Cornwall Iron Furnace [PA]

Description

Cornwall Furnace is a unique survivor of the early American iron industry. Originally built by Peter Grubb in 1742, the furnace underwent extensive renovations in 1856–57 under its subsequent owners, the Coleman family, and closed in 1883. It is this mid-19th-century ironmaking complex which survives today. At Cornwall, furnace, blast equipment, and related buildings still stand as they did over a century ago. Here visitors can explore the rambling Gothic Revival buildings where cannons, stoves, and pig iron were cast, and where men labored day and night to satisfy the furnace's appetite for charcoal, limestone, and iron ore.

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

Conestoga Area Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Conestoga Area Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the Penn Manor Area, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. To this end, the society operates the circa 1850 Harnish House; an outdoor oven; a local history museum, housed in a 19th-century tobacco barn; and a working blacksmith shop. The Harnish House contains a selection of reproduction furniture, and addresses the life of the Harnish family. Society highlights include a Conestoga wagon and a tobacco stripping display.

The society offers exhibits and demonstrations.

President James Buchanan's Wheatland [PA]

Description

In 1856 diplomat and statesman James Buchanan was elected the 15th President of the United States at the age of 65. Today, visitors to President James Buchanan's Wheatland can learn more about Pennsylvania's only United States President and explore the story of his presidency; the fractious political issues of the times; and his private life in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and at his Wheatland estate.

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

Radnor Historical Society and the Finley House [PA]

Description

The Radnor Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Radnor, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area. To this end, the society operates the 1789 Finley House. The residence houses a circa 1800 kitchen, a local history exhibit room, the society's library, archives, and a bedroom furnished in the style of circa 1840. The grounds also include a wagon house, which holds historic vehicles, and gardens. Collection highlights include a Conestoga wagon.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, gardens, and archival access.

Ellwood City Historical Society and Museum [PA]

Description

The Ellwood City Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Ellwood City, PA, site of the creation of the first American seamless steel tubes. To this end, the society operates a museum of local history. Collection highlights include a Railway Express Wagon; bench from the B and O Railroad waiting room; and Northwood glass, created between 1892 and 1896. Ellwood City's early population included many Italian and German immigrants.

The society offers exhibits.

Minisink Valley Historical Society and the Fort Decker Museum of History [NY]

Description

The Minisink Valley Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the Minisink Valley which stretches across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. To this end, the society operates the Fort Decker Museum of History. The structure was originally built in 1760 as a defensive center against Native American attack and as a trading post.

The society offers archival access, exhibits, and 50-minute outreach slide presentations. Appointments are required for archival access. Slide presentation topics include author Stephen Crane, the Delaware and Hudson Canal, artist John Newton Howitt, cemetery history, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the bluestone industry. The website offers a small collection of music and historical photographs.

Senator John Heinz History Center [PA]

Description

The Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in the state of Pennsylvania, and covers 250 years of Pittsburgh's history. The center includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, which presents Pittsburgh's sports history. Seventy exhibits in the sports museum are interactive, and the site also makes extensive use of audio and visual presentations. The research center, which offers sources relevant to Western Pennsylvania history, holds more than 400,000 publications and 3,500 archival collections. A substantial amount of archival documents relate to Jewish life. The center also claims strong African American and Italian American holdings. The center is affiliated with the Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life, which includes the oldest known site of human habitation within the entirety of North America. This museum is listed separately within the National History Education Clearinghouse database.

The center offers interactive and traditional exhibits, audiovisual presentations, a research center, research assistance, Scout programs, and a deli. Offerings specifically for schools include guided tours, self-guided tours, hands-on activities, classes, and educational programs. Students, teachers, and school staff members are admitted to the research center free of charge with a valid school ID. Wheelchairs are available for use on site. A sign language interpreter is available with advance notice. The website offers videos and audio files.

Grey Towers National Historic Landmark [PA]

Description

The 100-acre Grey Towers National Historic Landmark contains Grey Towers, summer home of Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), Pennsylvania Governor and first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Pinchot is attributed the concepts of conservation and sustainable use. Gifford's wife Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (1881-1960) advocated women's right to vote, child labor reform, and the formation of trade unions. The structure itself was erected in 1886.

The site offers one-hour guided tours of the gardens and the residence's first floor, historic gardens, customizable field trips, environmental outreach programs for students, a 15-minute history interpretive trail, a hands-on forestry trail running less than one mile, a bluebird nestbox trail running 1/4 of a mile, conservation education programs, a trail describing types and uses of trees, and Smokey Bear and forest fire activity backpacks for use on site.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Description

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania houses one of the most significant collections of historic railroad artifacts in the world. Devoted to preserving and interpreting the broad impact of railroad development on society, the Museum displays over 100 locomotives and cars from the mid-19th and 20th centuries, including the priceless Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Collection.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, train rides, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Glen Foerd [PA]

Description

Glen Foerd is the final remaining riverfront estate within Philadelphia. Originally erected circa 1850, the residence is now most overtly Italianate in style. Residents have included Charles Macalester, businessman and broker, and Robert and Caroline Foerderer of Vici Kid, a kid skin company. Sights include the main residence, a boat house, a water tower, a carriage house, and a gate house.

The estate offers period rooms, guided tours, group tours, group tour and meal packages. Two days advance notice is needed for tours, and tours with meals require two weeks advance notice. The website offers historical photographs.