November 2010

Sanchez raised cattle for the hide-and-tallow trade. When ships came to California, Sanchez could trade his hides for manufactured items. Known as the “California Dollar,” hides could be made into clothes, shoes, and saddles. Tallow or cow fat was made into soap and candles.

The Sanchez Adobe provides visitors with a look into different periods of local history. Take a walk on the grounds and see native plants. The village of Pruristac was located on the site. View the location of the original farm buildings. The support farm San Pedro y San Pablo sent supplies to Mission Dolores. Explore the Sanchez family’s adobe home, the second oldest building in San Mateo County. Discover what items were uncovered during archaeological digs. See some of the items from the adobe’s time as a hotel and speakeasy.

Interactive exhibits include "Nature's Bounty: The Natural Resources that Built San Francisco", "Journey to Work: Pioneering Patterns of Growth", "Living the California Dream", "Land of Opportunity: The Immigrant Experience in San Mateo County", "San Mateo County History Makers: Entrepreneurs Who Changed the World", and "Ships of the World".

A guided tour of Fort Lauderdale's historic Stranahan House is like a journey through time... a link to a time when Seminole Indians made friends with a young Ohioan who settled in the frontier town now known as Fort Lauderdale. Imagine young Frank Stranahan winning the hand of Miss Ivy Cromartie, the town's first teacher, and building her a home so charming and enduring it survives today as a unique museum. The Stranahan House, with its Florida vernacular style, has served as a trading post, town hall, post office and bank. Restored to its 1913 configuration, it's a "must see" in South Florida.

The story of the first Greek migration to America, occurring in 1768, is retold in St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine's historic museum. Artifacts, photographs, and other historical documents attest to the travelers' momentous trip across the Atlantic and their subsequent lives in the New World.

The St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine, an institution of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, is dedicated to the first colony of Greek people who came to America in 1768. Come and visit our magnificent Orthodox Chapel filled with Byzantine style frescoes and take a tour of our historic museum. Special exhibits tell the story of the First Greek Colony in the New World. This freestanding exhibit contains various artifacts, photographs and historical documents.

The museum complex is built around two restored and furnished homes dating to the 1870s. Both have been designated by the State of California as Points of Historical Interest for their unique construction styles once common throughout Northern California, but virtually unknown today. They were saved from demolition, moved to Fresno Flats Historical Park and restored by the volunteers of Sierra Historic Sites Association, as were a pair of early-day one-room schools, two 19th Century jails and several other farm buildings.

Inside are museum displays of native American beads, Mission and Spanish-Mexican era artifacts, costumes and clothing that span more than a century, and furniture from the Victorian era, when the Adobe was home to members of the Pico family. 

This local museum explores the history of the St. Petersburg area and the Pinellas Peninsula.

In addition to the local history exhibits, the museum maintains a collection of over 32,000 artifacts, an archive of over 8,000 historic photos and 5,000 documents. Special educational programs are presented periodically and group tours of the exhibits are available upon request. Research available for a small fee. A new Artifact Study Lab will enable staff and researchers to identify, preserve, and conserve artifacts related to local history. The lab includes special equipment for this purpose. The new Learning Center and Laboratory offers facilities for use by local schools in teaching local heritage.

This county museum features a collection of artifacts and relics, including uniforms from the Second Seminole War.

Museum includes: 1715 wreck of the Spanish treasure fleet (room that tells about wreck); 1838 Seminole War, uniforms and material from Old Fort Pierce; Seminole Indian encampment; Turn-of-the-century industries: fishing, pineapple, cattle and citrus; 1907 restored typical Florida house; 1919 operational American La France fire engine pumper; Harry Hill photographic collection (1880s-1920s St. Lucie County); Memorial garden with Spanish canons and anchors (1715); Small research library open by appointment.

At the museum, visitors can find out how "Mountain Charlie" McKiernan, a somewhat eccentric town folk hero from Gold Rush days, tangled with a grizzly bear and lived to tell about it! Visitors can view romantic muslin party dresses that recall past dances on balmy summer evenings on vacation in the mountains. Visitors can experience the legacy of the South Pacific Coast and Southern Pacific Railroads and the interurban trolleys that surround the town today, from verdant parks to downtown parking. Guests can also visit the historic annex to Los Gatos' first commercial building, James Alexander Forbes' Santa Rosa flour mill, which was saved by local volunteers from destruction in 1982 and turned into the Los Gatos museum.

A Spanish watchtower, built in the late 1500's was the predecessor of the present St. Augustine Lighthouse. St Augustine is the site of the oldest aid to navigation in North America. The original watchtower became Florida's first lighthouse in 1824. However, by 1870, the tower was threatened by shoreline erosion and construction began on the current lighthouse. The new tower was completed in 1874. The old tower succumbed to the sea during a storm in 1880.

Constructed of Alabama brick and Philadelphia iron, the lighthouse is St. Augustine's oldest surviving brick structure. In 1876, a brick light keeper's house was added to the site. Light keepers' and their assistants lived and worked there until the tower was automated in 1955.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse rises 165 feet above sea level and contains 219 steps. At the top, a first order Fresnel lens serves the beacon. The St. Augustine lens consists of 370 hand-cut glass prisms arranged in a beehive shape towering twelve feet tall and six feet in diameter.