Museum Guide

Where can you touch what soars through the sky and see what zooms over land? The Estrella Warbirds Museum and Woodland Auto Display! Learn about rare military aircraft and vehicles, plus restored automobiles ranging from American and European classics to racetrack winners. Dedicated to restoring and preserving military aircraft, vehicles and memorabilia, the museum was established 30 years ago at the Paso Robles Municipal Airport. We now encompass 20 acres and 14 buildings with exhibit halls, workshops, library, gift shop, and conference facilities. Experience history firsthand! Aircraft represent the Cold War to today, including Betsy's Biscuit Bomber, the WWII-vintage C-47 Dakota transport aircraft owned and still flown by the Gooney Bird Group. Book your appointment to fly the Hornet simulator on Fridays and Sundays! Ground vehicles include the Red Ball Express display: restored logistics vehicles that supported General Patton’s 1944 march to the Battle of the Bulge. Freedom Hall offers artifacts from World War I to today: actual cockpit instrument displays from U.S. and Japanese aircraft, plus a Norden bombsight, which improved accuracy of U.S. bombers in WWII. You might even recognize your grandparent's flight medals or uniform! The Woodland Auto Display features an 1886 Benz Motorwagen and 2005 Ford GT 550, and everything in between, all in showroom condition. Does racing excite you? Enjoy this amazing collection of race cars including midget, sprint, Silver Crown, modified, NASCAR, and Indy racers. The Woodland Auto Display has been called the best auto museum on the Central Coast! Your admission fee helps this 501(c)(3) honor those who flew, drove, and worked these vehicles. Estrella Warbirds Museum and Woodland Auto Display, 4251 Dry Creek Road, Paso Robles; open Thursday-Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Visit https://www.ewarbirds.org/index.html  or call (805) 238-9317 for more information.

The Sewickley Heights History Center, located in the heart of Sewickley Heights, Pennsylvania, is a nonprofit, non‑endowed museum dedicated to preserving the natural beauty and historical integrity of the region. For more than 20 years, the museum has served the community by offering visitors an opportunity to step back into the late 1800s through the 1930s, a period marked by the height of the American Industrial Revolution. During this era, many of Pittsburgh’s prominent steel industrialists established their homes in Sewickley Heights, building grand estates across its rolling hills. The museum showcases this rich heritage through its collection of memorabilia, brass-era vehicles, horse‑drawn carriages, and historic photographs. The onsite theater features a variety of informative short films produced in-house, further bringing the area’s history to life. The History Center also offers guided tours, educational lectures, live music events, and rental opportunities for the public, continuing its commitment to community engagement and historical preservation. Check us out online: https://sewickleyheightshistory.org/

The Innovator Who Advised a President: John A. Dahlgren! John A. Dahlgren is the most famous Swedish American you may never have heard of. Born in Philadelphia on November 13, 1809, John A. Dahlgren was the son of Bernhard Ulric Dahlgren, the Swedish Consul General in Philadelphia. John eventually began his career on board the USS Macedonian in 1826. Eventually the Navy assigned Dahlgren to the U.S. Coast Survey, where he served as a scientist. During this time, Dahlgren studied naval ordnance and was tasked with exploring ways to improve weaponry through emerging technologies and more precise engineering. By 1847, Dahlgren was regarded as an ordinance expert and was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography at the Washington Navy Yard. His most famous innovation, the eponymous Dahlgren gun, was a shockingly effective design. It featured increased power, accuracy, and penetrative ability alongside a unique contoured shape, which distributed pressure more evenly and made it safer to fire explosive shells. When war broke out in 1861 and most officers at the Washington Navy Yard resigned due to Confederate sympathies, Dahlgren was made Commandant by special order of President Abraham Lincoln. In 1863, Dahlgren, now Rear Admiral, was tasked with capturing Charleston and cutting off Confederate supply lines. When Dahlgren failed, Lincoln came under pressure to replace him. Angered, Lincoln replied that he “would be damned if he would do anything to discredit or disgrace John A. Dahlgren.” In recognition of John A. Dahlgren, ASHM features two great examples of these guns on either side of the Museum’s FDR Park-facing façade. Originally on board the wooden, steam-powered USS Osceola and USS Ticonderoga during the Civil War, these cannons were put into storage in the latter half of the nineteenth century before finally arriving in South Philly in 1938 when ASHM celebrated its grand opening. We welcome you to tour our museum and learn more about John A. Dahlgren! https://www.americanswedish.org/