Eagle Island State Historic Site [ME]

Description

The Eagle Island State Historic Site preserves the summer home of Admiral Robert Peary (1856-1920), who after his 1909 expedition, claimed to be the first man to reach the geographic North Pole. The grounds contain gardens originally tended by Peary's wife, Josephine.

The site offers house tours, a hiking trail, gardens, and picnicking opportunities. The site is entirely inaccessible by wheelchair.

Wicomico Historical Society and Museums [MD]

Description

The Wicomico Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Wicomico County, Maryland. To this end, the society operates several museums. The Heritage Center is a museum of local history is located within a reproduction 18th-century tobacco barn. Pemberton Hall depicts 1741 daily life. The 1872 Rockawalkin School presents education history. The 1938 Nutters Election House holds Presidential, campaign, and political artifacts.

The Heritage Center, Rockawalkin School, and Nutters Election House offers exhibits. Pemberton Hall offers period rooms and guided tours. These two museum are located within a park which hosts a naturalist who offers educational programs. The election house is open by appointment only.

George Ranch Historical Park [TX]

Description

The George Ranch Historical Park presents living history interpretation of the history of Fort Bend County, Texas and neighboring areas. The site consists of a 23,000-acre working ranch, which interprets the periods between 1824 and circa 1940. Sites include the 1830s Jones Stock Farm, 1860s Ryon Prairie Home, a sharecropper's farm, chuck wagon camp, blacksmith shop, the 1890s Davis Victorian Mansion, a family cemetery in use between the 1820s and 1916, and the 1930s George Ranch House.

The park offers period rooms; hands-on activities; guided group tours; self-guided tours; 11 educational program options for students, including two role-playing programs; a homeschool day program; demonstrations; home tours; living history interpreters; period lunches; a tram; and a cafe. Groups desiring guided tours must include at least 15 individuals. Meal options are available for groups.

Fort McKavett State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Originally called Camp San Saba because it overlooks the headwaters of the San Saba River Valley, Fort McKavett State Historic Site was established by five companies of the Eighth Infantry in March 1852 to protect frontier settlers and travelers on Upper El Paso Road. The camp was later renamed for Captain Henry McKavett, killed at the battle of Monterey on Sept. 21, 1846. The fort was abandoned in March 1859 and reoccupied in April 1868. By 1880, the fort was no longer needed and it was again abandoned on June 30, 1883. Gen. William T. Sherman once called Fort McKavett "the prettiest post in Texas."

The site offers tours.

Oak Creek Historical Society and Museum [WI]

Description

The Oak Creek Historical Society operates a museum complex. The complex includes the 1840s Hughes Log Cabin, which depicts Wisconsin pioneer life; an 1890 summer kitchen, displaying the history of textile cleaning techniques; the 1874 Oak Creek Town Hall; an 1886 blacksmith shop; a farm shed with farming implements from the 1830s through 1950s; and a print shop.

The society offers period rooms, exhibits, and guided tours.

Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park [NJ]

Description

With its 19th-century bridges, bridgetender houses, past and present locks, cobblestone spillways, and hand-built stone-arched culverts, the canal is a tremendous attraction for history lovers. The upper reach of the feeder canal wanders through New Jersey towns along the Delaware River such as Stockton and Lambertville. The main canal passes the Port Mercer canal house, through the village of Griggstown to Blackwells Mills, ending up in New Brunswick. Most of the old canal system remains intact today and is a reminder of the days when the delivery of freight depended upon a team of mules or steam tugboats. Nearly 36 miles of the main canal and 22 miles of the feeder canal still exist, with many historic structures along the canal.

A second website for the park can be found here.

The park offers tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

San Antonio Conservation Society [TX]

Description

The San Antonio Conservation Society is primarily a local preservation advocacy organization. However, the society also operates two historic house museums, namely the Steves Homestead and Yturri-Edmonds House. The 1876 Steves Homestead consists of the main residence and servant's quarters. The circa 1840-1860 Yturri-Edmonds House is a rare adobe block home. The grounds contain a reconstructed 1820 grist mill.

The society offers tours, period rooms, self-guided walking tours, an annual educator seminar, an annual fourth grade bus tour, research library access, and research services. A fee is charged for more than one hour of research conducted upon request.

Levine Museum of the New South [NC]

Description

The Levine Museum of the New South presents the history and culture of the New South, the Southern United States after 1865. At the beginning of this period, southerners were forced to determine new ways of life, as the institution of slavery, so long a major component of the economy, had been abolished. The museum's permanent exhibit uses the Charlotte area to describe the development of the South after the end of the Civil War. The interactive exhibit includes six experiential environments, as well as oral histories, film, music, and more than 1,000 artifacts.

The museum offers interactive exhibits, self-guided tours, guided exhibit tours, guided walking tours, curriculum-based programs for students, traveling trunks, outreach programs, discussions, and lectures. Reservations are required for all group tours or programs, and must be made at least two weeks in advance.

Steppingstone Museum [MD]

Description

The Steppingstone Museum presents farming life in Harford County, Maryland between 1880 and 1920. Emphasis is placed on arts, crafts, agriculture, animal husbandry, other trades, and domestic life. The stone farmhouse on site is furnished to period. Outbuildings hold woodwright, joiner, copper, blacksmith, weaver, dairy farmer, spinner, potter, and wheelwright tools and veterinarian office, decoy carver workshop, and general store settings.

The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, guided tours, and craft workshops