Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society [CT]

Description

Built circa 1748, the Noah Webster House is the restored birthplace and childhood home of the lexicographer Noah Webster (1758-1843). Today, the museum building includes the historical house, library, archives, and a modern exhibition gallery.

The house and society offer exhibits, tours, reference library access, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.

Acadian Village [LA]

Description

The Acadian Village presents daily life and society within 19th-century Acadian Southern Louisiana. Seven of the 11 site structures are restored historic residences containing local period furnishings. Exhibit topics include Cajun music; spinning; weaving; medicine; and Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc (1894-1971), who strove to preserve Cajun culture. Replica period settings include a blacksmith shop, chapel, home, and schoolhouse; while the LeBlanc exhibit is located within the senator's birth home.

The village offers exhibits, period rooms, and self-guided tours. Reservations are appreciated for group visits. Picnics are encouraged. Tour brochures are available in English and French. The village is open January through October.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center [OH]

Description

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and seeks to tell the story of America's fight against slavery, and the Underground Railroad in particular.

The center offers exhibits, guided tours, field trip programs, professional development for teachers, and special events and presentations. The website offers information regarding upcoming special events, a history of the Underground Railroad, and visitor information. In order to contact the website via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.

Hoard Historical Museum [WI]

Description

The Hoard Museum is a local history museum focused on the historical heritage of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Thus, the museum covers a very broad range of historical events, ranging from the 1832 Black Hawk War to the lives of William Dempster Hoard, the father of the Wisconsin Dairy Industry, and Lorine Niedecker, a world famous poet.

The museum offers exhibits, guided tours, the Hoard's Historians Enrichment Series, and periodic presentations. The website offers visitor information, historical information regarding Fort Atkinson, and a calendar of events.

Fort Morgan State Historic Site [AL]

Description

Completed in 1834, Fort Morgan was active during four wars—the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II. The fort is most famous for its role in the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay. Union Admiral David Farragut damned the torpedoes and went full speed ahead to win the battle. The massive fort contains more than 40 million bricks and pays tribute to the skilled masons, many of whom were enslaved African Americans.

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, reference library access, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Sparta Rock House [TN]

Description

The small, stone Rock House, originally built to collect tolls on a private road, was built between 1835 and 1839 by Barlow Fiske, who operated a stagecoach inn and stables nearby. It played an important role in the early development of Tennessee's transportation system. Andrew Jackson often stopped here on trips from Nashville to Washington. Other notable visitors included James K. Polk, Sam Houston, and Frank Clement, all once governors of the Volunteer State.

The house offers tours.

Elgin Area Historical Society [IL]

Description

The Elgin Area Historical Society supports its own museum dedicated to local history. Exhibit topics include Early Elgin, Elgin Road Races, Elgin Architecture, the Hiawatha Pageant, and the Elgin Watch Factory and Industry. The Museum is housed in a historical 1856 building known as the Old Main.

School groups of all ages can take an educational tour of the museum while completing a scavenger hunt. Groups can also upgrade to the Grand Tour which includes hand-on educational activities for each of the museum's five exhibits. The museum also offers programs with specific topics including cooking, architecture, Native Americans, pocket watches, and pioneers. Travelling trunks can also be reserved.

White Hall State Historic Site [KY]

Description

White Hall State Historic Site was first built in 1798 and remodeled in the 1860s. The original home was a two-story Georgian structure, but during the remodeling in the 1860s, the home was rebuilt in Italianate style and greatly enlarged. The house was home to the Clay family, including the noted emancipationist Cassius Clay and his daughter, Laura Clay, who was the first woman to be nominated by a major party for US President.

The home offers guided tours, field trip programs, and exhibits that showcase artifacts from the Clay family. The website offers a photo gallery of the home, a calendar of events, visitor information, and a history of the home.

This is the Place Heritage Park [UT]

Description

Visitors can journey back in time at Old Deseret Village, a collection of more than 40 historic homes and buildings brought to life by historical interpreters. This is the Place Monument, located in the park, marks the end of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail.

The park offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, demonstrations, and educational and recreational events (including living history events).

Beverly Historical Society and Museums [MA]

Description

The Beverly Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the socio-cultural, artistic, and transportation history of Beverly, Massachusetts and Massachusetts' North Shore. To this end, the society operates a museum of local history, the 17th-century Balch House, the Reverend John Hale Farm, and the Charles W. Galloupe Sr. Memorial Library. Collections consist of more than 750,000 artifacts. Highlights include a fire bucket, military artifacts, local maritime artifacts, paintings from the 18th through early 20th centuries, documents signed by U.S. Presidents, children's artifacts, and genealogical resources. The society also boasts an extensive collection of photographs and pamphlets of all manner of transportation technologies. The 1781 John Cabot House Museum holds both the library and exhibits. Permanent exhibits address the Revolutionary War and the Beverly Bank, established 1802. The Balch House is furnished to period. The Hale Farm is furnished to depict changing trends in Beverly's history.

The society offers exhibits, tours of the Cabot House, Balch House tours, Hale Farm tours, research library access, research assistance, curriculum-based programs, a one-hour Balch House tour for students, a two-hour historic Beverly bus tour for students, an outreach living history program for students, and teacher workshops. Fees are required for both non-member library access and research assistance. Non-member library access is limited. The living history program depicts author and poet Lucy Larcom (1824-1893).