Beaufort Historical Association [NC]

Description

The Beaufort Historical Association works to preserve and showcase the history of Beaufort, North Carolina. The association works closely with the Beaufort Historic Site, which is located in downtown Beaufort, and which showcases the history of this quaint seaport.

The Beaufort Historic Site offers guided tours of historic homes, living history demonstrations, a variety of student programs including a courthouse dramatization and the Harvest Time program which gives students a view into colonial Beaufort, and tours of the nearby Old Burying Ground. The website offers visitor information, information regarding educational programs, an events calendar, and a brief history of Beaufort.

Webb Deane Stevens Museum [CT]

Description

The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is located in the heart of Connecticut's largest historic district, the town of Old Weathersfield. The museum consists of four historic homes, all of which were built prior to the Revolutionary War and three of which are National Historic Landmarks. The museum is also home to the museum school, which provides children from preschool to college-age with workshops and educational activities.

The museum offers tours, the museum school, and occasional special events including interpretive events and speakers. The website offers visitor information, a history of the homes, and a calendar of events.

Derby Historical Society [CT]

Description

The Derby Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the histories of Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, and Shelton, Connecticut. To this end, the society operates the General David Humphreys House. David Humphreys (1752-1818) was a personal friend of George Washington; and became the first U.S. ambassador, assigned to Portugal. The house has been furnished in the style of mid 18th century.

The society offers walking tours and an educational role-playing program designed for fifth graders, the Day in 1972 Program.

Fraunces Tavern Museum [NY]

Description

The Fraunces Tavern Museum commemorates the historical use of the Fraunces tavern, originally built as a residence in 1719. After being remade into a tavern in 1762, the structure served as the early Departments of War, the Treasury, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the site of George Washington's 1783 farewell address to the officers of the Continental Army. The museum currently includes the original tavern and four 19th-century buildings. Exhibits include Revolutionary War topics; an 18th-century public dining room, site of Washington's farewell address; and the Clinton Room, named after New York's first governor of American citizenship, George Clinton. Collection highlights include one of George Washington's false teeth.

The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, educational programs on early American taverns and the Revolutionary War, and lectures.

Bourne Historical Society [MA]

Description

The Bourne Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Bourne, Massachusetts. To this end, the society operates the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum. Originally built in 1627, the trading post was the site of the first private commercial enterprise to use wampum. Today it sits on a complex with the circa 1893 Gray Gables Railroad Station, built for U.S. President Grover Cleveland (in office 1893-1896); a replica salt works; a historic windmill; and an herb garden. The Jonathon Bourne Historical Center, located in an 1897 library, also offers local history exhibits.

The society offers exhibits, archival access, and an annual maritime lecture series.

Frontier Culture Museum [VA]

Description

The Frontier Culture Museum presents the story of the men and women who came to the United States prior to its existence as a country. The most common origin points of these people were England, Germany, Ireland, and West Africa. Reproductions and actual rural structures moved from these locations represent the various homelands, while another set of exhibits depicts their new life in North America in the 1740s, 1820s, and 1850s. Other topics discussed at the museum include food ways, woodworking, and fiber processing.

The museum offers exhibits, interpretive signage, hands-on activities, living history demonstrations, day camps, three outreach presentations, a teacher institute, a picnic area, a field trip grant application, and a non-lending library with more than 5,000 volumes. The website offers pre- and post-visit discussion topics. All educational programs meet state educational standards.

Los Adaes State Historic Site [LA]

Description

Los Adaes State Historic Site commemorates the Presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes (Fort of Our Lady of Pilar at the Adaes), built by the Spanish in reaction to increasing French activity in the vicinity of east Texas. Los Adaes became the capital of the province of Texas in 1729. Although it would retain this title for 44 years, life at Los Adaes was difficult enough that inhabitants quickly became involved with illicit trade with the French in order to prevent starvation.

The site offers a historic structure, educational programs, and tours.

House of the Seven Gables [MA]

Description

The House of Seven Gables was built in 1668, making it the oldest wooden mansion remaining in New England. Best known for being immortalized in Nathaniel Hawthornes' novel The House of the Seven Gables, today the home holds more than 2,000 artifacts and a research library. A number of other properties have been moved to the site. These are the 1655 Jacobian and Post-Medieval-style Retire Beckett House, the oldest residence in Massachusetts; the 1682 Hoope-Hathaway House (of the same styles as the previous structure); the 1750 Georgian-style Nathaniel Hawthorne House, birthplace of famed dark romanticist author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864); and the circa 1830 counting house, where a maritime supercargo would have calculated his finances. The grounds also contain gardens.

The site offers tours of the House of the Seven Gables, period rooms, exhibits, hands-on activities, summer camps, educational programs on navigation and daily life in the 1600s Massachusetts Bay area, and an outreach program on colonial trade. The website offers a lesson plan on the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). Reservations are required for educational programs.

Thomas Paine National Historical Association [NY]

Description

The Thomas Paine National Historical Association seeks to share the story of Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and gain widespread acknowledgment of Thomas Paine as the primary founder of the United States. The association operates a museum, the Thomas Paine Cottage, and a monument. The cottage once served as Paine's home. Thomas Paine was a pamphleteer and revolutionary, who promoted the concept of human rights and supported both the French and American revolutions. Although he supported the French Revolution, he did not support the execution of Louis XVI—instead proposing that he be exiled to America, since he had financially aided the United States in the Revolutionary War.

The cottage offers exhibits. The association offers educational programs, public speakers, and presentations.

The museum is currently closed for re-cataloging and preservation.