Old State House [CT]

Description

Connecticut's Old State House was built prior to the revolutionary war and served as the state's first capitol from 1797 to 1873. The building has been carefully restored and now is host to a museum of Connecticut state and legislative history.

The Old State House offers audio tours, guided group tours, educational activities, special events, and exhibits on Hartford and Connecticut history. The website offers visitor information and information regarding upcoming events.

Historic Huguenot Street [NY]

Description

Historic Huguenot Street presents the story of 12 Huguenot refugees who travelled from southern Belgium and Northern France to the United States in 1678, where they bought land from the Esopus people and created a community in what is now New Paltz, New York. The six-acre site includes seven stone houses dating to the early 1700s, a burial ground, and a reconstructed 1717 stone church—all in their original setting. Architectural styles include Hudson Valley Dutch, early Georgian, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival. Archives focus on local history and genealogical documentation.

The site offers exhibits, period rooms for the 1700s and circa 1915, guided tours tailored to group interest, summer archaeology and educational programming, historic craft activities, a colonial-themed overnight program, a variety of educational modules which meet New York educational standards, and library and archival access. The website offers an online library catalog.

Historic St. Mary's City [MD]

Description

Historic St. Mary's City presents the first capital of Maryland and fourth permanent British New World settlement via living history interpretation. Sites include the reconstructed 1676 State House, the square-rigger Maryland Dove, a working tobacco plantation, and a Yaocomaco Native American settlement. St. Mary's is an early example of government supported freedom of religion.

The museum offers exhibits, interpretive signage, an audio tour, self-guided tours, four hour school tours which complement state educational standards, hands-on activities, and picnic areas. Reservations are required for school and group tours. The website offers a virtual tour and children's activities.

Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site

Description

This 1740 building is historically significant as the oldest courthouse in Illinois and the only one remaining from the state’s territorial period (1787–1818). It is architecturally significant as an example of the French Colonial vertical log poteaux-sur-solle ("post-on-sill") construction technique. Inside are three exhibit rooms and another furnished to represent the courtroom in the 1790s. Exhibits in the Courthouse depict issues that came before the court around 1800 and a history of the structure as it was moved in the early 20th century to St. Louis and Chicago before its eventual return to Cahokia.

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

Prescott Farm [RI]

Description

Prescott Farm presents Revolutionary War era rural life in Aquidneck Island, Rhode Island. The site consists of public access areas, as well as several historic structures rented to tenant stewards. Historically, General Richard Prescott, commander of the 4,000-strong British occupying force on Aquidneck Island, took the house owned by Loyalist John Overing (the circa 1730 Nichols-Overing House) as his rural headquarters. On July 10, 1777, American Colonel William Barton, under cover of darkness, led a party of 30 or more men in longboats to the farm, where they absconded with Prescott and his aid. Structures on site include the 1812 Robert Sherman Windmill; the Hicks House, built circa 1715 and now called The Country Store; the mid–1700's guard house; and the Sweet-Anthony House, built circa 1730. Prescott Farm’s kitchen and herb gardens are living laboratories that showcase period horticulture as well as contemporary gardening practices. The plant varieties grown in the gardens represent what many Aquidneck Islanders may have used for food, medicine and other utilitarian purposes in the colonial era.

The farm offers exhibits, guided tours, and educational programming.

Hingham Historical Society and Old Ordinary [MA]

Description

The Hingham Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Hingham, Massachusetts, founded circa 1633. To this end, the society now operates a historic tavern museum, Old Ordinary. The 17th-century structure was originally erected as a residence, but later served as a tavern. The site also boasts a period garden.

The museum offers period rooms and a garden.

Slave Relic Museum [SC]

Description

The Slave Relic Museum presents the history of the U.S. African American population via artifacts made and used by slaves between 1750 and the mid-19th century.

The museum offers exhibits. The website offers audio interviews; a video tour of slave dwelling ruins in the Bahamas; and several primary source documents, including 63 pages of documents relating to the Amistad and William E. Channing's "The Duty of the Free States."

Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum [NY]

Description

Pieter Claessen Wyckoff emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1637 at the age of 17. In 1649, he brought his bride Grietje van Ness to this house, where they raised 11 children. Wyckoff House is one of New York State's oldest existing domiciles.

A second website for the site can be found here.

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

Thomas Lee House [CT]

Description

The Thomas Lee House, located in East Lyme, CT, is one of the oldest wood frame houses in Connecticut in its primitive state. The original structure dates to circa 1660, with additions having been made circa 1700 and circa 1765. The site is located by the Little Boston Schoolhouse (dating to circa 1805 and also open to the public).

The house offers period rooms, exhibits, colonial days for fourth graders, and the possibility of scheduling tours.