Pawnee Bill Ranch [OK]

Description

The Ranch was once the showplace of the world renowned Wild West Show entertainer, Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie. Visitors can tour Pawnee Bill and his wife, May's, 14-room mansion, fully furnished with their original belongings. Completed in 1910, the home is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original artwork, and more. The Ranch property also houses a museum with exhibits related to Pawnee Bill, the Wild West Shows, and the Pawnees. The 500-acre grounds include the original Ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926 and an Indian Flower Shrine. The Ranch also recreates Pawnee Bill's Original Wild West Show the last three Saturdays in June every year.

The ranch offers exhibits, tours, performances, and educational and recreational events and programs.

Spiro Mounds [OK]

Description

Today, the Spiro site and artifacts are among Oklahoma's richest cultural resources. This archaeological site includes the remains of a village and 11 earthen mounds. Although various groups of people had camped on or near the Spiro area since early prehistoric times, the location did not become a permanent settlement until approximately A.D. 600. Spiro Mounds was renowned in southeastern North America between A.D. 900 and circa 1400, when Spiro's inhabitants developed political, religious, and economic institutions with far-reaching influence on societies from the Plains and the Mississippi Valley to much of what is now the southeastern United States.

The site offers exhibits.

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site [TX]

Description

The 293-acre Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is located on the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The park is home to a reconstructed Independence Hall; the Star of the Republic Museum, which covers the history of the Republic of Texas (1836-1846); and Barrington Living History Farm, home of Dr. Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas. Numerous walking trails and a picnic area are also available in the park.

The visitor center offers interactive exhibits, snack food for purchase, and a gift shop. Daily guided tours of Independence Hall are offered as are scheduled group tours. Barrington Living History Farm offers tours of the Anson Jones home focusing on the politics, economics, and daily life of 1850s Texas. The Star of the Republic Museum offers exhibits, audiovisual presentations, educational programs, and houses an extensive research library. Age appropriate school tours are available at all three sites and align with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). An educator's packet for Barrington Living History Farm is available online as is www.txindependence.org , a new website created for 4th & 7th grade Texas history students.

Sebastopol House State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Sebastopol House State Historic Site is an 1856 Greek-Revival-style house sitting on 2.2 acres of its original four-acre site. Sebastopol House is listed as a Registered Texas Historic Landmark and is in the National Register of Historic Places as a result of its unusual limecrete construction and its architectural style. The house is restored to its 1880 appearance. Exhibits explain the original construction, the restoration process, and the history of the house and its inhabitants. Selected LeGette and Zorn family furnishings are displayed demonstrating the tastes of middle-class families of the late 19th century.

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

Niagara County Historical Society [NY]

Description

The Niagara County Historical Society owns and operates the Historical Museum at Lockport, a local history museum which chronicles the history of life in American and Niagara County over the last 175 years. The museum is composed of seven distinct buildings with the Outwater House serves as the main portion of the museum. There are also three other historic house museums, a fire house, transportation building, and barn.

The museum offers exhibits and historic house museums. Guided tours are available by appointment. The museum also contains a library, which is open on the weekends year round. The website offers visitor information, and brief histories of all of the buildings which comprise the museum.

A.J. Seay Home [OK]

Description

Governor Seay, second Territorial Governor of Oklahoma from 1892 to 1893, built this three-story mansion for approximately $11,000.00 on 15 acres of land purchased for $637.50. The mansion was completed in March of 1892 to host dignitaries present for the opening of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Land Run.

The home offers tours.

Dumbarton House [DC]

Description

Dumbarton House reflects the emerging Adamesque style of architecture of the early Republic, and houses collections of Federal period (1790–1830) furniture and decorative arts. Federal period architecture emphasizes symmetry and balance while incorporating neoclassical elements. The majority of collection artifacts are from the Federal period, although Chippendale and Louis XVI styles are also present. Joseph Nourse (1754–1841), Register of the U.S. Treasury for the first six Presidents of the United States, was the house's first resident between 1804 and 1813. The year after Nourse left, Dolley Madison would stay at the residence as she left the White House to avoid the invading British.

The museum offers an introductory film, guided public and school tours, period rooms, exhibits, lectures, concerts, educational programming, week–long summer programs, and programs for home school students.

Colonial National Historical Park [VA]

Description

The Colonial National Historical Park commemorates English Colonial and Revolutionary War–era America, beginning on the swampy marshes of Jamestown in 1607 and ended on the battle–scarred landscape of Yorktown in 1781. Although the primary draw is colonial history, the park spans the timelines from pre-colonization through Colonial Virginia, from the end of English Colonial America through the American Revolutionary War, and from America’s Independence to the Civil War.

The park offers introductory films; exhibits; guided tours; self-guided tours; tours by costumed interpreters; Junior Ranger activities; seasonal hands–on activities; seasonal costumed interpreters for specific educational programming; pot making in the "pinch pot" style of the local Native Americans; non–firing artillery and glass–blowing demonstrations; a Revolutionary War themed traveling trunk; and ranger-guided educational programming specifically for students, designed to meet state educational standards. The website provides lesson plans relevant to historic Jamestown and Yorktown.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site [NY]

Description

Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919. During Roosevelt's time in office, his "Summer White House" was the focus of international attention. The house itself dates to the 19th century, and is situated on 83 acres of forest, meadow, salt marsh, and beach.

The site offers podcasts, online photo galleries, sound bytes, teacher preparation packets, suggested reading, and field trip programming.

George M. Murrell Home [OK]

Description

When the Cherokees were forced to leave their homes in the East during the "Trail of Tears" in 1838—39, Murrell chose to move with his Cherokee wife's family to the new Nation in the West. In Park Hill, Indian Territory, he established a plantation and built a large frame home similar to those he remembered in Virginia. He called the Greek Revival-style house "Hunter's Home" because of his fondness for the fox hunt.

The home offers tours, workshops, living history demonstrations, and occasional educational and recreational events.