Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry [NY]

Description

The Seneca Museum celebrates historic Seneca Falls, Seneca County, and the Finger Lakes region of central New York State. The Museum illustrates how the Seneca River and the Cayuga-Seneca Canal powered the rise of industry and fostered cultural development, helping to spread social reform movements.

The museum offers exhibits and educational and recreational programs and events.

Harriet Tubman Home [NY]

Description

The Harriet Tubman Home preserves the legacy of "the Moses of Her People" in the place where she lived and died in freedom. The site is located on 26 acres of land in Auburn, New York, and is owned and operated by the AME Zion Church. It includes four buildings, two of which were used by Harriet Tubman. Some articles of furniture, and a portrait that belonged to Harriet Tubman are now on display in the Home.

The site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Greenwood Furnace State Park [PA]

Description

A walk through historic Greenwood Furnace evokes images of the community that flourished here from 1834 to 1904. Greenwood Furnace was a busy industrial complex, with all the noise and dirt of a 19th-century ironmaking community. Today, the park covers 423 acres, including a six-acre lake, and is surrounded by an 80,000-acre block of Rothrock State Forest. Interpretive programming at the park is centered on the former Greenwood Furnace and the company town that grew up around it.

The park offers exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational events.

Stonington Historical Society, Old Lighthouse Museum, and Captain Palmer House [CT]

Description

The Society operates several historic sites, including the Old Lighthouse Museum and Captain Palmer House. The 1823 Old Lighthouse Museum's six rooms of exhibits testify to the history of this coastal region through exhibits depicting the lives of Stonington's fishermen and farmers, merchants and shipbuilders, pottery makers, blacksmiths, and many other trades. Each year a special aspect of Stonington history is featured. One room with a large dollhouse is reserved for items of interest to children and adults. The 1852 Captain Palmer House displays memorabilia pertaining to Nathaniel's discovery of Antarctica and the Palmer brothers' adventurous lives, as well as other Stonington family portraits, furnishings, and artifacts.

The society offers research library access, lectures, workshops, and educational and recreational events and programs; the museum and house offer exhibits and tours.

Point Sur State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Point Sur Lighthouse and its supporting lightstation buildings, now a California State Historic Park, stand atop a dramatic volcanic rock just offshore in Big Sur, California. This historic aid-to-navigation has a modern aero-beacon which still guides ships along the treacherous Central California Coast. From 1889 until 1974, families lived and worked in the buildings atop Point Sur.

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

The park offers tours.

Staatsburgh State Historic Site [NY]

Description

Staatsburgh is a New York State Historic Site located within the boundaries of Mills-Norrie State Park. It provides an example of the great estates built by America's financial and industrial leaders during the Gilded Age. A 25-room Greek Revival structure was built on the site in 1832 by Morgan Lewis and his wife, Gertrude Livingston, replacing an earlier house that had burned down. This second house was inherited by Ruth Livingston Mills, wife of noted financier and philanthropist Ogden Mills. In 1895, Mr. and Mrs. Mills commissioned the prestigious New York City architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White to remodel and enlarge their Staatsburg home. After completion in 1896, the house was transformed into a Beaux-Arts mansion of 65 rooms and 14 bathrooms. Its exterior was embellished with balustrades, pilasters, floral swags, and a massive portico. The rooms were furnished with elaborately carved and gilded furniture; fine oriental rugs; silk fabrics; and a collection of art objects from Europe, ancient Greece, and the Far East.

The site offers tours and educational and recreational programs and events.

Jericho Historical Society and Old Red Mill [VT]

Description

The Society was formed in 1972 to perpetuate the mission of preserving the rich history of Jericho, Vermont, and the legacy of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley. The Society's 1885 headquarters is located in the historic Chittenden Mills, a national historic site. The Old Red Mill, as it is known, houses a milling museum, art gallery, craft shop, and is also the home of the "Snowflake" Bentley Exhibit. Native son, Wilson A. Bentley, pioneered the technique of photomicrography and was the first person to photograph a single snowflake. The entire lower level of the building displays priceless mementos of "Snowflake" Bentley, original milling machinery, and the products of Jericho's water-powered mills.

The mill offers exhibits and tours.

Berkshire County Historical Society and Herman Melville's Arrowhead [MA]

Description

The Society is committed to the preservation and interpretation of Arrowhead, home of author Herman Melville, the first National Historic Landmark to be so designated in Berkshire County. The author's study, piazza, the original fireplace from his short story "I and My Chimney" and the restored barn in which Melville and Hawthorne spent hours discussing their writings are all open to the public. The Society has also restored the North Meadow preserving the view of Mount Greylock which was a major inspiration to Melville.

The society offers research library access and occasional recreational and educational events; the museum offers exhibits and tours.

Junction City Historical Society and House Museums [OR]

Description

The Society operates two house museums. The 1872 Lee House was home to Dr. Norman Lee, one of Junction City's first doctors. It was originally located in Lancaster and was moved to its present location in the late 1800s using logs and a team of horses; it now displays photos, furniture, tools, and clothing from Junction City's past. The 1871 Pitney House belonged to Mary Pitney (1891—1995), a school teacher, published poet, painter, world traveler, and humanitarian. Born and raised in this house, she lived the later years of her life here; today, it is being restored and features a room devoted to Danish historical artifacts from Junction City's first settlers, a cutaway of the home in the kitchen so visitors can see how buildings were constructed in that time period, and Mary's original furniture in the living room. Next door to the Pitney House is the first jail, built in 1873.

The houses offer exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Beloit Historical Society, Hanchett-Bartlett Homestead, and Lincoln Center [WI]

Description

The Society operates two sites, the Hanchett-Bartlett Homestead and Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center is the home of the Robert and Elizabeth Solem Museum. Located on the site of the former Lincoln Junior High School, the Center's museum offers visitors exhibit areas which focus on a variety of local historical themes. The exhibit areas include the Beloit Gallery, Arthur Missner Veterans Gallery and Memorial, the Ted Perring Sports Hall of Fame, and the Beloit Hall of Fame. The Center also houses the Beloit Historical Society's offices, archives, community room, collection storage rooms, and the Luebke Family Memorial Library. The 1857 Hanchett-Bartlett Homestead houses period artifacts.

The sites offer exhibits, research library access, tours, and occasional educational and recreational events.