Farmers' Bank [VA]
One of the nation's only bank museums, the Farmer's Bank was incorporated in 1812 and opened its Petersburg branch in 1817. The first floor is now exhibited as a bank.
The bank is open to the public.
One of the nation's only bank museums, the Farmer's Bank was incorporated in 1812 and opened its Petersburg branch in 1817. The first floor is now exhibited as a bank.
The bank is open to the public.
A rare survivor of penal architecture of the colonial period, this building was constructed in 1782. The small brick structure was originally built as a jailer's residence. In 1824, iron bars, oak batten doors, and locks were added when it was converted into a "gaol" for debtors, a purpose it served until 1849.
The site offers tours by appointment.
Dedicated in 1874, Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln; his wife Mary; and three of their four sons, Edward, William, and Thomas.
The site offers tours and educational and recreational events.
Reverend Samuel Adair and his wife, Florella, were peaceful abolitionists who came to Kansas and settled near Osawatomie, an abolitionist community and a center of conflict during "Bleeding Kansas." The Adair cabin was a station on the Underground Railroad and Florella's half brother, John Brown, used this cabin as his headquarters. The cabin survived the Battle of Osawatomie where John Brown and 30 free-state defenders fought 250 proslavery militia in 1856, and stands on the battle site today. Visitors to the Museum can learn more about the Adairs, John Brown, and others who struggled to survive the border war.
The museum offers exhibits, tours, and occasional educational and recreational events.
Before European settlement, Native Americans planted their crops of corn and beans on Conanicut Island overlooking Narragansett Bay. In 1789, Job Watson purchased a piece of this rich farmland, and for the next two centuries, five successive generations of the Watson family cultivated the land, changing their crops and practices as needed to adapt to the evolving market. Today, the property is still a working family farm. The farmers raise cattle and sheep for beef, lamb, and wool markets; grow acres of grass for winter hay supplies; make compost for fertilizer; and cultivate a large vegetable garden. The 1796 house, still used as the farmers' residence, is not open to the public. Visitors are welcome to explore the farmland on their own, following a self-guided walking tour. Educational programs and group tours are available by appointment.
The farm offers tours and educational programs.
The historic Lyman Estate Greenhouses, dating back to 1804, are among the oldest examples still in existence in the United States.
The greenhouses offer tours.
At the end of the 19th century, railroads opened the Berkshires, which soon became a summer destination for wealthy New Yorkers. This 1825 brick structure, which dates from the late Federal period, was purchased by William and Elizabeth Doane as a summer home in 1875. Around 1900, the Doanes doubled its size by adding a shingle-style ell and remodeled the interior of the main house. They decorated the house in an eclectic manner with European and American furnishings, much of which they collected during their extensive travels. The house was preserved by the Doanes' daughter, Vipont Merwin, who added her own memorabilia to the decorative scheme.
The house offers tours.
Coffin House chronicles the evolution of domestic life in rural New England over three centuries. The 1678 structure, which contains the family's furnishings, began as a simple dwelling built in the post-medieval style. Tristam Coffin and his family lived, cooked and slept in two or possibly three rooms; their possessions were few. About 1700, the house was more than doubled in size to provide living space for a married son and his family. As the family grew, partitions were added and lean-tos built so that different generations could continue to live together under one roof. In 1785, two Coffin brothers legally divided the structure into two separate dwellings, each with its own kitchen and living spaces. With rooms from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Coffin House depicts the impact of an expanding economy and new concepts, such as the notion of privacy, on architecture and modes of living.
The house offers tours and educational programs.
Cogswell's Grant was the summer home of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, preeminent collectors of American decorative arts in the mid 20th century. Through her research and innumerable publications, Mrs. Little charted new areas of American folk art (which she preferred to call "country arts"), such as decorative painting, floor coverings, boxes, and New England pottery. In 1937, the Littles purchased this 18th-century farmhouse overlooking the Essex River as a family retreat and place to entertain. They restored it carefully, trying to preserve original 18th-century finishes and carefully documenting their work. In more than 50 years of collecting, they sought works of strong, even quirky character, and in particular favored objects with their original finishes and New England histories. They decorated the house for visual delight rather than historic accuracy. The result is rich in atmosphere and crowded with collections of things—primitive paintings, redware, painted furniture, stacked Shaker boxes, weather vanes, and decoys—that have since come to define the country look.
The house offers tours.
The Otis House Museum exemplifies the elegant life led by Boston's governing class after the American Revolution. Harrison Gray Otis made a fortune developing nearby Beacon Hill, served as a Representative in Congress, and later was Mayor of Boston. He and his wife Sally were noted for their frequent and lavish entertaining. This was the first of three houses designed for the Otises by their friend Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House. Built in 1796, its design reflects the proportions and delicate detail of the Federal style, which Bulfinch introduced to Boston. The interior provides insights into social, business, and family life, as well as the role played by household servants. The restoration of the Otis House, with its brilliantly colored wallpapers and carpeting, and high-style furnishings, is based on meticulous historical and scientific research.
The house offers tours, research library access, and recreational and educational programs.