Osceola County Historical Society, Museum, and Pioneer Village [FL]

Description

The Osceola County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the Kissimmee and St. Cloud areas, Florida. To this end, the society operates a museum and a historical village, which depicts early pioneer life in the state of Florida. Permanent exhibits include general local history and the county citrus industry. The village includes a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, citrus packing house, wash and smoke house, residence, cattleman camp, country store, and water tower.

The society offers exhibits, period rooms, field trip programs about pioneer or cattleman life, outreach presentations for schools, a high school history club, a Scout program, continuing education programs, summer camps, and research library access.

Skylands Manor, Ringwood Manor, and State Botanical Garden [NJ]

Description

Skylands Manor, with its English Jacobean architecture common in the English countryside 400 years ago, was designed by John Russell Pope for Clarence McKensie Lewis, a stockbrocker and civil engineer. Built in the 1920s, it is constructed of native stone and half-timbers. The weathered stone facade of this 44-room mansion blends into the landscape. The mansion contains rooms with antique paneling as well as new American Oak paneling and large windows, some of which contain 16th-century stained glass medallions. Moulded plaster ceilings and an elaborately carved staircase add the finishing touches to this impressive country house. Ringwood Manor, which was home for a succession of well-known ironmasters for nearly 200 years, sits comfortably on a low hill. Iron production in this area began in the 1740s. In the mid-19 century, Ringwood Manor was owned by Abram S. Hewitt, America's foremost ironmaster. Dedicated in 1984, the State Botanical Garden is the culmination of two eras of landscape architecture under the direction of Francis Lynde Stetson, owner of Skylands from 1891—1922. The garden contains an extensive variety of plants, including evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs in specialty areas.

A second website specifically for Ringwood can be found here.

A second website specifically for Skylands and the State Botanical Garden can be found here.

The sites offer tours and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Southwest Seattle Historical Society and Log House Museum [WA]

Description

The Society's Log House Museum is located in a renovated turn-of-the-century log structure which once served as a carriage house, or stable, to the Fir Lodge. The 1900s Fir Lodge was one of the first year-round homes built on Alki Beach and was owned by prominent Seattleites, William and Gladys Bernard. Today, the carriage house houses exhibits on local history.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Oak Creek Historical Society and Museum [WI]

Description

The Oak Creek Historical Society operates a museum complex. The complex includes the 1840s Hughes Log Cabin, which depicts Wisconsin pioneer life; an 1890 summer kitchen, displaying the history of textile cleaning techniques; the 1874 Oak Creek Town Hall; an 1886 blacksmith shop; a farm shed with farming implements from the 1830s through 1950s; and a print shop.

The society offers period rooms, exhibits, and guided tours.

Buttolph-Williams House [CT]

Description

With its diamond-paned casement windows, clapboards weathered nearly black, and hewn overhangs, the Buttolph-Williams House harks back to the Puritan pioneering of New England during the 1600s. Although actually built around 1711, the house reflects the continuing popularity of traditional architecture. As a result it is considered the most faithful restoration of a 17th-century-style Connecticut Valley house. An array of colonial-era furnishings is on display. Highlights include a room designed and decorated by Katherine Prentiss Murphy, one of the 20th century's most renowned antiques collectors, and a kitchen with an enormous open hearth and an assortment of Colonial-era cooking implements.

The house offers exhibits and tours.

Hearst San Simeon State Historic Monument and Castle [CA]

Description

La Cuesta Encantada, "The Enchanted Hill" high above the ocean at San Simeon, was the creation of two extraordinary individuals, William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan. Their collaboration, which began in 1919 and continued for nearly 30 years, transformed an informal hilltop campsite into the world-famous Hearst Castle—a 115-room main house plus guesthouses, pools, and eight acres of cultivated gardens. The main house itself, "La Casa Grande," is a grand setting for Hearst's collection of European antiques and art pieces. It was also a most fitting site for hosting the many influential guests who stayed at Hearst's San Simeon ranch. Guests included President Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin, and a diverse array of luminaries from show business and publishing industries.

The site offers exhibits, tours, a 40-min. film, living history presentations, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Jefferson Landing State Historic Site [MO]

Description

Jefferson Landing State Historic Site is significant as a rare surviving Missouri River landing. The Lohman Building, built in 1839, is a sturdy stone structure that served as a tavern and hotel, and in its heyday also housed one of the city's largest warehouse and mercantile businesses. Today, the main floor contains a visitor center with exhibits on transportation. Across the street from the Lohman Building is the Union Hotel, built in 1855. Today, the hotel houses the Elizabeth Rozier Gallery with its program of rotating exhibits emphasizing Missouri art and culture. A block away, the Missouri State Capitol is more than just the seat of government. Inside the Capitol, the Missouri State Museum houses an impressive collection of exhibits that portray Missouri's history, legends, and cultural achievements. A free guided tour is recommended to fully experience this monument to Missouri, but visitors can explore the four floors of the Capitol by themselves.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and a short film.

Wilton House Museum [VA]

Description

The Wilton House is a circa 1753 Georgian style home, once the center of the Randolph family's tobacco plantation. Site guests included Washington, Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Collections date from the 18th- and 19th-century, and assist in the interpretation of the mid-18th-century plantation owner lifestyle and the story of the Wilton House and its residents. The site is furnished to the specifications of an 1815 survey.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, curriculum-based tours for students, hands-on activities for students, an outreach program for students, an after school program, a day trip to local sites for students, group tours, Scout tours, and summer camps. Two weeks advance notice is required for school tours. Please mention at the time of reservation if disability accommodations are needed.

San Antonio Conservation Society [TX]

Description

The San Antonio Conservation Society is primarily a local preservation advocacy organization. However, the society also operates two historic house museums, namely the Steves Homestead and Yturri-Edmonds House. The 1876 Steves Homestead consists of the main residence and servant's quarters. The circa 1840-1860 Yturri-Edmonds House is a rare adobe block home. The grounds contain a reconstructed 1820 grist mill.

The society offers tours, period rooms, self-guided walking tours, an annual educator seminar, an annual fourth grade bus tour, research library access, and research services. A fee is charged for more than one hour of research conducted upon request.