Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum [MA]

Description

The Greek Revival Rotch-Jones-Duff House was built in 1834 for whaling merchant William Rotch, Jr. The interior is furnished to the different periods of the residence's occupation (1834-1981). The home was also occupied in turn by the Jones and Duff families, ship's agents and coal, whale oil, and oil transportation professionals. The surrounding gardens most closely reflect the period 1851 to 1935.

The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, 30-minute self-guided tours of the home, gardens, one-hour guided group tours, guided group tours with tea or a luncheon, fourth and fifth grade educational programs, lectures, and educational programs. The website offers background information for the educational programs.

Historic Speedwell [NJ]

Description

Historic Speedwell presents mid-19th-century life through the estate of Stephen Vail (1780-1864), proprietor of Speedwell Iron Works. The site highlight is the factory building where Alfred Vail (1807-1859) and Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872) completed and publicly demonstrated the electromagnetic telegraph in 1838. Other structures include an operational waterwheel; the Vail Home, furnished to an 1844 to 1864 appearance; 1849 carriage house; several residences; and a historic granary.

The site offers period rooms; traditional and interactive exhibits; guided tours of the factory building, Vail home, and Wheelhouse; hands-on workshops; Scout programs; and educational programs.

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.