Museums

Dave and I are lifelong learners. It is one of the reasons we wanted to explore this great country! In our travels of the lower 48 contiguous states, one of the things we love to do is visit museums. Obviously, we have not visited EVERY museum in EVERY state! We have listed some of our favorite museums, alphabetically by state.

Museums by State

Connecticut

Mystic, CT
The Mystic Seaport Museum was founded in 1929. It is the nation’s leading maritime museum and covers 19 acres on the Mystic River. It includes a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. In 2022, a refurbishing of the Mayflower II was completed at the shipyard in the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Illinois

Poplar Grove, IL
The Wings and Wheels Museum is dedicated to transportation history between 1903 – 1957. The museum and several 20th century airplane hangars and automotive garages are located on 12 acres of land. The museum’s mission is preserving history, but also educating people and future generations on the history of “wings and wheels”. There are both paved and grass landing areas for small and vintage planes.

Alton, IL
The 12,000-square-foot National Great Rivers Museum opened to the public in 2003. While at the museum, you can also tour the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. The purpose of the museum is to showcase the Mississippi River through interactive exhibits, a theater, and daily public tours. The facility introduces the public to the great rivers, their environments, and the importance of their presence.

Kansas

Wamego, KS
The Oz Museum is housed in the historic 1893 Columbian theater in downtown Wamego (population 4,860). L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz, never lived in Wamego or Kansas before writing his children’s book! After an extensive renovation of the historic building, in 2003 the Oz Museum opened its doors as a way of exhibiting Oz artifacts of Wamego collector Todd Machin.

Louisiana

New Orleans, LA
Louisiana State Museums
The Louisiana State Museum, founded in New Orleans in 1906, is a statewide system of National Historic Landmarks and modern structures across Louisiana, housing thousands of artifacts and works of art reflecting Louisiana’s legacy of historic events and cultural diversity. The current exhibit is devoted to preserving the memory of the victims and families of Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans, LA
The Old U.S. Mint is a historical landmark and is the home for the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The museum celebrates jazz in the city where jazz was born. There is a state-of-the-art, near-perfect sound environment performance venue on the 3rd floor offers over 365 concerts per year, more than 15 music festivals per year, and boasts of more than 25,000 artifacts relating to jazz.

Minnesota

Austin, MN
Dave and I both remember eating fried SPAM sandwiches as kids! In January 1991, in celebration of SPAM’s 100th anniversary year, Hormel opened the Hormel Foods First Century Museum. It was later renamed the SPAM Museum. In the “World Market” visitors can learn about SPAM recipes from 44 different nations and a World War II-themed exhibit explaining the importance of SPAM as a staple for American troops.

Missouri

Branson, MO
The Titanic Museum offers a self-guided walking tour of the different levels of the Titanic, including what it would have been like to be “out on the deck” in the evening. The museum consists of more than 400 genuine Titanic artifacts. Each visitor receives a boarding pass in the name of an actual Titanic passenger. By the end of the museum tour, you learn the fate of “your” passenger.

Montana

Bozeman, MT
The American Computer and Robotics Museum was GREAT! It is a small museum, jam packed with artifacts of anything computers, communications, robotics, automation, or artificial intelligence. Every exhibit is dedicated to the Information Age and the progress that has been made in technology throughout time. The museum chronicles advancements from typewriters to room-sized computers to smartphones.

North Carolina

Durham, NC
The Bennett Place is a former farm and homestead in Durham, North Carolina. It is the site of the April 1865 Civil War surrender of Joseph E. Johnson (Confederate Army) to William T. Sherman (Union Army). The two officers met at the Bennett Place, where they signed surrender papers. The reconstructed farmhouse, kitchen, and smokehouse recall the lifestyle of an ordinary Southern farmer during the Civil War.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, OK
The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is a HUGE museum that has more than 28,000 paintings, sculptures, exhibits and artifacts of Western and American Indian art works. The museum has done an excellent job of bringing the cowboy lifestyle to life. It also has the world’s most extensive collections of American rodeo photography, barbed wire, saddlery and early rodeo trophies.

Oklahoma City, OK
It would be impossible to not be emotionally affected by the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This is a sacred place. There are monumental “gates” at both ends of the reflecting pool, one with a simple 9:01 and the other with a 9:03. The 9:01 gate represents innocence before the 4/19/95 attack. The 9:03 gate symbolizes the moment healing began.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls, SD
The Courthouse Museum is an amazing building! It was built in 1890 at a cost of $135,000. At the time it was designed to be the biggest courthouse between Chicago and Denver. It covers a total of 47,000 square feet and has a bell tower that is 165 feet tall. Everything has been redone inside. Two of the original 1890 murals are on the walls between the first and second floor.

Take-away Points

Museums can be so diverse; from the Titanic to the American Computer and Robotics Museum to the Jazz Museum to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. There is so much to see and learn about in this country!

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn, Dave and Lucky
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

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