California State Railroad Museum

Description

The California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento is a tribute to the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. The museum features 21 restored locomotives and cars, some dating back to 1862. There is a full-scale diorama of an 1860s construction site high in the Sierra Nevada as well as a bridge elevated 24 feet above the museum floor.

The museum offers exhibits, train rides, a short film, tours, research library access, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.

Dorsey Chapel Historic Site [MD]

Description

This small frame meetinghouse-style church is distinguished by its steeply pitched gable roof and late Victorian ornamental treatment of its principal gable front. The upper gable has alternating courses of sawtooth and rectangular shingles, a quatrefoil bulls-eye ornament, and a turned wooden finial at the ridge. Each of the chapel's side walls is lighted by three gothic-arch windows that have delicate tracery in the upper sashes.

The church offers tours.

Trolley Museum of New York

Description

The Trolley Museum of New York presents the history of rail transportation and the effect thereof on the Hudson River Valley. Collections include 21 subway, rapid transit, and trolley cars from throughout the United States and Europe. These cars date from between 1897 and 1952. The museum is located on the foundations of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad Yard's engine house.

The museum offers exhibits, a film, the opportunity to view restoration work in progress, a one and a half-mile trolley ride, and picnic sites along the trolley route.

Pendarvis [WI]

Description

In the 1830s and 1840s, settlers from other parts of the United States and
Europe began to flow into the Wisconsin Territory. They were lured by the prospect of plentiful lead to be had in shallow diggings throughout the region. As the easy lead became scarce, and greater technical knowledge was needed to work the earth for its deeper lead and zinc deposits, immigrants from Cornwall,
England filled the need. These miners and their families made a lasting imprint on southwest Wisconsin.
At Pendarvis, you can see their stone cottages, learn about their lives, and come to understand how their legacy was preserved in the twentieth century.
Pendarvis offers guided tours for groups by reservation from May through October. Please allow at least 3 weeks lead time. For further information, contact by telephone or e-mail.

Pendarvis offers an elementary level educational activity packet available for free download from the web site.

Babylon Village Historical Society and Museum [NY]

Description

The Babylon Village Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Babylon, NY and the surrounding area. To this end, the society operates a museum of local history. Exhibit topics include 19th-century life, historic farming tools, Victorian life, and life in the 1920s-1940s.

The society offers exhibits, a scholarship, and a fourth grade educational program.

Spokane Sea Services Museum [WA]

Description

The Spokane Sea Services Museum chronicles the history of the USS Spokane, a Jeneau-class cruiser that made its maiden voyage in 1945 at the tail end of World War II. The museum hosts an impressive collection of USS Spokane artifacts an memorabilia.

The museum offers exhibits and guided tours. The website offers basic visitor information regarding the museum, a brief history of the ship, and a photo gallery of the ship.

Underground Gold Miners Museum [CA]

Description

The Underground Gold Miners Museum presents the history of Alleghany, California and its mining district; the Sixteen to One Mine; and area geology. Areas of focus include underground hardrock mining technology and equipment, as well as the lives of California's underground gold miners. The Sixteen to One Mine remained an active gold mine between circa 1896 and 1965.

The museum offers exhibits, and is open for special events and by appointment only.

South Carolina State House

Description

The South Carolina State House has been the site of the South Carolina state legislature since 1907. Construction of the structure itself began in 1857 but was delayed by both architect fraud and the Civil War. Visitors are welcome both on days when the legislative body is in session and when it is not. Each offers a different site experience.

The site offers a 15-minute introductory film and guided tours. Reservations are recommended for group visits.

Strawberry Banke Museum [NH]

Description

The Strawberry Banke Museum is a living history museum of one of New Hampshire’s oldest neighborhoods and its history that dates back to the 1600's. The outdoor museum contains 42 historic buildings, the earliest build in 1695, and many contain live demonstrations of craftsmanship, cooking, and other forms of daily life at work.

School groups can tour the neighborhood on their own and partake in a Time Travel Workshop that includes hands-on activities lasting about 90 minutes on a specific, curriculum-based topic. Other programs on architecture, archeology, cooking, Early America, Trade and Maritime history, and the Industrial revolution meet New Hampshire education standards for many grade levels. The site also offers programs for home-schoolers and holiday programs.

Starr Family Home State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Starr Family Home State Historic Site preserves the 150-year-old history of the Starr family in Texas and four generations of adaptations to the site by successive family members. Maplecroft, the centerpiece of the park, was built in the 1870s. Over the years, the home was modified, modernized, and enlarged to accommodate the changing lifestyles of its occupants. Among the innovations was the installation of a carbide gas lighting system. Today, visitors can tour the stately home with the Starr's furnishings and see the nearby outbuildings.

The site offers tours.