On December 25, 1776, the icy waters of the Delaware River provided the setting for one of the pivotal events of the American Revolution. The Continental Army had little to celebrate that Christmas and seemed beaten by hunger and cold. After crossing the rough winter river at night, General George Washington and the Continental Army landed at Johnson's Ferry, at the site now known as Washington Crossing State Park. At 4 am, they began their march to Trenton where they defeated the Hessian troops in an unexpected attack. This battle was quickly followed by the Second Battle of Trenton on January 2, 1777, and the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. The Johnson Ferry House, an early 18th-century gambrel roof farmhouse and tavern near the Delaware River, was owned by Garret Johnson, who operated a 490-acre colonial plantation and a ferry service across the river in the 1700s. The house was likely used briefly by General Washington and other officers at the time of the Christmas night crossing of the Delaware. The keeping room, bedchamber, and textile room are furnished with local period pieces, probably similar to the furniture used by the Johnson family from 1740 to 1770. The site also includes an 18th-century kitchen garden.

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

Known historically as "the Gateway to the Dakotas," Fort Abercrombie was the first permanent United States military fort established in what was to become North Dakota. It was also the only post in the area to be besieged by Dakota (Sioux) warriors for more than six weeks during the Dakota Conflict of 1862. During the Dakota Conflict, Minnesota Volunteer soldiers manned the fort when area settlers sought shelter there. The "regular" U.S. Army soldiers had been withdrawn during the Civil War and had been replaced by the Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. The fort was not protected by blockhouses or a palisade during the seige, but these defensive structures were constructed soon afterward. The fort guarded the oxcart trails of the later fur trade era, military supply wagon trains, stagecoach routes, and steamboat traffic on the Red River. It also was a supply base for two major gold-seeking expeditions across Dakota into Montana. Fort Abercrombie served as a hub for several major transportation routes through the northern plains.

The site offers exhibits.

The Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial presents the military history of Pennsylvanians from the Civil War to the War on Terrorism, and commemorates the veterans and fallen of past and present military action. Exhibits include a wide range of wartime artifacts and artwork, including a comprehensive range of prosthetic limbs and military headgear. All military branches are represented.

The museum offers exhibits, one-hour or 270-minute guided educational tours, 150-minute guided educational tours with hands-on activities, outreach presentations, camps, and Scout programs. Tour topics include both World Wars, the Homefront, the Civil War, women and war, African Americans and war, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The website offers veteran and fallen solider listings.

The Studebaker National Museum presents the history of the Studebaker Corporation, an automobile manufacturer; and, in doing so, displays U.S. transportation history. The Studebaker brothers' blacksmith shop, founded in 1852, would eventually be reconfigured as the world's largest wagon manufacturer and the producer of both military and civilian vehicles. Collection highlights include a 19th-century Conestoga wagon; military vehicles from six wars; and the presidential carriages of Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. Lincoln's carriage is the vehicle he used to travel to Ford's Theater the night of his assassination. The Studebaker Archives house more than 50,000 images, engineering drawings, and 500 motion picture titles comprising the corporate archives of the Studebaker Corporation, the Packard Motor Car Company, and local South Bend industries. The museum structure itself incorporates design elements of Studebaker dealerships of the 1920s and 1930s.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, archival access, and research assistance. Both archival access and research assistance require payment.

The 5,000-acre Ellwood represents a fairly typical antebellum agricultural property. Built circa 1790 by William Jones, the residence served as a Confederate hospital for the wounded of the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville; and Gouverneur K. Warren used the grounds as a Union headquarters during the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness. Following the battle, Ellwood's caretakers, Confederate sympathizers, were imprisoned; and the estate was abandoned for the next eight years. The Ellwood cemetery holds "Stonewall" Jackson's amputated arm, and several of the 25,000 dead of the Battle of the Wilderness were temporarily interred on site.

The estate offers house tours. Ellwood Manor is located within the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial.

From 1819 to 1826, Cahawba served as Alabama's first capital. It was once a thriving antebellum river town, a major distribution point for cotton shipped down the Alabama River to Mobile, a Confederate prison for captured Union soldiers, and a rural community of African-American families. By 1900, however, most of Cahawba's buildings had burned, collapsed, or had been dismantled. A place of picturesque ruins, Cahawba today is an important archaeological site with an extensive descendants' network.

The site offers tours, exhibits, and educational programs.

Fort Mott was part of a coastal defense system designed for the Delaware River in the late 1800s. The fortifications seen today at Fort Mott were erected in 1896 in anticipation of the Spanish-American War.

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

George Washington's Office Museum offers access to the temporary military office used by George Washington (1732-1799) between September 1755 and December 1756, during the construction of Fort Loudoun. The museum displays Washington's surveying tools, artifacts which he used prior to his involvement in actively forming the U.S. when he felt that he would pursue surveying as his career.

The museum offers exhibits.

Established by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez in 1843 as an emigrant supply stop along the Oregon Trail. It was obtained by the Mormons in the early 1850s, and then became a military outpost in 1858. Today, there are several restored historical buildings from the military time period, a reconstruction of the trading post operated by Jim Bridger, and an interpretive archaeological site containing the base of the cobble rock wall built by the Mormons during their occupation of the fort. In addition, a museum containing artifacts from the various different historical time periods is housed in the 1888 stone barracks building.

The site offers exhibits.

The Italianate structure known as the U. S. Grant Home was built in 1859–60 as a residence by Alexander J. Jackson of Galena. When Ulysses S. Grant returned to the city in 1865 as a Civil War hero, he was presented the house as part of the city's celebration. All of the rooms are decorated and furnished to represent the mid-1860s. Many of the furnishings belonged to the Grant family.

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