Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites. Wayne P. Anderson
Here’s a look at what people are saying about
Travels Into Our Past:
America’s Living History Museums & Historical Sites
“Planning an excursion to historical sites across the country, or simply dreaming about such an adventure? In either case, Wayne and Carla Anderson must be your trusted and informed guides. They can take you to an Arizona’s Cowboy Town USA, a late 19th century coal mine, the Smoky Mountains, a famous brig called Alcatraz, the Rosa Parks Library, or to a wide variety of other awe-inspiring locales.
You may get a rush when you ride the zip-line at Mill Creek Discovery Park in Michigan or flinch when you hear the Civil War cannons and muskets. You may fall silent when you visit the statue of the Little Rock Nine on the lawn of the Arkansas capitol, moved to tears reliving the heartbreaking events of the civil rights movement.
For memorable travels, filled with unexpected, delightful and often emotional experiences, explore with Wayne and Carla.”
~Dorothy J. Watson
Professor Emeritus
University of Missouri-Columbia
Watson Literacy Center
~~~
“Whether your travel interests lead you back to America’s pre-Colonial times or find you eager to explore the Civil Rights era of the Twentieth Century, Wayne and Carla Anderson’s illuminating guide to America’s living history museums is the book you’ll want to pack along for the ride as you set out in your car or favorite armchair to experience the past first hand.”
~Cathy Salter, author of
Notes From Breakfast Creek: A Look at the World,
and columnist for the Columbia Daily Tribune
and the Boone County Journal
“I have enjoyed reading Wayne’s columns for years now, and not only have I enjoyed them, but I have learned so much! Thank you for educating me about so much I have missed of American history.
You make me want to travel to all these places. Your writing is vivid and specific — the kind of writing I have tried to teach my students for 33 years at the Missouri School of Journalism.”
~Don Ranly, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus
Missouri School of Journalism
~~~
“Wayne and Carla Anderson are serial travelers. Travels Into Our Past: America’s Living History Museums & Historical Sites is their second effort, joining the 2011 collection Offbeat Travel: Exploring the unexpected and mysterious.
The new anthology offers a diverse and lively selection of stories that highlight public historical attractions from coast to coast.
The Andersons obviously enjoy their treks. ... they note in their columns their personal reactions to and interest in each historic venue. At a Yorktown, Va., restaurant with a Revolutionary War menu, for instance, ‘the carrot cake was especially good,’ they report.
The strength of Travels Into Our Past lies in its intermingling of wellknown sites such as Colonial Williamsburg, Va., Mark Twain’s Hannibal and Alcatraz in California with an abundance of lesser-known and sometimes quirky venues like Cowboy Town USA in Wickenburg, Ariz., and the replica Santa Maria in Columbus, Ohio.
The book is organized into nine sections that reflect themes represented by the various museums and attractions, starting with pre-Colonial America and ending with the Civil Rights era. Several columns populate each section.
...Travels Into Our Past is an easy, enjoyable read and a useful reference guide when you have a travel bug with a historical bent. ...Don’t be surprised if there are more down the road.”
Jim Robertson
Editor, the Columbia Daily Tribune
TRAVELS INTO OUR PAST:
AMERICA’S LIVING HISTORY MUSEUMS
& HISTORICAL SITES
WAYNE P. and CARLA LEE ANDERSON
© 2013 Wayne P. and Carla Lee Anderson
www.authorsden.com/waynepanderson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical or by any information or storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author.
Material previously published in the Columbia Daily Tribune used with permission.
Photos by Wayne and Carla Anderson Other photos used with permission.
Published by AKA-Publishing Columbia, Missouri.
Published in eBook format by AKA-Publishing
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN: 978-1-942168-37-9 eBook
ISBN: 978-1-942168-07-2 Trade Paperback
AKA-Publishing.com
Dedication
This book is dedicated to those who love to travel and enjoy learning new information about our fascinating country through the vast resources created by our Living History Museums and other Historical Sites.
It is also dedicated to the many unselfish volunteers and thoughtful employees of these national treasures.
Other Books by Wayne P. Anderson
Offbeat Travel: Exploring the Unexpected and Mysterious
AKA-Publishing
Christina’s Saga: From Norway to Dakota Territory
AKA-Publishing
The Changing Face of Sex
AKA-Publishing
Stress Management for Law Enforcement Officers
Prentice-Hall
Introduction
Recreating America’s past
For the past 60 years as we have traveled around the U.S., we have been impressed with the time, energy and expertise that has been spent preserving our country’s past in living history museums and historical sites. In recent years we have been amazed by the sheer number of these attractions that have been added and improved with buildings, artifacts and re-enactors brought together to give visitors a meaningful slice of history.
The Step into History website on the Internet lists over 550 places in the U. S. where you can see and experience life as it was in some era of the past. The historic periods covered by these museums range from the earliest settlements such as St. Augustine in Florida to the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that tells the story of the ongoing research on sources of energy.
Most living history museums are outdoors with authentic buildings and structures from the past. The original living history museums such as Williamsburg in Virginia and Old Salem in North Carolina are on the original historic sites