Lippitt House is pretty much as new as museums get. It opened its doors as a museum in 1993 and only hired its first director in 2013. One of the first things we had to tackle is the program most traditionally associated with any historic site: the docent-led tour.

As a staff, we began by talking about our vision for tours. We wanted to develop an historic house tour that kept people listening, asking questions, and sharing their knowledge and views. W...