Bartram's Garden

Description

Visitors to Bartram's Garden experience America's oldest living botanical garden, a pastoral 18th-century homestead surrounded by the urban bustle of Philadelphia. They can visit the wildflower meadow, majestic trees, river trail, wetland, stone house and farm buildings overlooking the Schuylkill River, and the historic botanic garden of American native plants.

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

Hay House [GA]

Description

The 1859 Italian Renaissance Revival-style Hay House is a historic house museum, which largely contains pieces from 1926 to 1962. In those years, the Hay family occupied the house. Parks Lee Hay founded Banker's Health and Life Insurance Company. At the time of construction, the house was already outfitted with hot and cold running water, an early intercom system, indoor bathrooms, heating, and a ventilation system. Tours focus on these features and on the architecture itself.

The house offers period rooms, guided tours, traveling trunks for kindergarten through eighth-grade students, nine curriculum-based programs for kindergarten through high school students, homeschool programs, and educational programs for teachers.

Jack House and Gardens [CA]

Description

The 1880 Jack House and Gardens presents the home of San Luis Obispo, California's Jack family. The Jacks—ranchers, politicians, land developers, and bankers—lived in the home for more than 90 years, and the site is furnished with many of their personal belongings. The home is decorated to interpret Victorian daily life, and the gardens include period varieties of roses.

The house offers period rooms, guided tours, and self-guided gardens tours.

Grayson County Historical Society and Museum [KY]

Description

The Grayson County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Grayson County, Kentucky. To this end, the society operates a museum and research library within the circa 1814 Jack Thomas House. The society also operates the 1835 Buchanan Log Cabin, which houses home and farm tools. Highlights within the cabin include a handmade loom, over a century in age.

The society offers exhibits, tours of the Buchanan Log Cabin, and research library access.

Mount Clare Museum House [MD]

Description

The 1760 Georgian colonial Mount Clare Museum House once served as a plantation residence. The site was home to Charles Carrol (1737-1832), U.S. Senator and Barrister. The majority of the collection's 3,000 18th- and 19th-century pieces of furniture, artworks, decorative arts, and other artifacts are on display within the home. The site is primarily used to interpret 18th-century plantation life—that of the owners, slaves, and indentured servants.

The house offers an introductory video, tours, Scout and elementary school student tours with optional activities, outreach programs on 18th-century children's life for students, day camps, and research library access. Appointments are required for research library access and student programming. The second floor of the residence is not wheelchair accessible. The website offers the introductory video, activities, and lesson plans.

Rockingham [NJ]

Description

Rockingham is believed to be the second oldest house in the Millstone River valley, its original construction dating between 1702 and 1710. Jedidiah Higgins, one of the earliest settlers in the Rocky Hill–Kingston area, is credited with building the house. In 1783, while the Continental Congress was meeting at Nassau Hall in nearby Princeton, Congress rented this house from the widow of Judge John Berrien for use by General George Washington from August 23 to November 10, 1783. Martha Washington joined him at Rockingham.

A second website for the site can be found here.

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

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library [VA]

Description

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, located at the site of Woodrow Wilson's birth in Staunton, VA, provides a museum and memorial for the presidency and life of Woodrow Wilson. The library consists of a museum, which takes visitors through Wilson's life, and a vast research library, which offers all papers from Wilson's presidency.

The library offers field trip programs, guided tours, galleries and exhibits, and educational outreach programs. The website offers resources for teachers, visitor information, a brief biography of Woodrow Wilson, and online access to the library.

Gadsby’s Tavern Museum [VA]

Description

Gadsby's Tavern Museum consists of two buildings, a circa 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Hotel. The buildings are named for Englishman John Gadsby who operated them from 1796 to 1808. Mr. Gadsby's establishment was a center of political, business, and social life in early Alexandria. The tavern was the setting for dancing assemblies, theatrical and musical performances, and meetings of local organizations. George Washington enjoyed the hospitality provided by tavernkeepers and twice attended the annual Birthnight Ball held in his honor. Other prominent patrons included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Visitors are invited to take a moment to journey back to the 18th-century tavern and hotel where famous historical figures and everyday people dined and slept and learn about the history, architecture, decorative arts, social customs, food, and clothing of a past era.

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

Grover Cleveland Birthplace [NJ]

Description

In 1837, Grover Cleveland was born in this house while his father, the Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland, was the minister to the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell. Most of the first floor rooms portray the house as it was in 1837. Among the artifacts on display from Cleveland's early years are his cradle and original family portraits. The exhibit gallery features a striking display of artifacts that reflect the financial and political success Cleveland achieved during the last quarter of the 19th century. Here, the mud-slinging campaign of 1884, the public's intense interest in his wife and children, and America's political climate throughout his split terms of office are explored.

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

Howard Steamboat Museum [IN]

Description

The Howard Steamboat Museum is located within and includes the 1894 residence of the Howards, a steamboat building family. The house contains many of its original furnishings, some of which were created by shipyard master craftsmen. The Howard Shipyard would eventually become the country's largest inland shipyard. The museum also includes artifacts relevant to the era of the steamboat, including models and paintings of vessels. Collection highlights include the paddle wheel shaft of the Delta Queen and paintings by Harlan Hubbard.

The museum offers exhibits, period rooms, and guided tours. The website offers historic photographs.