I originally discovered Owego on a trip back from the Thousand Islands. It was only a quick drive through, but there was a certain charm of the downtown that called me back.

The Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum was the first library solely dedicated to a President of the United States, and is located on the grounds of the family estate, Springwood. Located a short distance from Springwood was Val-Kil. Eleanor Roosevelt considered Val-Kil to be her first real home.

Wilderstien, is a Hudson Valley house museum that was occupied by three generations of the Suckley family, in Rhinebeck, NY. Thomas Suckley was a descendant of two prominent New York families: the Beekmans and Livingstons.

This section of Brooklyn, was land once owned by the Ditmas Family. The Ditmas Park Historic District is a National Historic District which contains approximately 2,000 buildings, mostly residential.

Salem was originally settled in 1766 by members of the Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination that began in the 1450’s in what is now the Czech Republic.

I have to start off by saying I did not expect what I saw at Winterthur. I had initially thought it would be a nice gilded age house museum, where you tour and admire different rooms filled with paintings and antiques. Instead, what I experienced in the former home of Henry Francis du Pont, was an extensive collection of American decorative arts in 175 rooms with over 90,000 individual objects on an estate with 1,000 natural garden acres of rolling hills, streams, meadows and forests.

Coney Island is the name of both a neighborhood and a landmark amusement park. Between 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement park in the United States. Switchback Railway, a gravity coaster was built in 1884.

Just off bustling King Street, is Carlyle House, built by merchant John Carlyle between 1751 and 1753 in the Georgian-style. The house is architecturally unique as the only stone 18th century residence in Alexandria.

Visiting Mount Airy, North Carolina should be on every Andy Griffith Show fan’s bucket list. This is Andy Griffith’s hometown, the real life “Mayberry” and the inspiration for the town the show takes place in.

For decades, The American Tobacco Campus and the city of Durham were one of the busiest industrial centers the country. When the tobacco industry ended in Durham, there needed to be re-invention.

Norwalk native LeGrand Lockwood, New York financier, railroad magnate, and Treasurer of the New York Stock Exchange purchased 35 acres in Norwalk, Connecticut to build his country estate. French-trained architect Detlef Lienau was commissioned to design a technologically advanced 62-room mansion with indoor plumbing, running hot and cold water, burglar alarm system and heat and ventilation controls.

Sara Spencer Morgan, sister of J.P. Morgan and husband George Hill Morgan commissioned Rotch & Tilden to build Ventfort Hall, and it was built between 1891 and 1893. They were 7th cousins so they both carried the Morgan name. The Morgan family summered together at their Lenox home until Sarah died in 1896, and then her husband in 1911. Ventfort Hall was left to their three children, Junius Spencer, George Dennison and Caroline Lucy, who sold the house and all the contents, so there are no original furnishings in the house today.

Boston, and neighboring Cambridge are among the most loved cities, loved for their art, culture and history. Boston Tea Party, Boston Public Garden and the Freedom Trail is a unique collection of museums, meeting houses, churches, parks and burying grounds that tell the American Revolution story.

The Cloister’s museum buildings were constructed by merging various medieval styles and portions of buildings, and the overall design was the work of Charles Colleens. The museum was opened in 1938, and the park and museum were donated by oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller.

Reynolda was built between 1912 and 1917 by Kathharine Smith Reynolds and her husband R.J. Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, on 1,067 acres.

Glenview is a mansion built in 1877 by successful stockbroker, John Bond Trevor. In 1876, Trevor purchased 23 acres and commissioned architect Charles W. Clinton to design his home in the New York City suburbs. Nothing was spared both inside and out, when building the house.

Nemours, the former 300-acre estate of Alfred I. du Pont, is named after the du Pont ancestral home in north central France. The 102-room French chateau-style mansion, designed by Carrere and Hastings, and built between 1909 and 1910, was a gift from Alfred to his second wife, Alicia.

The town of Saugerties is popular now because they have the right mix of high-quality shops and restaurants, cool art and architecture and the outdoors with hiking trails. There is something for everyone in this town nestled between the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. Saugerties, like many Hudson Valley towns, lost many manufacturing jobs, but have been on the upswing with popularity.

Sefton Manor, now called Mill Neck Manor, is a Tudor-Revival mansion that sits on 86 acres on the north shore of Long Island overlooking the Sound in Mill Neck.

On the Long Island Sound, in the town of Lattingtown, John Edward Aldred, along with W.D. Guthrie decided to establish themselves on Long Island’s Gold Coast. In 1910 they bought out the incorporated village of Lattingtown, leveled some 60 houses and businesses and built two mansions on the waterfront.