setting.

The museum offers short films, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and research library access.

Champoeg State Heritage Area [OR]

Description

Champoeg features a combination of history, nature, and recreation. This is the site where Oregon's first provisional government was formed by a historical vote in 1843. Situated on the south bank of the scenic Willamette River, Champoeg's acres of forest, fields, and wetlands recreate the landscape of a bygone era. Visitors can tour the park's visitor center, Newell House, and Pioneer Mothers Log Cabin museums to discover pioneer life at Champoeg; or take a guided walk to learn what happened to the bustling pioneer town of Champoeg, and how the Donald Manson Barn was built. An 1860s-style garden lies next to the visitor center. The park also includes the Historic Butteville Store founded in 1863. It is considered the oldest operating store in Oregon. The store is the last commercial vestige of the once thriving Willamette River community of Butteville.

A second website for the area, the Friends of Historic Champoeg site, can be found here.

The area offers short films; exhibits, tours; educational programs; demonstrations; lectures; and educational and recreational events, including living history events.

Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum [PA]

Description

Landis Valley Museum, a living history village and farm, collects, preserves, and interprets the history and material culture of the Pennsylvania German rural community from 1740 to 1940 and enhances understanding of their successful practices, interactions with others, and the impact on the state and nation for citizens of and visitors to the Commonwealth. Visitors experience 18th- and 19th-century village and farm life in Lancaster County, PA, all in one visit. With over 100 acres and many historic buildings to explore throughout the four seasons, there is always something to see at Landis Valley Museum.

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs that meet PA state curriculum standards, lectures, workshops, and recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Historic Washington State Park [AR]

Description

Historic Washington is a restored 19th-century town with 45 historic structures. Classic examples of Southern Greek Revival, Federal, Gothic Revival, and Italianate architecture stand as a legacy to life in Washington from 1824 to 1889. From its establishment in 1824, Washington was an important stop on the rugged Southwest Trail to Mexico, and later, Texas. James Bowie, Sam Houston, and Davy Crockett each traveled through Washington at various times. Vistiors can stroll the plank boardwalks along streets that have never been paved, and explore this tree-shaded town many call "the Colonial Williamsburg of the Southwest."

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, research library access, workshops, and educational and recreational events (including living history events).

Boothbay Railway Village [ME]

Description

The Boothbay Railway Village operates a narrow-gauge coal-fired steam train in a recreated historic village composed of locally significant historic structures. Additionally the museum exhibits one of the finest presentations of antique vehicles in New England.

The village offers exhibits, train rides, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.