November 2010

Frank Lloyd Wright literally created Taliesin West "out of the desert." He and his apprentices gathered rocks from the desert floor and sand from the washes to build this great desert masterpiece. From the beginning, this remarkable set of buildings astounded architectural critics with its beauty and unusual form.

Situated on 600 acres of rugged Sonoran desert at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taliesin West is now a National Historic Landmark.

Visitors to Taliesin West will not see a museum, but rather a remarkably vital and active community of students and architects working together to maintain Wright's vision. Today 70 people live, work and study at Taliesin West.

Alaska's pioneer history coincided with advances and experiments in flight, and this Fairbanks museum chronicles the progression of both.

Alaska's air history is rich and exciting. The Great Land's frontiers were being explored just as the early pilots and explorers were testing the frontiers of flight. It was an inspiring time.



Housed in the beautiful gold dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller, the museum's rare and unique collection of over 500 photographs chronicle early flight and the brave men and women who ventured into the unknown.



Displayed are memorabilia, and the personal records of pilots famous for daring adventures. Also shown are 14 actual aircraft and one of the largest piston engine displays ever assembled.

Since 1727 New Orleanians have worshipped in churches on this site. Half a dozen years earlier, the French engineer, Adrien De Pauger, who arrived in the newly founded city on March 29, 1721, designated this site for a church in conformity with the plan of the Engineer-in-Chief of Louisiana, LeBlond de la Tour, who was at the capital, Biloxi.

The new parish church, dedicated to Louis IX, sainted King of France, was thus perhaps the first building in New Orleans of "brick between posts" (banquete entre poteaux) construction, an effective method of building that continued to be used in Louisiana until at least the middle of the nineteenth century. De Pauger, unfortunately, died on June 21, 1726, before his church was completed. In his will he requested that he be buried within the unfinished building, a request presumably granted.

Under the direction of John Wesley after the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury met during a service at this chapel in 1784. From that point they organized a meeting in Baltimore for other Methodist preachers in the country, and the church was officially established Christmas Day of 1784. The outdoor appearance of the church is still very close to its 1784 appearance. The interior appearance dates to about 1842 due to renovations on the interior. Today it is owned and maintained by the Commission on Archives and History of the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Both the Shiloh Battlefield and the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center have large exhibit spaces dedicated to showing visitors the tools of war, the people who used those tools, and the effects of their use. The Shiloh Battlefield has a 9.5 mile auto tour route with 14 tour stops at such famous places as Bloody Pond, the Hornet's Nest, and the Albert Sidney Johnston death site. Visitors may also take auto and walking tours of Civil War Corinth, MS. This route includes surviving Civil War fortifications, homes used by Civil War Generals, and portions of the Corinth Battlefield. Both Shiloh and Corinth host several living history events throughout the year, mostly from April to October. The major event each year is the Battle of Shiloh anniversary living history demonstration.

The plantation is located on the Mississippi River between the historic Louisiana cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The quarter-mile canopy of giant live oak trees, believed to be nearly 300 years old, forms an impressive avenue leading to the classic Greek-revival style antebellum home.

Tours of the mansion are conducted by guides dressed in period costumes and are given on the hour, generally lasting 35 to 40 minutes. Visitors may walk the well-manicured grounds at their leisure with the help of a grounds map, which is provided when you purchase your ticket. For our international visitors, we offer a ground map and a brief written history of the mansion tour in French, Spanish and German.

According to tradition, the Allee House was built about 1753 by Abraham Allee, the son of John Allee, a Huguenot refugee from Artois, France. The house Abraham Allee built at Bombay Hook features fine brickwork laid in Flemish bond with a few glazed header bricks. Originally consisting of four rooms, Allee House expanded with a that was added some time after the original four rooms. During the restoration of the Allee House it was discovered that much of the early wrought iron hardware was still in place. This restoration was complete in 1966, and the house went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Currently the house is closed until further notice.

Renovations are underway to develop a unique museum that will draw music fans throughout the world to the place where Southern rock was born. The Allman Brothers Band Museum will be a rarity. There’ll be listening, visual and hands-on experiences with plenty of family and kid appeal. The extensive amount of memorabilia will allow exhibits to change and special traveling exhibits will be sought through the Smithsonian Institution and other museum connections.

The building that houses the museum served as the Hamilton County Jail from 1935 to 1990. The Museum contains a display room with exhibits and artifacts; a main room with a ribbon case, dolls, and an Edison Victrola (a type of phonograph) purchased in 1919; a ladies' room with antique clothing, dolls, and quilts; and a military room with articles from WWI and WWII. Visitors can also explore the Old Jail Kitchen, where food was prepared for inmates while the building served as an incarceration facility.

While at this historic site, there are several activities to participate in. Visitors are encouraged to drive the historic route from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. While in Selma, visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Street Walking Tour which includes Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, First Baptist Church, Carver Homes and wayside exhibits. Other sites of interest in Selma include the National Voting Rights Museum & park (privately owned), Slavery & Civil War Museum, Old Depot Museum, Smitherman Museum and Edmund Pettus Bridge. The Lowndes County Interpretive Center is the first of three planned National Park Service visitor centers along the Trail route. The Interpretive Center is located midway between Selma and Montgomery. In Montgomery visit the Rosa Parks Museum, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church & parsonage, Alabama State Capitol and the Civil Rights Monument.