November 2010

Originally named the Ocean City Life-Saving Station, the Life-Saving Service and later the U. S. Coast Guard actively used the building until 1964. The life-saving station was part of the coastal system, established by the United States Treasury Department, for the saving of vessels in distress and lives in peril upon the water.

Nicknamed the "Forks of the Ohio," the park is not only the site of a confluence of major rivers, but was a pivotal turning point in the French and Indian War as well.

In the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers meet at Point State Park to form the Ohio River. The park is also the historic site of what was once Fort Duquesne. Erected in 1754, the fort that gave the French control of the Ohio Valley until 1758, when they abandoned it in advance of the coming assault by General John Forbes and 6,000 troops. The British hastily constructed Fort Pitt on the site, the most extensive fortification by the British in the American colonies. Fort Pitt served to open up the frontier to settlement and Pittsburgh became the "Gateway to the West."

Today, the park boasts a museum to the fort, walking promenades with spectacular views of downtown Pittsburgh, and a 150-foot tall fountain.

One of the most famous sites of the Revolutionary War, the name Valley Forge is synonymous with hardship.

Washington's troops endured freezing conditions, disease, and scarce food during their winter encampment, only to push through and rout the British in the following years.

Established in 1893, Valley Forge was Pennsylvania's first state park and it remains one of its most popular.

Aside from the restored buildings like Washington's headquarters and typical soldiers' quarters, there is a memorial chapel and a monument to those lost at Valley Forge.

The park is also surrounded by nature trails that are popular for hiking and biking and rivers teeming with fish.

Snee Farm, Pinckney’s coastal plantation, offers an opportunity to learn about the cultural environment that influenced Pinckney and his contributions to the framing of the Constitution, and is an important element in the understanding of the first 30 to 40 years of the United States as a young nation.

The wealth of elite South Carolina Lowcountry families was reflected in their numerous plantations. Unlike their counterparts in Virginia, however, these families also owned houses in Charleston and frequently moved from town to plantation and back, depending on the season. Snee Farm, a favorite “country seat,” was among the many properties owned by the Pinckneys. Purchased by his father in 1754, the 715-acre estate was inherited by Pinckney in 1782. President George Washington visited the site in 1791 while touring the southern states.

The Channel Islands have attracted many explorers, scientists and historians during the past few centuries. Today, island visitors can explore the world of the native Chumash, walk the shores where European explorers landed, discover new tales from California’s ranching history, and witness the remains of off-shore shipwrecks.

The northern Channel Islands were home to many native Chumash communities who are believed to have inhabited the islands for thousands of years. When Europeans first reached the islands in the 16th century, they discovered a rich culture dependent upon the resources of the land and the sea for sustenance and survival. By the nineteenth century, the islands were fulfilling different purposes: vast sheep and cattle ranches occupied Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel islands and the channel waters were aggressively harvested for fish and marine mammals. The remains of ancient Chumash villages are intermingled with historic ranch complexes and later military structures, testifying to the diverse heritage of human experience on these offshore islands.

Broadcast around the world, the events at this high school made Little Rock the site of the first important test of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower was compelled by white mob violence to use federal troops to ensure the rights of African-American children to attend the previously all-white school, he became the first president since the post-Civil War Reconstruction period to use federal troops in support of African-American civil rights.

The National World War II Memorial commemorates the sacrifices and celebrates the victory of the of the WWII generation.

The memorial was completed and dedicated in 2004 and is located on The National Mall between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial. WWII involved the efforts of the whole country and the memorial pays homage to the soldiers and to the millions of others who supported and contributed to the historic military campaign. Friedrich St.Florian’s winning design balances classical and modernist styles of architecture, harmonizes with its natural and cultural surroundings, and connects the legacy of the American Revolution and the American Civil War with great crusade to rid the world of fascism.

This museum celebrates high art hand craftsmanship through the work of Wharton Esherick.

Just before he died in 1970, Esherick was heralded by the national art and design community as the "Dean of American Craftsmen." However, gaining praise such as this was not always easy. Much of his career was spent in isolation during a period when crafstmanship was held in low regard by American culture. This museum celebrates the change that Esherick helped bring about. On display are samples of furniture, sculpture, and architectural interior that Esherick created.

At the time of European contact American Indian groups, including Piedmont Siouans, Catawbas, Shawnee, Delaware, Northern Iroquois (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and later Tuscarora), Cherokee, and Susquehannocks, are thought to have been active in the park area.

The Lower Shenandoah became a settled landscape consisting primarily of small towns and dispersed and enclosed farms. In 1738 the first two counties west of the Blue Ridge were formed—Agusta and Frederick. The celebrated first European settler of the region was Jost Hite, who came to North America in 1709. After settling in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, Hite received a land grant from Virginia Governor Sir William Gooch in 1731 and led a group of 16 families to Virginia. Hite built a cabin and fort at Opequon Creek, near present-day Springdale along U.S. 11.

The park’s cultural resources represent a long and varied continuum of human use starting in prehistoric times, and illustrating many adaptations to the Chihuahuan Desert environment. Human activities, including prehistoric and historic American Indian occupations, European exploration and settlement, industrial exploitation, commercial and cavern accessibility development, and tourism have each left reminders of their presence, and each has contributed to the rich and diverse history of the area.

The park has two historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places—the Cavern Historic District and the Rattlesnake Springs Historic District. The park museum, including the park archives, contains about 1,000,000 cultural resource specimens that are being preserved and protected for future generations.