Eckley Miners' Village [PA]

Description

Eckley is one of the hundreds of company mining towns or "patches" built in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania during the 19th century. In 1854, the mining firm of Sharpe, Leisenring, and Company, later known as Sharpe, Weiss, and Company, leased land from the Tench Coxe Estate of Philadelphia and began work on the Council Ridge Colliery and the village of Eckley. The village, built near the colliery where the coal was mined and processed, provided housing for the miners and their families. Its stores, schools, and churches supplied the economic, educational, and religious needs of the villagers. By owning the village, the company had greater control over the lives of their workers.

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

Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World

Image
Photo, Doffers at the Bibb Mill No. 1, Lewis Hine, 1909, Like a Family.
Annotation

The companion to a book of the same name, this website offers selected oral history resources that examine lives in southern textile mill towns from the 1880s to the 1930s. The site is divided into three sections. "Life on the Land" discusses agricultural roots of the rural south, changes in farm labor after the Civil War, and economic factors that caused the transition to mill work in the late 19th century. "Mill Village and Factory" describes work in the mills and life in the company mill towns. "Work and Protest" discusses labor protests of the 1920s, formation of unions, and the textile strike of 1934.

The site contains 15 photographs and nearly 70 audio clips drawn from oral history interviews with descendants of millhands and others involved in the history of the Southern textile industry. There are valuable links to Southern history, oral history, and textile mill history websites. This site is ideal for studying rural southern life and labor history from Reconstruction through the 1930s.

Plantation Agriculture Museum [AR]

Description

This museum interprets cotton agriculture in Arkansas from statehood in 1836 through World War II, when agricultural practices quickly became mechanized. Visitors can tour the restored 1920s cotton gin and see how cotton was grown, picked, and processed.

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

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources

Description

Exhibits and programs tell of the industrial and social history surrounding the 'black gold rush' of Arkansas's oil fields. Visitors walk the rutted streets of a 1920s oil boom town, then go on a journey inside the earth to see formation of the oil strata. In the museum's Oil Field Park, see full-size operating equipment used from the 1920s to the modern era, including a 1920s standard oil rig and a 112-foot wooden derrick.

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

Missouri Mines State Historic Site

Description

St. Joseph Lead Co. dominated ore production and became the heart of the easter Ozarks' Old Lead Belt, continuing operations in this district until 1972. In 1975, the company donated the 25 buildings of their largest mine-mill complex and the surrounding land to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. These properties became Missouri Mines State Historic Site and St. Joe State Park. The 19,000 square-foot mine-mill powerhouse has been developed into a large museum that interprets Missouri's mining history and displays old mining machinery and an outstanding mineral collection.

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

Boone's Lick State Historic Site [MO]

Description

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.

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Description

Hot, smoky, noisy—these words describe how Hopewell Furnace looked from 1771 to 1883. Hopewell and other "iron plantations" laid the foundations for America's iron and steel industry. Today, the site stands as an example of America's development during the Industrial Revolution.

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

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park [MD]

Description

The 184.5–mile Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park preserves the history of this canal, which shipped coal, lumber, grain, and other agricultural products along the Potomac River. The canal's story intertwines with those of western expansion, transportation, engineering, the Civil War, immigration, industry, and commerce. Rangers provide a mid–19th–century living history experience, and the park also offers an option of staying overnight in one of several historic lockhouses–each with interpretive media and furnishings which simulate the living conditions of the lock keeper's family during the 1830s, Civil War, the early 1900s, or the 1950s.

The park offers two replica canal boats, drawn by mule; docents in period dress; ranger–led hikes, walks, lift lock demonstrations, power point presentations, and mule programs; canal boat tours; Junior Ranger activities; and a period room overnight experience. The website offers lesson plans, photo galleries, and a coloring page.

Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site [MA]

Description

One of the earliest industrial operations in North America, the Saugus Iron Works was where European iron makers brought their special skills and equipment to one of the earliest American colonies. The Saugus Iron Works was a business failure, and was discovered by archaeologist Roland Robbins in the late 1940s.

The park offers guided tours and ranger led programs for visitors and schoolchildren. Curriculum-based field trip plans are also available. The website offers visitor information, a history of the site, resources for teachers including pre-field trip activities and worksheets, and a calendar of events. In order to contact the historic site via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.