November 2010

The Mansion, built between 1851-1854, is an excellent example of Rural Gothic Revival Architecture. Rockwood Mansion was built for Joseph Shipley, a merchant banker originally from Wilmington, as a retirement home. Shipley spent most of his life in Liverpool, England where he became wealthy. Rockwood Mansion was inspired by Wyncote, Joseph Shipley's English country house designed by George Williams. Shipley had Williams design Rockwood Mansion, though he had never seen the site. Joseph Shipley moved his entire household from England bringing his favorite dog and horse (Toby and Branker) as well as gardener Robert Shaw and housekeeper Audrey Douglas.

In the 1940's Tuskegee, Alabama became home to a "military experiment" to train America's first African-American military pilots. In time the "experiment" became known as the Tuskegee Experience and the participants as the Tuskegee Airmen. Come share their experience as depicted at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.

Abraham Lincoln and his family made Macon County their first home in Illinois after arriving from Indiana 1830, with Lincoln giving his first political speech in Decatur, as well as practicing law in Macon County's first two courthouses. The story of Lincoln's life in Decatur and Macon County is chronicled in several informative exhibits, with visitors being able to tour the Lincoln Log Courthouse located in the Museum's Prairie Village Complex where Lincoln participated in numerous legal cases that was used in Macon County in the late 1830's.

The Macon County Historical Society had its birth on May 25, 1916, when twelve people met in the Decatur Public Library, adopted a constitution, and elected temporary officers.

For many visitors, standing at the one-acre memorial site it is difficult to imagine more than 20,000 soldiers, Americans, clashing in battle here in Tupelo, Mississippi. Today, the monument is surrounded by the bustle you might expect along any main street in a small city of 35,000 people. Although the opportunity to preserve the battlefield in Tupelo has been long lost, visitors can learn about the scope and impact of this battle that resulted in more than 2,000 casualties. For the student of the battle, the modern urban streets of Tupelo serve as landmarks that lead you to places where hundreds of men made the ultimate sacrifice.

In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and19th-century European country houses.

Winterthur offers a variety of tours, exhibitions, and programs for all ages. Visitors can discover the museum's collection of American antiques celebrating the best in style and craftsmanship, or stroll through the 60-acre garden and surrounding landscape of woodlands, waterways, and rolling meadows. There is also Enchanted Woods, a garden for children of all ages. Lastly, visitors can explore the research library that is a center for the study of American art and material culture.

Less than a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, another new Republic was taking shape. Delegates from the newly independent Republic of Vermont gathered at a Windsor tavern to draft a constitution. It was far reaching — the first to prohibit slavery, establish universal voting rights for all males, and authorize a public school system. The constitution guided the Republic for 14 years until 1791, when Vermont was admitted to the Union as the fourteenth state.

Called the "Birthplace of Vermont", the restored Old Constitution House looks as it did more than 200 years ago. An exhibit recounts the writing of the most progressive constitution of its time, and examines its effect on the politics of the young nation.

During that historic summer, 12,000 soldiers built a massive fort to defend against an anticipated British attack from the north. The very sight of the combined fortresses at Mount Independence and Ticonderoga caused the British to retreat back to Canada later that fall, giving the Americans a crucial year to prepare for invasion. Many American troops and staff went home that winter, reducing the force just 2,500. Those remaining were sickly and a number froze to death. By spring of 1777 new troops arrived but not enough to properly garrison the forts. On July 5th they evacuated the site when British General John Burgoyne’s forces overwhelmed the area. British and German forces remained at Mount Independence until November when they burned and destroyed the site after learning of Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga.

Fort Buford was a United States Army base established in 1866 at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in North Dakota. It is named for John Buford, a Union Army cavalry general from the Civil War. It served an essential role as a sentinel on the northern plains for twenty-nine years, but is likely best remembered as the site where the Sioux chief Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881 after nearly two decades of sporadic fighting.

Fort Buford had just one other claim to fame: Indian raids of the fort—and naturally other forts in the western territories—had ultimately led to the propagation of a hoax called “The Fort Buford Massacre.” Supposedly, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer on April 1st, 1867, all of Fort Buford’s troops had been wiped out, and both the commanding officer and his wife had been captured, to be tortured to death and abused, respectively. The hoax was eventually exposed by Captain Rankin, the commanding officer himself; nevertheless, the media and the public’s willingness to believe this report was indicative of the state of relations between the peoples of the United States and the Indian nations.

Research areas at the center include anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, botany, genealogy, local history, and paleontology.

Tumacácori NHP protects three Spanish colonial mission ruins in southern Arizona: Tumacácori, Guevavi, and Calabazas. The adobe structures are on three sites, with a visitor center at Tumacácori. These missions are among more than twenty established in the Pimería Alta by Father Kino and other Jesuits, and later expanded upon by Franciscan missionaries.