Grayson County Historical Society and Museum [KY]

Description

The Grayson County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Grayson County, Kentucky. To this end, the society operates a museum and research library within the circa 1814 Jack Thomas House. The society also operates the 1835 Buchanan Log Cabin, which houses home and farm tools. Highlights within the cabin include a handmade loom, over a century in age.

The society offers exhibits, tours of the Buchanan Log Cabin, and research library access.

Mount Clare Museum House [MD] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:38
Description

The 1760 Georgian colonial Mount Clare Museum House once served as a plantation residence. The site was home to Charles Carrol (1737-1832), U.S. Senator and Barrister. The majority of the collection's 3,000 18th- and 19th-century pieces of furniture, artworks, decorative arts, and other artifacts are on display within the home. The site is primarily used to interpret 18th-century plantation life—that of the owners, slaves, and indentured servants.

The house offers an introductory video, tours, Scout and elementary school student tours with optional activities, outreach programs on 18th-century children's life for students, day camps, and research library access. Appointments are required for research library access and student programming. The second floor of the residence is not wheelchair accessible. The website offers the introductory video, activities, and lesson plans.

Friendship Firehouse Museum [VA]

Description

The Friendship Fire Company was established in 1774, and was the first volunteer fire company in Alexandria. The current firehouse was built in 1855, remodeled in 1871, and renovated in 1992. The Engine Room on the first floor houses hand-drawn fire engines, leather water buckets, axes, sections of early rubber hose, and other historic fire-fighting equipment. An exhibition discusses the development of firefighting technology and other fire companies that have served the citizens of Alexandria. The second floor Meeting Room is furnished the way it was during the late 19th century, the real heyday of Friendship as a community organization. On view here are various ceremonial objects such as parade uniforms, capes, banners, and other regalia. George Washington's association with the Friendship Fire Company, honored by members for over 200 years, is symbolized by several images of him throughout the museum.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Bangor Museum and Center for History [ME]

Description

The Bangor Museum and Center for History presents the history of events which occurred within the boundaries of the modern state of Maine. Collections include more than 10,000 photographic artifacts; 800 examples of historical costume; and a strong collection of Civil war artifacts, which includes Union officer Joshua Chamberlain's sword, letters written by Hannibal Hamlin, and an apothecary chest. The museum also operates the Thomas A. Hill House and Civil War Museum. Display highlights include furniture and artifacts which belonged to Hannibal Hamlin (1809-1891), Vice President under Abraham Lincoln. The Greek Revival residence dates to 1835.

The museum offers ghost walking tours and Mount Hope Cemetery tours. The Thomas A. Hill House offers exhibits and guided tours led by costumed interpreters. The website offers a virtual tour of Bangor's historic architectural sites.

The main building is currently closed for renovations. The Thomas A. Hill House and Civil War Museum is still open to the public.

Grover Cleveland Birthplace [NJ]

Description

In 1837, Grover Cleveland was born in this house while his father, the Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland, was the minister to the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell. Most of the first floor rooms portray the house as it was in 1837. Among the artifacts on display from Cleveland's early years are his cradle and original family portraits. The exhibit gallery features a striking display of artifacts that reflect the financial and political success Cleveland achieved during the last quarter of the 19th century. Here, the mud-slinging campaign of 1884, the public's intense interest in his wife and children, and America's political climate throughout his split terms of office are explored.

The site offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, and research library access.

Hawaiian Historical Society [HI]

Description

The Hawaiian Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Hawaii and the Pacific region. The society places particularly emphasis on the creation of scholarly publications. The society's archival collections are strongest in 19th-century materials and include voyage information, items in the Hawaiian language, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, maps, and pamphlets.

The society offers access to archival collections for research.

Hamilton House [Maine]

Description

After railroads made the region accessible in the late 19th century, coastal Maine became a fashionable destination for wealthy summer people. Many of the newcomers bought and restored the fine old houses built during the prosperous years following the American Revolution. In 1898, Mrs. Emily Tyson and her stepdaughter, Elise, purchased the c. 1785 Hamilton House, built on a site overlooking the Salmon Falls River. The Tysons flung themselves into a lifelong project to restore the house to its former glory. Influenced by literary imagery, including the writings of their neighbor and friend, Sarah Orne Jewett, they decorated with a mixture of elegant antiques, painted murals, and simple country furnishings to create their own romantic interpretation of America's colonial past.

The house offers tours and educational and recreational programs.

Little Compton Historical Society and Wilbor House Museum [RI]

Description

Wilbor House, the Society's headquarters, stands on land purchased from the Sakonnet Indians in 1673. Built by Samuel Wilbore in about 1690, the original house consisted of only two rooms, one above the other, and a cramped stairway and attic. It was typical of 17th-century New England. Today, one unusual feature of Wilbor House is that it spans three centuries and contains rooms representative of each.

The house offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Wynnewood [TN]

Description

Wynnewood is the largest extant log structure in Tennessee. It was built in 1828 by A. R. Wynne, William Cage, and Stephen Roberts as a stagecoach inn on the Nashville-Knoxville Road. In 1834, Wynne purchased his partners' interests and moved his family into the inn, where he resided until his death in 1893. Throughout Wynne's lifetime, guests were received at the house, attracted partially by the reputed medicinal powers of the mineral waters and the scenic beauty of the area. Today the spring waters still flow and visitors may see the site where Thomas Sharp ("Big Foot") Spencer spent the winter of 1778–79 in a hollow sycamore tree.

The site offers tours.

Berrien County Historical Association and The History Center at Courthouse Square [MI]

Description

The Berrien County Historical Association seeks to preserve and share the history of Berrien County, Michigan, founded in 1831. To this end, the society operates The History Center at Courthouse Square. Sights include the 1839 Court House, complete with reproduction furnishings and local history exhibits; two reconstructed jail cells; the circa 1830 Murdock Log House, also stocked with period furnishings; and Bennett's Forge, a working blacksmith shop.

The association offers exhibits, tours, student tours, a mock trial educational program for students, living history outreach programs for schools, lectures, and archives access. Please call ahead to schedule use of the archives, plan school visits, or request outreach programming. Outreach program options include talks by a Civil War soldier or French voyageur.