Historic houses, Landmarks & Museums of the South

Magazine Antiques, Feb, 2005

FLORIDA

ORLANDO: The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, 32803. The Museum's premier collection of paintings by Earl Cunning-ham are shown with works by other outstanding American artists including John White Alexander and Lilla Cabot Perry. The art of Southern self-taught artists is also exhibited. (407) 246-4278; www.mennellomuseum.com

ST. AUGUSTINE: The Lightner Museum, City Hall Complex, King Street P.O. Box 334, 32084. Exhibits of diverse 19th Century decorative arts and fine arts are found in the Lightner Museum. Featured are collections of: glass, porcelain, toys, natural history, Victorian collectibles and mechanical musical instruments. The Museum is open daily and is housed in the former Alcazar Hotel, an 1888 National Register Building. (904) 824-2874.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

KENTUCKY

FRANKFORT: Liberty Hall Historic Site, 218 Wilkinson St, 40601. LHHS, a National Historic Landmark, was home to one of Kentucky's earliest political families. The two houses: Liberty Hall (c. 1796) and the Orlando Brown House (c. 1835), lived in by the family until the 20th century, contain many original family items and period pieces. (888) 516-5101, (502) 227-2560. www.libertyhall.org

HARRODSBURG: Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 3501 Lexington Rd (US 68), 40330. On 2,900 acres of rolling Bluegrass farmland sits America's largest restored Shaker community. Enjoy self-guided tours, special events, craft stores, hearty Kentucky dining and overnight lodging, all in beautifully restored 19th-century buildings where the Shakers once worked and lived. (800) 734-5611. www.shakervillageky.org

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

SOUTH UNION: Shaker Museum at South Union, 850 Shaker Museum Road, Auburn, KY, 42206. Historic site of the last Western Shaker Village (1807-1922) exhibits unique "southern" Shaker material culture. Features four renovated Shaker buildings, museum shop and Shaker Tavern B&B. Full calendar of events & educational programs. Open daily March 1-November 30. Open Tues-Sat. December 1-February 28. 1-800-811-8379, www.shakermuseum.com

LOUISIANA

NEW ORLEANS: The Historic New Orleans Collection, 533 Royal Street, 70130. Visit the area's premier museum and research center for state and local history. Changing exhibitions and tours of the Louisiana History Galleries highlight authentic documents and artifacts that shaped Louisiana's past. The Williams Residence reveals the elegant lifestyle of the museum's founders. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10-4:30. For more information call (504) 523-4662. www.hnoc.org

NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Museum of Art, One Collins Diboll Circle, City Park, 70124. NOMA is the city's oldest fine arts institution with a magnificent permanent collection of more than 40,000 objects. The five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at NOMA features 50 sculptures situated on a beautifully landscaped site. (504) 488-2631; www.noma.org

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

MISSISSIPPI

COLUMBUS: Columbus Historic Foundation, P.O. Box 46, 39703. You are invited to one of the most authentic historic home tours in the south. The Columbus Mississippi Pilgrimage to homes, gardens and churches has been held each spring for more that sixty years. The event with living history will be held March 29-April 10th, 2005. For more information: visit www.historic-columbus.org or email nlc@historic-columbus.org or call 1-800-920-3533. Sponsored by the Columbus Historic Foundation, Nancy Carpenter, Executive Director, 662-329-3533.

LAUREL: Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, 5th Ave. at 7th St., 39440. First art museum in Mississippi, founded in 1922. Collections of American and European art, Native American baskets, English Georgian silver and 18th- century Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Free admission. Donations are accepted. Open Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-4. Closed major holidays. (601) 649-6374. www.lrma.org

NORTH CAROLINA

GREENSBORO: Blandwood Mansion, 447 West Washington St., 27401. Blandwood, a National Historic Landmark, is the oldest example of Italianate architecture in the United States. Filled with antebellum furnishings, artworks, and decorative features, visit this spectacular home that appeared as a prototype in A.J. Downing's Treatise on Landscape Architecture (1844).

WINSTON-SALEM: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, 2250 Reynolda Road, 27106. Enjoy masterpieces of American art in the newly restored 1917 mansion of Richard Joshua Reynolds. The 64-room estate, A National Historic Property, has gardens and Reynolda Village. See Vanguard Collecting of American Art, April-August 15, in the new exhibition gallery. 336-758-5150, toll free 1-888-663-1149, www.reynoldahouse.org

WINSTON-SALEM: The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) at Old Salem, PO Box F Salem Station, 27108. Explore life in the early South by visiting MESDA, the only museum dedicated to researching and exhibiting early Southern decorative arts. Original furniture, paintings, ceramics, silver, and textiles displayed in unique period rooms and galleries. Seminars and lectures throughout the year. (336) 721-7360. www.oldsalem.org