12 Distinctive Destinations and Historic Artists' Homes and Studios to Virtually Explore
If you enjoyed our first list of virtual resources and want to continue exploring historic sites while safe at home, here are an additional twelve resources that will enable you to do just that. The sites mentioned below are part of our Distinctive Destinations program, which aims to enrich our understanding of American history by highlighting diverse sites across our country (one facet of which is our Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program). Explore the links below to learn about twelve of these wonderful sites!
1 Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the villa and estate of businessman James Deering, is as beautiful as ever on this virtual tour (which opens with a view of the east terrace at dusk).
2 Join site director Helen A. Harrison on this video tour of the Pollock-Krasner House, where she’ll walk you through the space and provide a glimpse into the lives of painters Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.
Exterior of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
3 Take a virtual tour of architect Henry Hobson Richardson’s Glessner House, a Richardsonian Romanesque structure that inspired the likes of Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Louis Sullivan.
4 Learn how the Forward—a progressive Yiddish-language newspaper—was created and consumed by American-Jewish readers in the 1900s in this video created by the Museum at Eldridge Street.
5 Relive The Gamble House’s Back to the Future (1985) event through this video, which explores how the historic site was used as the set of Doc Brown’s 1955 garage and laboratory.
6 Explore the life and works of painter Thomas Cole (who founded the Hudson River School art movement) through this interactive tour.
7 If you’re interested in conversations about art of all moods and mediums (with a slight bias toward the power of photography), listen to the George Eastman Museum’s podcast, which houses topics from their exhibited artists.
8 View the art and architecture of the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in all of it’s Italian Renaissance-style glory via this interactive tour.
9 Virtually visit Chesterwood—the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French—and learn about a handful of French’s most notable works (including the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial) in this video.
photo by: Carol M. Highsmith
Chesterwood
10 Virtually visit Bacon’s Castle, the Virginian site that was famously taken over by Nathaniel Bacon’s followers during Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.
11 Discover more historic places with our Guides. Each guide unites historic sites of a common theme or geographical location (which are ideal for planning road trips!).
12 Lastly, for a more comprehensive list, these Distinctive Destinations include even more virtual tours and digital collections for you to peruse without leaving your home.
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