Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.history.org/
The Colonial Williamsburg website details information about this historical area, as well as its complex and elaborate restoration project. What started out with a few buildings has now grown to encompass around 85 percent of the town's area from the 18th century. As the world's largest living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg is noted for its ability to incorporate and interpret diverse perspectives on America's colonial period. With such features as an “Explore and Learn” section, which offers information on the different social and ethnic groups that inhabited the town (such as African American slaves and colonial children), as well as the various buildings within the community, one is able to get a feel for the area without having visited it in person. This site does use Macromedia Flash Player, and as is the case, it might take a while to load on a dial up connection.

The Electric Benjamin Franklin
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/index.htm
“The remarkable Benjamin Franklin, a printer by trade, a scientist by fame, and a man of action by all accounts, continues to shape American thinking and action. The Independence Hall Association has commissioned and assembled resources for you to explore the diversity that was Benjamin Franklin.”
There is a lot of interesting things to do on this website about Benjamin Franklin. There are games, activities and even experiments which the site helps you plan and execute. There is also a large photo gallery, virtual tour Franklin’s Philadelphia and scholarly articles. One especially valuable resource is the entire text of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. Also, the 360º panoramas of Independence Hall, Franklin’s print shop, the Franklin Museum, the Franklin post office and other historical sites should not be missed. There are also good overviews of his life, and other general information for quick reference. The site would be of great use to teachers or students looking for information, a science experiment or even a chance to play checkers against Benjamin Franklin. (BR)

Lewis and Clark as Naturalists
http://web4.si.edu/lewisandclark/
“This site has been designed to be particularly useful for elementary and high school education and includes a Teachers' Guide and several lesson plans, but the content should be interesting and informative to the general public, whether in North America or abroad…”
This site, dealing with the expedition of Lewis and Clark from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, offers many great interactive features. Lewis and Clark as Naturalists is primarily divided into three sections; The Corps of Discovery (information on the explorers), Interactive Map, and The Collection. The Collection section offers the visitor the ability to search the collection by state (Nebraska included), species, or date. What makes this site worth visiting however is its Interactive Map section. In this section one can zoom in on any specific section of the Lewis and Clark expedition path, or use the timeline feature to pinpoint a specific event or location to have the map focus on. This site focuses on the flora and fauna of the expedition, offering a great source of information on the “wild frontier” that Lewis and Clark encountered.

St. Augustine: America's Ancient City
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/staugustine/intro.htm
“While many persons think of Boston as the first major European settlement in what is now the United States, the once tiny military outpost of Spain, St. Augustine, is significantly older…”
St. Augustine: America's Ancient City, brings the story of St. Augustine, “the oldest European town in the United States.” Funded in part with historic preservation grant assistance provided by the Bureau of Historic Preservation and Florida Department of State, along with assistance by the Historic Preservation Advisory Council, this website brings a truly interactive experience to its viewers. Through the use of an interactive timeline one is able to browse the images and artifacts in the virtual exhibit by chronological order, or to study a particular time period of interest. This website is full of great music, artifacts, and people, making it worth visiting to learn about the early colonization of North America. The site does use Macromedia Flash technology so you will need to have that loaded onto your computer.

Virtual Jamestown
http://www.virtualjamestown.org
“The Virtual Jamestown Archive consists of seven main archival sections plus other sections devoted to student/researcher and teacher usage.”
Students, teachers, and scholars desiring a detailed examination of the Jamestown colony will find this website invaluable. The primary sources digitally preserved on this site include letters, faxes, charters, constitutions, and minutes from various colonial organizations and settlers. Moreover, these primary documents are not limited to Jamestown after 1607. Filtering through the Internet pages at Virtual Jamestown, the viewer will also locate communications from Raleigh’s attempts at colonizing Roanoke Island.

The visual and interactive aspects of Virtual Jamestown demand attention, too. For teachers who wish to bring Jamestown to life, these programs will truly aid in capturing the students’ attention. With nifty clips like the panoramic view of Jamestown, the viewer is drawn into a sense of the historic past as they sit next to the settlers for a town square meeting. Even the maps have a unique ability to revive the past. The interactive nature of the maps visually unfolds the expansion of the Virginia colony or Captain John Smith’s explorations in the Chesapeake area.

Finally, the site is properly documented and free of technical pit falls. Granted, some features require an extended load time, but overall, Virtual Jamestown is a well-maintained site with many attributes that make is attractive for research.