Henry B. Plant Museum [FL]

Description

The Museum interprets the turn-of-the-century Tampa Bay Hotel, an 1891 railroad resort, and the lifestyles of America's Gilded Age. Through educational exhibits and events, the museum takes visitors back to the late Victorian period, the beginnings of Florida's tourist industry, and the early years of the city of Tampa. This Victorian palace features Moorish revival architecture, European furniture, and art treasures of the original railroad resort.

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

Hill-Stead Museum [CT]

Description

Renowned French Impressionist paintings—four by Claude Monet, three by Edgar Dega—and notable works by Édouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, and James McNeill Whistler are highlights of the Museum's in situ exhibition. The 152-acre property features an Arts and Crafts carriage barn and theater, stone garages, woodland trails, a pond and dairy complex, and a Sunken Garden designed by Beatrix Farrand c. 1920.

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

Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center [CT]

Description

The Museum provides professional scholarship, preservation, and historical programming about Mattatuck heritage, stimulates interest in the fine and decorative arts of Connecticut by showcasing their highest quality and expression, and encourages an appreciation of the humanities and the fine arts through its collections, exhibits, and programs. It houses permanent local history and art exhibits.

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

Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich and Bush-Holley Historic Site [CO]

Description

Located on the historic Cos Cob Harbor, home of Connecticut's first art colony, the Society's facilities include the National Historic Landmark Bush-Holley House (c. 1730); the Visitor Center, housed in a former village post office (c. 1805); the Hugh and Claire Vanderbilt Education Center, set in a mid-19th century barn and artists' studio; and the William E. Finch, Jr. Archives.

Bush-Holley House is the centerpiece of Bush-Holley Historic Site on Cos Cob Harbor. A unique dual interpretation provides visitors with two distinct museum experiences that portray the history of the house: the era of the Bushes, a colonial family who lived and farmed on the site from 1790 to 1825, and the Cos Cob art colony period from 1890 to 1920. Eight rooms tell a story of change over time, beginning with the turn of the 20th century and moving backward in time to the Federal era. On the outside the historic buildings, landscape and gardens are restored to c. 1900.

The society offers exhibits, educational programs, research library access, and recreational and educational events; the Bush-Holley Historic Site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Stratford Hall

Description

Stratford Hall, home of the Lee family and birthplace of Robert E. Lee, was built by Thomas Lee in the late 1730s. Today, it is furnished with an outstanding collection of predominantly 18th-century American and English decorative arts.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational program, workshops, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Museum of the Moving Image [NY]

Description

The Museum advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, film screenings, 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).

Gilbert Stuart Birthplace [RI]

Description

The Birthplace serves as a showplace for reproductions of the works of one of America's foremost portrait painters and as an authentically restored and furnished workingman's home and the site of the first snuff mill in America. The wooded homestead on the banks of the Mattatuxet Brook also features a partially restored grist mill and a fish ladder. In spring the ladder is packed with migrating herring, swimming furiously to reach the pond above the mill dam. The grist mill houses the original fine-grained granite stones used to grind corn for the famous Rhode Island Johnny Cakes.

The site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park [FL]

Description

Situated on the banks of the Suwannee River, this center honors the memory of American composer Stephen Foster, who wrote "Old Folks at Home," the song that made the river famous. The museum features exhibits about Foster's most famous songs and his music can be heard emanating from the park's 97-bell carillon throughout the day. In Craft Square, visitors can watch demonstrations of quilting, blacksmithing, stained glass making, and other crafts.

The park offers exhibits, demonstrations, workshops and classes, and educational and recreational events.