Virginia Historical Society, Battle Abbey, and Virginia House [VA]

Description

The Society works to collect, preserve, and interpret the Commonwealth of Virginia's history for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations. The society runs two museums: the Battle Abbey, which also serves as the headquarters of the society, and the 1929 Virginia House, an historic house museum.

The society offers a variety of educational services, including presentations for elementary and middle school students, exhibitions designed to meet the requirements of grade-specific SOLs, boxes for loan with reproductions of primary materials [travelling trunk programs are almost always for loan, not pay], and a summer teacher's program. The society also offers exhibitions and tours of their museums. The website offers digital collections and exhibits, visitor information, information regarding current exhibitions, an online selection of society publications, and an events calendar.

Morgan Log House [PA]

Description

The Morgan Log House is a restored example of early domestic architecture. Located in Eastern Pennsylvania, the home was originally built for Daniel Boone's grandfather, Edward Morgan. Today, the exhibits many fine examples of antique furniture, metals, household implements, and colonial period decorative arts from the early Welsh and Germanic traditions of Pennsylvania.

The house offers tours, hands-on activities for schoolchildren, special programs, and ongoing research opportunities. The website offers a virtual tour, visitor information, a history of the log house, a calendar of events, information about the educational programs offered, and a genealogical research section. In order to contact the house via email, use the "contact us" link located at the top of the webpage.

Shadows-on-the-Teche [LA]

Description

Shadows-on-the-Teche is an 18th-century plantation located in Southern Louisiana. Today, the location is an antebellum historic house museum allowing visitors a glimpse into life on a major southern plantation.

The museum offers visitor tours and student group tours and other educational programs. The website offers a detailed history of the location, visitor information, an education section which offers information about educational tours and events, and an events calendar.

Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society [GA]

Description

The Society is dedicated to preserving the history of Cobb County, located just north of Atlanta, Georgia. The society maintains and operates two historic properties: the Root House Museum, a historic house museum focusing on life in Marietta in the 1850s, and the Power Cabin, a log cabin located above the Chattahoochee River.

The society offers tours, help with preservation, advocacy, and a variety of educational events, including a "traveling trunk" program and suggested curriculum; Root House offers tours and Power Cabin offers occasional recreational and educational events. The website offers an events calendar, a listing of previously printed society newsletters, visitor information, and resources for preservationists and prospective historical advocates.

Louis Armstrong House and Archives [NY]

Description

In 1943, Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lucille, settled in a modest house in Corona, Queens, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Today, the furnishings and the house are preserved very much as they were during the Armstrongs’ lifetime.

Today, visitors are offered guided 40-minute tours, as well as occasional special events. Group tours (8 or more) must be scheduled in advance. The museum also holds several collections of artifacts that are available to researchers by appointment. The website offers visitor information, information regarding upcoming events and current exhibits, and a biography of Louis Armstrong. In order to contact the house via email, use the "contact" link located under the "about us" tab.

Pearce-McAllister Cottage [CO]

Description

The Dutch Colonial Revival Pearce-McAllister Cottage, built in 1899, reflected the original owners' desires to have a cottage similar to those seen in the older districts of the eastern United States. The second owners, the McAllisters, remodeled the interior in the 1920s decor seen in the home. Today, the Pearce-McAllister Cottage is home to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys, which manages the site, and has exhibits throughout the house. The collection encompasses more than 10,000 items dating from 1680 through today.

A second website, focusing more closely on the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys that occupies the cottage, can be found here.

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

Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site [TX]

Description

Governor Hogg bought this property in 1902. While he had initially thought of it as an investment, Hogg soon came to think fondly of the plantation as a second home for his scattered family. Hogg was convinced that the property contained oil in quantities equal to Spindletop, and he drilled several wells trying to find it. He died, however, in 1906, 14 years before his beliefs were vindicated. The West Columbia field was brought in during 1920 and proved very productive, becoming the cornerstone of the Hogg family wealth. Until 1958, the Hogg family leased the surface rights for farming and raising livestock, but usually kept the house and immediate outbuildings for weekend and vacation use. In 1958, Miss Ima Hogg, well-known Texas collector and philanthropist, refurbished and refurnished the house and kitchen building and donated the property to the state to commemorate her father and other Texas and American heroes.

The site offers tours.

Goleta Valley Historical Society and Rancho La Patera [CA]

Description

The Society manages and preserves the five-acre Rancho La Patera, including the 1873 Stow House gardens. Today, the society presents the Ranch as a historic house museum and living history site where visitors can experience rural ranch and California life in the late 1800s.

The museum offers a variety of events, visitor tours, educational programs, and tours tailored for schoolchildren. The website offers a brief history of the ranch, information about upcoming events, an events calendar, visitor information, and a section for teachers which includes a field trip guide.

Bucks County Historical Society and Museums [PA]

Description

The Bucks County Historical Society seeks to make the presentation of historical information both engaging and relevant to everyday life. To this end, the society operates the Mercer Museum, Fonthill Museum, and Spruance Library. The Mercer Museum, housed within a 1916 structure, presents pre-Industrialization artifacts of daily life. Exhibit topics include illumination, medicine, tinsmithing, transportation, and dairy farming, among more than 60 early American trades. The Spruance Library is housed within the Mercer Museum. The 1912 Fonthill Museum is a historic home. Once home to Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), anthropologist, antiquarian, archaeologist, and designer of renowned Moravian tile, the Byzantine, Gothic, and Medieval structure is now furnished in period style. Many of the pieces are original to the site and their locations within the home.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, guided tours of the Fonthill Museum, curriculum-based programs, curriculum-based traveling trunks, curriculum-based outreach presentations, concerts, workshops for children and teenagers, summer camps, Act 48 workshops, research library access, collections access, and research services. Reservations are strongly advised for the Fonthill Museum. The Mercer Museum is approximately 65 percent wheelchair accessible. The Fonthill Museum is wheelchair accessible on the first floor only. Collections access is by appointment only. A fee is charged for research conducted upon request. The website offers pre- and post-visit materials and an online catalog.

Duke Homestead [NC]

Description

Visitors to the Homestead can see the early home, factories, and farm where Washington Duke first grew and processed tobacco. His sons later founded The American Tobacco Company, the world's largest tobacco company. Duke and others helped create a market for Durham-area tobacco products that eventually would turn North Carolina into the heart of an international tobacco empire. Many profits were invested in land and industries but others were used for such humanitarian causes as Duke University, named for the family. The tour includes the Duke family's restored home, an early factory, a curing barn, and a packhouse. The Tobacco Museum exhibits traces tobacco history from Native American times to the present.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).