As preservationists, we talk a lot about the power of place -- modern places, beautiful places, places of conscience, and sacred places. Sometimes these places are centered on a single structure -- a building where someone lived, worked, played, or died.

But there is one more way in which places can be powerful: context. It is by walking around and through these buildings that visitors are taken back in time. And in sharing that space, that context, visitors are linked with those who came before.

Early this summer we asked staff from the National Trust’s Historic Sites to tell us about their favorite objects. For some it was a specific item or a piece of art, but for three of our Historic Sites, the Glass House, Brucemore, and Touro Synagogue, the power of the place was front and center.