The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park presents the maritime history of the Pacific Coast. The visitor's center, within a 1908 cannery warehouse, discusses the ethnic diversity of the San Francisco area and displays a First Order Fresnel lighthouse lens. A variety of historic vessels and access to working boat builders are also available on site. Historic vessels include the 1886 square-rigger Balclutha, 1890 steam ferryboat Eureka, 1895 schooner C. A. Thayer, 1891 scow schooner Alma, 1907 steam tug Hercules, 1914 paddlewheel tug Eppleton Hall, and circa 1890 Bay Ark, as well as 6 small craft including a replica Chinese shrimp junk.
The park offers interactive exhibits, information panels, films, ranger-led interpretive programs, tours, sail raising demonstrations, Junior Ranger activities, and a research library. Tours are available on the pier, the Balclutha, the Eureka, and the Hercules. The library is open by appointment only. The website offers videos and a virtual tour, pre- and post-visit activities, curriculum materials, and other activities.
The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park presents the history of the people and places most crucial to New Orleans' jazz legacy. Key figures include Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong (1900-1971), Charles "Buddy" Bolden (1877-1931), "Papa Jack" George Vetiala Laine (1873-1966), and Sidney Bechet (1897-1959).
The park offers demonstrations, talks, live music, documentary films, two mp3 audio tours of the city, and lectures.
The Boston Harbor Islands Partnership is an umbrella organization representing the public access islands of Boston Harbor. Islands suggested for U.S. history studies include Deer, Thompson, Spectacle, Georges, and Little Brewster Islands. Topics relevant to the islands include Native American and settler relations, the King Phillips War (1674-1676), seacoast and harbor defense, navigational and lighthouse history, and the industrialization of Boston.
The site offers Junior Ranger activities and a GPS-based self-guided tour. The website offers an interdisciplinary guide for teachers; lesson plans, which focus on civic action, maritime history, settlement, and the Native American experience; thematic information on Native American life, geology, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, ecosystems, and science and technology; and a list of island suggestions according to educational theme. The partnership's other offerings include a video, for rent, on five local Native American tribes; the Harbor Connections educational program; and educator professional development programming.
Capitol Hill Parks includes all parkland between the 2nd streets NE and SE and the Anacostia River. The four major parks in this space are the Folger Park, which contains numerous examples of historic architecture; Lincoln Park, which contains memorials to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President of the United States, and Civil Rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955); Marion Park; and Stanton Park, which houses a statue of General Nathanael Greene (1742-1786), the Revolutionary War leader who drove the British out of Georgia and the Carolinas in 1782.
The site offers tours upon request.
The Saint Croix Island international Historic Site commemorates the instigation of the European presence in northern North America. Pierre Dugua’s (c.1558-1628) French expedition spent the winter of 1604-1605 at this location, interacting with the Passamaquoddy people. Topics covered include the cultural interaction of the two distinct groups and historical events.
The site offers an outdoor interpretive shelter, wayside exhibits, a model of the 1604 French settlement, an interpretive trail, ranger talks, and Junior Ranger activities. Teacher workshops, a Saint Croix 1604 interpretive traveling trunk, and information on building or renting a Passamaquoddy Kit are also available.
Minute Man National Historical Park is the site of the Revolutionary War's opening battles, which took place on April 19, 1775. The site commemorates these battles and the ideals of freedom and liberty for which they stood. Topics covered include Paul Revere's Ride and the battles of Lexington Green, North Bridge, and Battle Road. Key sites include the Hartwelll Tavern, a period home; The Wayside: Home of Authors, eventual home to muster master of the Concord Minutemen Samuel Whitney, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), and Harriet Lothrop (1844-1924); and the North Bridge, site of the "shot heard 'round the world."
The park offers two visitor's center, a multimedia presentation, a film, exhibits, an interpretive 5-mile trail, educational programs led by rangers in period and modern dress, musket firing demonstrations, guided tours of The Wayside, guided walks of the trail, cell phone audio tours, bicycle tours in cooperation with an outside company, professional development workshops for educators, ranger-guided education programs for students, and Junior Ranger activities. The website offers pre-visit materials, a lesson plan, a library catalog, structure reports, and national register documentation.
The Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site consists of the 1883 home in which Walker resided between 1904 and 1934. The furnishings are original to the family, and the home is located in the community of Jackson Ward, the center point of African American business and social life in Richmond, Virginia circa 1900. Born just 2 years after the Civil War, she overcame the ethnic and gender limitations of society to become the first woman in the United States to charter a bank. Despite the low social status afforded to her as an African American during her time, Walker additionally ran a newspaper, greatly enhanced the scope of the Order of St. Luke, and eventually served as a bank president.
The site offers exhibits, hands-on activities and traveling trunks tailored to educational standards, guided tours, and Junior Ranger activities. Reservations are required for tours involving 10 or more people. The website offers a gallery of more than 100 historic photographs.
Once the headquarters of a 10-million-acre cattle empire, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site is a working cattle ranch that commemorates the role of cattlemen in American history. Among the original buildings on the site are the historic ranch house, the bunkhouse, the blacksmith shop, horse barns, and cattle sheds. The main ranch house was built by Johnny Grant (18311907) in 1862. It was a trading post downstairs and a residence upstairs. In 1866 he sold the ranch to Conrad Kohrs (18351920) who became known as the "Cattle King" in Montana. Site collections number 23,000-plus artifacts, consisting of everyday objects once used by the people who lived and worked at this ranch from the 1860s to the 1960s. Highlights include historic wagons and buggies.
The site offers exhibits, walking trails, self-guided tours, guided wagon and house tours, a variety of themed talks, period rooms, ranger-led in-classroom presentations, a traveling trunk, archives accessible by appointment, and an annual teacher workshop. The website offers lesson plans geared towards Montana educational standards, photo galleries, and a video on the use of a beaverslide hay stacker.
Federal Hall National Memorial is the site where George Washington took the oath of office as the first U.S. President, as well as the site of the first Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch offices. The current structure, an 1842 Greek Revival Customs House, later served as part of the U.S. Sub-Treasury. Now, the building serves as a museum and memorial to the first President and the beginnings of the United States of America. The memorial presents information on the first Presidential Inauguration, with the first inaugural Bible serving as a collection highlight.
The memorial offers self-guided tours; guided tours and talks on a wide variety of subjects; a walking lecture of the 1776 Battle for New York, intended for high school seniors at the youngest; guided tours of lower Manhattan; exhibits; and curriculumbased programs.
The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park contains earthen mounds worked into geometric patterns. These mounds are believed to have been of social and ceremonial importance to the Hopewell culture between the years 200 BC and 500 AD. The Mound City Group, Hopeton Earthworks, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, and High Bank Works are located on 1,200 acres of land.
The park offers a 17-minute introductory film, exhibits with artifacts from the Mound City Group, guided tours, talks, self-guided interpretive trails, a 14-mile paved bike trail, Junior Ranger activities, hands-on activities, and educator workshops. Guided tours, talks, and educational activities require advance notice. The website offers two educational videos, a trivia game, an Ohio history curriculum guide, and a lesson plan.