San Antonio Conservation Society [TX]

Description

The San Antonio Conservation Society is primarily a local preservation advocacy organization. However, the society also operates two historic house museums, namely the Steves Homestead and Yturri-Edmonds House. The 1876 Steves Homestead consists of the main residence and servant's quarters. The circa 1840-1860 Yturri-Edmonds House is a rare adobe block home. The grounds contain a reconstructed 1820 grist mill.

The society offers tours, period rooms, self-guided walking tours, an annual educator seminar, an annual fourth grade bus tour, research library access, and research services. A fee is charged for more than one hour of research conducted upon request.

Levine Museum of the New South [NC]

Description

The Levine Museum of the New South presents the history and culture of the New South, the Southern United States after 1865. At the beginning of this period, southerners were forced to determine new ways of life, as the institution of slavery, so long a major component of the economy, had been abolished. The museum's permanent exhibit uses the Charlotte area to describe the development of the South after the end of the Civil War. The interactive exhibit includes six experiential environments, as well as oral histories, film, music, and more than 1,000 artifacts.

The museum offers interactive exhibits, self-guided tours, guided exhibit tours, guided walking tours, curriculum-based programs for students, traveling trunks, outreach programs, discussions, and lectures. Reservations are required for all group tours or programs, and must be made at least two weeks in advance.

Steppingstone Museum [MD]

Description

The Steppingstone Museum presents farming life in Harford County, Maryland between 1880 and 1920. Emphasis is placed on arts, crafts, agriculture, animal husbandry, other trades, and domestic life. The stone farmhouse on site is furnished to period. Outbuildings hold woodwright, joiner, copper, blacksmith, weaver, dairy farmer, spinner, potter, and wheelwright tools and veterinarian office, decoy carver workshop, and general store settings.

The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, guided tours, and craft workshops

Highlands Historical Society and Historic Village [NC]

Description

The Highlands Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Highlands, North Carolina, founded in 1875. To this end, the society operates the Historic Village, which consists of the 1877 House-Trapier-Wright Home, 1908 Bug Hill Cottage, and the Highlands Historical Museum and Archives. The House-Trapier-Wright Home serves as a living history museum. The Bug Hill Cottage is an open-air cubicle once used to house and treat tuberculosis patients. 60 such cubicles once existed at the sanatorium on site. The historical museums exhibits address women's lives, moonshine, historic structures, genealogy, education, religion, and the area tuberculosis sanatorium, among other topics.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, and living history interpretation.

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum [FL]

Description

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum presents the history of Florida. Particular emphasis is given to the area between the Loxahatchee River and the Jupiter Inlet. In the mid 19th-century, the railroad reached no further south than Jacksonville, Florida. As a result, sea travel was the easiest mode of transportation along the southern Florida coastal region. To reduce the significant number of shipwrecks in the area, Congress authorized the creation of the lighthouse in 1853. The lighthouse was first operated in 1860. During the Civil War, Confederate troops shut down the light, and took command of the grounds. The museum is housed within a World War II barrack, which presents exhibits of local historical interest.

The site offers climbing lighthouse tours, exhibits, lectures, and a summer camp. Reservations are required for all visits. Visitors must be at least four feet tall to climb the lighthouse, and no flip-flops or spike heels are permitted.

Key West Heritage House Museum and Robert Frost Cottage [FL]

Description

The Key West Heritage House Museum presents the literary and piracy histories of Key West, as well as life in the area over six generations. The structure itself is an 1830s Caribbean Colonial residence. Collections include period furnishings and maritime artifacts. The grounds include gardens and the Robert Frost cottage, in which audio recordings of the poet's work can be heard.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, and guided tours.

Old City Cemetery and Museums [VA]

Description

The Old City Cemetery is the oldest public cemetery in Virginia, in continuous operation since 1806. The site includes the Mourning Museum, Pest House Medical Museum, Hearse House and Cemetery Caretaker's Museum, Station House, and Chapel and Columbarium. The Station House is furnished in a circa World War I style. The Hearse House contains a circa 1900 hearse and a variety of cemetery caretaker tools. The Mourning Museum presents 19th- and 20th-century mourning attire, jewelry, and etiquette, as well as the history of coffins and embalming. Topics relevant to the site include horticulture, symbolism, ironwork, Civil War medicine, mourning practices of the Victorian era, railways, African American history, the founding of Lynchburg, women, archaeology, and local disasters. The cemetery has been in use since 1806.

The cemetery offers self-guided tours; period rooms; exhibits; Mourning Museum tours; interior tours of the Pest House, Hearse House, Station House, and Chapel; audio tours; customizable guided cemetery tours; and wayside signs. Appointments are required for interior tours of the Pest House, Hearse House, Station House, and Chapel, as well as for guided cemetery tours. The website offers lesson plans, brief descriptions of notable figures interred on site, a virtual African American history tour, and brief informative articles.

Baxter County, Arkansas, Historical and Genealogical Society

Description

The Baxter County, Arkansas, Historical and Genealogical Society preserves and shares the history of Baxter County, Arkansas. To this end, the society operates an archive. Collections include school records, military uniforms, photographs, railroad artifacts, Native American artifacts, historical hospital equipment, court records, genealogical records, and store records.

The society offers archival access.

Rebel State Historic Site [LA]

Description

The Rebel State Historic Site contains the Louisiana Country Music Museum, which traces the evolution of string bands, country music, and gospel. The museum also honors and presents memorabilia and artifacts of Louisianans who became well-known country and gospel music performers. Collection highlights include Roy Acliff's fiddle. An amphitheater hosts musical events. The site's name derives from a local legend in which a young Confederate officer, separated from his unit, was killed. According to the tale, he was buried on site.

The site offers exhibits, concerts, an outdoor classroom, educational programs, tours, and picnic areas.

Tishomingo County Archives and History Museum [MS]

Description

The Old Tishomingo County Courthouse Museum, housed within a circa 1889 courthouse, presents changing exhibits relevant to the history of Tishomingo County, MS. The society archive is located within the John Marshall Stone Research Library, and offers a wide variety of resources including funeral home records and government documents.

The museum offers exhibits, summer camps, guided student tours, a junior docent program, guided Scout tours, scholarships, genealogy classes, and annual family programs. The library offers archive access. The website offers transcriptions of records of genealogical interest.