Constitution Island Association [NY]

Description

Constitution Island is part of West Point, the United States Military Academy, a National Registered Landmark. The Island is most famous for the Great Chain that was placed across the Hudson during the Revolutionary War and the Warner family who lived on the Island during the 19th century. The Warner House and ruins of the Revolutionary War fortifications are the primary points of interest.

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

Varnum Memorial Armory Museum [RI] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:28
Description

The Varnum Continentals built their armory in 1913 in the medieval architectural style. The armory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A 1984 State Historical Building Survey described the Varnum Memorial Armory as remaining in perfect original condition. Among the key architectural details are the towers, the massive double doors, the multiple arched windows, and the crenellated parapet along the roofline. The armory serves contains an extensive military and naval museum which has been acquired through donation and purchase.

The museum offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational 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).

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown Victory Center [VA]

Description

The Foundation operates the Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center, two living-history museums that explore America’s beginnings. Through film, artifact-filled galleries, and outdoor living history, these museums engage visitors in nearly two centuries of the nation's history—from the founding of America's first permanent English settlement in 1607 to the decisive Revolutionary War victory in 1781 and implementation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Today at Jamestown Settlement, the story of the people who founded Jamestown and of the Virginia Indians they encountered is told through film, gallery exhibits, and living history. New gallery exhibits and a new introductory film trace Jamestown's beginnings in England and the first century of the Virginia colony and describe the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, Europeans, and Africans who converged in 1600s Virginia. Outdoors, visitors can board replicas of the three ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607, explore life-size recreations of the colonists' fort and a Powhatan village, and tour a riverfront discovery area to learn about European, Powhatan, and African economic activities associated with water. In the outdoor areas, costumed historical interpreters describe and demonstrate daily life in the early 17th century. Today at the Yorktown Victory Center, America's evolution from colonial status to nationhood is chronicled through a unique blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits and outdoor living history. An outdoor exhibit walkway details events that led American colonies to declare independence from Britain.

A second website for the organization can be found here.

The sites offer short films, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, lectures, educational programs, and recreational and educational programs.

Alamance Battleground State Historic Site and Allen House [NC]

Description

On this site in 1771, an armed rebellion of backcountry farmers—called Regulators—battled against royal governor William Tryon's militia. Visitors can tour the 18th-century Allen House and battlefield monuments. These features, together with the visitor center's new DVD orientation program, offer a vivid account of this colonial battle, as well as the oppressive British colonial policies that sparked the revolt.

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

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park presents the opportunity to experience the history of early San Diego by providing a connection to the past. Visitors can learn about life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872, as converging cultures transformed San Diego from a Mexican pueblo to an American settlement. The core of restored original historic buildings from the interpretive period are complemented by reconstructed sites, along with early 20th-century buildings designed in the same mode. The Historic Plaza remains a gathering place for community events and historic activity. Five original adobe buildings are part of the historic park, which includes museums, unique retail shops, and several restaurants. La Casa de Estudillo is a mansion built around a garden courtyard. La Casa de Machado y Stewart is full of artifacts that reflect ordinary life of the period. Some of the other historic buildings include the Mason Street School (California's first public schoolhouse), La Casa de Machado y Silvas, the San Diego Union Printing Office (site of the city's oldest surviving newspaper office), and the first brick courthouse. The Seeley Stables Museum, with newly rehabilitated exhibits on overland transportation, houses one of the finest wagon and carriage collections. Visitors can experience a working blacksmith shop, enjoy music, see or touch the park's burros, and engage in activities that represent early San Diego.

The park offers exhibits, tours, living history events and programs, and other recreational and educational events.

Ducktown Basin Museum and Burra Burra Mine Site [TN]

Description

The Burra Burra Mine site consists of 10 buildings located on 17 acres and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The mine was in operation from 1899 to 1959. The site was also the mining company's surface headquarters from 1902 to 1976. Buildings on the site include the mine office, shop building, change house, hoist house, and powder house. Copper mining took place in the Ducktown Basin, site of the Burra Burra Mine and several other mines, from 1850 to 1987. The Burra Burra Mine received its name from the basin's copper deposit, which in turn was named for a copper deposit of similar size in Australia. The museum interprets the basin's history through audiovisual and artifact exhibits and examples of the kinds of equipment used in the mines. The history of the Cherokee Nation, including its removal from the basin, is also presented.

The site offers exhibits.

El Camino Real International Heritage Center [NM]

Description

The newest State Monument tells the fascinating story of more than three centuries of trade and commerce that traversed the trail, linking Spain, Mexico, and the United States at a time when mules, trains, and horses were the only means of land travel. The award-winning building is set amidst the pristine Chihuahuan Desert north of the Jornada del Muerto and houses an exhibit that takes visitors on a virtual journey along the historic trail from Zacatecas, Mexico to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visitors can discover the indigenous people encountered by the Spanish and the impact the arrival of the Spanish had on the formation of New Mexico. Remnants of the early journey remain today in hand-hewn carts, tools, leather water jugs, and religious altars and objects that accompanied the travelers into the northern territory. Visitors experience the journeys of Native Americans, Spaniards, and Mexicans; the military fort period; and the first Anglo settlers from the Eastern United States, through first-person stories and the art and objects they brought with them.

A second website, maintained by the El Camino Real International Heritage Center Foundation, can be found here.

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

Iolani Palace [HI]

Description

A Hawaiian national treasure and the only official state residence of royalty in the United States, 'Iolani Palace was the official residence of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last two monarchs—King Kalakaua, who built the Palace in 1882, and his sister and successor, Queen Lili'uokalani. During the monarchy period, the Palace was the center of social and political activity in the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

The palace offers tours, exhibits, concerts, educational programs, other workshops and classes, and occasional educational and recreational events.