National Trust for Historic Preservation Belle Grove 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 2) Abiel Smith School (same address) 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 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 Oatlands 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 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 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 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 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. |
