Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum [NY]

Description

Pieter Claessen Wyckoff emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1637 at the age of 17. In 1649, he brought his bride Grietje van Ness to this house, where they raised 11 children. Wyckoff House is one of New York State's oldest existing domiciles.

A second website for the site can be found here.

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

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.

Preservation Burlington [VT]

Description

Preservation Burlington is a preservation advocacy and education organization which seeks to protect and share the history of Burlington, Vermont.

The organization offers downtown, waterfront, and Old North End historic walking tours scheduled upon request and a weekly preservation television program.

Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park

Description

Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park contains a museum which interprets southwestern Virginia's pioneer and 1890s coal boom history. The museum is housed in the 1880s mansion of Rufus Ayers, a past Virginia attorney general; and boasts a collection of over 20,000 artifacts.

The museum offers exhibits, children's activities, workshops, educational programs, Scout programs, and picnic shelters. The grounds are largely wheelchair accessible, while the museum is not.

Ephrata Cloister [PA]

Description

One of America's earliest religious communities, the Ephrata Cloister was founded in 1732 by German settlers seeking spiritual goals rather than earthly rewards. Gathered in unique European style buildings, the community consisted of celibate Brothers and Sisters, and a married congregation of families. At the zenith of the community in the 1740s and 1750s, about 300 members worked and worshiped at the Cloister.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, educational programs, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Pilgrim Memorial State Park [MA]

Description

The Pilgrim Memorial State Park commemorates the 1620 landing of European settlers in New England. Plymouth Rock, a boulder on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, has become a world-famous symbol of the courage and faith of the men and women who founded the first New England colony. A landscaped waterfront park provides views of Plymouth Harbor, in which the Mayflower II is anchored. There are no precise records of the Mayflower's construction, but the Mayflower II is a replica of the class of vessel most likely to have brought the first pilgrims to Massachusetts. Also in the park, the National Monument to the Forefathers honors the pilgrims of the Mayflower.

The park offers exhibits and living history interpreters aboard the Mayflower II.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History [MI]

Description

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History presents the history and culture of African Americans and their points of origin within Africa. It is is the world's largest institution dedicated to the African American experience. The museum boasts over 30,000 artifacts and archives, including major Underground Railroad and Detroit labor movement collections. Permanent exhibits include a historical overview of the African American experience, an interactive alphabet exhibit, and several large–scale works of art.

The museum offers exhibits; living history tours; tours led by museum educators; self–guided tours; workshops; films; live performances; lectures; a research library; a summer teacher's institute; and a designated dining area with sandwich, fruit, and beverage vending. Reservations are required for school groups, and the museum offers pizza and soda for an additional fee. The website offers a list of Michigan educational standards which correspond to traveling and permanent exhibits; a Martin Luther King, Jr. activity book; and an Internet treasure hunt.

West Sacramento Historical Society [CA]

Description

The West Sacramento Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of West Sacramento and East Yolo County, California. The society operates a museum and several interpretive displays located throughout the area. Collection highlights include three fire engines—a 1926 Federal with Dodge Brothers engine, a 1937 Chevy wooden tanker, and a 1954 or '55 International engine.

The museum offers exhibits.

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.