Museums
Beall-Dawson Historic Park
103 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville MD, 20850
(301) 762-1492
The MCHS Museums and Library will be CLOSED July 3-5, 2010 for the 4th of July weekend.
Hours and Tour Information
Open Wednesday-Sunday, 12:00-4:00 for self guided tours.
Guided tours available Friday-Sunday at 12:15, 1:15, 2:15, and 3:15.
Closed major holidays.
Fees
Adults: $5
Students and seniors: $3
Children under 6: free
MCHS members: free
What You’ll Find
A visit to the Rockville campus of the Historical Society includes a tour of both the Beall-Dawson House (including any special exhibits) and the Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine. Our tours are docent-led, and generally last 45 minutes to an hour; no tours are begun after 3:30 (3:15 during December). For groups of 8 or more people, please schedule tours in advance by calling our administrative offices at (301) 340-2825.
Summer visitors please note: the Beall-Dawson House is not air-conditioned.
The Rockville campus is also home to the Jane C. Sween Research Library, our main research facility.
Access
The main part of the Beall-Dawson House first floor is reached by several steps. Non-motorized wheelchairs can be conveyed into one of the first floor rooms, and the museum shop. The second floor is not handicapped accessible, but notebooks explaining the second floor tour and any special exhibits are available for anyone who cannot make it up the stairs.
The Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine has three steps leading up to the door; most of the one-room museum is visible from the entrance, however.
The Rockville campus does have a handicapped accessible restroom, available in the research library.
Waters House History Center
12535 Milestone Manor Lane, Germantown MD, 20876
(301)515-2887
Hours
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10-4, or by appointment. Closed major holidays.
Effective July 1, 2010 the Waters House is CLOSED to the public.
The Montgomery County Historical Society continues to experience unprecedented reductions to its funding from all sources, including a decrease in direct county funding of 50% for fiscal year 2011. As a result, the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Historical Society has been forced to make a number of difficult decisions, including terminating the lease with M-NCPPC to steward the Waters House History Center in Germantown. For more information about the closure of the Waters House History Center, click here.
Fees
There is no admission charge for the Waters House History Center.
What You’ll Find
The Germantown campus of the Historical Society is made up of the Waters House, a ca. 1790s farmhouse (with later additions), and several original outbuildings. The Waters House includes exhibit galleries, a research library, and a museum shop. The house is not furnished as a traditional historic house museum. Tours of the exhibits are self-guided; a walking tour, also self-guided, of the grounds is available.
Access
The public areas of the Waters House are handicapped accessible.