Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture [NY]

Description

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library which focuses on the lives, history, and cultures of individuals of African descent located throughout the world. Collections include more than 150,000 volumes and 20,000 African and African Diaspora artifacts, among a wide variety of other resources. Artists represented by the collection include Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first internationally lauded African American painter, and Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), who drew from Harlem for artistic influence.

The center offers research library access, research assistance, traveling exhibits, and a junior scholars program. The website offers virtual exhibits.

Conestoga Area Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Conestoga Area Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the Penn Manor Area, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. To this end, the society operates the circa 1850 Harnish House; an outdoor oven; a local history museum, housed in a 19th-century tobacco barn; and a working blacksmith shop. The Harnish House contains a selection of reproduction furniture, and addresses the life of the Harnish family. Society highlights include a Conestoga wagon and a tobacco stripping display.

The society offers exhibits and demonstrations.

Historic Bethlehem [PA]

Description

Historic Bethlehem presents and interprets three centuries of life within Bethlehem, PA. The site consists of a visitor center, the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts, Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Burnside Plantation, Colonial Industrial Quarter, and Goundie House. The Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts discusses the history of the Lehigh Valley in the 18th through 20th centuries via a collection of decorative arts. The museum also hosts toys from the 1830s to 1930s. The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, housed within a 1741 structure, presents the lives of Bethlehem, PA's Moravian founders. The Burnside Plantation consists of a barn and farmhouse dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. The site was once home to a Moravian missionary active in local politics. The Colonial Industrial Quarter consists of the 1869 Luckenbach Mill; Miller's House; 1762 Tannery; 1762 Waterworks, the first pumped town water system in the U.S.; and the restored working Blacksmith's Shop. The 1810 Federal Goundie House presents exhibits of local history.

The site offers exhibits, period rooms, group site tours, educational programs for students, a student outreach presentation, a traveling trunk, walking tours, Segway tours, lectures, and step on guides. Note that participants must weigh between 100 and 250 pounds for the Segway tours.

Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society and Museums [NY]

Description

The Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Yates County, New York. To this end, the society operates two museums, the Oliver House Museum and the L. Caroline Underwood Museum. The Oliver House Museum, a historic house museum, is listed separately in this database. The L. Caroline Underwood Museum presents exhibits on artifacts and topics of local historical interest, as well as on the life of Lucy Underwood herself. The collections include more than 1,500 items. This museum also houses the society library.

The society offers exhibits and research library access. Payment of a fee is required for non-members to use the library resources.

Skylands Manor, Ringwood Manor, and State Botanical Garden [NJ]

Description

Skylands Manor, with its English Jacobean architecture common in the English countryside 400 years ago, was designed by John Russell Pope for Clarence McKensie Lewis, a stockbrocker and civil engineer. Built in the 1920s, it is constructed of native stone and half-timbers. The weathered stone facade of this 44-room mansion blends into the landscape. The mansion contains rooms with antique paneling as well as new American Oak paneling and large windows, some of which contain 16th-century stained glass medallions. Moulded plaster ceilings and an elaborately carved staircase add the finishing touches to this impressive country house. Ringwood Manor, which was home for a succession of well-known ironmasters for nearly 200 years, sits comfortably on a low hill. Iron production in this area began in the 1740s. In the mid-19 century, Ringwood Manor was owned by Abram S. Hewitt, America's foremost ironmaster. Dedicated in 1984, the State Botanical Garden is the culmination of two eras of landscape architecture under the direction of Francis Lynde Stetson, owner of Skylands from 1891—1922. The garden contains an extensive variety of plants, including evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs in specialty areas.

A second website specifically for Ringwood can be found here.

A second website specifically for Skylands and the State Botanical Garden can be found here.

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

Francis X. Pendl Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center [NY]

Description

The Francis X. Pendl Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center presents the history of firefighting in Nassau County, New York communities. Collections include historic and modern apparatus and uniforms. An interactive exhibit focuses on fire safety.

The museum offers traditional and interactive exhibits, interactive fire safety and prevention presentations for students, and senior programs.

Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park [NJ]

Description

With its 19th-century bridges, bridgetender houses, past and present locks, cobblestone spillways, and hand-built stone-arched culverts, the canal is a tremendous attraction for history lovers. The upper reach of the feeder canal wanders through New Jersey towns along the Delaware River such as Stockton and Lambertville. The main canal passes the Port Mercer canal house, through the village of Griggstown to Blackwells Mills, ending up in New Brunswick. Most of the old canal system remains intact today and is a reminder of the days when the delivery of freight depended upon a team of mules or steam tugboats. Nearly 36 miles of the main canal and 22 miles of the feeder canal still exist, with many historic structures along the canal.

A second website for the park can be found here.

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

Jacobsburg National Historic District [PA]

Description

The Jacobsburg National Historic District preserves the site where the Henry Rifle was made, and serves as a center for environmental education. Historic buildings are open for tours. The Henrys manufactured small arms for both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, as well as being the primary firearms supplier for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company.

The district offers educational programs for students, teacher workshops, public programs, 18.5 miles of hiking and multi-use trails, outdoor activities, living history events, gunmaking demonstrations, gunmaking and blacksmithing classes, building tours, and a picnic area. The park recommends that visitors dress in blaze orange during hunting season.