George Washington's Office Museum [VA]

Description

George Washington's Office Museum offers access to the temporary military office used by George Washington (1732-1799) between September 1755 and December 1756, during the construction of Fort Loudoun. The museum displays Washington's surveying tools, artifacts which he used prior to his involvement in actively forming the U.S. when he felt that he would pursue surveying as his career.

The museum offers exhibits.

Fort Bridger State Historic Site [WY]

Description

Established by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez in 1843 as an emigrant supply stop along the Oregon Trail. It was obtained by the Mormons in the early 1850s, and then became a military outpost in 1858. Today, there are several restored historical buildings from the military time period, a reconstruction of the trading post operated by Jim Bridger, and an interpretive archaeological site containing the base of the cobble rock wall built by the Mormons during their occupation of the fort. In addition, a museum containing artifacts from the various different historical time periods is housed in the 1888 stone barracks building.

The site offers exhibits.

Hartwick Pines Logging Museum [MI]

Description

The Hartwick Pines Logging Museum, located in a stand of virgin white pine, takes visitors back to the days of the 19th-century logging industry, through a visitors' center, logging camp buildings, and forest trails—one of which leads to the 300-year-old Monarch pine.

The museum offers exhibits, tours for school groups, and occasional 1860s-period baseball games.

Neligh Mill State Historic Site [NE]

Description

Visitors to this site can sift through the story of milling in Nebraska and tour a mill with its original 1880s equipment still intact. The Neligh Mill is a surviving reminder of the grist mills that once dotted Nebraska's landscape. Visitors can explore the mill, restored mill office, reconstructed flume and penstock, and the remains of the mill dam. Museum displays explain the history of the Neligh Mill and provide information about other water-powered mills once located throughout Nebraska and the Midwest.

The site offers exhibits and tours.

Frank Phillips Home [OK]

Description

Frank Phillips, an ambitious barber-turned-bond salesman from Iowa, visited Bartlesville in 1903 to assess business possibilities in the surrounding oil fields. After a series of failures that nearly caused him to abandon the business, a string of 81 straight successful oil wells insured success. By 1909, he had completed construction of the Frank Phillips Home. From then until Frank's death in 1950, the home was the setting from which he, his family and friends, and the community that grew up around them, played a key role in the development of the oil industry in America. With few exceptions, the furniture, decorations, and even personal effects are original. As a consequence, the Home depicts the lives, tastes, fashions, and values of the Phillips and their world. As an example of the personal home of an Oklahoma oil millionaire, it is a window through which visitors can step back to those times, and experience the home life of one of America's oil men.

The house offers tours and educational and recreational programs and events.

Museum of the Mountain Man [WY]

Description

The Museum of the Mountain Man presents the early 1800s history of the fur trade and of "mountain men." The museum is located near the historic hub of the Rocky Mountain rendezvous system. These rendezvous were commercial and social gatherings where fur traders could equip themselves and catch up on the latest news. Collection highlight include a circa 1876-style furnished tipi, Jim Bridger's rifle, a 17th- or 18th-century Shoshone bow, other Native American artifacts, and a mountain man camp diorama.

The museum offers exhibits. Tours and groups require reservations, and appointments are necessary for winter visits.

Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site [SC]

Description

Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site commemorates the site at which English settlers landed in 1670. From there, they established a settlement which would eventually birth the plantation system, the Carolina Colony, and a major maritime commerce center. The site includes a 12-room museum; a 17th-century replica maritime vessel, the trading ketch Adventure; a natural habitat zoo; reconstructed fortifications; and 80 acres of gardens. The zoo houses animal species which lived in South Carolina circa 1670.

The site offers interactive exhibits; musket, cannon, and open hearth cooking demonstrations; hands-on activities; guided and self-guided educational programs which correspond to state educational standards; audio tours; gardens; interpretive trails; and picnic areas. Strollers and wheelchairs are available for use on site.

Maine Aviation Historical Society and Air Museum

Description

The Maine Aviation Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of aviation in the state of Maine—recreational, military, civil, and commercial. To this end, the society operates the Maine Air Museum, located within a Cold War-era missile assembly and maintenance structure at the Bangor International Airport. The airport location provides for viewings of working aircraft in addition to the offered exhibits. The museum covers flight by balloon, airplane, and space shuttle.

The museum offers exhibits. Advance notice is appreciated for group visits.

Pioneer Living History Village [AZ]

Description

The Pioneer Living History Village is a 90-acre living history 1800s town. Structures are either period or reproductions based on historical research. Sights include an opera house in which Lilly Langtry (1853-1929), famed English actress and beauty, once sang; the childhood home of Henry Fountain Ashurst (1874-1962), one of the first Senators of Arizona; and a circa 1880 cabin which survived an Apache raid.

The museum offers period rooms, demonstrations, living history interpreters, and re-enactments. The museum is closed on rainy days.

Minnesota Historical Society

Description

The Minnesota Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Minnesota. To this end, the society operates a history center and 26 historical sites located throughout the state. The Minnesota History Center collections include more than 230,000 artifacts, including a collection of Ojibwa pieces; 6,000 works of art; and 53,000 cubic feet of government records, among other items.

The Minnesota History Center offers a 30-minute introductory film, exhibits, interactive field trip programs, library access, and two lunch sites—one indoor and one outdoor. Reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance for field trip programs and/or use of the indoor dining area. Lunches can be ordered ahead from the museum restaurant. The center can arrange for sign language interpreters and wheelchair availability. The society also offers outreach presentations given by costumed interpreters and continuing education workshops for teachers.

The website offers blogs on selected artifacts, local historical organizations, and the archives; a forum for historical researchers; video podcasts; historical images; lesson plans on Minnesota and the Holocaust; and a Minnesota history curriculum available for purchase.