Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum [IN]

Description

For 94 years, workers at the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Company crafted tens of thousands of wooden frames for saddle makers throughout the United States and Latin America. It was the nation's longest lasting, continually operated, family-owned saddletree company. John Benedict "Ben" Schroeder, a German immigrant, started his business in a small brick workshop in 1878, though it grew to include a woodworking shop, boiler room and engine shed, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, an assembly room, the family residence, and several outbuildings. After his death, Ben's family kept his dream alive by adding stirrups, hames for horse collars, clothespins, lawn furniture, and even work gloves to their line of saddletrees. The factory closed in 1972 and was left completely intact. Recognized by historians as one of America's premier industrial heritage sites, the Schroeder Saddletree factory has been restored to allow visitors to Madison to tour through this vintage workplace. Belts turn and the original antique woodworking machines spin into action. Sawdust is whisked from machines into the boiler room, where it once fueled the steam boiler that powered the equipment. Saddletree patterns hang, cobweb covered, from the ceiling.

The museum offers tours, demonstrations, and exhibits.

California Citrus State Historic Park

Description

This park preserves some of the rapidly vanishing cultural landscape of the citrus industry and tells the story of this industry's role in the history and development of California. The park recaptures the time when "Citrus was King" in California, recognizing the importance of the citrus industry in southern California. In the early 1900s, an effort to promote citrus ranching in the state brought hundreds of would-be citrus barons to California for the "second Gold Rush." The design of the park is reminiscent of a 1900s city park, complete with an activity center, interpretive structure, amphitheater, picnic area, and demonstration groves. The land contained within the park still continues to produce high-quality fruits.

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

Victoria Mansion [ME]

Description

Victoria Mansion, also known as the Morse-Libby House, is widely regarded as the greatest Italian villa style residence in America. It was designed by New Haven architect Henry Austin and constructed between 1858 and 1860. Gustave Herter, one of the United States' first professional interior designers, coordinated the plasterwork, furniture, lighting fixtures, and fabrics within the building. His firm designed and manufactured all the furniture used—with influences from the Italian Renaissance to French Neoclassicism. Other highlights include decorative painting by Giuseppe Guidicini; gasoliers; the first documented smoking room in a U.S. private residence; and an extensive collection of stained glass.

The mansion offers tours; interactive programs, which meet the requirements of the Maine Learning Results, for school groups; a teacher preparation packet with worksheets, slides, and readings; and special events, including lectures.

Historic Manheim Preservation Foundation and Museum [PA]

Description

The Historic Manheim Preservation Foundation and Museum presents artifacts of local historical interest including written records, china, ceramics, early U.S. furniture, and Stiegel glass. Henry William Steigel or "Baron Steigel" (1720–1785) founded Manheim in 1762 and was the originator of one of the earliest glass manufacturing operations in 18th-century America.

The foundation offers exhibits, the Ensminger Library, and lectures.

Pullman State Historic Site

Description

The site preserves surviving portions of the industrial complex developed in the early 1880s by George M. Pullman (1831–1897) to build luxury railroad passenger cars. The site, though under heavy reconstruction, features special interest tours of the factory site and regular temporary exhibits, and participates in or co-hosts a number of special events and cosponsors community programs for all ages and backgrounds.

The site offers research library access, exhibits, tours, lectures, workshops, and other educational and recreational events and programs.

Hagley Museum and Library [DE]

Description

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. Hagley is the site of the gunpowder works founded by E. I. du Pont in 1802. This example of early American industry includes restored mills, a workers' community, and the ancestral home and gardens of the du Pont family.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, research library access, demonstrations, and recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Old Economy Village [PA]

Description

Old Economy Village interprets the history of the Harmony Society, a highly successful 19th-century religious communal society, and preserves and interprets the unique material culture of the Society during its period of residence in Beaver County, PA, for citizens of and visitors to the Commonwealth.

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

Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum [CA]

Description

The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum serves both as a museum of the sport of surfing as well as a national surfing Hall of Fame. The museum hosts collections of surfing memorabilia and artifacts, along with exhibits and periodic special events.

The museum offers exhibits on all facets of the sport of surfing; collections of surfing memorabilia, surfing music, surf films, and surfboards; a surfing hall of fame; a weekly concert series; and group and individual tours. The website offers detailed descriptions of all exhibits, visitor information, an events calendar, biographies of hall of fame members, online newsletters, and information regarding the museum's collections.

Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society and Museum [NH]

Description

The Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society preserves the history of Lake Winnipesaukee, maintaining a museum of local history, open during spring, summer, and fall.

The museum offers several exhibits on local history, including "Souvenirs from the Past," "The Steamboat Era," "Waterskiing," and "Summer Camps on Lake Winnipesaukee." The society also offers a variety of special events, including trips to other local history museums, lectures, presentation, and tours of the lake. The website offers a brief history of the lake, the society, and the museum, as well as an events calendar and visitor information.

New Bedford Whaling Museum [MA]

Description

The New Bedford Whaling Museum chronicles the history of the whaling industry in New Bedford and New England in general. The museum also serves as a local history museum, with exhibits on New Bedford’s past.

The museum offers a variety of exhibits pertaining to whaling and New Bedford, special events such as lectures and presentations, and educational programs that operate year-round. The website offers visitor information, a calendar of events, a summary of all exhibits, and information regarding educational and special programs.