Read House and Gardens [DE]

Description

The 1801 Read House, a mansion located on the Delaware River, is a fine example of the Federal architectural style. Most of the house is preserved in its original early 1800s state. However, some rooms have been redecorated in the style of the home during the 1920s.

The home offers visitors guided tours and exhibits year-round. Visitors can also explore the Read House Gardens, which are the oldest surviving gardens in New Castle. Group tours complete with costumed interpreters and demonstrations are available by appointment. The website offers a brief history of Read House as well as visitor information and an events calendar.

Enfield Shaker Museum [NH]

Description

The Enfield Shaker Museum is located in the "Great Stone Dwelling," the largest Shaker building in the world. Built in 1841, it served as a dwelling for Shakers until it was sold in 1927. Today, visitors can tour the building and its grounds for a view into Shaker life during the 19th century.

The museum offers exhibits, special programs, concerts, guided tours, and craft demonstrations, as well as a collection of Shaker furniture, tools, clothing, photographs, and agricultural implements. School tours may be customized for any grade level. The website offers visitor information, a history of the museum, a photo tour of the museum and surrounding village, and a calendar of events.

Winslow Crocker House

Description

In 1936, Mary Thacher, an avid collector of antiques, moved the house of a wealthy 18th-century trader and land speculator, Winslow Crocker, to its present location. Considering that Cape Cod in the 18th century was a region of small farms and fishing ports, the Winslow Crocker House is surprisingly elaborate, with rich paneling in every room. Miss Thacher remodeled the interior in order to provide an appropriate early American backdrop for the display of her collection. Woodwork was stripped, smaller-paned windows installed, and a fireplace rebuilt to contain a beehive oven. The result is a colonial Cape Cod house with a 20th-century flavor. Miss Thacher's collection of furniture, accented by colorful hooked rugs, ceramics, and pewter, presents a thorough survey of early American styles, from Jacobean, William and Mary, and Queen Anne, to Chippendale.

The house offers tours.

Jerusalem Mill at Gunpowder Falls State Park [MD]

Description

The Jerusalem Mill is over 228 years old, and operated continuously for two centuries. Today, the mill serves as the Gunpowder State Park headquarters and visitor center, and offers a variety of exhibits. In addition to the mill, visitors can also explore the surrounding village. Both the village and the mill are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The mill offers a variety of special events, including blacksmithing demonstrations and living history exhibits, and offers exhibits on park history. The website offers a brief history of the park and visitor information.

Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House [OR]

Description

The Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House stands as a classic example of Queen Anne-style Victorian mansion of the late 19th century. The home is located on a hill overlooking Eugene, Oregon, and was built in 1888. Today, the house stands as a historic house museum, and is open year-round.

The house offers tours, special events including social functions and guest lectures, and exhibits on the history of Eugene and the families that lived in the house. The website offers seven photo albums featuring past events, an events calendar, a brief history of the house, visitor information, and online newsletters.

Blithewold Mansion and Gardens [RI]

Description

Blithewold is one of the finest garden estates in New England. Visitors' explorations of Blithewold will include a dozen different gardens, specimen trees, and a 45-room English-style manor house, all chronicling a rich social history of the lives of one family over a span of more than 100 years.

The site offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, workshops, and recreational and educational events.

Rail Depot Museum [OR]

Description

The Rail Depot was built in 1882 per the wishes of Captain John Harlow, founder of Troutdale. Today, the depot serves as a rail museum, owned and operated by the Troutdale Historical Society. The Depot is in much the same condition as it was in 1907, when it was rebuilt following a fire.

The Depot offers self-guided tours and a display of railroad artifacts. The website offers a brief history of the Depot, as well as visitor information and a Depot photo gallery that contains 12 photographs of the Depot.

Moss Mansion [MT]

Description

The Moss Mansion was built at the turn of the century in Billings, Montana, and today serves as a historic house museum. The Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designed by noted New York architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. Visitors to the museum can admire the architecture, red sandstone construction, and antique furnishings of the carefully restored home.

The Mansion offers one-hour guided tours and occasional special events. The website offers a history of the mansion, a small photo gallery, visitor information, and an events calendar.

Will Rogers State Historic Park [CA]

Description

In the early 1930s, Will Rogers was the most popular and highest paid actor in Hollywood. From his start in vaudeville theater with a trick roping act, he rose to worldwide fame as a columnist, philosopher, radio personality, and movie star. During the 1920s, he bought land in Santa Monica, where he developed a ranch. Eventually, the Rogers's owned 186 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in what is now known as Pacific Palisades. The ranch became the place where Will Rogers could relax with his family and friends, pursuing his favorite pastimes of riding and roping. At his untimely death in a plane crash in 1935, Will Rogers's ranch consisted of a 31-room ranch house, a stable, corrals, riding ring, roping arena, polo field, golf course, and hiking trails. When his widow, Betty, died in 1944, the ranch became a state park.

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

Frazier Farmstead Museum [OR]

Description

The Farmstead is operated and maintained as a restored house and farm museum by the Milton-Freewater Area Historical Society. The Frazier home was built in 1892 and houses a collection of antique furnishings and other items from 19th-century daily life. The site also houses a 1918 barn, a carriage house, and several other buildings, all of which were an integral part of a turn-of-the-century working farm.

The museum offers visitor tours. The website offers general visitor information regarding the museum as well as a brief history of the location.