
National Trust for Historic Preservation 1785 Massachusetts Ave., NW Tel: 202 588 6000 Washington, DC 20036 Fax: 202 588 6038 Web: www.nationaltrust.org
Belle Grove 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, Virginia Tel: (540) 869 2028 Open: Monday to Saturday 10.15am–3.15pm Sunday 1.15–4.15pm.
Belle Grove manor house was built in 1794. Once described as “the most splendid building west of the Blue Ridge,” Belle Grove Plantation is one of the most imposing and important structures of its time. The farmstead is still used to display regional arts and crafts, merging Irish, English and German traditions.
Brucemore 2160 Linden Drive, SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Tel: (319) 362 7375 Open: February through December. Guided tours of the house depart hourly Tues–Sat 10am–3pm and Sun 12 noon–3 pm. Closed January and major holidays. Gardens, exhibit gallery, and museum store open all year: Mon–Sat 9am–5pm and Sun 12 noon–4pm.
A delightful Queen Anne-style house, Brucemore is a magnificent 26 acre park-like estate. Tours of the 21 room mansion provide a glimpse of the privileged life of another time. Built in the 1880s, Brucemore has been home to three prominent families who used the estate as a centre for culture and the arts.
Chesterwood 4 Williamsville Rd, Stockbridge, Massachusetts Tel: (413) 298 3579 Open: daily 10am–5pm. May 1–October 31
Sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial, the “Minute Man” at Concord, Massachusetts, and many familiar public monuments, Daniel Chester French was a leading turn-of-the-century sculptor. His studio, nestled in the Berkshire Mountains, provided a retreat from New York’s urban life. Models, studies and full-size sculptures of his famous works are displayed in the studio, museum gallery, summer home and gardens.
Cliveden 6401 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tel: (215) 848 1777 Open: Thurs to Sun Noon–4pm. April 1–December 31. Closed January–March
Built as a summer house by Benjamin Chew, colonial Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, Cliveden was maintained by his family for over 200 years. In 1777 the house was the scene of the Battle of Germantown, a pivotal action between George Washington’s troops and the British.
Cooper-molera Adobe 525 Polk Street, Monterey, California Tel: (408) 649 7118 Open: 10am–5pm Daily. Closed Christmas and New Year’s Day. Guided tours 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 4pm
California life in the 1850s is depicted in this 3 acre complex by living history demonstration, farm animals and historic vegetable and flower gardens. The buildings reflect the period from 1823, when Monterey was the major city in California, to 1900, when it had waned to a small town.
Decatur House 748 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC Tel: (202) 842 0920 Open: Tours Tues to Frid 10am–3pm Sat & Sun Noon–4pm. Closed major holidays.
Decatur House is one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, DC and one of only three remaining houses in the country designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the father of American architecture. Completed in 1818 for naval hero Stephen Decatur and his wife, Susan, its distinguished neo-classical architecture and prominent location across from the White House made Decatur House one of the Capitol’s most desirable addresses and home of many of the nation’s most prominent figures.
Drayton Hall 3380 Ashley River Rd, Charleston, South Carolina Tel: (843) 769 2600 Open: 10am–4pm March–October 10am–3pm November–February
This outstanding early example of Georgian Palladian architecture was the plantation home of the Drayton family for two centuries. Remarkably preserved through war, natural disasters and cultural change, it is a rare survivor. The beauty of design, proportion and detail is testament to colonial craftsmanship and the sophistication of early Charleston.
Farnsworth House 14520 River Road, Plano, Illinois Tel: (630) 552 0052 Open: Tours by appointment only. Visitors must be at least 12 years old.
The Farnsworth House, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951 and located near Plano, Illinois, is one of the most famous examples of modernist domestic architecture and was considered unprecedented in its day. Transcending any traditional domestic function or program, the importance of the house lies rather in the absolute purity and consistency of its architectural idea.
Filoli 86 Canada Road, Woodside, California Tel: (650) 364 8300 Open: Tue–Sat, 10am to 3pm, last admission at 2pm. February–October
Designed by California architect Willis Polk, this Georgian Revival mansion is surrounded by 16 acres of formal gardens and over 600 acres of woods. Its reflecting pools, formal gardens, arbors and shady walks were all planned to blend harmoniously with the nearby San Andreas hills.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-leighey House Alexandria, Virginia Tel: (703) 780 4000 Open: March–December, daily 10am to 5pm. Closed January and February, except for Presidents’ Day
This “Usonian” house was developed by Wright as a means of providing affordable housing for people of moderate means. Many innovative concepts, including spacious interiors, corner windows and a cantilevered roof, began here and were quickly adapted across America. Today the house can be viewed as an origin of ideas that have influenced modern American homes.
Gaylord Building 200 W. 8th Street, Lockport, Illinois Tel: (815) 588 1100 Open: Exhibit Hours Tues to Sat 10am–6pm. Sun 12 noon -–6pm. I & M Canal Visitor Center and Hands-On-History Gallery (815) 838 4830 Tues to Sat 10am–5pm.
The Gaylord Building (1838) played a vital role in one of the great enterprises of the 19th century: the digging of the 96 mile long Illinois and Michigan Canal. This handsome limestone warehouse stored construction materials for the canal. In 1987, descendents of George Gaylord, one of the former owners, rehabilitated the building. Restored to its 1880s appearance, the interior rehabilitation provides for a fine dining restaurant and historical exhibits.
Kykuit Pocantico Hills, Tarrytown, New York Tel: (914) 631 9491 Open: May to November Tours depart from Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow
Completed in 1913 for John D. Rockefeller, Kykuit has been home to four generations of Rockefeller family members. Visitors will see collections of Chinese and European ceramics, fine furnishings, galleries of 20th-century art, landscaped terraces and gardens with fountains, pavilions and classical sculpture. In the coach barn are horse drawn vehicles and classic automobiles.
James Madison’s Montpelier 11407 Constitution Hwy, Montpelier Station, Virginia Tel: (540) 672 2728 Open: April 1–Oct 31. Daily 9.30am–6pm. Nov 1– March 31, Daily 9.30am–5pm
Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Montpelier was the lifelong home of James Madison, Father of the Constitution, and fourth President of the United States. Today, visitors can explore Montpelier’s historic home, 2,700 acre estate, and 300 year history.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum Visitors’ Center, 90 Orchard Street, New York Tel:( 212) 431 0233
Beginning in the 1840s, millions of immigrants poured into New York City. Once home to 7 000 of these intrepid pioneers between 1863 and 1935, 97 Orchard Street now provides a unique look into the lives of its former residents and the history of New York’s Lower East Side as the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Today, the Museum offers guided tours of restored and unrestored tenement apartments through a number of programs.
Lyndhurst 635 South Broadway, Tarrytown, New York Tel: (914) 631 4481 Open: Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am–4.15pm. April 15 –October. Weekends only 10.30am–3.30pm. Nov–April 14. Summer Café Wed to Sunday 11am–3pm
Designed in the Gothic Revival style overlooking the natural beauty of the Hudson River, this mansion is one of the most influential romantic structures built in America.
The Museum Of Afro-American History Tel: 617 725 0022 The museum has three sites: 1) African Meeting House, Boston 46 Joy Street, Boston, Massachusetts Not currently open to the public
2) Abiel Smith School (same address) Open: Mon–Sat, 10am–4pm
On a hill named Beacon, on a street named Joy, stand the African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School – here William Lloyd Garrison founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society and Frederick Douglass recruited troops for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The African Meeting House (1806), the oldest existing black church building in the country built primarily by black artisans, was the center of community activity for almost a century. The Abiel Smith School (1835), the nation’s first building constructed for the sole purpose of housing a black public school, played a key role in making equal access to education the law of the land.
3) African Meeting House, Nantucket 29 York Street, Nantucket, Massachuseetts Tel: 508 228 9833 Open: July-August only
The only public building constructed and occupied by African Americans in the 19th century still standing on Nantucket Island. The small post-and-beam building dates from about 1827, when it was a church, a school for African children, and a meeting house. Although Nantucket public schools were racially integrated in 1846, the meeting house continued to be used well into the 20th century as a social center.
4) Florence Higginbotham House 27 York Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts Not currently open to the public.
Oatlands 20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane, Leesburg, Virginia Tel: (703) 777 3174 Open March 30–December 30 Mon to Sat 10am–5.00pm Sunday 1pm–5.00pm
Once part of extensive plantation holdings, elegant formal gardens were created. Oatlands tells the stories of a 19th-century working plantation, a turn-of-the-century English-style country house and the families who made their home there.
Shadows-on-the-teche 317 East Main Street, New Iberia, Louisiana. Tel: (318) 369 6446 Open daily 9am–4.30pm. Guided tours depart on the half hour.
The Shadows, built as the home of a sugar planter, is situated on the banks of the Bayou Teche in the heart of Cajun Louisiana. A rich collection of 17,000 family letters, photographs, and receipts preserved in trunks in the attic, provides this Southern plantation house with one of the best documented tour experiences in the USA. The Shadows has been carefully restored with original furnishings to present a picture of life on a Southern plantation in the antebellum period.
Touro Synagogue 85 Touro Street, Newport, Rhode Island Tel: (401) 847 4794 Open: every day except Saturdays, Jewish holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Dedicated in 1763, Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in the United States. The simple brick facade conceals a dramatic two-story Palladian interior; it skilfully combines classical Italian architecture with the functions of the Sephardic Jewish ritual.
Woodlawn 9000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia Tel: (703) 780 4000 Open: March–December Daily 10 am to 5 pm. Closed January and February, except Presidents’ Day
In 2002, Woodlawn celebrated its 50th anniversary as the National Trust’s first Historic Site. Built in 1805, this grand house overlooking the Potomac River was a gift from George Washington to his nephew Major Lawrence Lewis and his wife Eleanor ‘Nelly’ Custis. Woodlawn interprets the life of the Lewis family as well as enslaved and free African Americans.
Woodrow Wilson House 2340 S Street, NW, Washington, DC Tel: (202) 387 4062 Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am–4pm.
In 1921, after leading the nation through the first World War, President Woodrow Wilson moved to this elegant Washington home. This dignified townhouse in the capital’s Embassy Row neighbourhood was a quiet haven for the Wilsons. Noted as Washington’s only presidential museum, the Wilsons’ home presents a fascinating glimpse into the life of an educator, scholar and world statesman.
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