Sandwich Historical Society and Museums [NH]

Description

The Sandwich Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Sandwich, New Hampshire. To this end, the society operates the 1825 Lower Corner School, open to the public during special events; the 19th-century Quimby Barn, which houses a transportation museum; and the circa 1850 Elisha Marston House, home to the society headquarters and a local history museum. Society collections include historical everyday items previously used in Sandwich. Collection strengths include furnishings, tools, and textiles. Artistic highlights include works by Albert Gallatin Hoit (1809-1856), portrait and landscape artist; Fred G. Quimby (1863-1923); and E. Wood Perry (1831-1915).

The society offers a Junior Historical Society, a non-circulating reference library.

Cokato Historical Society and Museum[MN]

Description

The Cokato Historical Society seeks to preserve both the social and the Swedish and Finnish cultural history of Cokato, Minnesota and the surrounding area. To this end, the society supports a local history museum. Collection highlights include a 1922 snowmobile.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and research assistance. Tours are available by appointment. Please call ahead if you wish to see the snowmobile, as it is not on display on a daily basis. Payment is required for research assistance.

Historical Jonesboro/Clayton County and Stately Oaks [GA]

Description

Historical Jonesboro/Clayton County seeks to preserve and share the history of Jonesboro and Clayton County, Georgia. To this end, the organization operates an 1839 Greek Revival antebellum residence, Stately Oaks. The grounds include the log kitchen, a well house, a tenant house, a historic schoolhouse, and a country store. Clayton County was home to Margaret Mitchell, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gone with the Wind; and it is believed that Stately Oaks served as an inspiration for her novel's setting.

The organization offers tours of Stately Oaks—either with a costumed interpreter or self-guided with MP3 audio, educational programs, workshops, and presentations. Reservations are required for group and student tours.

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.

Pennington County Historical Society and Peder Engelstad Pioneer Village [MN]

Description

The Pennington County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Pennington County, Minnesota. To this end, the society operates the Peder Engelstad Pioneer Village. The village depicts Minnesota pioneer life circa the early 19th century. The 19 structures include a museum, a schoolhouse, railroad depots, residences, a barber shop, and a blacksmith shop, among other sites. The village also contains historic gardens and farm machinery.

The village offers exhibits, period rooms, gardens, and guided tours. Guided tours are only available by appointment. The society website offers a substantial online database of photographs, maps, obituaries, cemetery records, and landowner records, among other items of archival and genealogical interest.

Poplar Hill on His Lordship's Kindness [MD]

Description

Poplar Hill on His Lordship's Kindness is a historic Georgian-style home located on lands given to Colonel Henry Darnall—Chancellor of Maryland, His Lordship's Agent and Receiver General, Rent Roll Keeper, and Colonel of the Militia—in 1703. Over 100 slaves worked the property in 1711. The estate was inherited and owned by relatives through 1912.

The house offers 40-minute guided tours on Sundays. Group tours are available for groups of 15 or more.

Due to financial necessity, the tours are no longer offered every Sunday. Please check the website for upcoming tour dates.

Bishop Hill State Historic Site

Description

Bishop Hill was the site of a utopian religious community founded in 1846 by Swedish pietist Eric Janson (1808–1850) and his followers. A number of historically significant buildings have survived and are scattered throughout the village, four of which are owned by the state and managed as part of the Bishop Hill State Historic Site. The 1848 Colony Church is a two-story frame building. The three-story stuccoed-brick 1850s Colony Hotel served commercial travelers and provided a link to the outside world. The 1850 "Boys' Dormitory" is a small two-story frame structure believed to have provided housing for boys making the transition to working adulthood. An 1850s Colony barn was relocated behind the Hotel to the site of the original Hotel stable. In addition to the historic structures, the state owns the village park with a gazebo and memorials to the town's early settlers and Civil War soldiers. The brick museum building houses a valuable collection of primitivist paintings by colonist Olof Krans (1838–1916).

The site offers exhibits, a short film, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Chief Plenty Coups State Park [MT]

Description

Situated within the Crow Reservation in south-central Montana, this park was the home of Plenty Coups, last chief of the Crow. This park preserves the log home, sacred spring, and farmstead of Chief Plenty Coups. The small visitor center that traces the story of Chief Plenty Coups's life, and of the chief's efforts to lead his people in adopting the lifestyle of the white man.

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

Boscobel [NY]

Description

Boscobel is a historic Federal neoclassical-style home, built in 1808 for States Morris Dyckman (1755-1806) and his family. The interior contains period furnishings and decorative arts, as well as an art exhibition gallery. Collection highlights include a painting by Benjamin West (1738-1820), renowned artist of historical scenes. The visitor's center presents the home's restoration. During the Revolutionary War, Dyckman was a clerk for the British Army's Quartermaster Department.

The house offers guided tours of the interior, guided tours with a tea or luncheon, educational programs in accordance with state educational standards, and picnic areas. The website offers video tours and an online collections catalog.

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.