November 2010

Overton County Heritage Museum hosts a variety of exhibits which showcase and honor local heroes and history. Among them is B.C. Goodpasture, a noted writer and preacher who himself was from Overton County. There are also interactive activities such as "And Justice for all," where visitors may visit a replica jail cell in order to discourage them from lives of crime. Many photographs of the devastation wreaked by the "Twister of 1933" are also on display.

The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area encompasses the mountains of North Carolina and includes the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The region’s distinctive landscape contains eastern America’s tallest mountain and deepest gorge. The original inhabitants of the North Carolina mountains, the Cherokee are now experiencing a cultural renaissance and renewed interest in their history, language, and culture. Building on age-old craft traditions of the Cherokee, Scots-Irish, and other immigrant cultures – traditions that have been nurtured by prominent craft schools and guilds established in the last century – the North Carolina mountains have become the country’s center for handmade crafts.

Wright designed and built Fallingwater from 1936 to 1939 for the Kaufmann family. In 1938, it graced the cover of Time Magazine and became instantly famous for its unmatched architectural beauty and creative design incorporating cantilevered steel over a 30 foot waterfall. The Kaufmanns had wanted a view of the falls, but instead their house was built directly over them. Wright explained that he wanted them to live with the falls and make them a part of their everyday life, not just look at them from time to time. Today, a variety of tours are held throughout the year at Fallingwater. It is still one of America's favorite homes.

The ETHS Museum offers both permanent and changing exhibits that focus on the rich history and heritage of East Tennessee, as well as unique traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian and other venues.

The East Tennessee Streetscape recreates an urban street corner from the early 1900s. Visitors can wander through the Corner Drug Story and look at medicines and remedies from a bygone era (as well as a few that will still be familiar); they can climb aboard Streetcar No. 416, an original streetcar that once ran through the streets of Knoxville, or they can visit the dentist office and see an original foot-powered dental drill. The streetscape is a special opportunity to step back in time and visit an East Tennessee street corner from the early 20th century.

The Blackstone River runs from Worcester, MA to Providence, RI. Today, the Blackstone River Valley is a special type of National Park - a living landscape containing thousands of natural, cultural and historic treasures. America’s first textile mill could have been built along practically any river on the eastern seaboard, but in 1790 the forces of capital, ingenuity, mechanical know-how and skilled labor came together at Pawtucket, Rhode Island where the Blackstone River provided the power that kicked off America’s drive to industrialization. The river, the canal, the mill villages, the agricultural landscape and many of the mills are still here – part of the living landscape of the Blackstone River Valley.

This museum was originally a 200-year old log cabin before it became the home of two antique collectors.

The building was constructed between 1796 and 1799 and served as a tavern for much of the 19th century. In 1936, Edith Featherston and her husband bought the house and began to fill it with art and antiques from across Pennsylvania and the world. When they passed in the 1970s, the house became a museum in accordance with their wills and now displays their thousands of antique possessions in a variety of exhibits.

Although Biscayne National Park was established for its natural history, signs of people and the many ways they have used these lands and waters is everywhere. Nearly every island in the park has evidence of use by native peoples. Underwater, shipwrecks rest as silent witnesses to one violent moment in time, each holding the promise of teaching us about our collective past. Pull up a rocking chair on the front porch of the Dante Fascell Visitor Center, and you just might hear the story of how the park was established from one of the people that actually made it happen.

The site protects and interprets the setting along the Washita River where Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the 7th U.S. Cavalry on a surprise dawn attack against the Southern Cheyenne village of Peace Chief Black Kettle on November 27, 1868. The attack was an important event in the tragic clash of cultures of the Indian Wars era.

On August 9, 1877 gun shots shattered a chilly dawn on a sleeping camp of Nez Perce. Colonel John Gibbon and 163 men of the 7th Infantry and 34 Bitterroot Volunteers had orders to stop the non-treaty Nez Perce and return them to Idaho. The nearly 800 Nez Perce men, women, and children had fled their native lands when being forced onto a smaller reservation. Forty miles short of the Canadian border and following a five-day battle and siege, the Nez Perce ceased fighting on October 5th, 1877, in which Chief Joseph gave his immortal speech: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

A visit to Big Hole should begin at the visitor center. A film, museum, and book store provide an overview of the events that took place on the battlefield in August of 1877. During the summer months, ranger-guided activities take place daily.

Big Hole National Battlefield is part of Nez Perce National Historical Park that has thirty-eight sites spread over four states (Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington) that touch on many of the threads that make up the Nez Perce story.

The Stoy Museum has exhibits on the early Pennsylvania German inhabitants of the county leading up to present day. This includes exhibits on war, all kinds of industry, as well as every day life. The research archives are located in the museum and hold a wide variety of documents concerning the inhabitants of Lebanon County. The society also manages the nearby Union Canal Tunnel, the oldest tunnel in America.