November 2010

The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War.

Fort Necessity, a circular, palisaded fort, was built in 1754 by George Washington and his forces after a skirmish at Jumonville Glen, after which Washington expected another fight. On the morning of July 3, a force of about 600 French and 100 Indians approached the fort. After the French took up positions in the woods, Washington withdrew his men to the entrenchments. Rain fell throughout the day, flooding the marshy ground. Both sides suffered casualties, but the British losses were greater than French and Indian losses, and Washington surrendered.

Visitors can begin at the Visitor Center, where there is a 20-minute introductory film as well as, at various points throughout the summer months, talks, tours, and historic weapons demonstrations. A short walk from the Visitor Center is the fort. Other sites in the park include the Mount Washington Tavern, which looks at life on the nearby National Road, the grave of British Gen. Edward Braddock, and Jumonville Glen, the site of Washington's first encounter with the French.

There are many historic buildings on the museum grounds such as the Ellis School, a one room school house built in 1833. There are two large barns on the grounds which house carriages from Mr. Nutter Marvel's collection. Among these carriages are the Queen's carriage, the Disney carriage, a peddlers wagon and an 1800's era horse drawn hearse carriage.

Fendall Hall is one of Alabama’s outstanding Italianate houses and contains elaborate and rare interior decorative painting dating from the 1880s. Completed in 1860 by Edward and Anna Young, it was home to five generations of the Young family. Among its many treasures are family and period furnishings, marble mantles, and a black and white marble tiled entry. The five-acre site includes gardens and archaeological features.

Fendall Hall was built by Edward Young, one of Eufaula's leading citizens, around 1860. After serving as home for five generations of Youngs and their descendants, the house is now open to the public. It was purchased by the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) in 1973 for preservation as a house museum. It is restored and interpreted to the 1880-1916 occupancy of the home.

Located on the grounds of the renowned Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware, it derives its name from the town in France represented by Mr. duPont's great-great-grandfather, Pierre Samuel duPont de Nemours, as a member of the French Estates General in 1789. The mansion was built from 1909 to 1910 and is a fine example of a French chateau in the style of Louis XVIth. The 47,000 sq. ft. mansion looms over the surrounding formal gardens and is furnished with fine antiques, famous works of art, beautiful tapestries, and other treasures. The grounds surrounding the mansion extend for one third of a mile along the main vista from the house, and are among the finest examples of French-style gardens in the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt first came to the badlands in September 1883 on a hunting trip. While here he became interested in the cattle business and invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch. He returned the next year and established the Elkhorn Ranch. Years later he stated several times, "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota."

In 1967, a memorial to E.R. Johnson was created by the inventor's family and the State of Delaware. Today, with the family's blessing, the museum has assembled an extensive holding including Johnson's personal collection and many subsequent additions. Exhibits include phonographs, recordings, memorabilia, trademarks, objects, and paintings that highlight Mr. Johnson's successful business enterprises and chronicle the development of the sound-recording industry.

The United States Army Aviation Museum, located in South-central Alabama, maintains a collection of over 160 military aircraft, including one of the largest collections of military helicopters in the world. Public galleries represent the Army's involvement in aviation from the beginning days of the Wright brothers and early combat aircraft from World War I, to the highly technological machines flown by Army aviators today.

It was January 18, 1740 when Samuel Dickinson, a wealthy Quaker tobacco planter and merchant of Talbot County, Maryland moved his family to the plantation on Jones Neck, southeast of Dover, Delaware. John Dickinson was seven years old at the time. Over the next 68 years, until his death in 1808, John Dickinson split time between this country plantation that he inherited from his father, and his city homes in Philadelphia and later, Wilmington. And throughout that time, he played a key role in the birth of a new nation-the United States of America.

After John's death in 1808, the plantation passed to his daughter and remained in the family until the 20th Century, when it passed through a series of owners. In 1952, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Delaware purchased the mansion with 12 acres of land for $25,000. They presented the site to the State in Constitution Day ceremonies that year. The mansion opened as a museum in May 1956, after three and a half years of restoration.

The museum's interior represents a late 19th century main street featuring five shops that were common in many of Delaware's small towns. The exhibits allow visitors to observe workways and lifestyles in the time period immediately preceding the invention of electricity. These five shops are a print shop, woodworking shop, pharmacy, general store, and post office.

Confederate Memorial Park is the site of Alabama's only Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans. In operation from 1902 to 1939, the home cared for elderly veterans, and wives and widows of veterans. The site included 22 buildings consisting of cottages, a hospital, dairy barn, mess hall, an elaborate water and sewage system, and Memorial Hall, an administration building which held offices, a library, and a large auditorium. The home served between 650 and 800 residents. The majority of veterans served in Alabama outfits, but many were from other Confederate states and moved to Alabama after the war. The last veteran died at the home in 1934. The facility closed in 1939 when the five remaining widows were moved to Montgomery for better care.

Features of the 102-acre site include two cemeteries, Mountain Creek Post Office, Marbury Methodist Church, nature trail, covered pavilions, a museum containing artifacts from the Alabama Old Soldiers Home, and uniforms, weapons, and equipment used during the Civil War.