BRIEFS

Lincoln bicentennial programs planned

Many states have established bicentennial commissions to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009.

Washington, D.C., plans more than 80 exhibits from January through the end of April, including a re-enactment of Lincoln’s second inaugural ball Jan. 31 in the historic building that now houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Ford’s Theatre —- where Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 —- will also reopen after an extensive renovation.

But events are also taking place across the country. Kentucky has established a Lincoln Heritage Trail with a downloadable map at www.kylincolntrail.com to guide visitors to Lincoln sites throughout the state where he was born. Indiana, where the future president grew up, has a guide to Lincoln sites and events at www.in.gov/lincoln. In Illinois, where Lincoln was elected to the state Legislature and Congress, concerts, lectures, re-enactments and other festivities are being planned at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, www.alplm.org.

Back in the nation’s capital, the National Park Service will celebrate Lincoln’s birthday Feb. 12 at the Lincoln Memorial with singer Michael Feinstein offering a musical tribute. The memorial will be rededicated on Memorial Day.

The National Museum of American History, reopening in Washington on Nov. 21 after a major overhaul, will display a copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. In January, the museum will open “Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life,” with more than 60 artifacts from the president’s life. Another exhibit will feature documents from the Lincoln Presidential Library in Illinois, including a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. Dozens of Lincoln impersonators are expected to flood the city in April, when the American Association of Lincoln Presenters holds its annual convention in suburban Maryland.

For more information, visit www.lincolnindc.com and the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission at www.abrahamlincoln200.org.

Annual arts fest set in Miami Beach

Miami —- Art Basel Miami Beach, the annual art show and sister event of Switzerland’s Art Basel, is scheduled to take place Dec. 4-7 in the city’s Art Deco district.

Art Basel Miami Beach showcases selections from 220 galleries around the world. The four-day art extravaganza also includes public art projects, video art, performance art, music performances, movie screenings and other contemporary art events.

Details at www.artbaselmiamibeach.com.

Guide published to help stargazers

New Brunswick, N.J. —- Do you love visiting the planetarium? Are you fascinated by the history of NASA? Is seeing the Northern Lights on your life list?

If so, “Guidebook for the Scientific Traveler: Visiting Astronomy and Space Exploration Sites Across America” by Duane S. Nickell (Rutgers University Press, $21.95) can help you plan your next trips.

The book includes chapters on visiting planetariums, space museums, NASA research and flight centers, and optical and radio telescopes and observatories that offer tours, such as the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington; the Lick Observatory near San Jose, Calif.; the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.; the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, N.M., and the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.

Another chapter lists sites associated with eight astronomers and astronauts who the author says “made a major contribution to the field,” from physicist Albert Einstein to John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Other chapters describe meteor craters in Arizona and Texas; sites associated with stories of aliens in Roswell, N.M., and Nevada; and Native American sites that show how carefully many tribes observed the sun, moon and stars.

A final chapter describes “Out-of-This-World Experiences,” including places that host “star parties” or other access to dark skies for star viewing; programs that offer astronaut training experience; information about viewing the Northern Lights and solar eclipses; and space tourism.

Baltimore honors Edgar Allan Poe

Baltimore —- The city where Edgar Allan Poe died will celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth with “Nevermore 2009,” a year’s worth of exhibits and programs.

Events will include a one-man show, “Poe in Person,” at the Baltimore Theatre Project; a wine tasting inspired by Poe’s sadistic revenge tale “The Cask of Amontillado” in the catacombs beneath Westminster Hall, a former church in west Baltimore; and exhibits at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The Web site for the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore has a link to the Baltimore Poe House and Museum, www.eapoe.org. Details on the festival are at www.Nevermore2009.com.

Poe died in Baltimore in 1849 and is buried there at the Westminster Burying Grounds. The city plans an elaborate re-enactment of his funeral on the anniversary of his death in October 2009.

Baltimore aggressively promotes its ties to Poe thanks in part to a mysterious visitor who leaves a half-empty bottle of cognac and three red roses at his grave every year on the anniversary of his Jan. 19 birthday. The city also named its football team the Ravens to honor Poe.

But other cities also have claims on Poe. The author of “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” was raised in Richmond, where the Edgar Allan Poe Museum —- www.poemuseum.org —- is planning lectures, exhibits, workshops and a series of “Unhappy Hours” (with cash bar); details at www.poe200th.com.