Woodrow Wilson House [DC]

Description

The Woodrow Wilson House is a national historic landmark and house museum that focuses on President Woodrow Wilson's "Washington Years" (1912–1924). The museum promotes a greater awareness of Wilson's public life and ideals for future generations through guided tours, exhibitions, and educational programs. The museum also serves as a community preservation model and resource, dedicated to the stewardship and presentation of an authentic collection and property.

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

Mount Vernon - George Washington's Estate and Gardens [VA]

Description

Mount Vernon was the beloved home of George and Martha Washington from the time of their marriage in 1759 until General Washington's death in 1799. He worked tirelessly to expand his plantation from 2,000 acres to 8,000 and the mansion house from six rooms to 21. Visitors are invited to tour the Mansion house and more than a dozen outbuildings including the slave quarters, kitchen, stables, and greenhouse. They can stroll four different gardens, hike the Forest Trail, and explore the "George Washington: Pioneer Farmer" site, a four-acre working farm that includes a recreation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn. George and Martha Washington rest in peace in the tomb where wreathlaying ceremonies are held daily, and the Slave Memorial and Burial Ground is nearby.

The site offers multimedia presentations, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs, river cruises, research library access, and recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Ash Lawn-Highland, Home of James Monroe [VA]

Description

Ash Lawn-Highland is an historic house museum, 535-acre working farm, and performing arts site. President James Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe of New York, owned Ash Lawn-Highland from 1793 to 1826 and made it their official residence from 1799 to 1823. After the Monroes' death, the name of their farm was changed from "Highland" to "Ash Lawn"; today both names are used.

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

Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site

Description

Lincoln Log Cabin preserves the site of the last home and farm of Abraham Lincoln's father and stepmother, Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln. The Lincolns moved to the farm in 1837. Featured at the site are two living history farms that portray recreated agricultural practices as they existed in 1840s Illinois—the Thomas Lincoln Farm and the Stephen Sargent Farm. About 10 acres of period crops are cultivated, along with a hay field. Animals include teams of working oxen and horses, several sheep, and hogs similar to the razorbacks with which 1840s Illinois farmers were familiar.

The site offers exhibits, living history demonstrations, a short film, and educational and recreational programs and events.

William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum [OH]

Description

The Stark County Historical Society is dedicated to collecting and preserving the significant materials and records related to the history of Stark County and the presidential history of William McKinley. Through the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, the Society serves as an educational center of history and science and offers interpretive exhibitions and educational programs for the local community and its expanding global audience.

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

Surratt House Museum [MD]

Description

Built in 1852 as a middle-class farm house for the family of John and Mary Surratt, the historic Surratt House also served as a tavern and hostelry, a post office, and a polling place during the crucial decade before the Civil War. During the war, it became a safehouse in the Confederate underground system which flourished in Southern Maryland. Today, the museum presents a variety of programs and events, recapturing the history of the mid-19th-century life and focusing on the web of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy and the involvement of the Surratt family.

A second website, maintained by the Surratt Society, can be found here.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, research library access, and monthly recreational and educational events.

George Washington Foundation, Historic Kenmore, and Ferry Farm [VA]

Description

The Foundation operates two historical sites, Historic Kenmore and Ferry Farm. Built by George Washington's sister, Betty Washington Lewis and her husband Fielding Lewis, Kenmore, a 1775 Georgian-style mansion, reflects the pre-Revolutionary War wealth and status of the Fredericksburg merchant. Lewis lost his fortune due to his patriotic support of the war but the house he built remains. Ferry Farm is the boyhood home of George Washington. Augustine Washington moved his family to this property in 1738, when his son, George, was six years old. George received his formal education during his years here, and forged friendships in the neighborhood that lasted the rest of his life. In 1754, George moved to Mount Vernon while his mother, Mary Ball Washington, stayed on at the farm until 1772, when she moved to Fredericksburg.

The foundation offers educational programs and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events); Kenmore offers tours; Ferry Farm offers exhibits and tours.

Talcott Mountain State Park [CT]

Description

The Farmington River Valley landmark of Heublein Tower sits atop Talcott Mountain, a long, precipitous wooded ledge named after the Talcott family. The 165-foot structure was built as a summer home in 1914 by Gilbert Heublein. In the early '50s, two future presidents were guests of the Hartford Times, then General Dwight D. Eisenhower (who was asked to run for office there) and Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors' Guild. Following a period of ownership of the property by the Hartford Times during WWII and the early 1950s, it was slated for residential development by a private corporation when the 557 acres of Talcott Mountain came under public ownership in 1965 through the cooperative efforts of private conservationists and state and federal governments.

The park offers tours.

Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home

Description

Robert Lincoln, the only child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln to survive to adulthood, became chairman of the Pullman Company at the turn of the 20th century. He built Hildene, a Georgian Revival mansion, in 1905 in the scenic village of Manchester, Vermont. It became home to only Lincoln descendants until 1975, longer than any other Lincoln residence. Today, its historic home, gardens, trails, woods, and farm are preserved on 412 acres of quintessential Vermont landscape. Our camps and school programs foster children's love of learning in a safe and friendly environment. Each day they experience a wide variety of hands-on activities that are educational and fun. They are encouraged to explore, experiment and make their own discoveries. All of our school programs support Vermont's Framework of Standards & Learning Opportunities.

Hildene offers tours; exhibits, including "The American Ideal; Abraham Lincoln and the Second Inaugural"; and educational programs.