I've only visited this place one other time since moving to Knoxville. Last night, there was a Jazz…read moreperformance held there put on by a group of talented female musicians. These women were so awe-inspiring it left me wanting more. Afterwards, Hubby and I talked about the venue and all the great sounds of the evening. We will definitely return, hoping to meet some of the same warm and friendly staff while enjoying the artistic work displayed throughout the museum. Thank you Knoxville!

Such a fun visit while in Knoxville…read more The staff at the front desk was welcoming and informative. We particularly enjoyed seeing the model rooms and learning about the architecture. I want to go visit those houses now! Free museum. It's not too big but you can spend 1-2 hours here.

Unfortunately, part of the museum was under construction on our visit. I think that was the mummy…read moreexhibit. It's still a cute Museum and worth a stop for an hour or two. A few interesting older pieces.

First off, go to the website so receive your free admission to the museum. You can't enter it…read moreunless you have valid tickets. Now ok... I get that this museum is to preserve history we all understand this concept. But what I don't get is that more than half of the Native American artifacts in this section was removed by Tribes because it was viewed "incorrectly." Instead of having a Tribe member being in the museum to inform people they just removed the artifacts entirely from public eye. How I would do it, inform and educate rather than take down things. Just very odd to me. The bottom half of the museum (after you walk down the stairs) is interesting although the theory that we came from "apes" is uh... A different topic. It's a nice sized museum, very clean, quiet and people are respectfully when going into each section. P.S, if a Baseball game is nearby and they charge for parking let them know that you're visiting the museum not the game so you can get in to park. If not, you'll get charged $20 to park for free. It's far better than the Knoxville Museum of Art, now that's a different story to tell.

We thoroughly enjoyed this museum and were presently surprised to find out that there was no charge…read moreduring this year of our country's 250th anniversary! It's absolutely huge and will take you a good two hours to see it; add another hour if you're the type that reads almost everything. Definitely put it on your list of things to see while in downtown Knoxville.

We had been to Knoxville several times but never had the opportunity to visit the East Tennessee…read moreHistory Center. They have different price ranges for kids, adults and senior citizens (age 55 +) to tour the museum. It was an informative walk through on the first floor with several rooms contains various stories about the struggles for southern families, musicians and women. There were several areas to sit and listen and watch the video. I was very pleased to see they had captions turned on so my spouse and I could enjoy the videos as well. Before we left we purchased a few items from the gift store. They had lots of T-shirt's 40% off as well as books for only $1. It's definitely worth the visit.

Wonderful place to see God's creation. The beautiful animals are friendly and all around. The store…read morepart is great with things to buy from the past. The restaurant serves the old country food from years ago. I do wish they'd expand their menu some but it is still good. Lots of vendors on special days there as well.

Surprised at how well exhibited the museum is! It's a fairly large outdoor exhibit. If you're a…read moresenior, you might want to ho when it's cooler out. Highly recommended!

Good history of science and technology. I actually learned the concept of what it takes to keep us…read moresafe and comfortable.

Part history museum, science museum, and children's museum. There's a little something for everyone…read moreat the American Museum of Science & Energy. The museum tells the story of Oak Ridge's role in World War II and the top secret Manhattan Project. The way the museum is laid out tells the story in a chronological way where you'll begin by learning about how Oak Ridge came to be, its role in the war, and its role in nuclear research in the years since the hydrogen bomb was first dropped over Japan. Plan to spend about 2 hours here depending on how hands on you want to be. As you progress through the musuem it becomes more hands on and reminiscent of a children's museum where you can get hands on with science theories. The space has multiple exhibits, an introduction video, and gift shop. On certain days/times a bus tour is offered to the plant sites that will also include admission to the museum but I was not visiting on one of those days but would like to check it out if Im ever in the area on the right day.

The Sunsphere is an amazing architectural wonder and remnant from the 1982 World's Fair in…read moreKnoxville. My visit to the Sunsphere made my day. The 342' steel structure was designed by Don Shell and completed in 1982. The glass on the 75' sphere is coated with gold dust. During the World's Fair, a small restaurant operated at the top and visitors could visit the observation deck for $2. We were passing through Knoxville and my daughter wanted to visit. Today, visitors can pay to go up to the observation deck of the giant structure. ($10 for adults). You can buy tickets on line or at the Sunsphere. When we arrived, the Sphere was closed until 1:30, so we did not go up in it. But we enjoyed walking around and taking photos. There is parking a block south and the walk through the park is lovely. There is a drop off circle near the Sunshpere as well. Let's are not allowed in the structure.

Sunsphere is cool, but also overpriced. We were walking around Knoxville and it was fun to go up…read moreand get her 360° view. It was also nice to get out of the heat and humidity and feel a little air conditioning. Once you've looked around, there's not much else to do. Maybe read a sign or two, but I'd say 10 minutes is the most anybody might realistically spend up at the top, so $40 for the four of us felt a bit steep. I will say this, if we hadn't gone up, then we would not have noticed the Knoxville Museum of Art, which we wound up going to and that was awesome!

Castle of chaos is a 7d motion movie theatre ride located in a popular tourist strip of pigeon…read moreforge Tennessee. Castle of chaos can be purchased as its own separate event but is usually bundled up with a 4 way attraction event with Hollywood wax museum, Hannah' mirror maze and the haunted house called "outbreak". The wax museum is in its own exterior building and at the rear of the parking lot is a second exterior building that is a castle. Inside the castle you will find the other 3 attractions. After visiting the Gatlinburg/Sevierville/pigeon forge areas I do feel this 4 attraction pass is the best bundled tourist attraction in all 3 towns. The castle of chaos has two theatre rooms along with two adventure or show types. On our visit we chose between carnival which is a creepy clown attraction or Los banditios which is a robot attraction. We had actually done the carnival attraction at a Destin Florida tourist spot so we all chose Los banditos. Like most 7d attractions you wear 3d goggles, have a hand held gun for shooting the "enemies" to see who scores the highest (I won!). Your stationary seat will move up and down and sideways as you go through the adventure. Overall while most 7d tourists traps are pricey but fun this one the blow is a little lessen since you can get it with that 4 ticket attraction. The whole experience takes probably 5-10 minutes. Between the two rides offered they both have there advantages and disadvantages. I prefer carnival but I enjoy creep and scare factors. So younger or more frightened folks would probably prefer Los banditos.

We only came here because it was bundled into a discount package with the tickets we purchased for…read morethe Hollywood Wax Museum (we loved that place). The maze was just ok. If you've ever been to one of these before (and we have) you've been to them all. It's about 5 minutes of giggling while you bump into mirrors trying to find your way out, with colorful archways and black lights guiding your way. Not very big at all, and not very challenging. As we had young children with us, we skipped the zombie area (? Can't speak on it) and instead hit up both of the little 3-D shoot-em-up video game/films. (If you do the zombie walk, you only choose one of these) The first one we went on was scary clown themed, and had I known just how scary, I would have skipped it. (My 4 year-old was a bit traumatized). The other one, where you shoot at evil robots in the Wild West(!) was much better, not only because it wasn't too scary for little ones, but because it was smoother and less headache inducing than the other. It was probably my favorite experience of the three, but not worth the price of admission unless you got the discount pass for the wax museum and you've got time to kill.

I will be first to say this place when we pulled in I doubted we would enjoy it. I saw a lot of…read morelittle kids and we had a 2nd grader with us. I guess I am spoiled with a hometown children's museum of play.. I am so glad we went in to give it a chance, the employees here are wonderful. Very welcoming. The exhibits are diverse and many hands on touch this or that ability. There were some dated videos of the Appalachian culture but honestly it gave it an appeal and definitely a time gone by. The exhibits and explanation of the Manhattan project were very interesting. All of us walked away learning a lot about oak ridge and that era around world war 2. We spent a good two hours in the museum and didn't read it all, we happened to be walking in right before a school group of 30 little kids and parents. Initially it was loud but there was enough space that we didn't have to be around all the chaos real little kids bring. Some of the exhibits were geared for smaller kids but our 2nd grader had no problem enjoying the experience. I mean who doesn't love a "doll house" that has two levels, For the price and exhibits I would suggest it to anyone especially if you have a history buff in your family.

What a fun find, and close to our new place! The building is unassuming and it looks like a much…read moresmaller space than it actually is. When we arrived, we parked in the free and easy lot and were greeted immediately. We saw that masks as of 10/15/21 are still required within the museum (and everyone we saw was properly wearing one, both kids and adults). After paying and being given a map, we began to explore, my kids initially complaining that they were bored (ugh.). We had begun with the cultural and historical exhibits, which showed cultural elements of different countries and a section on Appalachia, complete with replicas of log cabins and interactive screens showing the lifestyle. After we left this section, the kids perked up and really enjoyed the farm store/sorting produce, the fish aquarium, the outer space room with rocket, and the microscope to view differing hair follicles. We didn't realize we went upstairs to the bathrooms that we hadn't even seen half of the museum at that point! SO many things to explore, such as a water room with a flowing water track and boats, info on origins of Secret City, Girl Scout info, music room, rain forest, a bird's nest room, puppet room (not currently interactive due to COVID), and my kiddo's favorites: the model railroad area with working train tracks, and the kid/life size doll house room. We closed out the museum and were the last people there. Not the biggest or most interactive museum we have been to, but we still enjoyed it and are thrilled that it is close to home. We ended up buying a family membership before we left, which only cost $90 for a full year. If you buy same-day, you can roll in the entry fee you already paid toward the membership cost. And don't forget to stop by the city park next door when you're done. It's a good one and has a great hill to roll down.

David welcomed my wife and I to the Museum, gave us a mini tour and showed us a newspaper piece…read morefrom The Oregonian after seeing that I was coming from Portland, Oregon. It was nice to see his father in one of the old photos where he was a butcher for Y12 during the Manhattan Project. It was nice to see people from those days were still visiting and the generations after them as well. Definitely an interesting place to see for anyone passing by!

The visitor center is located in the Childen's Museum of Oak Ridge. To be honest, I was expecting…read moremore out of the visitor's center since a lot of the time there's a small associated museum or exhibits, but it was quite bare with only a small looping video. I liked the concept of the park in that you get to explore the community, but since the bus tour wasn't running with no plan or date when it would come back, it was hard to make a cohesive plan. I would say plan on visiting the K-25 history center + overlook and the American Museum of Science and Energy for sure, and then just wandering around the community looking at the placards. If you're into the stamps, there's a three part stamp (the rest of the parts are in Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico).

I'm definitely not a history buff, but I do like true crime shows, and this place was fantastic! We…read morespent about 2.5 hours inside and honestly could have spent even more time. It wasn't crowded when we went, which made it really easy to take our time and look around. There are a ton of cool and interesting stories and exhibits covering everything from the late 1800s all the way up to more current crimes and events. I was surprised by how much there was to see. We did the basic package with the family and, in my opinion, that was plenty. If you have younger kids, probably under 11 or 12, they may not get as much out of the museum until you get toward the end. There are some hands-on activities there, including half of a police car they can sit in and turn the lights on, drunk goggles, a police motorcycle you can sit on, and a tunnel where you can try to "escape" from jail. Overall, just a really cool place. I'm sure there was stuff I missed even after spending 2.5 hours there. I would definitely go back and do it again!

This was one of my favorite museum that I have visited out of town…read more Not only was it informative it was interactive too. There were areas where you could answer questions about what you just read and see if you retained information. You could go behind bars and take pictures like you were locked up. You could take a picture of a motorcycle. Learn about Ted Bundt, and OJ. You could learn about cold cases and people you never heard of before which was the best part for me.