Historical Society of Topsail Island and Missiles and More Museum [NC]

Description

The Historical Society of Topsail Island operates the Missiles and More Museum. The Missiles and More Museum contains exhibits addressing Operation Bumblebee, Osprey aircraft, Camp Davis, natural history, Native American life, and pirates. Operation Bumblee was a circa 1946-1948 confidential guided missile testing program under the U.S. Navy, while Camp Davis served as an important air training center for World War II.

The society offers interactive and traditional exhibits, monthly lectures, and school and group museum tours. Reservations are required for lectures and museum tours.

Fort Morris Historic Site [GA]

Description

The Fort Morris Historic Site preserves the history of Fort Morris, constructed in 1776 in order to protect the thriving colonial port of Sunbury. The fort was taken by the British after a brief bombardment in 1779, and was used again in the war of 1812 under the name Fort Defiance.

The historic site offers ranger-led tours, educational programs, and exhibits in the site's visitor center. The website offers a brief history of the fort, a photo gallery, and visitor information.

Ball-Sellers House [VA]

Description

The Ball-Sellers House is an example of an ordinary 1700s home, built and inhabited by mid-18th-century yeoman farmer and miller, John Ball. The original logs with daubing, wide plank floors, and rare clapboard roof remain to this day.

The house offers an interpretive docent.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House [VA]

Description

The circa 1939 Pope-Leighey House is an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian architecture—residential architecture designed to be affordable to the average individual and to mesh with its natural environment. The home's furnishing were also designed by Wright to provide an immersion environment.

The house offers period rooms, guided tours, and a book club video presentation and guided tour. Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more.

Historic Blakeley State Park [AL]

Description

The 3,800-acre Historic Blakeley State Park contains Native American mounds; a Civil War battlefield, site of the clash at Fort Blakeley; and an 1814 ghost town. The 1865 Battle of Blakeley was actually fought after the General Lee's surrender of the Confederate Army, and is considered the last major Civil War action. The park owns and operates a passenger boat, the Delta Explorer, which is used to provide tours.

The site offers more than 10 miles of trails, two-hour ecological boat tours, and guided tours. School tours aboard the Delta Explorer are welcome.

Fort McAllister Historic Park [GA]

Description

The 1,725-acre Fort McAllister Historic Park is the site of the best preserved Confederate earthwork fortification. Withstanding numerous attacks, the fortification finally fell to the Union during General William T. Sherman's 1864 March to the Sea, also known as the Savannah Campaign. A museum on site presents Civil War history.

The park offers exhibits, fort tours, 4.3 miles of trails, a variety of outdoor activities, playgrounds, and two picnic shelters. The picnic shelters and fort tours are available by reservation.

Rising Sun Tavern [VA]

Description

Built by Charles Washington around 1760 as his home, this frame building became a tavern in 1792, operating in the bustling town of Fredericksburg. The Tap Room features a reconstructed bar cage and fine collection of 18th- and 19th-century English and American pewter. Another spacious room provided a space for meetings and private dinners by patrons of the tavern. "Tavern wenches" provide visitors with a lively interpretation of 18th-century tavern life. The tavern is filled with period furnishings and stories of early life in Fredericksburg.

The tavern offers tours.

Winterville Mounds [MS]

Description

The Winterville Mounds comprise the remains of a religious and ceremonial center used by an unidentified Native American population between circa 1000 and 1450. After 1450, the site appears to have been entirely abandoned. The people who made use of the mounds were a scattered farming culture located throughout the Yazoo-Mississippi River Delta basin. A few high-ranking individuals appear to have lived near the mounds.

The site offers exhibits.

Governor's Mansion [MS]

Description

The Governor's Mansion is a 1842 Greek Revival Mansion which has served as Mississippi's gubernatorial residence since its erection. Most furnishings are Empire style (1810-1830), although the site also contains French Restoration (1830-1850), Rococo Revival (1850-1870), and Renaissance Revival (1860-1880) pieces.

The mansion offers period rooms and guided tours. Reservations must be made for groups of 10 or more. As the residence may be closed for state events, it is suggested that visitors call ahead to confirm that tours will be offered on the day which they wish to visit. The website offers small galleries of furniture images arranged by style, as well as floor plans.

St. James's House [VA]

Description

The St. James's House was built around 1768 and is one of the few 18th-century frame houses still standing in Fredericksburg. The house is particularly noted for the collection of antique furniture and decorative arts assembled by Daniel Breslin and William Tolerton, who restored St. James's in the mid-1960s. St. James's represents Messrs Breslin's and Tolerton's interpretation of an 18th-century townhouse in that the furnishings are probably more formal than what would have been in the house during the time of its original owner.

The house is open for tours by appointment.