Massachusetts Historical Society [MA]

Description

The Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research library and manuscript repository. The society holds millions of rare and unique documents, many of which are vital to the study of national history and are national treasures. Examples of society treasures include architectural drawing by Thomas Jefferson and correspondence between John and Abigail Adams.

The society offers a research library, educational programs, lesson plans complete with primary sources from the society, and teacher workshops. The website offers visitor information, information regarding the educational resources offered by the website, an online catalog, and a collection of online primary resources. In order to contact the society via email, use the "contact us" link located at the top of the webpage under the "About MHS" tab.

Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea [CT]

Description

Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, located in Mystic, CT, takes visitors back to an era when seaports were the hub of the New England economy. Today, the site presents a representation of the trades and businesses typical of a mid-to-late 19th-century seaport, including those which would have been located on the water's edge and others which would have operated further inland. Trades and skills represented within the village include medicine, general sales, chandlery sales, navigation, life saving, cooperage, blacksmithing, sail making, rigging suppliers, whaling, commercial fishery, oystering, and rope making.

The village also contains a church, seamen's friends site, residences of several periods, and other structures, the vast majority of which are period. Vessel highlights include the last wooden whaleship in the world, a Newfoundland commercial fishing schooner, and a lighthouse tender used to smuggle Jews out of Nazi-occupied Denmark.

The seaport is also home to exhibits of maritime history and art, a planetarium, carefully restored tall ships and historic vessels, and a working preservation shipyard. Demonstrations depict whale boat stations and rowing, period domestic life, life saving techniques, rope making, sail hauling and furling, and sea chanteys.

The seaport offers a planetarium, traditional and interactive exhibits, presentations, field trip programs, interpretive activities aboard the seaport's fleet of ships, outreach programs, summer camps, a playground, children's games and activities, living history demonstrations and reenactors, opportunities to sail or row, steamship and catboat rides, a water taxi, adult and college classes, guided and self-guided tours, and overnight activities.

The museum is designed to engage, educate, and entertain visitors of all ages; and also offers collections and research library access at a location near the main museum complex. The website offers visitor information, online research resources, a calendar of events, and information regarding all of the programs offered by the seaport. In order to contact the website via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.

The Charles W. Morgan, the whaling barque, is currently under restoration in the Preservation Shipyard. This is an excellent opportunity to see master craftsmen at work on an outstanding vessel, and to get a sense of vessel construction.

Hammond Castle Museum [MA]

Description

The Hammond Castle Museum serves as both a historic home museum and a museum to the life and inventions of John Hays Hammond, Junior (1888-1965), inventor of radio wave remote control and possessor of 400 patents. The structure, completed in 1929, was designed to emulate Medieval castles, as Hammond was an avid collector of Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance artifacts and felt that architecture, above all else, gives one the sense of the existence of history and lives past.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, self-guided tours, guided tours, and educational programs. As the structure is historic, it was built prior to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and, unfortunately, is not handicapped accessible. Reservations with at least two weeks advance notice are required for all school groups. Food is not permitted on the grounds.

Connecticut Valley Historical Museum

Description

The Connecticut Valley Historical Museum presents the history and traditions of Springfield, Connecticut and the Connecticut Valley through locally made objects. These objects include furniture, silver goods, motorcycles, antique automobiles, industrial artifacts, and historical firearms. The museum also celebrates famous people from the region, with Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel perhaps being most widely known. The library includes a collection of French Canadian church records.

The museum offers exhibits and a genealogy and local history library.

Eolia and Harkness Memorial State Park [CT]

Description

Visitors to the site can enjoy the panoramic views of Long Island Sound from Eolia, the elegant summer mansion of the Harkness family set on over 230 seaside acres of sweeping lawns, with stately trees and spectacular gardens. Named Eolia for the island home of the Greek god of winds, the mansion was built in 1906 and purchased by Edward and Mary Harkness in 1907. The over 200 acres were a working farm and the mansion served as the Harkness's summer home.

The site offers tours.

Remick Country Doctor Museum and Farm [NH]

Description

The Remick Country Doctor Museum and Farm presents the farming history of New Hampshire, beginning in 1790, through a working farm environment. Structures include a cattle barn, milk house, maple sugar house, stable, and a historic English barn. Also on the grounds are an 1830s garden with period crops; the historic home of Dr. Edwin Crafts Remick and his wife, Marion Ella Miles Remick; and the Captain Enoch Remick House, Edwin Remick's childhood home, which contains the preserved medical office and medicine room of the Remicks.

The farm offers period rooms, guided tours of many of the structures, exhibits, and seasonal and customized educational programs. Reservations are required for school visits.

Kent Historical Society [CT]

Description

The Kent Historical Society works to collect, preserve, and present historical artifacts relating to the history of Kent from pre-colonial times to the present. The society owns three structures, the Swift House, which serves as the society headquarters, the Skiff Mountain School, which is a one room schoolhouse used for school tours, and the Seven Hearths home, which serves as a combination historic house museum and local history museum.

The society offers guided tours, field trip programs for local schools, an annual exhibit in the Seven Hearths House, and occasional special events. The website offers virtual tours of all three society buildings, visitor information, a history of Kent, and society newsletters.

Worcester Historical Museum [MA]

Description

The Worcester Historical Museum shares the history of Worcestor, Massachusetts via a collection of artifacts including the decorative arts, fine arts, documents, and photographs. Worcester was the setting for the invention of the monkey wrench, barbed wire, space suit, and smiley face. The museum also operates the Salisbury Mansion, a house and hardware store built in 1772. The mansion has been restored to its 1830s appearance.

The museum offers hands-on interpretive programs, music, lectures, workshops, and tours. The mansion offers exhibits and tours.

Ashfield Historical Society Museum [MA]

Description

The Ashfield Historical Society Museum presents the history of Ashfield, Massachusetts via a document and artifact collection. Collection highlights include
music books from the Congregationalist Church Singing School of 1799; peddler's trunks from the mid 19th century; the "thunderbolt log splitter," a splitting wedge, powered by powder and locally invented in the 1930s; over 23,000 glass plate negatives of New England circa 1800; and local pottery. The museum also includes a farming equipment exhibit housed in a barn, an 1800s grocery store display, and a circa-1850 recreated shopkeeper's apartment. The museum is located within an 1830s structure, which originally served as a store.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, and archival tours. Appointments are required for all visitors. The website offers a virtual tour, historic photographs, cemetery records, and a local history timeline.