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Northeast USA Museums and Culture

    National Great Blacks in Wax, Maryland

  1601-03 East North Avenue - Baltimore, MD             
The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum is among the nations most dynamic cultural and educational institutions. Because it is a wax museum committed solely to the study and preservation of African American history, it is also among the most unique. Primarily, the presentation of life-size, life-like wax figures highlighting historical and contemporary personalities of African ancestry defines its uniqueness.
    Battleship New Jersey, New Jersey
  62 Battleship Place - Camden, NJ             
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America's most decorated Battleship is now the area's most exciting museum, open for tours, events and overnight encampments. Exploring “BB62” is experiencing history in a whole new way. Not only do you see exhibits of artifacts from the ship’s past, but you are put into the exhibit as you go through the tour route. Sit in the chair from which Admiral Halsey commanded the fleet. Stretch out on the bunks where the sailors slept. Climb into the 16” gun turret and learn how the projectiles were loaded.
    The Cloisters Museum, New York State
  Ft. Tryon Park - New York, NY           
Medieval Europe in New York? This implausible statement is very much a reality as you approach the Cloisters Museum branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This section of the museum has been built to resemble the architectural elements of the middle ages and takes you back in time. The museum itself is devoted to the art of the time period and offers a traditional museum experience by shares the faith of all the artists and artisans with work on display. The Cloisters is highly dedicated to maintaining its religious roots with the restoration of the Fuentiduena Chapel, featuring the most magnificent stain glass and hand crafted religious artifacts. The Cloisters has also been known to have a feel of a mini-city with their own restaurant and botanical garden designed to enhance the visiting pleasure. Summer 2012 continues with the traditions of bringing Europe to the masses, as more exhibits are on tap to make their way through the hallowed greatness that is the museum. If you are looking for a nice escape from city life and desire to feel transported into the world of yesteryear, then a trip to the Cloisters is highly recommended.
    Historic Richmond Town, New York State
  441 Clarke Avenue - Staten Island, NY             
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Historic Richmond Town is a living history museum located in Staten Island, New York. It is a complex of buildings and structures that have been carefully preserved to give visitors a glimpse into the past and a better understanding of the history and culture of Staten Island and New York City. The museum features over 30 historical structures, including a colonial-era courthouse, a one-room schoolhouse, and a variety of homes and businesses that were once located throughout Staten Island. Visitors can experience what life was like in the past through interactive exhibits, tours, and living history demonstrations. The museum is also home to the Staten Island Historical Society, which is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Staten Island and its residents. The society's collections include artifacts, documents, and photographs that provide a glimpse into the lives of the people who lived on Staten Island throughout history.
The museum is open to visitors throughout the year and offers a variety of programs, events, and activities for visitors of all ages. Visitors can take a tour of the museum's buildings and structures, participate in hands-on activities, attend lectures and workshops, and explore the museum's gardens and grounds. The Decker Farm is also part of the museum's property, where visitors can enjoy the bountiful harvests of produce from its well-maintained and beautiful organic fields, and learn about the farming practices used in the past.
In Historic Richmond Town, visitors can live vicariously through history and really gain a feel for the true American experience. It's a great place to bring friends and family to create memories that will last a lifetime. With its rich history, beautiful architecture, and engaging programs, it's easy to see why visitors keep coming back to this unique and historic museum.
    Northlandz, New Jersey
  495 U.S. 202 - Flemington, NJ           
Northlandz is a 16 acre world class attraction developed by Bruce and his wife Jean. Included in this complex is a doll museum, La Peep Doll House, a 2,000 pipe theater pipe organ (which Bruce plays) and art galleries throughout. The building is reflective of the couples lifelong commitment to art, expression, and creativity.
    Garden State Discovery Museum, New Jersey
  2040 Springdale Museum - Cherry Hill, NJ           
Sure you’ve seen museums, but have you seen one like this? Every exhibit is an invitation to touch, explore and create. With 15 large interactive areas… including Bubble Trouble, the Silver Diner, Down the Shore and Action Newsroom, the Garden State Discovery Museum has lots of room for groups to spend an adventure-filled day together. Visit today and discover why it's recognized as one of the top 20 children’s museums in the country!
    National Academy Museum, New York State
  1083 Fifth Avenue - New York, NY            
Something about the beauty of the spiral staircase pulls you into a world of visual wonder when you visit the National Academy Museum. Engulfed in awe and inspiration, surrounded by a vast collection of paintings, drawings, sketches and sculptures, one could easily spend hours exploring the great abundance of artistry on display here. The aesthetic of the 19th century paintings draws you close. As you browse, you are bound to find many pieces that captivate your mind and body. This NYC art museum also offers many classes and workshops for artists of all skill levels, from the amateur to the savant. They offer a great variety of several art mediums, impacting various emotions, all ready for your viewing pleasure. It is as if you are taking a step into a diverse world somewhere between reality and fiction. The vividness and color add to the appeal and around every corner lies something new for one to discover. The museum is also home to many wonderful guest speakers. Their ARTalks program features some of the most respected artists and architects of today. These talks are open to the public and ongoing. Overall the general beauty found at The National Academy Museum is one to be shared with friends and family.
    National Postal Museum, Washington DC
   - Washington, DC            
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The National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum, is located in the old Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993.
    Submarine Force Museum, Connecticut
  1 Crystal Lake Rd - Groton, CT           
The Submarine Force Museum, located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut, maintains the world's finest collection of submarine artifacts. It is the only submarine museum operated by the United States Navy, and as such is the primary repository for artifacts, documents and photographs relating to U.S. Submarine Force history. The museum traces the development of the "Silent Service" from David Bushnell's Turtle, used in the Revolutionary War, to the Ohio and Virginia class submarines.
The museum's collections include more than 33,000 artifacts, 20,000 significant documents and 30,000 photographs. With so many holdings, the displays change frequently and a return visit will be a new experience. The 6,000 volume reference and research library is a world-renowned collection relative to the history of U.S. submarines and is open to anyone looking for information on submarines or submarine history.
    Hillwood Museum and Gardens, Washington DC
  4155 Linnean Avenue, NW - Washington, DC             
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Founded by American collector and heiress to the Post cereal empire Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is one of the premier art collector’s museums in the United States. The museum features the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection of eighteenth-century French decorative art and furnishings. The collection includes Fabergé eggs, Russian porcelain, Russian Orthodox icons, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. Encircled by woodlands, the twenty-five acre estate provides visitors a tranquil oasis of luscious formal gardens.
    Erie Maritime Museum, Pennsylvania
  150 East Front Street - Erie, PA            
The first new PHMC museum in twenty years, Erie Maritime Museum opened its doors May 21, 1998. As homeport of U.S. Brig Niagara, Erie Maritime Museum presents the story of Niagara as the reconstructed flagship of Pennsylvania and the warship that won the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Offering a wide range of multi-media and interactive exhibits and coupled with lively interpretive programs, Erie Maritime Museum vividly illustrates Niagara's history and the region's rich maritime heritage.
    American Helicopter Museum, Pennsylvania
  1220 American Boulevard - West Chester, PA             
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The American Helicopter Museum and Education Center is the nation's premier aviation museum devoted exclusively to helicopters. We collect, restore and display historic aircraft and chronicle the origin and development of rotary wing aircraft. Each year the Museum hosts thousands of visitors, school groups, families and senior citizens. Tourists of all ages from the U.S and abroad come here to witness the history and the future of the helicopter.
    Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington DC
  3900 Harewood Road, NE - Washington, DC           
Activities for Children
Children 0-5: Build with blocks; create art rubbings of saints, angels and nature; ring the bells; play dress up; and watch Bible stories under a tent.
Children 5-8: ring the bells; discover melody selections from Catholic hymnals; and create an electronic stained-glass window. Children 8 & up: participate in a scavenger hunt, available at the Admissions Desk.
    African Art Museum of Maryland, Maryland
  5430 Vantage Point Road - P.O. Box 1105 - Columbia, MD           
African Art Museum of Maryland encourages an understanding of African art and culture. The Museum accomplishes this educational objective through numerous activities including exhibits, lectures, workshops, tours to Africa and the development and execution of a vigorous in-museum and outreach program for the public and private primary and secondary schools. The museum's audiences consist of the community at large to include youth, seniors, the disabled and the underserved segments of the population. African art exhibited by the African Art Museum of Maryland includes masks, sculptured figures, textiles, basketry, jewelry, household items, and musical instruments. The Museum is located in Historic Oakland, a restored nineteenth century manor in Columbia, Md. Oakland is owned by the Columbia Association and is operated as a community and social center. Support for AAMM is derived from individual and corporate donations, memberships, various foundations, and grants from government agencies.
    Peabody Museum of Natural History, Connecticut
  170 Whitney Avenue - New Haven, CT             
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The mission of the Peabody Museum is to serve Yale University by advancing our understanding of earth’s history through geological, biological, and anthropological research, and by communicating the results of this research to the widest possible audience through publication, exhibition, and educational programs.
Fundamental to this mission is stewardship of the Museum’s rich collections, which provide a remarkable record of the history of the earth, its life, and its cultures. Conservation, augmentation and use of these collections become increasingly urgent as modern threats to the diversity of life and culture continue to intensify.
    Rosenbach Museum & Library, Pennsylvania
  2008-2010 DELANCEY PLACE - Philadelphia, PA            
The Rosenbach Museum & Library was the home of two brothers, Dr. A.S.W. and Philip Rosenbach. A.S.W. Rosenbach was a legendary dealer and collector of rare books and manuscripts, while Philip's expertise encompassed the fine and decorative arts. Founded in 1954 to preserve the two brothers' personal collections and company archive, the Rosenbach's holdings have continued to grow. The Rosenbach is a major cultural destination—a research center that is home to one of the nation's great collections of rare books and manuscripts, as well as a beautiful, historic townhouse filled with fine art and antiques.
    Coggeshall Farm Museum, Rhode Island
  1 Colt Drive - P.O. Box 562 - Bristol, RI           
Coggeshall Farm Museum is a living history farm set on 48 acres in Bristol, Rhode Island. The museum depicts Bristol's agrarian life in the year 1799 through live interpretation, historic structures, and heirloom plants and animals.
    The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut
  600 Main St. - Hartford, CT             
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"We’re more than just the first public art institution in the United States. We were the first museum in America to begin collecting contemporary American art – resulting in our world renowned Hudson River School collection. We staged the first retrospective of Pablo Picasso in America; we were the first museum to both exhibit and purchase works by Surrealist artists – today almost every exhibition about Surrealism includes works borrowed from our collection. We were the first art museum to also have a theater – and we were the first to show Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints & 3 Acts – which we also produced."
    John Brown Wax Museum, West Virginia
  168 High St. - Harpers Ferry, WV            
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Sunday, October 16, 1859, Brown, accompanied by about 20 men, all fully armed, crossed the Potomac into Virginia (now West Virginia) at Harper's Ferry. They overpowered the watchmen at the following locations: the Baltimore & Ohio railroad bridge, the United States armory and arsenal, and the rifle factory above the town on the Shenandoah. They placed guards at those points and at the street corners of the town. Brown established himself in the thick-walled brick building at the armory gate, one room of which was the quarters of the watchman and the other contained a fire-engine. He then sent six men, to seize the principal citizens in the neighborhood and incite those of African decent to rise and join in the insurrection.
    Varnum Memorial Armory, Rhode Island
  6 Main St. - East Greenwich, RI           
From July 1918 to January 1996, the Varnum Armory in East Greenwich, RI, housed units from the Rhode Island State and National Guard. Built in 1913 and completed in 1914, the Varnum Continentals had the Armory built in the Medieval architectural style. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and contains an extensive Military & Naval Museum.
    The Marine Museum, Massachusetts
  70 Water Street - Fall River, MA           
Here you will see one of the world's largest TITANIC exhibit. A 28 foot detailed model is the centerpiece in the collection of artifacts and memorabilia. The famous R. M. S. Titanic, so carefully designed to be called "unsinkable", on her maiden voyage took 1500 people with her to a watery grave on April 14, 1912. The museum's collection includes photographs taken by the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institution, a recorded account of the tragedy by a Titanic survivor, and a video tape of the vessel's discovery. The Marine Museum's newest exhibit, The Andrea Dora, is now open. This exhibit includes photographs, videos, artifacts and a model of the Italian liner which sank off the coast of Nantucket in the summer of 1956.
    Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Maryland
  830 E. Pratt Street - Baltimore, MD            
Mission: To be the premier experience and best resource for information and inspiration about the lives of African American Marylanders. The museum seeks to realize its mission by collecting, preserving, interpreting, documenting and exhibiting the rich contributions of African American Marylanders from the state’s earliest history to the present and the future.
    Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, Rhode Island
  Beavertail Road - P.O. Box 83 - Jamestown, RI           
Discover Jamestown's most visited landmark with its panoramic views of Narragansett Bay. Located on the southernmost tip of Jamestown, Rhode Island, the Beavertail Lighthouse museum features a collection of information, artifacts, and conversation about the history and site of the third-oldest lighthouse in North America. Come and enjoy New England hospitality as you engage with lighthouse history and with interesting elements of Narragansett Bay’s maritime science, technology, art, and culture.
    Seashore Trolley Museum, Maine
  195 Log Cabin Road - Kennebunkport, ME            
Founded in 1939 with one open trolley car, No. 31 from the Biddeford & Saco Railroad Company. Over the years thousands of members have followed the founding fathers by helping the Museum grow to be the premier electric railway museum in the world. Today, our collection contains over 250 transit vehicles, most of them trolleys, from all over the United States, Canada, and many other countries. We are the oldest, and largest electric railway museum in the world.
The mission of the Museum is to present a living history of public transportation relevant to North American life through community-related educational programs. The Museum shall collect, restore, preserve, exhibit and demonstrate the operation of significant transit vehicles with emphasis upon traditional streetcar and interurban service, including rapid transit, trackless trolley and bus service with select world wide comparative representation. The Museum shall provide a repository for artifacts and information of an educational and historic nature relating to the origin and development of the transit industry and its contribution to modern society.
    WV Museum of American Glass, West Virginia
  230 Main Avenue - Weston, WV            
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Imagine a museum dedicated to the region and nation's rich glass heritage. A place where examples of thousands of products can be viewed and compared and where the stories of people and processes come to life! The MAGWV provides this and much, much more.
    National Firearms Museum, Virginia
  11250 Waples Mill Road - Fairfax, VA            
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The mission of the National Firearms Museum is to develop and manage educational programs that promote appreciation, understanding, and participation in gun collecting, and the preservation of the heritage of firearms through collection, conservation, exhibition and research as part of a nationally recognized museum in America.
    The Bennington Museum, Vermont
  West Main Street - Bennington, VT            
The mission of the Bennington Museum is to celebrate the history and heritage of the southern Vermont region, as well as serve as a venue for visual and performing arts that enrich our community and our world. Incorporated in 1852 as the Bennington Historical Association, the Bennington Museum is one of only a few accredited museums in the state of Vermont. The Association was founded to commemorate the pivotal 1777 Revolutionary War battle fought near the town. Following the dedication of the 306-foot-tall Bennington Battle Monument in 1891, the Association turned its attention to a more comprehensive preservation of history, art and material culture in southern Vermont and nearby areas.
After years of searching for a permanent home, the Association in 1923 acquired the beautiful, native stone structure that had served as the first St Francis De Sales Catholic Church from 1855 to 1892. Following some functional renovations, the museum opened to the public in 1928 as the Bennington Historical Museum.
    Delaware Art Museum, Delaware
  800 South Madison Street - Wilmington, DE             
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It might seem that an institution like a museum is carved in stone, but since its founding in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum has actually changed a great deal. Our Centennial Timeline, installed in the Museum’s Orientation Hallway, is a look at how things were and how they have changed, both here at the Museum and in the community that we serve. To put the Museum’s historical achievements in context, the Timeline mirrors notable Museum milestones with important local and world events.
A century ago, the Museum started life with an original purchase of approximately 100 Howard Pyle paintings. That collection has grown to include 12,000 works of art by great American masters such as Winslow Homer, artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and well-known American illustrators. The Museum’s name and physical space have also changed considerably. Originally called the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, and then the Delaware Art Center, the Museum officially became the Delaware Art Museum in the early 1970s. And although we spent decades traveling around—with no permanent gallery space—the Museum now encompasses 80,000 square feet of exhibition and administrative space, four studio art classrooms, and a sprawling 9-acre sculpture park—the first of its kind in the region.
    Wright Museum, New Hampshire
  77 Center Street - Wolfeboro, NH           
The Wright Museum consists of three distinct sections: a home front gallery and theater, a two-story Visitor's Center, and the museum's military wing, which houses exhibits devoted to all branches of the armed services. Among the highlights of the museum's military exhibition is a large collection of fully-operational vintage military vehicles, including a 42-ton Pershing tank - the only known surviving example from the 1945 crossing at Remagen Bridge.
Twice a year, we make this collection available for rides for the general public. 2012 will mark the 15th year that the Wright Museum will host its annual Family Day event. The cost of admission includes two vehicle rides, a BBQ lunch, and much more.
    Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia
  2800 Grove Avenue - Richmond, VA             
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The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts houses a remarkable permanent collection of more than twenty-two thousand works of art from almost every major world culture. Especially noteworthy are the museum’s collections of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Modern and Contemporary American art donated by Sydney and Frances Lewis; French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art and British sporting art given by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon; American art acquired through the J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund; The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé jeweled objects; and The Jerome and Rita Gans Collection of English Silver. The museum’s holdings of South Asian, Himalayan, and African art are among the finest in the nation.