Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage [NJ]

Description

The Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage was created to remember and record Woodbine's past while also actively collecting the materials to preserve its continuing heritage. It is a destination for visitors and a local resource for the entire Woodbine community so that they may continue to use the Woodbine Brotherhood Synagogue building as a place to come together. Built by the early Woodbine colonists, the synagogue is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The sanctuary has been restored and is available for special worship services. The lower level, Brotherhood Hall, houses the museum's permanent and temporary exhibitions. Also included is a community sculpture, the Collective Memory Wall, where the Woodbine community has contributed personal memories of Woodbine.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.

Alexandria Black History Museum [VA]

Description

The mission of the Black History Museum is to enrich the lives of Alexandria's residents and visitors, to foster tolerance and understanding among all cultures, and to stimulate appreciation of the diversity of the African American experience. The institutional complex is composed of the Museum, the Watson Reading Room, and the Alexandria African-American Heritage Park. The Museum, devoted to exhibiting local and regional history, incorporates the Robert H. Robinson Library as one of two exhibition galleries. The Robert H. Robinson Library was originally constructed in 1940 following a sit-in at the segregated Alexandria Library. The Reading Room, established in 1995, provides an environment for learning about the diversity of African American cultural traditions. A nine-acre green space and wetland, the Park offers a place for celebration, commemoration, and quiet reflection.

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

Crater of Diamonds State Park [AR]

Description

In 1906, John Huddleston, the local farmer who owned this property, found the first diamonds here in Murfreesboro, AR, and started the diamond mining rush. After a series of ill-fated mining ventures followed by tourist attractions, the site became an Arkansas state park in 1972. Visitors today are invited to prospect in the park's diamond search area, a 37-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe that, 95 million years ago, brought to the surface the diamonds and some of the semiprecious stones lucky visitors find here today. Within the park boundary many remnants of old mining ventures remain including the Mine Shaft Building, the Guard House, mining plant foundations, old mining equipment, and smaller artifacts. Nowhere else is North American diamond mining history as evident or as well-preserved as here.

The site offers short films, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Redwood Library and Athenaeum [RI]

Description

The Redwood Library and Athenæum is the oldest lending library in America, and the oldest library building in continuous use in the country. Founded in 1747 by 46 proprietors upon the principle of "having nothing in view but the good of mankind," its mission continues over 250 years later.

The library offers tours, exhibits, and all standard library services (including recreational and educational events, though not focused specifically on history).

North Carolina Transportation Museum

Description

Visitors to the Museum discover the people and machines that have moved North Carolina. Located on the site of Southern Railway's former steam locomotive repair facility Spencer Shops, this is where locomotives that hauled Southern's passenger trains and freight trains filled with North Carolina furniture, textiles, tobacco, and produce were serviced from 1896 to the late 1970s. Up to 3,000 people once worked here but today visitors can see an authentic train depot, antique automobiles, and a roundhouse with 25 locomotives.

A second website for the museum, operated by the Friends of the Museum, can be found here.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, train rides, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.

Cordell Hull Birthplace and Museum [TN]

Description

The site consists of a representation of Hull's log cabin birthplace, an activities center, and a museum housing documents and artifacts. Also on the park is beautiful Bunkum Cave Trail leading to an overlook and the actual entrance of historic Bunkum Cave where Cordell Hull's father made moonshine years ago. The collection includes his Nobel Peace Prize that is on display.

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

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic Park [FL]

Description

Visitors to this Florida homestead can walk back in time to 1930s farm life. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived and worked in the tiny community of Cross Creek. Her cracker-style home and farm, where she lived for 25 years and wrote her Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Yearling, has been restored and is preserved as it was when she lived here.

A second website for the site, maintained by the Friends of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Farm, can be found here.

The park offers tours, exhibits, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Forest Capital Museum State Park [FL]

Description

The importance of forestry in Florida dates back to the early 1800s. The museum celebrates the heritage of Florida's forest industry. The heart of the museum is dedicated to longleaf pines and the 5,000 products manufactured from them. The 50-plus-year-old longleaf pines growing on the museum grounds provide a majestic canopy and create an enjoyable walking trail for visitors. Adjacent to the museum is an authentic 19th-century Cracker homestead, much like those scattered throughout Florida at the turn of the century.

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

Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Museum, and Adamson House [CA]

Description

The Malibu Lagoon is where Malibu Creek meets the Pacific Ocean. Malibu's Surfrider Beach has a long-standing reputation as a premier surfing beach. The Adamson House, a National Historic Site located in the park, is a showplace of Malibu historical artifacts. Completed in 1929 by the Rindge's daughter, Rhoda Adamson, the Spanish-Moor revival residence features tile from the renowned Malibu Potteries and sits on an overlook of the Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach. The adjacent Malibu Lagoon Museum allows visitors to walk through the history of the area from the days of the California Indian "Chumash" tribe, to the gentlemen ranchers, and finally to the birth of the surfing era. Museum docents give tours filled with local legends and anecdotes.

An individual website for Adamson House can be found here.

The museum and house offer exhibits and tours.

Emerald Bay State Park and Vikingsholm [CA]

Description

In 1969, Emerald Bay was designated a National Natural Landmark for its panorama of mountain-building processes and glacier-carved granite. Vikingsholm is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight purchased the property encompassing the head of Emerald Bay and Fannette Island in 1928 for $250,000. One of the interesting architectural designs is the sod roof which covers both the north and south wings of the complex. The interior of the home has paintings on some of the ceilings and walls and two intricately carved dragon beams. The six fireplaces are of Scandinavian design with unusual fireplace screens. Most of the furnishings in the home were originally selected by Mrs. Knight and reflect typical pieces used in Scandinavian homes of the period. A number of original antiques were purchased and others were reproduced to exact detail, even to the aging of the wood and duplication of scratches.

The home offers tours.