The Beamish Museum is an open air museum in the County Durham. The museum tries to show the life was a typical northern town in the last 2 centuries, mostly specific to 1913, but some parts of the museum are based as early as 1825. The Drift Coal Mine was opened in the 1850s, but closed in 1958. The museum re-opened it to allow visitors to experience life down the pit. While visitors wear a hard hat for protection, the guides still use the original plain caps.