Howell Living History Farm [NJ]

Description

The Howell Living History Farm is a fully realized farm set in the year 1900, soon before mechanized equipment began an agricultural revolution. The farm is open year round, and visitors can partake in the farm's daily activities. The farm also is home to a visitor center, which puts on exhibits and presentations regarding turn of the century farming.

The farm offers interpretive events, guided tours, exhibits, presentations, and special events. The website offers visitor information, a virtual tour, a calendar of events, and a history of the farm.

Arkansas Post Museum

Description

Early travelers used the Arkansas River as a highway. Just north of the waterway lay a land of tall grasses filled with elk, buffalo, and deer. Explorers such as Audubon, Schoolcraft, and Washington Irving were startled at the expanse of land in this region. Visitors can stroll through this museum's complex of five buildings and explore life on the Arkansas Grand Prairie.

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

Bodie State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of 10,000 people. The town was founded by Waterman S. Body (William Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. In 1877, the Standard Company struck pay dirt and a gold rush transformed Bodie from a town of 20 people to a boomtown. Only a small part of the town survives, preserved in a state of "arrested decay." Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods.

The park offers exhibits and tours.

Mansfield Reformatory [OH]

Description

The Mansfield Reformatory, built in 1886 in accordance with plans by Levi T. Scofield (1842-1917), presents the history of criminal justice in Ohio. The architecture, including Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Queen Anne styles, was intended to inspire repentance and spiritual rebirth among the criminals it housed. Prior to the construction of the prison, the site served as a training camp for Civil War soldiers. The site includes a museum.

The reformatory offers guided tours and exhibits. The website offers virtual tours and a photo gallery, which includes historical images.

Wells Fargo History Museum [CA]

Description

The Wells Fargo History Museum presents the history of Wells, Fargo & Co., a joint stock company for California banking and express business. Founded in 1852, the company was offering nationwide service as early as 1888. The museum collection includes a period Agent's office in a recreated historical building; an original Concord Coach, acquired by Wells Fargo in 1867; a 19th-century pocket watch; and two telegraph machines.

The museum offers exhibits and guided tours. The website offers a PDF listing educational standards covered during tours and a summary of tour topics.

Northern Indiana Center for History [IN]

Description

The Northern Indiana Center for History includes a 38-room Victorian mansion and gardens, a cottage interpreted with 1930s interiors, a children's museum, and galleries covering local and Notre Dame history. The mansion, known as Copshaholm, was owned by J.D. Oliver, president of Oliver Chilled Plow Works. Built in 1895-96, the architecture is Romanesque Queen Anne in style, and the interior furnishings are original. Highlights include works by Bartolozzi (1725-1815), famed Italian engraver, and American sculptor Lorado Taft (1860-1936). The Dom Robotnika, erected in the 1870s, is an example of quarters like those in which factory workers from the Oliver Chilled Plow Works might have lived. Other offerings include archives, the Kidsfirst Children's Museum, the Ernestine M. Raclin Gallery of Notre Dame History, and the Voyages Gallery of Local History.

Copshaholm offers an introductory video and guided tours. The society also offers a variety of themed educational programs, covering the fur trade, Civil War, and cabin life in the 1830s. Tours are also available in the Dom Robotnika, the Worker's Home; the Kidsfirst Children's Museum; Voyages: Exploring the History of the St. Joseph River Valley; and the Ernestine M. Raclin Gallery of Notre Dame History. School programs and tours meet state educational standards.

Stonefield [WI]

Description

Stonefield preserves and displays Wisonsin's agricultural and dairy heritage. Locations on-site include the State Agricultural Museum, which displays farm tools, machinery, and models; a recreated 1901 farmstead; a recreated rural farming village with more than 30 locations; the 1879 estate of Governor Nelson Dewey (1813-1889), first governor of Wisconsin; and the Stonefield Depot. Collection highlights include a Rumley Oil Pull; an 1896 McCormick Auto Mower, the oldest tractor in the U.S.; and the first rubber tire tractor.

The museum offers exhibits and self-guided tours. The farmstead offers self-guided tours, tours by costumed interpreters, and period rooms. The village offers period businesses and demonstrations of broom making, carpentry, and blacksmithing. The estate offers guided tours by costumed interpreters, self-guided tours, and period rooms. The depot is open for annual events. The site offers picnic facilities and snack sales. Field trips require reservations, and meet Wisconsin educational standards.

San Francisco Architectural Heritage [CA]

Description

San Francisco Architectural Heritage seeks to preserve and share the history of San Francisco's architectural structures. The society operates the Haas-Lilienthal House, built 1886. It is the only Queen Anne-style Victorian in the country to offer tours regularly. The interior is decorated in period style.

The organization offers Haas-Lilienthal House tours, neighborhood tours, and an educational program for students. This program consists of a teacher's workshop, a traveling trunk, a treasure hunt tour of a Victorian neighborhood, and a tour of the Haas-Lilienthal House. Teachers must be Heritage-trained to participate in the educational programming. The website offers interior photographs and floor plans of the Haas-Lilienthal House.