A historic house museum that showcases the local history and features photos and artifacts relating to the iron mining industry. The story of the house began in 1854 when an Irish immigrant built it. In 1879 he sold it for $300 to Bridget Smith (1835-1907), a young widow with two children who lost her husband, John, in an accident while working in the mines. During the 19th century, when New Jersey’s northwestern part was an iron mining area, the area was called Mine Hill and later Irishtown. In 1912, Jessie and Ida McConnell rented the house, and Ida lived there for 78 years. In 1993, Smith’s great-grandchildren donated the house to Mine Hill to preserve it as the Bridget Smith Homestead. The house was restored and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The Ferromonte Historical Society manages the museum, holds guided tours, and organizes special events. The museum is part of the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail, along with the Women’s Federation Monument. Read more...

On July 24th, 1897, Amelia Earhart was born in the southwest bedroom of the house at 223 N. Terrace in Atchison, Kansas. When her grandfather purchased it in 1861, it was a one-room cabin; he added more rooms, transforming it into a three-floor home. Earhart lived in this house with her grandparents on and off until she was a teenager and considered Atchison her hometown. Her adventurous spirit led her to aviation, and she became one of the first female pilots in the US and one of the most courageous. She set many aviation records, including being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She also promoted commercial air travel, wrote books about her adventures, advocated for equal rights for women, and was among the founders and the first elected president of the female pilots’ organization The Ninety-Nines. While trying to become the first woman to fly around the world, Earhart and her navigator disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean; they were last seen on July 2nd, 1937. After a massive and costly search, Earhart was declared dead on January 5th, 1939. The house was a private residence until 1984, when a local citizen, Dr. Eugene J. Bribach, contributed $100,000 to the Ninety-Nines to purchase the property. Since then, the Ninety-Nines converted the historic building into a museum celebrating Earhart’s life and achievements. The exhibits reveal more aspects of Earhart’s personality and accomplishments, including her love of photography, clothes designing, and writing, her roles in her family, friends, airline ownership, and more. A walk around the different rooms gives the visitors a glimpse of the past and life in Kansas at the beginning of the 20th century. Many places around Atchison bear the name of Earhart, and the town holds the annual Amelia Earhart Festival every July. In July 2022, Kansas dedicated Amelia Earhart’s statue to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the US Capitol. Read more...

Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, also known as The Sembrich, is a music venue and museum that preserve the legacy and love of the music of the internationally renowned Polish opera singer Marcella Sembrich. Sembrich (1858-1935) was born in Poland and started her music career at a young age, playing the piano and violin in local events to support her family. Sembrich furthered her music education at the Lemberg Conservatory, studying piano and violin and developing her vocal capabilities. Then, deciding to focus on voice, she studied with the best teachers in Vienna and Milan. Sembrich made her opera debut at 19 in Athens, which led to a successful career that included performing on the biggest stages in Europe and the United States. She sang in English, Polish, German, French, and Italian, gave recitals, and taught vocal programs. In 1898, Sembrich performed at the Met Opera in New York City, stayed for 11 seasons, and spent most of her time in the US. The outbreak of World War I prevented her from spending the summer in the European Alps, so she set the Adirondack Mountains area in New York as her new summer destination. Sembrich stayed at Lake Placid during the summers of 1915-1921 and then at the home and teaching studio she built at Lake George. During these summers, her students joined her to study and rest. Shortly after she died, her house was opened in 1937 as a history museum (free admission), showcasing personal items, memorabilia, and mementos from her life. In addition to commemorating Sembrich, the building hosts music events and festivals, continuing to spread her love of music. Read more...

The Jane Austen’s House Museum is located in the last residence of the renowned writer and where she worked on her novels. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Steventon, Hampshire. Her writing talent was recognized at an early age, and with her father’s encouragement, she explored different genres before the age of 12. By 19, she wrote her first mature work, the epistolary novella Lady Susan (later published as Northanger Abbey). She wrote two more novels over the next seven years but didn’t publish them. In 1801, Austen moved with her family to Bath, and during the following decade, her productivity decreased. After her father died, she, her sister, mother, and their friend Martha Lloyd moved to Chawton Cottage, near her brother’s house, in 1809. There, she had both the surroundings and mindset that allowed her creativity to flourish. Over the next eight years, Austen revisited her early drafts, wrote new novels, and published four of her books – Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815). Austen died when she was only 41 years old, before publishing her last complete novel, Persuasion (published postmortem in 1818), and before completing the novel she was working on at the time, Sanditon. Austen’s literary works, even the unfinished ones, received widespread acclaim and have been adapted into countless movies, television shows, and plays. After her death, Austen’s mother and sister stayed in Chawton Cottage. Later, it was divided into small laborers’ apartments before it became a workman’s club in the early 1920s. In 1940, the Jane Austen Society received the cottage and turned it into a museum dedicated to the life and work of the famous author. Opened to the public in 1947, the Jane Austen’s House Museum hosts a collection of Austen’s personal items, including jewelry, letters, original furniture, her writing table, and the first editions of her novels. The museum also has temporary exhibitions which follow the Regency era and different aspects of Austen’s work, influences, and inspirations. Other Hampshire sites associated with Austen are the Jane Austen Statue in Basingstoke and her final resting place in Winchester Cathedral. Read more...

The Jane Austen Center in Bath showcases a permanent exhibition dedicated to the life of work of the novelist Jane Austen and the Regency period in Bath that impacted her writing. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Steventon, Hampshire, into a landed gentry family. She showed an early interest in writing, supported by her father, who provided her and her siblings with writing and drawing tools. By 12, she had already started writing stories, verses, poems, and exploring prose, parody, comedy, and novels, which she compiled in three manuscript notebooks, known today as her Juvenilia. At 19, Austen completed her first mature work, Lady Susan (later published as Northanger Abbey), followed by Elinor and Marianne (later published as Sense and Sensibility) and First Impressions (later published as Pride and Prejudice). After her father retired in 1801, the family moved to Bath and lived there for five years. There, she worked on her next novel, The Watsons, which she never completed. There is a common belief that Austen’s discontent with her life in Bath impacted her creativity. However, At that time of the Regency period, the city had become the most significant social life center outside of London, and Austen participated in the social activities of the gentry. Some scholars claim that her active involvement in social events and engagements is the reason for her decreased writing. In 1805, her father died, and the family’s financial situation worsened. The following year, Austen, her sister, and her mother left Bath and moved between places until 1809, when they settled in a cottage in Chawton, Hampshire. There, she had the time and state of mind to return to her writing, and in 1811, 36 years old Austen published her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, followed by Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). That year, her health declined, and while managing to complete the novel Persuasion, Austen died while working on her next one, Sanditon. She was 41 years old. During her life, Austen published seven novels, and two more were published postmortem. Her works achieved universal acclaim, resulting in adaptations for hundreds of movies, TV shows, and plays, and inspired many spin-offs, prequels, and sequels. The Jane Austen Center, located in a Georgian building, provides an immersive experience of the life and works of the beloved writer. The exhibit explores the impact of living in Bath on Austen’s life and writing, with costumed actors, dress-ups in Regency costumes, and period food tastings. The Center features a life-sized wax model of Austen and Regency-style Tea Rooms. It also hosts various events, such as the annual Jane Austen Festival, a Summer Ball, and a costumed promenade through the Center of Bath. Other sites to visit while in Bath are the Roman Baths, for which the city is named, Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent, and the Victoria Art Gallery. Read more...

Emily Dickinson Museum is located in her family’s original homestead; it celebrates and commemorates her legacy. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830-1886) was born on this homestead and lived there most of her life. She started writing poetry at 11, but it was only in her late 20s that she developed her signature writing style, characterized by ignoring the rules of syntax and grammar and using capitalization and punctuation in unconventional ways. Following her mother’s illness, which required Dickinson to take on all the household responsibilities, she increasingly secluded herself from outside contact, communicating with her family and friends by notes and letters. Within the safety and comfort of her home, she was the most productive, and between 1858 to 1865, she wrote about 800 poems, assembling them in booklets, today known as her fascicles. Over time, her solitude worsened, and she went out of her home only to attend the garden and to visit her brother and his family in Evergreens, the house next door. By 1885, Dickinson’s mental and physical health had declined, and she died the following year at 55. During her lifetime, she published a few poems, most of which were published after her death by her sister, Lavinia. Since its first publication in 1890, Dickinson’s first collection was never out of print. Her poems received critical acclaim, and Dickinson became recognized as one of the most prominent and influential American poets. After Dickinson’s death, her sister lived in the homestead, and later, it was inherited by their brother’s daughter before it got sold. In 1963, the homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark, and two years later, the Trustees of Amherst College bought and opened it to the public as a house museum. Today, the Emily Dickinson Museum comprises the two houses of the Dickinson family – the homestead, where she lived, and Evergreens, her brother’s home. Visitors are welcome to explore the historic rooms and learn about Dickinson’s life and complicated personality through the museum’s collection, which contains over 800 artifacts, including family photographs, original 19th-century furniture, artworks, dinnerware, and textile. The museum hosts various events, such as poetry readings, Garden Days, the annual Poetry Walk, the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, and the Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series. Close by, there are more sites to visit, including the Amherst Historical Society and Museum, the Museums10, the Amherst College Museum of Natural History, and the Yiddish Book Center. Read more...

The legacy of the American author Mary Flannery O’Connor, one of Savannah’s celebrities, is celebrated in her childhood home in the old district of Savannah. Mary Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) was born and lived in this house till she was 13 when the family relocated to Milledgeville, Georgia, following her father’s new job; several years later, he passed away from lupus, which claimed her life when she was 39. O’Connor grew up as an only child and requested to be treated as an adult early on. She attended school nearby, had playdates, played with her chickens, and taught them tricks like walking backward (Pathé News even reported about it). As a strong-willed child, she insisted on calling her parents by their first name, wrote remarks inside her books, and attended the adult church mass at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. O’Connor graduated from Georgia State College for Women in June 1945 with a Social Sciences degree. She then attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa, graduating with an M.F.A. in 1947. By then, O’Connor had published short stories and worked on her first book, Wise Blood (1952), becoming famous as a Southern Gothic-style writer whose grotesque characters faced violent situations. In 1951, O’Connor was diagnosed with lupus and returned to her mother’s farm, Andalusia, in Milledgeville. She continued writing and publishing short stories and her second novel, The Violent Bear It Away (1960), and taking care of 100 peafowls. She won the O. Henry Award three times and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction for her book Complete Stories in 1972. In 1989 the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation, led by Armstrong State University’s president and professors, bought the house and restored it to its original setting. A few items on display belonged to the O’Connors, including her bedroom furniture, baby stroller, letters she wrote, photographs, childhood books, and rare copies of the books she wrote. The 30-minute guided tour takes visitors around the house and garden, telling the story of a middle-class American family during the Depression and about the life and work of Mary Flannery O’Connor. The museum organizes free public events, including the annual Ursrey Memorial Lecture and the Flannery O’Connor parade in Lafayette Square. The Andalusia Farm: Home of Flannery O’Connor lies three hours from Savannah in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she lived in her final years. Read more...

The Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum (SOJO Museum) educates and celebrates African-American history, legacy, and culture. Found in 1996 by the artist and community activist Shonna McDaniels, the museum resides at Florin Square, home to the largest collaboration of black-owned businesses in Northern California. Besides directing the museum, McDaniels, a muralist herself, works with artists to commemorate notable African-Americans on the Florin Square’s walls. In March 2021, the museum received a grant that allowed it to expand to 3,000 square feet. The museum tells the story of African-Americans in America in different interactive exhibitions bringing to life thousands of years of black heritage with incorporated videos, artwork, murals, artifacts, and commentary. Among the exhibited topics are the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, notable people such as Sojourner Truth, Black Cowboys, art by Black artists during 1963-1983, Black Women Reclaiming Our Grace, and Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires. The museum hosts special events like the Woman’s Festival, the Black Woman celebration, the African Market, holidays like Kwanzaa and Black History Month, and various art activities such as the paint n sip. Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was a former slave who became a preacher, public speaker, activist, abolitionist, and national advocate for equal rights for African-American women. She was born and lived in slavery as Isabella Baumfree for almost thirty years before escaping to freedom with her infant daughter. In her first ten years as a free woman, she worked as a domestic in New Paltz, NY, and then in New York City. In her forties, she followed god’s call to speak the truth to people; she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and traveled around the US preaching and giving public speeches in community gatherings, churches, and conversions, advocating for equal rights. Read more...

The Tubman African American Museum celebrates African American culture, heritage, history, and art. The two-story museum was founded in 1981 and relocated to a larger venue in the city’s museum district on May 16, 2015, becoming the largest museum of its kind in the southeast. The founder, Rev. Richard Keil, admired Harriet Tubman’s work and decided to name the museum in her honor. Rev. Keil credited the museum’s establishment to many people; among them are his wife Margaret, high school principal Gloria Washington, Mercer University professor Bobby Jones, contractor and county commissioner Albert Billingslea, and director of the Ruth Hartley Mosley Center Maureen Walker. One of the galleries presents an exhibition about Tubman’s life, from her years as an enslaved person to escaping slavery and becoming a brave conductor on the Underground Railroad known as the Black Moses, a fearless soldier in the Union Army during the civil war and a suffragist and activist till her last years. Also on the museum are permanent and rotating exhibitions of local and international African American artists presenting contemporary and folk art, I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, Sankofa: A Century of African American Expression in the Decorative Arts, a sculpture gallery and the mural From Africa to America. Other galleries present cultural and historical artifacts relating to African Americans and local and national African American leaders. The museum hosts special programs, art classes, concerts, performances, lectures, and many more. Read more...

The Anne Frank House is a biographical museum commemorating the teenage holocaust victim and her family. Anne Frank (1929-1945) was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to Otto and Edith Frank. In 1933, following Hitler’s rise to power, the family moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. There, her father established a fruit extract company located at a 17th-century building on Prinsengracht 263. She had a normal childhood; she went to school, loved to read, and enjoyed riding her bike. That changed in May 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands and enforced antisemitic rules that limited the freedom of the Jewish citizens and threatened their lives. The Frank family tried to escape the country but were eventually trapped under the Nazi regime and decided to go into hiding. On July 6th, 1942, the family moved to a secret annex at Otto’s office. It was a 450 square feet space at the rear extension of the building, hidden from all sides. Within a few months, four more people came to live in the annex – a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer and the Van Pels family – Hermann, Auguste, and their son Peter. For the next two years, Anne described her life in the diary she received for her 13th birthday, only a month before moving into the annex. In it, she expressed her thoughts and feelings about the war and the day after; she detailed her daily routines, her conflicts with her mother and sister Margot, her opinions of the other annex’s residences, and her feelings toward Peter Van Pels. When she heard on the radio that the government would collect and publish diaries written during the war, Anne, who aspired to become a famous writer, decided to edit her diary into a running story – The Secret Annex. On August 4th, 1944, the secret German police raided the annex and deported all its inhabitants to Auschwitz. Later on, Anne and Margot were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where both died of typhus, Anne at 15 and Margot at 18. After their evacuation, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, two of Otto’s employees who helped hide the families, managed to rescue some of the residences’ belongings; Anne’s diary was among them. Otto, the only surviving family member, returned to Amsterdam after the war and received the diary. He decided to fulfill his daughter’s wish, and in 1947 it was published in Dutch. The book was titled Het Achterhuis. Dagbrieven van 14 juni 1942 tot 1 augustus 1944 (The Secret Annex. Diary Letters from 14 June 1942 to 1 August 1944) as Anne wanted. It became a bestseller, drawing people to visit the building and view the hiding place. It was later retitled the Diary of Anne Frank and translated into more than 70 languages. In 1955, demolition was planned for the building. Following a successful campaign by a Dutch newspaper, it was saved. Two years later, Otto established the Anne Frank Foundation to purchase the building and turn it into a museum. Eventually, the building was donated to the foundation, and the funds were used to buy the house next door. In 1960, the museum was opened to the public. Today, the Anne Frank House incorporates the entire building and includes several exhibition spaces. Once you go up the narrow stairs and through the hinged bookcase that hides the annex’s entrance, the world from the book comes to life. On display are Anne’s original diary, the pictures of movie stars she hanged on her bedroom wall, a map of Normandy that allowed the annex’s residences to follow the advance of the allies, height marks of Anne and Margot, Otto and Edith’s wedding photos, a notebook with short stories Anne wrote, and her Favorite Quotes Book, where she copied quotes she liked. Also on view is the Academy Award Shelley Winters won for her portrayal of Petronella van Daan (the characterization of Auguste van Pels) in The Diary of Anne Frank movie. Also recommended is a visit to the multimedia room, where you can take a virtual tour through Anne’s house and hear stories of other people who went into hiding during the war. Outside the museum, at Westermarkt 74, there is a bronze statue of Anne sculpted by Mari Andriessen in 1977. The marker beside it reads a quotation from Anne’s diary: “I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself, and then I am satisfied.” Other places in Amsterdam commemorating Anne Frank are a sculpture in Merwedeplein, where the Frank family lived before leaving for the annex, and the Anne Frank mural at Ms. van Riemsdijkweg 31. Read more...