National Museum

One sight tourists in Washington won't be able to visit this summer is the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Thank goodness. Before doors shut a year ago for 24 months and $85 million in renovations, it was one of the biggest disappointments in town. Unfortunately, interim exhibitions off-site suggest there's little reason to expect substantive improvement when the museum reopens in 2008. Before it closed, the museum didn't offer even a CliffsNotes version of its ostensible subject.

Philip Freelon, one of the lead architects of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore, will play a key role in shaping the even-larger African-American museum planned for the Mall in Washington. A team made up of Freelon's company, the Freelon Group of Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Davis Brody Bond of New York City has been selected to begin planning the project, which is expected to be the largest African-American museum in the country, a director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture said yesterday.

Fire and waterThe Fire Museum of Maryland sponsors Fire and Water Day Saturday. The event features demonstrations of an 1899 steamer, an 1898 water tower, antique fire engines and draft horses and miniature working steam engines. Children's activities include a water brigade and pumping contest, face painting and story time with Fox 45 sports anchor Steve Davis. Food will be available.The museum is at 1301 York Road in Lutherville. The event runs 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Story time is noon and 1:30 p.m. $12 family pass; $5 adults; $4 firefighters and seniors; $3 children 4-18; free 3 and under.

Fall Harvest FestivalWelcome the fall season this weekend at the Steppingstone Museum. Crafts, scarecrow-making, apple butter-making, pumpkin-painting, apple-bobbing, pony rides, hayrides, apple cider-pressing, storytelling, a petting zoo, live entertainment and plenty of food will highlight the Fall Harvest Festival and Craft Show in Havre de Grace. All museum buildings will be open for tours, as well.The festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Steppingstone Museum, 461 Quaker Bottom Road in Havre de Grace.

WASHINGTON -- After 10 years of planning, the Smithsonian Institution will break ground today for the National Museum of the American Indian on the last empty plot on the National Mall, which runs between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument.The museum's limestone-clad design -- created in consultation with Indian leaders and shaped to evoke the wind- and water-carved rock formations of the American West -- is expected to contrast sharply with the Greek Revival, Victorian and modern buildings lining the Mall.

WASHINGTON - The National Mall here is getting crowded.To protect the 2-mile strip of land between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, a federal planning agency wants no more museums on the Mall."

Visitors to the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry yesterday found teasers for their taste buds.The youngest visitors created a mystery flavor, entered a smelling bee, sampled spicy cookies and colored a big mouth in a celebration billed as "Bite Your Tongue." The program was one in a monthly series of family events that culminates with the museum's second anniversary celebration in June.Housed in a renovated century-old building at Lombard and Greene streets, the museum rooms once served as the dental school for the University of Maryland, Baltimore, which claims the world's first dental college.

Until the yellow school buses started pulling up at the National Museum of Dentistry's door, visitors to the $5 million gallery were as scarce as crooked teeth in a beauty pageant.The exhibit hall on the edge of the University of Maryland's downtown campus, which opened in June, still has a tough time attracting large numbers of casual, walk-in patrons such as those who visit the Babe Ruth and B&O Railroad museums, two neighboring institutions on the western side of downtown Baltimore.The dental museum has adopted a different strategy.

WASHINGTON - As construction of the transcontinental railroad pressed forward during the 1800s, the iron horse wasn't the only thing to connect America's western frontiers with its populated East.With every new rail put down, photographers, bulky equipment and all, followed close behind, creating images of new and brilliant landscapes they encountered - works that ultimately became a visual link for many Americans to the vast, untamed reaches of their young and expanding nation.A remarkable body of these early renditions of the far West and a host of vintage photographs spotlighting life in 19th- and early 20th-century America are the focus of a special exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art through April 20.175 images"American Photographs: The First Century" provides a fascinating survey of the early development and popularity of photography in the United States.

Saturday and SundayAn American Journey. A collage of America's past and future under seven heated tents on the Mall and in theaters of the Smithsonian Institution museums features popular performers and American business leaders. On the Mall between 7th and 14th streets N.W. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday unless otherwise noted. Free.Harmony and Heritage halls. A live showcase of distinctly American music, including gospel, jazz, country and folk, on stages on the Mall.

Here's something you may not know about the sharks at the National Aquarium in Baltimore: They're often up at 1 a.m., drifting aimlessly like long-finned insomniacs. But you'd have trouble nodding off, too, if occasionally dozens of Girl Scouts held sleepovers in front of your tank. After all, the last thing anyone wants to do at a sleepover is, well, sleep. That goes double when the overnight stay is at a popular venue most people never get to visit after closing time. As families and groups look for cost-friendly diversions, many are waking up to the idea of camping in at a local attraction.

The history of the American Negro, the educator W.E.B. DuBois wrote in 1903, is the history of strife between opposing forces. "One ever feels his twoness - an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body," DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois' thoughts are worth bearing in mind as one contemplates the designs proposed for Washington's next major museum, the Smithsonian's $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Environmental Film Festival Where:: Various locations in Washington. When:: Now through March 22. What:: Annual event with more than 100 documentaries, archival and experimental and children's films selected to provide perspectives on global environmental issues. This year's focus is the ocean, covering nearly three quarters of the Earth but less known than the surface of the moon. Screenings will be held at museums, embassies, libraries and theaters. How much: : Most showings are free.

Did you know that our first president withdrew from the social scene entirely because he lost his teeth? See the former commander-in-chief's dentures at George Washington's Birthday Bash at the National Museum of Dentistry. The event also features Colonial games, actors in period costumes, dance lessons, cake and punch. The event runs 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $1. The museum is at University of Maryland, 31 S. Greene St. Call 410-706-0600 or go to www.dentalmuseum.org.

Washington-- --No bright lights. No more exposure to dirt and debris from outdoors. But much more information about the flag that flew over Baltimore's Fort McHenry in 1814 and why it's such an important piece of U.S. history. That's the way visitors will see the original Star-Spangled Banner when it goes back on public display next year as the centerpiece of the National Museum of American History on the National Mall. After being out of view since September 2006, the flag will be featured in a new Star-Spangled Banner gallery when the museum at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest reopens after an $85 million renovation.

Philip Freelon, one of the lead architects of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore, will play a key role in shaping the even-larger African-American museum planned for the Mall in Washington. A team made up of Freelon's company, the Freelon Group of Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Davis Brody Bond of New York City has been selected to begin planning the project, which is expected to be the largest African-American museum in the country, a director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture said yesterday.

Museums are changing. Gone are the days of wealthy connoisseurs opening exhibits with private collections of rare treasures. Now, it's about an idea, a niche, fundraising and marketing. Uniqueness is no longer the ultimate goal; it's the everyday, a narrative woven through unremarkable relics to tell the story of a specific group's experience. The number of heritage museums dedicated to portraying the history and culture of a given group of people has surged in the last 30 years, according to Schroeder Cherry, counselor to the director of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides grants for African-American and American Indian heritage museums.

MARYLAND Concert series -- Bethesda. The Summer Concert Series continues at noon Wednesday with Caribbean music by Sam'O at Bethesda Place Plaza, 7700 Wisconsin Ave. Black Sombrero Brass performs at 6 p.m. Thursday at Veterans Park, Norfolk and Woodmont avenues. Free. 301-215-6660 or bethesda.org. "Good Life Thursdays" -- Hydes. Visitors can enjoy wine tasting, music and cooking demonstrations. 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 30 at Boordy Vineyards, 12820 Long Green Pike. 410-592-5015.

One sight tourists in Washington won't be able to visit this summer is the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Thank goodness. Before doors shut a year ago for 24 months and $85 million in renovations, it was one of the biggest disappointments in town. Unfortunately, interim exhibitions off-site suggest there's little reason to expect substantive improvement when the museum reopens in 2008. Before it closed, the museum didn't offer even a CliffsNotes version of its ostensible subject.

Washington-- --After 30 years, millions of dollars and countless minutes of fame, Rocky Balboa still calls out to Adrian as if he's a nobody who never left the old neighborhood. "Yo, Adrian! How ya doin'?" bellowed Sylvester Stallone, imitating the iconic movie character that long ago helped vault his Rocky films into American lore. As the actor/writer/director yesterday donated items from his first five Rocky films to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, he reflected upon the scrappy, pugnacious, unheralded boxer, who time and again triumphed over great odds and adversity.