Old Cowtown Museum [KS]

Description

The Old Cowtown Museum is a living history museum where visitors can experience life in the midwest during the 1870s. Old Cowtown consists of a visitor's center, which offers exhibits and visitor information, as well as a fully reconstructed pioneer town. The reconstructed town contains a residential section, a blacksmithing shop, a business area, and a farm.

The museum offers educational programs, including tours tailored for specific grade groups; wagon rides; costumed interpreters; historic structures furnished with time period furnishings; and special events such as lectures, reenactments, and special interpretive events. The website offers visitor information, information regarding educational programs, supplemental materials for teachers including lesson plans and worksheets, and an events calendar.

Stephen Phillips House

Description

This Federal-style mansion contains a family collection that spans five generations. Visitors can see artifacts from near and far, hear the stories of the Phillips family, and experience over 200 years of history in the New England tradition.

The house offers tours.

Milwaukee County Historical Society, Center, and Historic Sites [WI]

Description

The Society operates the Historical Center, in the 1913 Second Ward Savings Bank building, as well as several historical sites, including Trimborn Farm, Jeremiah Curtin House, Lowell Damon House, and Kilbourntown House. Trimborn farm lets visitors take a giant step back into pioneer times. They can delve into Victorian-era industry, reminisce about 19th-century farm life, and witness Wisconsin culture come to life as embodied by the immigrant entrepreneur Werner Trimborn, his family, and his employees. With help from a stone mason, Irish immigrant David Curtin built the first-of-its-kind stone Jeremiah Curtin House in the Old Town of Greenfield in 1846. Started in 1844 by Oliver Damon and completed in 1847 by his son Lowell, the Lowell Damon House is Wauwatosa's oldest residence and stands as a classic example of a colonial home. Built in 1844 by Benjamin Church, Kilbourntown House was originally located in the area of Milwaukee known as Kilbourntown. This building was moved to Estabrook Park in 1938 and serves as a fine example of Greek Revival architecture.

The society offers research library access, lectures, and occasional recreational and educational events; the Center offers exhibits and tours; the Farm offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events); the Jeremiah Curtin House offers tours; the Lowell Damon House offers tours; Kilbourntown House offers tours.

Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust [MA]

Description

The Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust preserves the structures and history of Martha's Vineyard. The trust owns nine historic properties, including the 1672 Vincent House, the 1840 Dr. Daniel Fisher House, and 1843 Old Whaling Church.

The trust offers tours of the Vincent House, which is furnished to depict life and architecture on the island during the last four centuries, and the Fisher House and Whaling Church. The trust also operates the Flying Horses Carousel, open continuously since 1876. The website offers visitor information, historic information regarding the island, and virtual tours of several properties.

W.W. Mayo House [MN]

Description

The W.W. Mayo House was home to both the Mayo and Cosgrove families, who would go on to found the Mayo Clinic and Green Giant Food Company respectively. The home was hand-built by W.W. Mayo in 1859, and today is open as a fully restored historic house museum.

The home offers tours by costumed guides. The website offers a brief history of the home and visitor information.

Winter Quarters State Historic Site [LA]

Description

Winter Quarters Plantation is one of the few true Southern-style plantations to survive the Civil War. The home was built in 1805, and eventually grew to over 2,000 acres, manned by 300 slaves. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and today serves as a historic house museum. The home is furnished with period furnishings, and contains copies of diaries and other personal records from the tenants.

The home offers tours, interpretive programs and events, and special tours for field trips. The website offers a history of the site, visitor information, links to nearby attractions, and a virtual tour.

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.

Chimney Rock National Historic Site [NE]

Description

Chimney Rock has become one of the most famous landmarks in the American West. This unique formation—the most noted on the Oregon Trail—has come to symbolize the greatest voluntary migration in the history of mankind. The Visitor Center features museum exhibits explaining the westward migration of the 19th century and the significant role Chimney Rock had in the memories of those who traveled the trails west.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

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.

Fort Garland Museum / Pike's Stockade [CO]

Description

Fort Garland was once commanded by the legendary frontiersman Kit Carson. Established in 1858 in southern Colorado, Fort Garland, with its garrison of over 100 men, served to protect the earliest settlers in the San Luis Valley. Approximately 45 miles southwest of Fort Garland is Pike's Stockade on the Conejos River, where Zebulon Pike and his men camped during the cold winter of 1806 and 1807. The stockade was reconstructed from notes in Pike's journal.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.