Fort Stevens State Historical Site [OR]

Description

The 3,700-acre Fort Stevens State Historical Site commemorates Fort Stevens, one of three forts created to defend the harbor near the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort remained an active military site between the Civil War and World War II. The grounds also include a historic shipwreck, a gun battery and World War II command center, a museum of the fort's history, and enclosed Civil War earthworks.

The site offers exhibits, nine miles of bicycle trails, six miles of hiking trails, outdoor activities, and a picnic area. During the summer, the site also offers blacksmithing demonstrations, 90-minute tours of the gun batteries, and truck tours of the fortifications.

Belle of Louisville [KY]

Description

The Belle of Louisville site operates two vessels—the 1914 steamboat Belle of Louisville and the 1963 riverboat Spirit of Jefferson. Over the course of her history, the Belle of Louisville has served as a passenger ferry, excursion vessel, and World War II oil barge mover and troop nightclub. She is the oldest operating river steamboat. The Spirit of Jefferson has always been an excursion vessel.

The site offers cruises, curriculum-based sight-seeing excursions for students, and outreach programs for students. Field trips are available during the month of May, and are designed for kindergarten through eighth grade.

Byers-Evans House Museum [CO]

Description

Visitors to the house enter one of Denver's great historic homes, built in 1883 by Rocky Mountain News publisher Williams Byers and sold in 1889 to the family of William Gray Evans, an officer of the Denver Tramway Company. The museum also screens a short film featuring the careers of these two pioneer Denver families and the city they built.

The house offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Douglas County Historical Society, Museum, and Country School [SD]

Description

The society's museum includes three buildings. The central building is located on the grounds of the Douglas County Courthouse in Armour and originally housed the offices of auditor and register of deeds in 1902. This building was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1976; and exhibits museum collections including clothing, household items, farm tools, office equipment, American Indian artifacts, military items, photographs, and other memorabilia unique to the Douglas County area. In 1981, the Society moved an 1884 country school to county property just east of the museum. It still contains some of its original furnishings along with other school items. Each spring, all second graders in Douglas County are invited to attend "School Days" in the Country School. The third building, known as the "Railroad House," was added in 1988 and is furnished and decorated in the period of the early 1900s. Furnishings include items that were already owned by the museum, as well as items donated and loaned to complete decoration.

The museums offer exhibits and tours.

East Lyme Historical Society and Museums [CT]

Description

The East Lyme Historical Society operates the circa 1805 Little Boston Schoolhouse and circa 1660 Thomas Lee House. The latter is listed separately within this database. The schoolhouse remained in use through 1922, and has now been restored to its early 20th-century appearance. A barn with historical exhibits is located nearby.

The society offers a colonial day for fourth grade students, lectures, period rooms, exhibits, and picnic tables. The sites are open June through Labor Day, although tours may be arranged for other times of the year.

Washington County Historical Society and Museum [MD]

Description

The Washington County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Washington County, MD. To this end, the society operates a museum within the Miller House, a late Federal townhouse dating to between 1818 and 1823, and the 1904 two-room Beaver Creek School. Exhibits in the Miller House include period rooms set to 1850s through 1870s appearances, clocks, dolls, Shenandoah Valley pottery, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the C and O Canal. The house grounds also include a library and gardens. The Beaver Creek School contains period school, workshop, parlor, and cobbler shop settings; vintage toys; costumes and uniforms; an 1840s hand crank organ; and other artifacts.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, a garden, and research library access.

Meux Home Museum [CA]

Description

The Meux House Museum is focused on preserving the beautiful Meux home, a premier architectural treasure of Fresno. The home was built in 1889 by Dr. Thomas Meux, formerly of Tennessee. The Meux family occupied the home until 1970, and now is open as a historic house museum.

The museum offers guided tours and special events. The website offers a brief biography of Dr. Meux, a brief history of the home, and visitor information.

Robert Frost Farm State Historic Site [NH]

Description

The Robert Frost Farm was home to Robert Frost and his family from 1900–1911. Frost, one of the nation's most acclaimed poets whose writings are said to be the epitome of New England, attributed many of his poems to memories from the Derry years. The simple two-story white clapboard farmhouse is typical of New England in the 1880s.

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

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