National Railroad Museum

Description

The National Railroad Museum, built in 1958, strives to introduce visitors to a chapter in American history that bought wealth and modernity to millions of Americans. The Museum looks beyond the simple technical history of rail to the cultural and economic changes it brought to America.

The site offers virtual tours, event and museum information, teacher resources, and an online gift shop.

Naper Settlement [IL]

Description

The Naper Settlement's living history museum tells the story of daily life in Naperville as it changed from a simple frontier outpost to a bustling turn-of-the-century community.

The settlement offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, research library access, educational programs, and recreational and educational events (including living history events). The website offers information about the history of Naper settlement as well as current information for visitors.

First National Bank Museum

Description

The First National Bank is one of Columbia, Pennsylvania's oldest and most historic buildings. Founded in 1864, the First National Bank of Columbia moved into the building, which had been built in 1814 and had served as a residence and hotel up until that point. The building was converted into a museum in 1967. The museum is a faithful recreation of the bank in its original setting, and visitors can enjoy exploring the bank building as it looked in the late 19th century.

The site offers general historical information about the bank, as well as visitor information for the museum.

Bourne Historical Society and Center, Aptucxet Trading Post, and Briggs-McDermott House [MA]

Description

The Society is housed in the Jonathan Bourne Historical Center, built in 1897 by Emily Howland Bourne as a town library and as a memorial to her father, Jonathan Bourne, for whom the town was named. The Society also manages the Aptucxet Trading Post and the Briggs-McDermott House. The Trading Post recreates the first trade house built in 1627, by Plymouth Colony, located on the south bank of the Manomet (Monument) River, which is now part of the Cape Cod Canal. The Pilgrims traded with the Indians and the Dutch from New Amsterdam (New York City), thus having a source of income by which their debt to the London backers of their expedition to the New World could be repaid. The Trading Post site also houses Gray Gables Railroad Station, built for the personal use of President Grover Cleveland during the years of his presidency (1893–1896). The Greek Revival-style Briggs-McDermott House has been restored and furnished to reflect the period from 1840 to 1910, an important time for the Briggs family and Bourne.

The society offers lectures and occasional recreational and educational events; the center offers tours, exhibits, and research library access; the Trading Post offers tours; the Briggs-McDermott House offers exhibits and tours.

Belle Grove Plantation [VA]

Description

Belle Grove is an 18th-century grain and livestock farm, which, in its prime (circa 1815), encompassed about 7,500 acres of land. The unique limestone house was completed in 1797 for Major Isaac Hite and his wife Nelly, sister of future President James Madison. The house has remained virtually unchanged through the years, offering visitors an experience of the life and times of the people who lived there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. During the Civil War, Belle Grove was at the center of the decisive Battle of Belle Grove or Cedar Creek. Today, the plantation includes the main house and gardens, original outbuildings, a classic 1918 barn, an overseer's house, the slave cemetery, a heritage apple orchard, fields and meadows, and scenic mountain views.

The site offers tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

El Rancho de Las Golondrinas [NM]

Description

This historic rancho, now a living history museum, dates from the early 1700s and was an important paraje, or stopping point, along the famous Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe, NM.

The site offers demonstrations, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Astor House Museum and Clear Creek History Park [CO]

Description

Visitors to the Astor House Museum and Clear Creek History Park can explore how the people of Golden, CO, settled a bustling town that served the developing West as a government center and mining supply town. They can tour an 1800s boarding house and homestead where early Colorado pioneers worked and played, see what life was like on the frontier, and hear stories of the people who called this place home. The Astor House was built in 1867 and stayed in continuous operation as a boarding and rooming house until 1971—over 100 years! It rented rooms and served hot meals to lawmakers, laborers, miners, students, and families, some of whom stayed for weeks or even months. Clear Creek History Park recreates the look and feel of a late 1800s mountain ranch complete with gardens, a working blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, and chicken coop (chickens included).

The sites offer tours, demonstrations, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum [NY]

Description

The Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum is located within the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park in Central New York State. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 96-foot long cargo boats were built and repaired on this site. The Museum tells of the construction of these boats, the workings of the restored dry docks, and the social history of the canal area.

The museum offers exhibits, educational programs, and occasional recreational and historical events.

Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and Heritage Junction [CA]

Description

The Society operates Heritage Junction, a site including eight historic buildings: the 1890 Pardee House, the 1893 Newhall Ranch House, the 1887 Saugus Train Station, the 1865 Mitchell Adobe, the 1919 Edison House, the 1878 Kingsburry House, the 1927 Callahan Schoolhouse, and the 1926 Ramona Chapel.

The society offers lectures, film screenings, and occasional recreational and educational events; the Kingsburry House offers tours; and the Saugus Train Station offers exhibits.

Grand County Historical Association and Historic Sites [CO]

Description

The Society operates several historical sites, including the Pioneer Village Museum Complex, the Cozens Ranch and Stage Stop Museum, and Heritage Park. The Pioneer Village Museum features displays including original railroad cars and railroad exhibits, plus an historic enclosure featuring five original structures that interpret Grand County history. One of the earliest stage stops in Grand County, the Cozens Ranch and Stage Stop Museum includes staging and freighting history and features a replica stagecoach, several local history exhibits, and an authentic interpretation of 19th-century stagecoach travel. Heritage Park preserves the restored 1903 McElroy Livery and an 1885 log cabin.

The society offers in-character presentations; the Pioneer Village Museum offers exhibits; the Cozens Ranch offers exhibits; the Livery and cabin offer tours.