"The earliest evidence of humans along Turnagain Arm is at Beluga Point, which prehistoric hunters used as a view point to search for Beluga whales and sheep. The first white explorers arrived in 1778 aboard Captain Cook's ships, Discovery and Resolution. Cook sailed up Cook Inlet hoping to find the Northwest Passage, but had to "turn again", leading him to name the water body River Turnagain. In the late 19th century, miners and trappers began traveling into interior Alaska from Whittier and Seward along old trails that soon became established routes with roadhouses. In 1895 prospectors crossed from the south side of Turnagain Arm to the north and searched for gold from Girdwood to Rainbow Creek.

In 1903, the Alaska Central Railway began building a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks, but the company soon went bankrupt. The U.S. Government bought the railroad in 1915 and improved the trail along the arm to handle the horse and wagon traffic needed for railroad construction. The trail was also used to deliver mail between Anchorage and Seward. IN 1917 telegraph lines were laid along the Turnagain "road" and by 1918 the railroad extended from Seward to Anchorage, with flag stops at Bird Creek, Indian, Rainbow and Potter. Remnants of construction camps remain along the trail, but are barely discernible. Part of the original trail was covered by the highway which was completed in 1950 and paved in 1954."

The Pebble Hill Plantation is a cotton plantation dating to circa 1827. The current 1936 main residence was erected after the original home suffered a fire. The interior has been restored with 19th century furnishings and decorative arts. Collection highlights include Audubon lithographs and a strong collection of sporting art. The grounds contain animal shelters, a tack room, carriage room, pump house, nurse's station, firehouse, carpenter's shop, dog hospital, kitchen garden, 1901 log cabin school, and gardens designed in the 1920s and 1930s.

The plantation offers an introductory video, exhibits, period rooms, self-guided grounds tours, guided house tours, art gallery tours, group tours, a picnic area, and snack vending. The house tour narrative is available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. Reservations are required for group tours and art gallery tours. Catered picnic lunches can be arranged for groups. The website offers historical photographs

The site marks the location of the last of three successive forts named "de Chartres" built by the French during their 18th-century colonial occupation of what is today Illinois. This third fort, erected in the 1750s, was a massive square stone structure enclosing six buildings, including a still-standing powder magazine that may be the oldest building in Illinois. This fort served as the French seat of government and its chief military installation in the Illinois Country. In 1763 France ceded much of its territory in North America, including Illinois, to Great Britain. British troops occupied the fort from 1765 until 1772, when encroachment by the Mississippi River caused a collapse of the south wall. Subsequently, the remaining walls and buildings fell into ruin. The site features an imaginative reconstruction of portions of the third Fort de Chartres. Inside the fort are the restored powder magazine (portions of which are original), several reconstructed stone buildings, and the exposed foundations of other buildings, which have been "ghosted" in wood. The powder magazine is stocked with reproduction barrels and barrel racks. A combination museum and office building, built in 1928 on the foundation of an original fort building, houses exhibits depicting French life at Fort de Chartres. The large stone "Guards' House," built in 1936, contains a Catholic chapel furnished in the style of the 1750s, along with a priest's room, a gunner's room, an officer-of-the-day room, and a guard's room. Also on the grounds are an operating bake oven, a garden shed built of upright logs in "post-on-sill" construction, and a kitchen garden with raised beds of produce that would have been grown in 18th-century Illinois.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational events.

The Chenango County Historical Society Museum presents the local history of Chenango County, NY. The museum is housed within the 1892 Ward School No. 2. Exhibits address Native American life, railways, the Chenango Canal, china, glassware, military history, costume, Victorian life, pioneer life, and local craft and medical trades. The site also includes an 1800 through 1850 period room and an 1854 schoolhouse.

The museum offers exhibits, a period room, research library access, and research assistance. The schoolhouse is open by request. Please call in cases of severe weather to ascertain that the museum is open. A fee is charged for genealogical research conducted upon request. Advance notice is requested for library use.

The 230-acre Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site is a living history farm depicting Ute and Plains Indian life circa 1775 and life on an 1860s homestead, 1880s home and ranch, and 1907 Edwardian estate. Cows, horses, chickens, and sheep are kept on site.

The site offers exhibits, period rooms, a junior docent program, and concerts. The site is open between June 6th and August 16th.

The Compass Inn Museum presents daily life, transportation, and the evolution of common linguistic phrases through the 19th century. The museum consists of a restored 1799 inn, furnished in period style; barn; blacksmith shop; and reconstructed cook house. Highlights include a Conestoga wagon; farrier tools, used to shoe horses; and a 1700s open hearth and beehive oven.

The museum offers period rooms, 90-minute guided living history tours, student tours, and picnic benches. The museum is open May through October. Reservations are required for groups of 20 or more, and requested for groups of 10 or more. Student tours include a pre-visit package, a scavenger hunt, and optional hands-on activities.

The Macculloch Hall Historical Museum preserves the circa 1810 residence of George Macculloch, known as the father of the Morris Canal, his immediate family, and his descendants. Collections include 18th- and early 19th-century fine and decorative art pieces from England and the U.S., as well as works by major 19th-century political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902). Nast is responsible for the Republican elephant, Democratic donkey, and the prevailing U.S. visualization of Santa Claus. The grounds hold gardens, which have been restored to their 19th-century appearance.

The museum offers house tours, garden tours, and educational programs for students. School and group tours are by appointment only.

The Madeline Island Museum presents the history of Madeline Island, WI and its people. An original 1835 American Fur Company building contains exhibits on Ojibwe life and the mixing of Native American, British, American, and French cultures instigated by the fur trade. Other exhibits address 19th-century trades and hand tools, 19th- and early 20th-century settler life, leisure and tourism, and Protestant and Catholic missionary activity. Other structures housing exhibits include a historic jail, an 1890s barn, and a home built in memory to a drowned sailor. Collection highlights include an 1862 Fresnel lens, religious texts translated into Ojibwe, a boat winch, and a maple-sugaring kettle. The grounds also include fortifications similar to those created by the French in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The museum offers films, exhibits, lectures, workshops, group tours, student tours, educational programs for third through fifth grade students, student tours of La Pointe village, and a fur trade traveling trunk. Group tours and field trips are available by appointment only. Group tours must be scheduled for mid-June through September, and field trips are offered in May and early June. The traveling trunk is available November through March.

Nineteenth Century Willowbrook Village offers the opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in 19th-century daily life. Sights include two historic houses; two historic barns; a reproduction schoolhouse and bandstand; an 1894 carousel; an 1849 Concord stagecoach; a 1945 multi-wing aircraft; and blacksmith, broom maker, cooper, harness maker, printer, woodworker, wheelwright, canoe building, ice harvesting, bicycle shop, machine shop, maple-sugaring, and cobbler displays.

The village offers exhibits, period rooms, group tours, guided student tours, curriculum-based student programs, outreach programs for students, picnic tables, and a cafe. Student tours may be scheduled for May through October. Educational programs are only available in May and June. Approximately 50 percent of the site is wheelchair accessible.

Black Hawk State Historic Site commemorates Native Americans of the area, particularly the Sauk and Mesquakie (Fox) Indians, who lived here from about 1750 to 1831. The Watch Tower Lodge, built between 1934 and 1942 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the State of Illinois, houses Works Progress Administration murals and basement "nature rooms" are available for science activities with school groups. Exhibits in the John Hauberg Museum of Native American Life depict the daily life of the Sauk and Mesquakie Indian nations. Dioramas show the four seasons with a full-sized winter house, a replica of a summer long house, an authentic dugout canoe, and other objects relating to the Sauk and Mesquakie. Another exhibit describes the importance of the fur trade to the Native Americans. Also located in the Lodge is an exhibit outlining the 1934–1942 activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps in developing Black Hawk Park. Outside the lodge is a large statue of Black Hawk executed in 1892 by sculptor David Richards. The Lodge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

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