Jack House and Gardens [CA]

Description

The 1880 Jack House and Gardens presents the home of San Luis Obispo, California's Jack family. The Jacks—ranchers, politicians, land developers, and bankers—lived in the home for more than 90 years, and the site is furnished with many of their personal belongings. The home is decorated to interpret Victorian daily life, and the gardens include period varieties of roses.

The house offers period rooms, guided tours, and self-guided gardens tours.

Historic Cherry Hill [NY]

Description

Historic Cherry Hill is a 1787 residence, occupied by the Van Rensselaer family until 1963. The site presents the changing culture, decorative arts, economic climate, and social classes of the 176 years in which the home was in use. The structure exists in its 1963 state in order to render social and architectural evolution visible to visitors. The Van Rensselaers were originally considered Hudson River manor lords, members of a group of wealthy local Dutch settlers. However, as early as the 1820s, the family began to face economic pressure which would increase with the formation of the millionaire class and the large numbers of immigrants entering the U.S. Collections include more than 20,000 artifacts—from the most mundane household items to rare examples of decorative arts styles—and 30,000 archival documents.

Cherry Hill offers period rooms; tours; interactive educational programs for students; and educational outreach programs for students. Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more. Listening assistance devices are available. The website offers two teaching units for purchase. Both won awards from the American Association for State and Local History.

Tours and on site educational programs are currently unavailable, as the site undergoes restoration. Outreach programming is still available.

Osborne Homestead Museum [CT]

Description

Adjacent to the rolling hills and open meadows of Osbornedale State Park, the recently renovated Osborne Homestead Museum encompasses the house and grounds of the former Frances Osborne Kellogg Estate. Originally constructed in the mid-1800s, the house was enlarged and completely remodeled in the Colonial Revival style during the 1920s. Its restored interior now displays the original contents of the estate, which constitutes a significant collection of antiques and fine arts.

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

The Snyder Estate [NY]

Description

The Century House, also known as the Snyder Estate, is the former home of Andrew Snyder, and was a small family farm until the discovery of natural cement in the region in 1825. The area experienced impressive industrial growth up to the 1970s, and was the United State's largest producer of cement during that time.

The estate offers guided tours of the Century House, Widow Jane Mine, and Cement Industry Museum. The estate also offers field trip programs, outreach programs, and special events. The website offers visitor information, a history of the estate, and information regarding upcoming events.

The Historical Society of Idaho Springs [CO]

Description

The Historical Society of Idaho Springs is dedicated to preserving the historic heritage of Idaho Springs, Colorado, one of the first mountain communities west of Denver on I-70. The town is also well known for being where the gold rush of 1859 began. The society runs the Heritage Museum, a local history museum, the Underhill Museum, which is a historic house museum, and provides walking tours of the community.

The society also offers exhibits in both of its museums as well as guided tours and special events. The website offers detailed historical information regarding Idaho Springs, a historic photo gallery, and an events calendar. In order to contact the site via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.

Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum and Muheim Heritage House Museum [AZ]

Description

The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, housed in the former corporate headquarters of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, interprets the rise of the copper mining industry in the region. The Museum also maintains the Muheim Heritage House Museum, an 1898 home restored to its turn-of-the-century state.

The museum offers exhibits and research library access; the Muheim Heritage House offers tours.

Hoard Historical Museum [WI]

Description

The Hoard Museum is a local history museum focused on the historical heritage of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Thus, the museum covers a very broad range of historical events, ranging from the 1832 Black Hawk War to the lives of William Dempster Hoard, the father of the Wisconsin Dairy Industry, and Lorine Niedecker, a world famous poet.

The museum offers exhibits, guided tours, the Hoard's Historians Enrichment Series, and periodic presentations. The website offers visitor information, historical information regarding Fort Atkinson, and a calendar of events.

Beverly Historical Society and Museums [MA]

Description

The Beverly Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the socio-cultural, artistic, and transportation history of Beverly, Massachusetts and Massachusetts' North Shore. To this end, the society operates a museum of local history, the 17th-century Balch House, the Reverend John Hale Farm, and the Charles W. Galloupe Sr. Memorial Library. Collections consist of more than 750,000 artifacts. Highlights include a fire bucket, military artifacts, local maritime artifacts, paintings from the 18th through early 20th centuries, documents signed by U.S. Presidents, children's artifacts, and genealogical resources. The society also boasts an extensive collection of photographs and pamphlets of all manner of transportation technologies. The 1781 John Cabot House Museum holds both the library and exhibits. Permanent exhibits address the Revolutionary War and the Beverly Bank, established 1802. The Balch House is furnished to period. The Hale Farm is furnished to depict changing trends in Beverly's history.

The society offers exhibits, tours of the Cabot House, Balch House tours, Hale Farm tours, research library access, research assistance, curriculum-based programs, a one-hour Balch House tour for students, a two-hour historic Beverly bus tour for students, an outreach living history program for students, and teacher workshops. Fees are required for both non-member library access and research assistance. Non-member library access is limited. The living history program depicts author and poet Lucy Larcom (1824-1893).

Palmer Historical Society and the Colony House Museum [AK]

Description

The Palmer Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Palmer, Alaska. To this end, the society operates the Colony House Museum. Palmer was founded in 1935 as the Matanuska Colony, one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "resettlement communities" of the New Deal, designed to help pull the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression and alleviate unemployment. The Colony House Museum is an original colony home, restored to its 1936 through 1945 appearance. It is one of five models which were available to the families who moved to the Matanuska Valley from the Midwest.

The society offers period rooms.

Fayette Historic State Park [MI]

Description

Fayette Historic State Park houses a Historic Townsite, a representation of a once bustling industrial community. On the second Saturday of August the annual Heritage Day celebrates Fayette as a bustling iron smelting company town. Today, visitors to Fayette State Park see 19 structures including several public and commercial buildings, residences which housed the people of Fayette, and the stabilized ruins of the furnace complex. Attractions include a visitor center, museum exhibits, a 26-station walking tour, and a scale model of the original townsite.

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