November 2010

The newly remodeled facility features the fishing tug Hope built in 1930 by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works (currently Great Lakes Yacht Works). Visitors can board the boat and view its last fishing trip in 1992. Along with the Hope is the remake of a net shed complete with fishing boxes, a net reel, and other traditional fishing supplies. The Museum also features exhibits on shipwrecks and lifesaving including a lyle gun used to rescue mariners from shipwrecks. The Museum at Gills Rock also houses an area devoted to marine engines including those built at Kahlenberg Brothers of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Other exhibit areas cover ice fishing and navigation.

Visitors to Cana Island walk across the rock causeway from the Door County mainland to the island. The history of the lighthouse is told inside the keeper's house where, beginning in 1869, the first of a number of lighthouse keepers tended to the light which guided sailors and protected them from the dangerous shoals extending out from the island into Lake Michigan. Also preserved is the oil house, where fuel for the light was stored prior to days when electricity came to the island.

The museum houses a gallery containing scale models of boats and ships built in Sturgeon Bay, including half-hull or plating models. It also has an exhibit on the area's lighthouses, including a full-size replication of the lantern room of the Sherwood Point lighthouse.

A chronological history of shipbuilding begins here in mid 1800 with Indian dugouts and birch bark canoes and continues to the present, including exhibits of the late 1800s Great Lakes lumber schooners; the early 1900 shipyards of Sturgeon Bay; the 1940-1970s war efforts of Sturgeon Bay shipbuilders; and present-day shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay.

There is an extensive exhibit on the raising of the George M. Humphrey, one of the largest ships to ever have been salvaged, refitted and sailed. Captain John Roen's and Roen Salvage's role in Door County's maritime history is fully documented, along with actual equipment used in salvage operations including a decompression chamber and hard hat diver's outfit. The Engine Room includes a collection of antique outboard motors. Also here is Jim's Boat Shop -- actual building space for boat builders where visitors to the museum may see works in progress.

North Star Scouting Memorabilia, Inc was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit corporation to collect scouting equipment and artifacts. For over 30 years, North Star Scouting has acquired over 150,000 items of memorabilia, which include uniforms, books, magazines, pictures, movies, tapes, and historical records.

If you don't mind a little walking, you can easily trace Ichabod Crane's famous ride up the Albany Post Road (now Route 9, Broadway). There are several local sites Irving may have had in mind for the Van Tassel farm, but the dominant version revolves around the former Elizabeth Van Tassel house at what is now the northeast corner of Hamilton Place and North Broadway in Tarrytown, now the Landmark Condominium building. From the site of the Elizabeth Van Tassel house, walk north about 0.3 mile on Route 9 (North Broadway) to the André captors' monument in Patriots Park, the spot where Ichabod was met by the headless horseman. From here you can, if you wish, approximate Ichabod's flight by galloping frantically along Broadway until you reach the Old Dutch Church, about 0.6 mile. (article by Jim Logan)

Focusing on the last century of development in the Green Lake area, the Historical Society holds records for the area's one room schoolhouses, municipal records, and county court records. It has thousands of photographs as well as microfilms of Green Lake newspapers dating from 1860.

The Depot Museum, located down the road at 552 Mill Street, contains more exhibits on the area.

View rare artifacts and immerse yourself in the lore of the Iowa Great Lakes. See a rare collection of antique wooden boats and view a boat pulled from the depths of West Okoboji. Browse the new reproduction of the "Okoboji Store" or peruse retro ride parts, signs and other souvenirs left from Historic Arnolds Park's earlier days.

The 1808 Blount-Bridgers House, “the Grove,” is a national historic landmark, is home to a permanent collection that celebrates the 200 year-old material culture of Edgecombe County and the creative achievements of Tarboro-born artist, Hobson Pittman (1899-1972). Nineteenth century ceramics and twentieth century Jugtown pottery are featured, along with silver and iron utilitarian objects. The extensive Batts textile collection includes 19th century clothing, quilts, military uniforms and household linens. Archival records and architectural information about Edgecombe County homes are actively collected and preserved. Also on the grounds is the restored circa 1810 Silas Everette House.

The first schoolhouse in the vicinity was built in 1862 to serve area residents before the city of Ames was established. The acquisition, move, and restoration of this school were the driving forces in the founding of the Ames Heritage Association (now Ames Historical Society). In 1981, the one-room log-frame building was moved from 1008 3rd Street, where it had been incorporated into a dwelling, to its present site. Hundreds of visitors are welcomed at the school each season, and entire classes can be accommodated for an unforgettable living history experience. Out of a total of 53 remaining one-room schools in Story County, Hoggatt is one of four preserved as museums.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art displays a premier collection of American art ranging from the colonial period to the present. Built in 1917 by Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the house originally occupied the center of a 1,067-acre estate. It opened to the public as an institution dedicated to the arts and education in 1965, and as an art museum in 1967.

Reynolda was the home of two generations of the Reynolds family. In 1935, Mary Reynolds Babcock, the elder daughter, acquired the estate. She and her husband Charlie Babcock used the house as their vacation home until 1948 at which time they moved permanently to Reynolda. The property remained in the family for nearly fifty years. The museum has restored interior rooms and furnishings to reflect the periods when the family lived here.