November 2010

Featuring the rich history of the Ocoee River and Chattanooga region, the Museum Center at 5ive Points offers visitors artifacts, exhibits and galleries of the South.

The Museum Center at 5ive Points opened to the public on September 11, 1999, after breaking ground nearly a year and a half earlier on May 29, 1998. The Museum Center is both a museum and cultural center and houses exhibits and artifacts relating to the history of the Ocoee Region of Tennessee which includes Bradley and Polk Counties . The Museum store is a gallery showcasing the arts and crafts of the South. The facility is also often used for private and community events.

Boasting one of the largest collections of primary and secondary materials on the history of California, the California Historical Society is located in the former San Francisco Builders Exchange.

In June 1871 a group of people assembled at 323 California Street, marking the first of four attempts to begin the California Historical Society. After the undocumented collapse of the first group, a second attempt to revive CHS lasted from 1886-1891. In 1902 the ailing Society partnered with the California Genealogical Society and for a brief period the collaboration prospered. The earthquake and fire damage of 1906 induced yet another break of the Society.

Finally in 1922 C. Templeton Crocker, grandson of Charles Crocker, permanently resurrected the Society. Crocker’s financial generosity supported CHS until the dues collected enabled the organization to hire its first staff member in March 1923. The group held its first exhibition at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco in 1924.

A collection of eight historical sites, the York County Heritage Trust offers visitors a taste of the diverse history of York County, Pennsylvania.

The roots of the York County Heritage Trust can be traced to 1895 when a group of interested citizens formed the Historical Society of York County (HSYC). The HSYC began to collect, preserve and interpret the history and culture of YorkCounty. The Society’s original focus was the development of a library to serve as a repository for the County’s genealogical resource material. By the early 1900s a growing collection of artifacts led to the opening of a museum in the county courthouse. The historical society outgrew its space by 1938 and moved two blocks east. In 1959 the HistoricalSocietyMuseum and Library/Archives relocated once more to the present location at

Members of the Society had long dreamed of creating a county historical museum where local artifacts could be properly displayed and archived. This dream was realized on October 4, 1955.

Funds for the construction of the Carnegie Library building were provided by a grant of $10,000 from steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, who funded the establishment of some 3,000 libraries worldwide. The Museum building was designed by W.H. Weeks, an architect from Watsonville , California , and was built by the construction firm of Stephens and Maino of San Luis Obispo. The structure's sandstone was brought from Los Berros, near Arroyo Grande. The granite in the building was quarried from nearby Bishop's Peak and brought into the city on a spur of the narrow gauge Pacific Coast Railway. The Museum is the only building in San Luis Obispo County built with both of these local stones.

Congressman Hugh White’s 1830 Greek-revival homestead, located near the Champlain Canal Towpath, contains two Victorian period rooms, the George and Annabel O'Connor Library for Local History, and an exhibition on local history spanning from the town’s beginning as a Dutch trade center to its emergence as an important gateway from the Hudson River to the Champlain Canal in 1823.

In 1828, the Delaware and Hudson Canal connected Rondout to the Pennsylvania coal trade, transforming the sleepy Dutch riverside town into the most prosperous port between New York City and Albany. Today, the Kingston Heritage visitor’s center provides a timeline of the Strand’s history and maps of the 570-acre downtown historic district, which boasts more than 200 19th-century buildings. The 100-room Mansion House and the Sampson Opera House have been restored and converted to popular shops and restaurants.

Completed in 1869 at the mouth of Esopus Creek, the Coast Guard lighthouse was abandoned in 1954 and later restored by the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy in 1984. Today, the 46-foot-tall lighthouse is accessible by a one-half mile nature trail; its keeper offers personal tours of the lighthouse and its two guest rooms (if not occupied). A museum room features models of 19th-century steamships and a film on the lighthouse’s history and restoration.

Site of the infamous "Fort William Henry Massacre," the reconstructed fort displays military artifacts from the French and Indian War.

Built in 1755 during the French and Indian War as a staging point for sorties against French Fort Carillon, the British stronghold fell to French forces in 1757 and was destroyed. The subject of Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, the battle ended with the murder of some surrendered British soldiers by Native Americans. Rebuilt for tourists in the 1950s, the fort devotes three barracks to the exhibition of artifacts from the on-site archaeological excavation. Guided tours and living history events offer children the opportunity to wear 18th-century-style uniforms and participate in military drills.

In 1874 New York Supreme Court Judge Joseph Potter built the three-story Victorian gothic-style manor out of sandstone quarried from Skene Mountain. Converted into a bar and restaurant in 1946, the home and gardens are now open for tours.