In 1804, Lewis and Clark reported the presence of many saltwater springs in the area that now comprises Howard, Cooper, and Saline counties. The largest of these salt springs was the Boone's Lick. The area around this spring was ideal for settlement and for many years "Boone's Lick Country" was a primary destination for pioneers moving west. Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of famous frontiersman Daniel Boone, formed a partnership with James and Jesse Morrison in 1805 to produce salt. Brine water was poured into iron kettles and heated to boiling on a stone furnace. As the water evaporated, salt crystallized in the bottom of the kettle. The salt was shipped by keelboat on the Missouri River to St. Louis. Salt, which was indispensable at the time for preserving meat and tanning hides, was produced at the site until approximately 1833. Today, the 52-acre site features picnic facilities and a short trail that winds its way to the spring site, where wood remnants of the salt works and an iron kettle are still visible. Outdoor exhibits interpret this unique saltwater environment and center of frontier industry. Artifacts from the salt manufacturing industry were excavated at the site, and some are on display at the Arrow Rock State Historic Site visitor center in Arrow Rock.
The site offers exhibits and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Pommer-Gentner house, built in 1840, is a sterling example of high-style German neoclassicism and is furnished to reflect the earlier settlement period of the 1830s and 1840s. Behind the house, visitors will tour a period garden and a small half-timbered barn containing an exhibit of 19th-century tools. The Strehly house, built in stages from 1842 to 1869, has a traditional German vernacular front. It once contained a full-service printing company that produced a German-language newspaper. About 1857, Carl Strehly built a winery next to the house that today displays one of a few remaining carved wine casks in the Midwest. Grapevines, planted by the Strehlys in the 1850s, can still be seen running the length of the backyard. Deutschheim's varied collections of German Americana are represented by galleries of changing artifacts and photographs.
The site offers tours, exhibits, occasional recreational and educational events.
Sandy Creek Covered Bridge boasts the appearance of an old red barn. It was one of six bridges built in 1872 to allow passage from the Jefferson County seat of Hillsboro to St. Louis.
The site is open to the public, but unstaffed; however, interpretive programs for groups may be arranged.
Mastodon State Historic Site contains an important archaeological and paleontological site—the Kimmswick Bone Bed. Bones of mastodons and other now-extinct animals were first found here in the early 1800s. The area gained fame as one of the most extensive Pleistocene Ice Age deposits in the country and attracted scientific interest worldwide. Today, the 425-acre property preserves this National Register of Historic Places site and provides recreational opportunities. A museum tells the natural and cultural story of the oldest American Indian site one can visit in the state's park system. A full-size replica of a mastodon skeleton highlights the exhibits. A picnic area, several trails, and a special-use camping area offer chances to explore the land where the lives of Native Americans and mastodons once intertwined.
The site offers exhibits, a slideshow, tours, and educational programs.
A barn-red mill nestled among green trees beside blue waters rolling over a rock dam create the colorful setting of one of Missouri's most picturesque historic sites. Dillard Mill State Historic Site interprets one of Missouri's best-preserved, water-powered gristmills. Completed in 1908, Dillard Mill sits along Huzzah Creek and was the second mill built at that site. The first, Wisdom's Mill, built in the 1850s, was destroyed by fire in 1895. Innovations in the new, modernized mill included steel roller mills for grinding the wheat and a turbine to power the mill. For years, farmers brought their grain to the mill to be ground into flour and eventually livestock feed. The mill ceased operation in 1956. Today, most of the original machinery is still intact and operational. A turn of a wheel brings the machinery back to life during tours of the mill, which are given year-round.
The site offers tours.
Coastal Florida was a major field of conflict as European nations fought for control in the New World. As part of this struggle, Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine's southern river approach. The colonial wars are over, but the monument is still protecting—not just the historic fort, but also the wild barrier island and the plants and animals who survive there amidst a sea of modern development.
The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs, and recreational and educational events (including living history events).
Richmond's story is not just the tale of one large Civil War battle, nor even one important campaign. Instead, the park's resources include a naval battle, a key industrial complex, the Confederacy's largest hospital, dozens of miles of elaborate original fortifications, and the evocative spots where determined soldiers stood paces apart and fought with rifles, reaping a staggering human cost.
The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
"Dear Mother, we remained in the broiling sun in little pits the size of a common grave though not half so well furnished. There we lay and everytime a man Show his head Zip would come a minnie." This pressure was central to a soldier's experience in a 292-day siege. Here, Union forces slowly cut off Petersburg from the world and brought the fall of the Confederacy.
The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
Less than 800 years ago, Wupatki Pueblo was the largest pueblo around. It flourished for a time as a meeting place of different cultures. Yet this was one of the warmest and driest places on the Colorado Plateau, offering little obvious food, water, or comfort. How and why did people live here? The builders of Wupatki and nearby pueblos have moved on, but their legacy remains.
The site offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.
Piscataway Park is a scenic easement to preserve the view from Mount Vernon. There are many areas open to the public. Visitors can explore the National Colonial Farm, an 18th-century farm, maintained by the Accokeek Foundation, which depicts life for an ordinary tobacco planting family in Prince George's County in the 1770s.
A second website for the park, maintained by the Accokeek Foundation, can be found here.
The park and foundation offers workshops and occasional recreational and educational events; the farm offers demonstrations, workshops, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).