America's Outdoor History Museums

These outdoor history sites present a vivid and unforgettable story of our nation's development. Each site offers a glimpse of a very special element of America's past, while providing a lively and engaging experience. Collectively, the programs and exhibits expand the boundaries of museum presentation. Located throughout the United States they provide a wonderful travel opportunity.
Adirondack Museum
Blue Mountain Lake, New York

Something for everyone! 22 exceptional exhibits, special events, superb collections, lovely gardens, and pristine views together tell stories of life, work, and play in a unique place – the Adirondack Park of northern New York State. Watch a craftsman at work or take part in a lively program!

Special Exhibits 2010: Let’s Eat! Adirondack Food Traditions celebrates food, drink, and the pleasures of eating in the Adirondack Park, sharing culinary stories and customs from Native American corn soup to Farmer’s Markets.

Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters includes historic quilts from the museum’s textile collection as well as contemporary comforters, quilts, and pieced wall hangings.

A Wild, Unsettled Country: Early Reflections of the Adirondacks highlights paintings, maps, prints, and photographs that illustrate the untamed Adirondack wilderness discovered by early travelers and explorers.

Discover a full line of Adirondack books, prints, clothing, music, jewelry, regional crafts and other unique gifts in the Museum Store. Enjoy a light lunch or snack at the Lake View Café. Offering soups, salads, hot entrees, desserts, and daily specials. Beer, wine, and other beverages available.

May 28 – October 18, 2010. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; early closing August 13, extended hours August 14. Closed September 10. Located at Route 28N/30, Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y. 12812


Canterbury Shaker Village
Canterbury, New Hampshire

Canterbury Shaker Village is a National Historic Landmark site and museum. The Village was continuously occupied by Shakers from 1792 to 1992. It now comprises 25 original Shaker buildings on 694 acres of forest, gardens, nature trails and mill ponds in central New Hampshire. The Village interprets 200 years of Shaker life, religion, design and invention. Guided tours, craft demonstrations, hands-on activities, and special events appeal to adults and families. Award-winning Creamery Restaurant, Bakery and Museum Store on site. Open daily 10 - 5 May through October and weekends in April, November and December.


Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia

America’s largest outdoor living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg is the restored 18th-century capital of Virginia and the birthplace of our nation’s democratic ideals and values. Programs, exhibitions and interpretations throughout the 173-acre Historic Area portray life in the Virginia colony on the eve of the American Revolution. Throughout the city, and at nearby world-class museums and Carter’s Grove plantation, an engaging mix of sights, sounds and activities helps visitors reconnect with America’s past and become active participants in 18th-century life.



Conner Prairie
Fishers, Indiana

Experience 19th-century Indiana like never before! Be a part of history at one of the nation's most authentic, outdoor living history museums. Now you can be a part of that past and live it first-hand. Begin your journey in 1886 Liberty Corner, a rural farm commmunity. Continue back in time to 1836 Prairietown, a recreated village complete with a school, inn, store, pottery shop, blacksmith, doctor and more. The 1816 Lenape Indian Camp welcomes you to the frontier and is located on a bluff overlooking the White River. Experience PastPort, a hands-on discovery area, and tour the Conner House and see what's cooking in the kitchen.

You can even spend a weekend in a Victorian farmhouse working on the farm just as it was in 1886! Enjoy lunch at The Eatery and snacks at The Creamery, see historic exhibits and take home a souvenir from the Museum Shop. Special rates and dining options for groups; hotel packages available. Special programs include Weekend on the Farm, Follow the North Star, Indiana Festival, Glorious Fourth, Country Fair, Hearthside Suppers and Gingerbread Village.


George Ranch
Richmond, Texas

Capture the sights, sounds and colors of 100 years of Texas history at the George Ranch Historical Park located southwest of Houston. Travel through our 480-acre living history park, center point of a 23,000-acre working cattle ranch. Wander through the 1830s Jones Stock Farm settled by Stephen F. Austin’s first Texas colonists. Encounter life in the early 19th century by spinning cotton, grinding corn, cooking in a dutch-oven, or tending the livestock. Discover the 1890s cowboy camp and chuckwagon where cowboy folklore combines with roping, mock branding and campfire cooking. Experience Victorian life while touring the J.H.P. Davis House Complex. Watch the blacksmith demonstrate the art of working iron and witness the post-slavery challenges of African-Americans at the sharecropper’s farm. Don’t miss the huge treehouse when visiting the 1930s George Ranch Complex. Learn the heritage and important contributions of the black cowboy as you round up Texas history at the George Ranch.


Hancock Shaker Village
Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Explore Shaker life as you visit 1,200 acres of farm, field and woodland with twenty historic buildings and a working farm with animals. From Oval Boxes to Organic Gardening, our full calendar of workshops, classes and activities will help you translate tried-and-true Shaker principles into your own life. Our focus on historic preservation, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy sets the stage for the educational opportunities we offer.

See traditional crafts being produced in our workshops and try for yourself in the children's Discovery Room. Kid-friendly activities, presentations of Shaker music, agricultural practices, architectural innovations and crafts offer a variety of experiences for all ages.

Open year round with full hours from Memorial Day to mid-October; Guided Tours only in winter. Children 12 and under admitted FREE! Visit our Village Store open daily year-round, seasonal picnic area and Village Café.


Historic Deerfield
Deerfield, Massachusetts

Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts is as New England as tourists and travelers hope to find it! Within the 1000 acre Old Deerfield National Historic Landmark, 14 house museums dating to the 18th and early 19th century and the self-guided Flynt Center of Early New England Life welcome visitors from all over the world to explore the history, art and artifacts of early America. Historic Deerfield welcomes school tours and group and motorcoach tours. April 1 to December 31 open for daily tours, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. January 1 to March 31, Flynt Center of Early New England Life is open weekends, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum houses are available by appointment during the winter at (413) 775-7132 or by email at tours@historic-deerfield.org. The Deerfield Inn and the Historic Deerfield Museum Store are open year round.


Historic New England
Sites throughout Historic New England,

Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional preservation organization in the country. We offer a unique opportunity to experience the lives and stories of New Englanders through their homes and possessions. Historic New England operates thirty-five house museums and landscapes spanning four centuries of architectural styles and five New England states. This is the most comprehensive collection of homes and properties in New England. Visitors experience, in a real and personal way, the lives and stories of the individuals and families who made New England what it is today. Offerings at the historic properties include house and landscape tours, adult and family programs, special events, museum shops, function rentals at select properties, and Historic New England membership. For more information on the house museums, as well as Historic New England collections, archives and publications, education programs, and preservation services, visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org. Historic New England is presented by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.


Historic St. Mary's City
St. Marys City, Maryland

Step on board a tall ship and step into the world of the Yaocomaco Indians. Explore an un-ordinary ordinary and help a colonial planter tend his fields. Learn how researchers reconstruct the past using historical and archaeological evidence. Discover why The Washington Post calls Historic St. Mary's City, located on the site of Lord Baltimore’s colony and Maryland’s first capital, "one of the nation's most beautiful historic places".

HSMC is open seasonally. Please check the museum's website for details.


Living History Farms
Urbandale, IA

Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa, tells the amazing story of how Iowans transformed the fertile prairies of the Midwest into the most productive farmland in the world. While at the 550-acre open-air museum, visitors travel at their own pace through five historical time periods spanning 300 years. On-site interpreters provide a unique learning environment of seasonal activities and demonstrations. A complete visit lasts three to four hours.


Mystic Seaport
Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic Seaport is our country's leading maritime museum and champion of the American maritime experience that connects us all. Make the connection for yourself. Take part in all three Mystic Seaport adventures -- the bustling 19th-century village of tall ships and historic buildings, exhibit galleries brimming with the culture of seafaring lives, and a unique shipyard where the nearly lost art of wooden shipbuilding endures - to find out how the sea has touched you, your family and our nation.


Old Salem Museums & Gardens
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Old Salem is the most authentic and comprehensive history attraction in America. Located in Winston-Salem, NC, the four museums at Old Salem showcase lifestyles of the Salem Moravians and others living in the diverse early South.

From trades to toys, furniture to food, Old Salem provides an exciting, fun atmosphere to learn about early Southern life.


Open Tuesdays-Sundays from April 1 through October 31; open daily November 1-January 1, 2006. Discounts and special rates are available for groups. Please call 1-800-441-5305.


Old Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, Massachusetts

A trip to Old Sturbridge Village, the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast, is a journey through time to a rural New England town of the early 19th century. Here you may wander country roads and visit with a farmer plowing the field, listen to the blacksmith’s rhythmic hammering, or chat with women baking bread in a fireplace oven. With four unique seasons and more than 200 acres to explore, there is always something new to see.

Visit with our authentically costumed history interpreters as they carry out their daily life and work. Check our calendar of events for seasonal activities, garden days, holiday celebrations, family fun days, an 1830s wedding, music and dance demonstrations, and more.


Old World Wisconsin
Eagle, Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin is a living history museum of America’s rural heartland. Over sixty-five ethnic historic structures compose ten farmsteads, a crossroads village, and an African-American church and cemetery. Nestled on 576 acres in the rolling hills of southeastern Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine Forest, the farmsteads and village are separated by trees, hills, ponds, and marshes. Wild turkeys, deer, sandhill cranes and other wildlife share grounds with historic breeds of livestock. Costumed interpreters work at traditional crafts, field and household chores, and in eleven kitchen gardens filled with heirloom plants. Visitors practice period work or play games at the Caldwell Hall Education Center. On scheduled days, they can join in a temperance rally, argue with townspeople about the dog tax, assist an 1860s assessor tax a farm, or get inspired by “Fighting” Bob LaFollette, Wisconsin’s firebrand progressive politician. Old World Wisconsin is owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.



Plimoth Plantation
Plymouth, Massachusetts

Plimoth Plantation, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, is a high profile cultural attraction located 45 miles south of Boston in historic Plymouth Massachusetts.

The private, non-profit living history museum is dedicated to the history of the native Wampanoag and colonial English of 17th century Plymouth with fun, fascinating, interactive exhibits and activities for all ages.

Plimoth Plantation’s four major exhibits include the Wampanoag Homesite on the banks of the Eel River, 1627 English Village overlooking Plymouth Bay, and the Crafts Center all located at the museum’s main campus on Warren Avenue. The museum features third person and role-playing interpretation, craft demonstrations, rare breed animals, period correct horticultural displays, and many more exhibits and activities.

Just three-miles south of the main campus on the waterfront over looking Plymouth Rock, the museum also includes Mayflower II, a reproduction ship modeled after the 17th century sailing vessel that brought the colonists to Plymouth in 1620.

Support facilities include award winning museum shops on the waterfront and the main campus at the Hornblower Visitor Center, which also includes theaters, exhibition galleries, and exceptional food service.


Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is the largest restored Shaker community in America, with 34 original 19th-century buildings, 2,900 acres of rolling bluegrass farmland, and a magificient collection of Kentucky Shaker architecture and furniture. Although western Shaker building and furniture styles conform to Shaker principles, they represent distinctive interpretations based on regional design traditions. All visitor services are provided in restored Shaker buildings.

Whether visitors tour with family and friends, take part in an eductional program or special event, attend a meeting, or enjoy an overnight stay at Pleasant HIll, the experience is designed to enlighten the mind and refresh the spirit.


Shelburne Museum
Shelburne, Vermont

Discovery and delight await you at Shelburne Museum, where an eclectic assortment of historic buildings and galleries are filled with fine, folk and decorative art from America’s past. Walk along the decks of the steamboat Ticonderoga, stroll along a covered bridge, ride a vintage carousel, climb aboard a private rail car and marvel at the view from the Colchester Reef Lighthouse.

Architectural diversity is echoed and amplified within the Museum’s thirty-seven buildings. Aptly characterized as a “collection of collections,” the Museum is home to some 80,000 objects which span three centuries, including cigar store figures, weathervanes, decoys, quilts, dolls, and more. Investigate fine art galleries showcasing American paintings, prints and drawings and an outstanding collection of Impressionist paintings and decorative arts. Enjoy weaving, blacksmith and printing demonstrations and participate in daily hands-on craft activities.


Strawbery Banke
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH, traces over 300 years of history in one of America's oldest continuously occupied neighborhoods. The 10-acre site, with its more than 40 preserved and interpreted buildings, presents the full span of an important seaport's history in engaging and accessible ways, with programs for children and adults. Strawbery Banke Museum is New England from past to present.


Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Prioneer
Grand Island, Nebraska

Stuhr Museum is dedicated to interpreting the history of town building in Central Nebraska. To tell this story several early communities have been created throughout the museum's 200 acres - a Pawnee Earth Lodge, Pioneer Settlement, 1890's Railroad Town, a turn-of-the-century farmstead, Runelsburg (a community which the railroad by-passed), and the Taylor Ranch (a rural trade center). The largest community, Railroad Town, is staffed with interpreters living as they would have in the 1890s. Railroad Town and the rest of the communities are open May 1 to mid-October. The Stuhr Building and Gus Fonner Memorial Rotunda are open year-round and feature changing and long-term exhibits on the history of Nebraska, Native American culture, and the Old West.


The Billings Farm & Museum
Woodstock, Vermont

The Billings Farm & Museum is both an operating dairy farm and a museum of rural life in Vermont. As Vermont's premier gateway for interpreting its rural culture and agrarian heritage, Billings Farm offers diverse, interactive programs to a broad audience of all ages. Its programs and exhibits focus on rural life, work, and land stewardship as reflected in the traditions and values of 19th century American farm families and as revealed in Vermont's rural history. Billings Farm also operates in partnership with the adjacent Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.

Billings Farm is open to the public from 10:00 to 5:00 every day from May 1 through October 31, and it maintains a reduced schedule during the winter months. An extensive schedule of farm activities occurs daily, and special events occur monthly (please call for exact dates and times).


The Farmers Museum
Cooperstown, New York

As one of the oldest rural life museums in the country, The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, provides visitors with a unique opportunity to experience 19th-century rural and village life first-hand through authentic demonstrations and interpretative exhibits. The museum, founded in 1943, comprises a Colonial Revival stone barn listed on the National Register for Historic Places, a recreated historic village circa 1845, a late- nineteenth-century Country Fair featuring The Empire State Carousel, and a working farmstead. Through its 19th-century village and farm, the museum preserves important examples of upstate New York architecture, early agricultural tools and equipment, and heritage livestock. The Farmers’ Museum’s outstanding collection of more than 23,000 items encompasses significant historic objects ranging from butter molds to carriages, and hand planes to plows. The museum also presents a broad range of interactive educational programs for school groups, families, and adults that explore and preserve the rich agricultural history of the region.


The Henry Ford / Greenfield Village
Dearborn, Michigan

From the porches, streets and spires of Greenfield Village rises a welcome unlike any other: to discover America's experiences and traditions for yourself. What began as Henry Ford's remarkable vision of a vast outdoor museum filled with buildings of historic significance today comes alive in a whole new way.

From its parlors and workshops to its storefronts and farms, powerful stories surround you with the sights, sounds and sensations of America's past. Memorable events and encounters, historic re-creations and live demonstrations of American ingenuity and crafts add to the celebration of the American experience.

Spanning more than 300 years of history and over 90 acres, Greenfield Village is the place to Rediscover America.


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