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.

Cogswell's Grant

Description

Cogswell's Grant was the summer home of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, preeminent collectors of American decorative arts in the mid 20th century. Through her research and innumerable publications, Mrs. Little charted new areas of American folk art (which she preferred to call "country arts"), such as decorative painting, floor coverings, boxes, and New England pottery. In 1937, the Littles purchased this 18th-century farmhouse overlooking the Essex River as a family retreat and place to entertain. They restored it carefully, trying to preserve original 18th-century finishes and carefully documenting their work. In more than 50 years of collecting, they sought works of strong, even quirky character, and in particular favored objects with their original finishes and New England histories. They decorated the house for visual delight rather than historic accuracy. The result is rich in atmosphere and crowded with collections of things—primitive paintings, redware, painted furniture, stacked Shaker boxes, weather vanes, and decoys—that have since come to define the country look.

The house offers tours.

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.

Casa del Herrero [CA]

Description

The 1925 Casa del Herrero, meaning "house of the blacksmith," is a Spanish Colonial-style estate. The home is furnished with pieces original to the site; and contains drawings, sketchbooks, horticultural records, antiques, and books, which once belonged to the family in residence. The grounds contain extensive gardens. During the 1920s, a new form of distinctive California landscape design inspired by Spanish land and gardens rose to prominence. While the site name includes the word "blacksmith," the owner George Fox Steedman was an engineer by trade and a silversmith for enjoyment.

The site offers period rooms; gardens; guided tours of the residence, workshop, and gardens; and guided group tours. Tours are by reservation only, and all participating children must be at least 10 years of age. With the exception of holiday tours, tours are available between mid-February and mid-November only.

Lyman Museum and Mission House [HI]

Description

The Lyman Mission House was built in 1839 as the Hawaii residence of New England missionaries David and Sarah Lyman. The home has been restored to period style, and is used to depict the lives and challenges of the Lymans. The neighboring museum presents Hawaiian history and culture through fine art pieces, other artifacts, and natural history exhibits. Exhibit topics include Hawaii climate zones, wildlife, minerals, shells, native tools and costume, Hawaiian royalty, sugar industry immigrants, and Chinese art. The site is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

The site offers period rooms, guided house tours, exhibits, guided house and museum tours for students, outreach programs for students, Elderhostel programs, and archive access. Appointments are required for archive access. All school groups must make reservations.

Chesterwood Estate and Museum [MA]

Description

The Chesterwood Estate and Museum preserves the home, garden, and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931). The home contains French's personal collection of European and American paintings and decorative arts, and the gardens are his own design. French is best known for his statue of Abraham Lincoln, located within the Washington D.C. Lincoln Memorial, and The Minute Man of Concord, MA. The site offers one of the largest collections of sculpture by any single artist within the United States. Exhibits discuss French's style, creative process, and historical context.

The estate offers period rooms, exhibits, gardens, walking paths, self-guided tours, guided tours, artist demonstrations and workshops, and picnic tables. Reservations are required for group visits and guided tours. Picnic lunches can be ordered three days in advance. Demonstrations and workshops take place in July through October. The estate is open for visitation between May and October.

Shasta State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Six miles west of Redding, a row of old, half-ruined, brick buildings remind passing motorists that Shasta City, the lusty "Queen City" of California's northern mining district, once stood on this site. These ruins and some of the nearby roads, cottages, and cemeteries are all silent but eloquent vestiges of the intense activity that was centered here during the California gold rush. Iron shutters still swing on massive, old, iron hinges before the doors and windows of grass-filled, roofless buildings that once were crowded with merchandise, and alive with the human sounds of business, trade, and social endeavor. The County Courthouse is restored to its 1861 appearance, the year when it was converted from commercial uses to become the Shasta County Courthouse. Today the building is filled with historical exhibits, and an unparalleled collection of historic California artwork that make it the central figure of Shasta State Historic Park.

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

Martin House Complex [NY]

Description

The Martin House Complex of Buffalo, New York is one of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces. Completed in 1907 for Mr. and Mrs. Darwin D. Martin, the complex includes the in D. Martin House, the George F. Barton House, the Martin pergola, conservatory, carriage house and Gardener’s cottage. Currently some of the buildings are undergoing renovation.

The site offers group tours and field trips for school groups. Tours offered include a basic tour (1 hr), an in-depth tour (2 hr), a Focus tour with a master docent, or a group tour. Online resources for teachers are available free of charge on the site's Education page.

Western Heritage Center [MT]

Description

The Western Heritage Center seeks to share the human history of the Yellowstone River Valley and the Northern Plains. The center ventures to do so through all relevant perspectives, including those of Native Americans, U.S. military men, Asians, Africans, Europeans, Russians, and French trappers. Permanent exhibits include the artistic works of J.K. Ralston (1896-1987), his studio cabin, and an overview of Montana's Native American tribes. The latter exhibit presents Crow and Northern Cheyenne oral histories gathered by the center. The site is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, student tours of exhibits, museum and historic site tours for a wide variety of groups, archive access, monthly presentations, traveling exhibits, and traveling trunks. Archive access is by appointment only. The website offers a virtual exhibit.