The Colorado Arts and Crafts Society researches and promotes awareness of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Colorado (circa 1895-1920). Pride in personal workmanship is key to the Arts and Crafts Movement, instigated by philosopher John Ruskin and poet William Morris. The society is located within the 1917 Craftsman-style Boettcher Mansion.
The society offers tours, lectures, and educational programs.
One of the upper South's largest antebellum plantations, Somerset Place was home from 17851865 to 850 enslaved people, three generations of owners, and around 50 white and two black employees. It once included more than 100,000 wooded, swampy acres bordering Lake Phelps, where such crops as rice were cultivated. Today, the 31-acre site offers a realistic view of 19th-century life on a large North Carolina plantation through seven original buildings and meshes the lifestyles of all of the plantation's residents in one concise chronological social history.
The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Van Buren County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Van Buren County, Iowa. To this end, the society operates 1845 Pearson House, a residence and Underground Railroad site, the second floor of which served as a Methodist Church; the 1847 Ellis School; the Keosauqua Log Cabin; the Selma Cabin; and the Historical Society Museum. The museum is housed in the circa 1875 Twombly Building, which previously served as a post office, bakery, grocery store, newspaper headquarters, and clothing store.
The society offers period rooms and exhibits.
Bannack State Park is the site of Montana's first major gold discovery on July 28, 1862. This strike set off a massive gold rush that swelled Bannack's population to over 3,000 by 1863. As the value of gold steadily dwindled, Bannack's bustling population was slowly snuffed out. There are over 50 buildings that line Main Street with their historic log and frame structures that recall Montana's formative years.
A second website for the site can be found here.
The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
Unique among the mansions of Newport, "Belcourt," a Louis-XIII-style hunting lodge, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, "the Dean of American architects." The 60-room summer cottage cost 3 million dollars, employing 300 skilled European craftsmen between 1891 and 1894. Today, celebrating 50 years in the Tinney Family, Belcourt Castle is home to an extensive collection of art and antiques from over 30 countries spanning diverse cultures and centuries. The collection includes 13th-century European stained glass, 10th- to 20th-century furniture from around the world, 17th- to 20th-century paintings, Renaissance armor, and a gold coronation coach.
The site offers tours.
The Beckley Iron Furnace once produced iron for the manufacture of railroad car wheels. It is Connecticut's best preserved example of a technology that has long since vanished.
A second website for the site, maintained by the Friends of Beckley, can be found here.
The site offers tours.
This uniquely preserved blacksmith shop is exactly as German immigrant Matthew Edel left it the day he died. Edel, a skilled blacksmith and inventor, operated the shop until his death in 1940. Visitors can see his tools and wares and hear stories about blacksmithing during the age before tractors and automobiles.
The site offers tours and demonstrations.
South Pass City has a variety of interesting and educational activities for visitors throughout the summer. When the presence of volunteer staff permits, not only can visitors walk through each of the 17 restored and exhibited original structures, they can enjoy ice-cold sarsaparillas and a game of billiards on a restored 1860s period table, as well as hear the ring of a hammer on steel when the blacksmith shapes hot iron. Each day, one can shop in the historic Smith-Sherlock General Store or pan for gold in the clear waters of Willow Creek. In the Interpretive Center, visitors can also learn about other gold-producing methods that have been used around South Pass City throughout its history.
A second website for the site can be found here.
The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, and occasional educational and recreational events (including living history events).
The Harkin Store Historic Site consists of a general store which closed in the 1870s. The inventory remained in place.
The site offers a period room and costumed interpreters.
The Hammond Castle Museum serves as both a historic home museum and a museum to the life and inventions of John Hays Hammond, Junior (1888-1965), inventor of radio wave remote control and possessor of 400 patents. The structure, completed in 1929, was designed to emulate Medieval castles, as Hammond was an avid collector of Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance artifacts and felt that architecture, above all else, gives one the sense of the existence of history and lives past.
The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, self-guided tours, guided tours, and educational programs. As the structure is historic, it was built prior to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and, unfortunately, is not handicapped accessible. Reservations with at least two weeks advance notice are required for all school groups. Food is not permitted on the grounds.