Constitution Square State Historic Site [KY]

Description

Constitution Square State Historic Site preserves the location where 10 constitutional conventions took place, culminating in 1792 when Virginia's Kentucky County gained entry into the Union as the 15th state. The site includes the Isaac Shelby State Historic Site which honors Kentucky's first governor Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), a surveyor and Revolutionary War hero. The 1785 log courthouse, Shelby's grave, a replica of the original jail, a replica of the meetinghouse, a pre-1792 post office, the Wilderness Trace Art League, Education Center, Danville/Boyle County Historical Society Museum, and Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau are located on site.

The site offers self-guided and guided tours of Constitution Square buildings, a history scavenger hunt for students, and picnic tables. Guided tours, self-guided school tours, and scavenger hunts are by appointment only. Buildings are accessible to the public March through December.

Ohio Statehouse Education and Visitors Center

Description

The Statehouse Education and Visitors Center interprets the state capitol's history and significance for the public, and guides school groups in their study of government, citizenship, and Ohio history. The Statehouse complex represents one of America's finest examples of Greek Revival civic architecture, and is one of the oldest working statehouses in the United States. Visitors can see where and how the vital business of state government is conducted, view architectural and artistic treasures, and learn more about Ohio through guided tours, educational displays, and interactive touch-screen kiosks.

A second site, specifically for the Statehouse, can be found here.

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

Harriet Beecher Stowe House [OH]

Description

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is operated as an historical and cultural site, focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The site also includes a look into the family, friends, and colleagues of the Beecher-Stowe family; Lane Seminary; and the abolitionist, women's rights, and Underground Railroad movements in which these historical figures participated in the 1830s to 1860s, as well as African-American history related to these movements. The house was home to Harriet Beecher Stowe prior to her marriage and to her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, and his large family, a prolific group of religious leaders, educators, writers, and antislavery and women's rights advocates. The Beecher family includes Harriet's sister, Catherine Beecher, an early female educator and writer who helped found numerous high schools and colleges for women; brother Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, a leader of the women's suffrage movement and considered by some to be the most eloquent minister of his time; General James Beecher, a Civil War general who commanded the first African-American troops in the Union Army recruited from the South; and sister Isabella Beecher Hooker, a women's rights advocate. The Beechers lived in Cincinnati for nearly 20 years, from 1832 to the early 1850s, before returning East.

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

Wormsloe Historic Site [GA]

Description

Wormsloe Historic Site preserves the ruins of Noble Jones' estate. Jones (1702-1775) entered Georgia in 1733 as one of the state's first English settlers. He served as a physician, carpenter, Royal Councilor, surveyor, constable, Indian Agent, and military commander prior to his death in the Revolutionary War. The site interprets both Noble and his home, and the early settlement and founding of Georgia. A museum presents artifacts from the estate.

The site offers an introductory film, exhibits, a nature trail, living history demonstrations, and picnic facilities.

Grant Boyhood Home and Grant Schoolhouse [OH]

Description

The Grant Boyhood Home was the home of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, from 1823, when Grant was one year old, until 1839, when he left to attend West Point. Ulysses Grant lived in this home longer than any other during his lifetime. Jesse and Hanna Grant, the parents of young Hiram Ulysses Grant, built the original two-story brick section of the Grant Boyhood home in 1823, when they moved to Georgetown from Point Pleasant in Clermont County, where Ulysses had been born the year before. Grant attended the Schoolhouse from the ages of about six to 13. The building, built in 1829, consisted of only one room at that time.

The site offers tours.

Missouri State Capitol

Description

The Missouri State Capitol Building's ground floor serves as the Missouri State Museum. As such, it offers two halls—one dedicated to state history and one to the state's natural resources. The three other floors of the 1924 structure are also open to the public. Noted artists who were involved in the building's creation include Frank Brangwyn, N.C. Wyeth, James Earle Fraser and Alexander Stirling Calder.

The museum offers exhibits and dioramas, while a 30-minute guided tour is available for the entirety of the building.

The Whyos: Gang of New York

Description

The Whyos were New York's most notorious gang after the Civil War, organizing their criminal activities and terrorizing law-abiding citizens of the Gilded Age. In this presentation, Greg Young and Tom Meyers explore they lived, how they broke the law, and who they were—from Googie Corcoran to Dandy Johnny.

The Whyos: Gang of New York

Description

The Whyos were New York's most notorious gang after the Civil War, organizing their criminal activities and terrorizing law-abiding citizens of the Gilded Age. In this presentation, Greg Young and Tom Meyers explore they lived, how they broke the law, and who they were—from Googie Corcoran to Dandy Johnny.

Laboratories of Democracy: The State of the States

Description

According to BackStory, "In its early years, the U.S. wasn't so much "United" as "States." Over time, the federal government has become more powerful, but states have continued to assert their independence on everything from gun control to medical marijuana. This presentation asks: If we're all Americans, why do states still matter? Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell describes how his state has left the feds in the dust when it comes to climate change policy. Historian Eric Foner discusses the successes and failures of the 14th Amendment, created to protect us from the states. And a long-haul trucker explains why she'd like to do away with states altogether."