Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage [NJ] Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/28/2008 - 14:16
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.

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).

California State Mining and Mineral Museum

Description

There is still gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum, in historic Mariposa. This is where explorers John C. Fremont and Kit Carson found the rich Mariposa Vein and opened the first mill to crush ore and extract gold in California. Visitors can discover for themselves California's mineral wealth, colorful history, and geologic diversity as they view the official mineral collection of the state of California. The collection, which began in 1880, contains over 13,000 objects including mining artifacts, rare specimens of crystalline gold in its many forms, as well as beautiful gem and mineral specimens from California and around the world. The museum displays the Fricot "Nugget," a rare specimen of crystallized gold discovered in the American River in 1864. This 13.8-pound specimen is the largest remaining intact mass of crystalline gold from 19th-century California, when these finds were more common but usually were simply melted down. Visitors can also take a trip back in time as they walk through a mine tunnel and see how gold was mined in the mid-1800s, when California was a wilderness, being transformed by rapid development. The museum's assay office and working scale model of a stamp mill will help visitors discover how gold was found and extracted from the rocks.

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

Watson Farm

Description

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.

Sloane Stanley Museum

Description

A man of great energy and many talents, Eric Sloane (1905&150;1985) was a prolific artist, author, and illustrator and an avid collector of Americana. His extensive collection of hand tools is displayed in a building gifted to the State by the Connecticut-based Stanley Works to mark the company's 125th anniversary. The collection reveals an American heritage of craftsmanship. Adjacent to the museum, Sloane himself built a pioneer cabin as described by Noah Blake in Diary of An Early American Boy, an 1805 diary published by Sloane. The Kent Iron Furnace, which is on the museum property, began production of pig iron in 1826 and continued for almost 70 years. The remains of the granite blast furnace with its Gothic arches can be seen just below the museum.

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