Liberty Hall Historic Site [KY]

Description

The Liberty Hall Historic Site presents the life of Senator John Brown (1757-1837) and his descendants. Margaretta Mason Brown, John's wife, promoted abolitionism and women's education. The site consists of the 1796 Federal-style Liberty Hall, home of Brown; the 1835 Greek Revival Orlando Brown House, home of one of Brown's sons; and the surrounding grounds and gardens.

The site offers period rooms; 75-minute tours of both residences; a living history outreach presentation with hands-on activities; and an educational program for students, which includes a 17-minute film. Advance notice is required for groups of 10 or more. The site is only partially wheelchair accessible. The website offers descriptions and images of select artifacts.

Rensselaer County Historical Society [NY]

Description

The Rensselaer County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Rensselaer County, New York. To this end, the society operates the 1827 Hart-Cluett House, a Federal-style townhouse. Collections include furnishings, fine arts, decorative arts pieces, costumes, textiles, vernacular artifacts, and military artifacts.

The society offers exhibits; lectures; walking tours; scavenger hunts; hands-on outreach programs; educational programs; library access; Girl Scout programs; camps; and guided tours of the Hart-Cluett House , exhibits, and/or local architecture. Reservation are required for school groups.

Historical Museum at St. Gertrude [ID]

Description

The Historical Museum at St. Gertrude presents the history of North Central Idaho. Collections include more than 10,000 archival materials; 150 years of textiles; weaponry, some of which was used in the 1877 Nez Perce War; Nez Perce artifacts; a range of historic office machinery, including a 1902 Burroughs “Moon Hopkins” bookkeeping machine and an 1895 Dactyle calculator; world minerals; mining equipment; medical artifacts, including a 1900 fetal monitor and a tonsillectomy chair; and artifacts of Chinese immigrants. The museum also owns many of Polly Bemis' previous possessions. Bemis (1853-1933), originally from China, was brought to an Idaho mining camp as a female slave. Roughly 12,000 artifacts, some of which date to the 14th century, are on display.

The museum offers exhibits

South Pass City State Historic Site [WY]

Description

South Pass City has a variety of interesting and educational activities for visitors throughout the summer. When the presence of volunteer staff permits, not only can visitors walk through each of the 17 restored and exhibited original structures, they can enjoy ice-cold sarsaparillas and a game of billiards on a restored 1860s period table, as well as hear the ring of a hammer on steel when the blacksmith shapes hot iron. Each day, one can shop in the historic Smith-Sherlock General Store or pan for gold in the clear waters of Willow Creek. In the Interpretive Center, visitors can also learn about other gold-producing methods that have been used around South Pass City throughout its history.

A second website for the site can be found here.

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

David Davis Mansion [IL]

Description

David Davis (1815–1886) was born in Maryland and studied law in New England. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed Davis to the United States Supreme Court. In 1877 Davis resigned from the court after being elected to the United States Senate by the Illinois legislature and served as Senate president pro tempore from 1881 to 1883. Davis commissioned French-born architect Alfred Piquenard to design this late-Victorian style mansion, primarily as a residence for his wife, Sarah Davis. The three-story yellow brick home comprises 36 rooms. The large, tree-shaded lot includes an 1872 wood house, a barn and stable, privies, a foaling shed, carriage barn, and a flower and ornamental cutting garden. The circular drive to the Mansion remains as originally configured. The property was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and in 1975 was declared a National Historic Landmark.

The site offers tours, a short film, and educational and recreational events and programs.

The Susan B. Anthony House [NY]

Description

The Susan B. Anthony House presents the life and impact of Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), one of the strongest voices for women's right to vote, abolition of slavery, and temperance. Anthony was closely involved with the political programs of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass. The structure was Anthony's home between 1866 and 1906 and the site of her 1872 arrest for voting despite her sex. In addition to displaying Anthony's own possessions, the house offers an exhibit on women's suffrage.

The house offer exhibits, period rooms, lectures, tours, and an educational program on women's suffrage which meets state education standards. Groups of more than 12 require reservations.

Lynn Heritage State Park [MA]

Description

Lynn Heritage State Park celebrates the history of Lynn, Massachusetts. Following the arrival of John Adam Dagyr in 1750, the settlement began its ascension to the position of being the nation's main shoe supplier. Lynn is also known for Lydia Pinkham (1819-1883), creator of an early commercial tonic for relieving menstrual cramps, and Elihu Thomson (1853-1937), who founded General Electric with Thomas Edison in 1892.

The park offers exhibits, self-guided tours, and both interpretive and outreach programs.

Nichols House Museum [MA]

Description

The Nichols House Museum presents life in Boston's Historic Beacon Hill circa 1900 via the 1804 Federal style townhouse of Rose Standish Nichols. Collections include portraiture, 17th through 19th century wooden furniture, art from Europe and Asia, oriental rugs, Flemish tapestries, and works by renowned 19th-century sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907). Ms. Nichols herself, born in 1872, is also of note. As an unmarried and self-supporting landscape gardener and an accomplished woodworker, she was a life-long proponent of women's rights.

The museum offers period rooms.

Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park is a three-story, 26-room Victorian house museum that stands as a memorial to John and Annie Bidwell. John Bidwell was known throughout California and across the nation as an important pioneer, farmer, soldier, statesman, politician, and philanthropist. Annie Ellicott Kennedy Bidwell, the daughter of a socially prominent, high-ranking Washington official, was deeply religious, and committed to a number of moral and social causes. Annie was very active in the suffrage and prohibition movements.

The park offers a short film, exhibits, and tours.

Save Our Seminary [MD]

Description

Save Our Seminary at Forest Glen is a nonprofit organization founded to "combat the neglect of the unique, beautiful, and historic buildings and landscape of the National Park Seminary in Silver Spring, Maryland." To this end, the organization has worked tirelessly to restore many of the buildings in the seminary, and runs tours of the seminary for visitors from March through November. The seminary complex dates to circa 1887.

The organization offers tours. The website offers visitor information, an online store, a history of the seminary, and information on how to get involved.