November 2010

The Woodrow Wilson House is a national historic landmark and house museum that focuses on President Woodrow Wilson's "Washington Years (1912-1924)". The museum promotes a greater awareness of Wilson's public life and ideals for future generations through guided tours, exhibitions and educational programs. The museum also serves as a community preservation model and resource, dedicated to the stewardship and presentation of an authentic collection and property.

William Trent built his country estate north of Philadelphia, in New Jersey, at the Falls of the Delaware River about 1719. It was a large, imposing brick structure, built in the newest fashion. An "allee" of English cherry trees led from the entrance down to the ferry landing. Nearby, there were numerous outbuildings as well as grist, saw and fulling mills along the Assunpink Creek. In 1720 Trent laid out a settlement, which he incorporated and named "Trenton."

Through careful preservation and accurate historical interpretation, visitors will become aware of the importance of this building in national, state and municipal history. An ambitious restoration project is nearly complete and will provide a more accurate historical representation of the museum's original appearance.

The West Milford Museum site is located in the center of this large Township, and contains records of the Township's development over the past centuries.

The West Milford Museum resulted from more than 20 years of collaborative effort between local volunteers, businesses, and municipal government. Major renovations to the building, a former M.E. church, c.1860, are near completion.

The museum staff provides group tours, research assistance, programs, workshops, and slide presentations. The museum displays both permanent and temporary exhibits, including a country school, a local railroad history exhibit, the history of Codington County's small towns and a military history display that focuses on the role of Codington County veterans in the nation's past wars. The museum also hosts various programs and traveling exhibits throughout the year.

What you'll see in Deadwood today is a careful, accurate restoration of a historically significant city. Deadwood's extensive Victorian architecture is unique to the West. While the gold rush of 1876 brought the likes of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, it also provided the wealth to construct a thriving commercial center in the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Today the town is full of carefully restored buildings and architecture, along with museums dedicated to preserving the past.

The hatchery was constructed to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. After a very successful fish production history, the hatchery ceased operations in the mid-80's and reopened with a new mission and partnerships to help preserve the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's historic and cultural heritage.
Today, D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery serves as a living fishery museum to the public and many organizations. Still rearing trout for the Black Hills through a cooperative effort with the State, the hatchery also serves to protect and preserve fishery records and artifacts for educational, research, and historic purposes, and provide interpretive and educational programs for the public.

In 1930 pioneer businessman W.E. Adams founded the Adams Museum in downtown Deadwood with the purpose of preserving and displaying the history of the Black Hills. He donated the building to the City of Deadwood and placed the operation of the organization in the hands of a board of directors. The board oversaw the collecting of some of the Black Hills’ greatest treasures including Potato Creek Johnny’s gold nugget, beloved American illustrator N.C. Wyeth’s pencil sketch drawing of Western legend Wild Bill Hickok, the mysterious Thoen Stone record of the Ezra Kind party’s discovery of gold in the Hills in the 1830s and a one-of-a-kind plesiosaur (marine reptile).

In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, the signature on a set of dinnerware or piece of furniture elicited instant response. At that time, Wright was one of the best known designers in the U.S. At the apex of his career, Wright left New York City and moved his base of operations to Garrison. It was here that he created a unique home and designed landscape. He named it Manitoga, meaning Place of the Great Spirit in Algonquin. Wright shared the Native Americans' respect for the earth.

When Wright first found this property in 1942, it had been damaged by a century of quarrying and lumbering. Over the next three decades, until his death in 1976, he carefully redesigned and re-sculpted Manitoga's 75 acres using native plants, his training as a theater designer and sculptor, and his innovative design ideas. Though the landscape appears natural, it is actually a careful design of native trees, rocks, ferns, mosses, and wild flowers.

Wright created over four miles of paths that wind over creeks, into woods, among boulders, and through ferns and mountain laurel.

Visitors can tour the 10+ rooms now used for gallery space, with the 24 cell blocks attached to the back of the home. They can also learn the stories of the inmates housed at the Wayne County Jail, their life-size portraits featured behind the bars.

Overlooking the Hudson River in Tarrytown NY is Lyndhurst, one of America's finest Gothic Revival mansions. The architectural brilliance of the residence, designed in 1838 by Alexander Jackson Davis, is complemented by a park-like landscape and a comprehensive collection of original decorative arts. Its noteworthy occupants included: former New York City mayor William Paulding, merchant George Merritt and railroad tycoon Jay Gould.