The Heritage Society

If you are interested in a little bit of Houston culture, I recommend the Heritage Society. :)
Guys, it’s beautiful!
It’s in the middle of Sam Houston Park, and I had never even heard of it before. The museum is free, and for $ 15 you also get to choose a tour on 4 of Houston’s oldest houses, from different historical periods, different social classes, and that belonged to different immigrant/​ethnic groups.
Go check it out!

I was the kind of kid who played «pioneer times» and «Colonial Williamsburg» as a child so to say I eat this sort of shit up would be a severe understatement. Architecture of the past? Roughing it by candlelight? Victory gardens? Summer kitchens? Yes, yes and yes.
This free downtown attraction will give you a glimpse into yesteryear of Houston through the decades– from German to Victorian architecture and everywhere in between. From what I gathered, they offer tours during certain hours of the day but you are also welcome to explore independently. They also appear to have a special candlelight celebration during the holidays and decorate all of the homes for Christmas inside.
Finally, you’ll want to reserve 15 – 30 minutes to check out the Welcome Center, Egypt general store and rotating Houston exhibits (during our visit, we were able to learn about Houston’s Asian immigrant population.

I was at Japan America society’s facebook page, I found this organization and an exhibition.“A Kaleidoscope of cultures, Asian Americans in Houston.“I visited the exhibition.
The office and buildings were not new. They were actually very old. It was still Okay. they just preserve our history.
At the exhibition, I learned Asian Americans’ History .
I am from Japan. especially, I liked Japanese Americans history. Japanese Americans came to Texas around 1900 in order to grow rice. Some of them were so successful. We can still see the legacy like Mykawa road near Hobby airport. Shinpei Maekawa was a Japanese immigrant and rice farmer. Maekawa was anglicized «Mykawa».
I also learned Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians and other Asian immigrants history. I also attended a lecture on Japanese Americans history at the society. This museum often have interesting events.
Hope many people visit «A kaleidoscope cultures, Asian Americans in Houston».

A great taste of history sitting right downtown. It’s a great place and I highly recommend a tour so you can go inside the buildings.

A lot of Houstonians may not know about it, but every year, 2 weeks before Christmas (give or take) The Heritage Society has a candlelight tour of the original Houston homes in Sam Houston Park. There are singers, and character actors walking around and giving tours of the homes. It’s really a lot of fun.

I am reviewing this based off my experience at the candlelight tour. It was a nice enough evening, and the staff were very friendly. However, it was overly crowded making it hard to hear as well as the exhibits were crowded. On the speaking tours they also rushed you through without giving you ample time to explore and ask questions. I was also hoping they’d have used more Christmas lights to decorate some of the structures, assuming it wasn’t a fire hazard. I think I will visit again when it isn’t so crowded to garner a better appreciation.

Another gem in downtown Houston. It’s on the left of the Sam Houston park right behind the downtown public library. There are a dozen or so old houses that have been moved here when the original site was used for construction etc. (ex. the Chase tower location, Allen building location, etc.). It’s like a museum of Houston history that you could walk through and see from the house owner’s personal perspective. The houses may not be as fancy as say Bayou Bend or Moody Mansion, but it represents more of how Houstonians of different backgrounds and ethnicity lived throughout the history.
I took the 11:30am tour during my lunch hour teehee. We saw five houses I think. Once again, what makes or breaks a historical tour is the tour guide. In this case a very capable 25 year old young lady with a great bubbly personality. She had wonderful stories about every house (I loved the Rice story about his murder etc., so dramatic! And the rhyme about the two bird porcelain plate, awesome!). Since the tour group was small (5), she was also able to show us sections of the houses that were fenced off, and explain how things actually worked (like the old washing machine).
I was thoroughly impressed with this tour, what a great way to spend a lunch hour downtown. It would be wise to call ahead to ensure the tour is happening though, when I went the 11:30 tour actually started a bit past 11 since a few people needed to get out of town early.
The museum at where the tour started has great old photos of Houston, and an old fashioned grocery store relocated from a Texas town!
Now if only I could convince my Houstonian friends that their hometown history is actually very interesting…

Very neat little museum about Texas past. You can see the historic buildings with downtown in the back ground. Nice tranquil park to chill out in. The museum doesn’t really have that much but the general store recreation is quite cool, almost like movie set. The best thing about this place is the nickelodeon. Put a quarter in and check it out!

Went there for a Holiday event and it was awesome. Great for kids and dates!

Thanks to Gretchen on my last trip to Sam Houston Park I took a little bit extra time to enjoy the wonder that is the Heritage Society. Right next to Sam Houston park sits 9 historic structures dating from 1823 to 1905. Each one of these buildings have been restored to reflect its original glamour.
It’s an amazing feeling to be able to jump into a time machine and travel back over a 100 years to see how things look right here in Houston. Also the Heritage Society boasts that it was the first museum in Houston to be accredited by the American Association of Museums.
With the Heritage Society you can go back to the future without traveling 88 mph in a DeLorean.

As a kid, we would go on school field trips to The Heritage Society houses. As a eight to eleven year old, I was not terribly impressed. Old houses; standing in line in the heat; shuffling from house to house. I did learn a few things, mostly from the log cabin. Each house is set up to resemble a different point in history, so the log cabin had many pre-​electircity ways of life. The one thing that has always stuck in my head was the wooden basin in which they made lye soap. Everything was so fascinating, although it makes me appreciate electricity all the more (thanks a bunch Ike!).
As an adult, it’s a whole other story. How amazing that all of these houses are from Houston, and what a story they lend to our history as a city. Amazing! Thankfully instead of razing these bits of history, the houses (and church) were moved to this wonderful, tranquil park. The one house on it’s original site is the Kellum-​Noble house (an old school house). The other eight were moved to the park over the past forty years. The Kellum-​Noble house is actually the whole reason The Heritage Society came into existence. Three people in 1954 were able to successfully save the house, with the goal of preserving Houston’s history. Over the years, houses around Houston have been relocated to the park. The most recent addition was The Forth Ward Cottage in 2002.
There are guided tours: Tue-​Sat 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm, Sun 1pm and 2:30pm. There is now a cell phone tour. I have not tried this, but there are signs with instructions posted. You can tour at your leisure.
Tour prices: $ 6 for adults, free for kids 18 and under.
You can also just wander around outside of the houses, in the museum, and in Sam Houston Park for free.