The Perry House Museum is a 19th century house, built and occupied by one of Friendswood's first…read morefamilies. It is furnished with many period antiques, as well as some early 20th century pieces. Admission is free. They're only open Saturday mornings. They're operated by the same volunteer crew as runs Friendswood's Brown Museum. For both, call first to make sure they're open because the volunteers don't always show up. When I visited, the docent was not exceptionally knowledgeable about the house or the Perry family; though she could assure me that they were not related to the Perry family who runs the meat markets and restaurants in the area. Nor was there much in the way of literature, plaques or labels explaining the house or the furnishings. My impression is that the Perry house only recently opened as a museum; perhaps they'll improve.

The Bryan is an absolute must…read more.. Go! Historic Orphanage building purchased and restored by JP Bryan a Houston Oil Man for a place to exhibit his vast collection of western memorabilia. One of the best overall projects of this type I've every experienced. If you like history Go. If you love Texas Go. If you like real estate go. There's almost no one who wouldn't appreciate the 1+1=3 qualities of this place. Originally built before the historic Hurricane of 1900 that wiped out a large percentage of Galveston. Orphaned children actually rode out that storm in this building that was significantly damaged. Repaired and operated as an orphanage until 1984 when it was closed, then used as a private residence. Sitting vacant for many years it was restored to perfection in 2013 and operating as a museum in 2015. Besides stunning, sombreros,fire arms,saddles,documents and fine art,each room has a kiosk that tells you what the room was used for when it was an orphanage. To top it all off,exit through the world class gift shop. I did and purchased two future gifts! Again,a very strong.... Go!

This has cowboy, Texas, and island history, plus the building served as an orphanage in the past…read morewith the basement recreating that period. It is highly recommended.

It's beautiful and easy to visualize life in the 1900's. View the video of the 1900 Hurricane ay…read moreRosenberg Library then come and tour the Moody Mansion! There is so much to see and if you have an imagination, thinking what it was like to be this rich and living with such opulence especially after the city was destroyed by the hurricane.

Bobbie was incredibly helpful. We learned a lot from her. The audio tour didn't work.in a rare turn…read moreof events., we met the curator. There was so much history and information, it was overwhelming. We even got to see the cars and all.

I've been here a number of times with the grandkid with more in the way and it has been a pleasure!…read moreI loved the dinosaur exhibit and all the other sights Will be back soon

Not as much stuff to do or see as the Rainforest pyramid or the Aquarium pyramid. There is a very…read moresmall shark exhibit upstairs and a 4D theater downstairs. I wouldn't pay for this on its own. The 4D movie will be great for kids.

Lovely and historic train museum in Galveston dedicated to the history trains.I had no item the…read morehistory of the Freedom Tree that has roots connected to the South. A movie inside the train area with small amount of seating was worth listening. Note: some train cars are without AC and it was 96 degrees inside .Some cars have AC so was easier to do self guided tour. Parking was $5 for 24 hours which was cool since parked and then went to walk around Strand after. Military members are gratis so that was great that they support the military.

I'm a lover of visiting museums while on vacation, and I stumbled upon the Galveston Railroad…read moreMuseum during my trip. It was such an interesting, informative, and enjoyable experience. All of the trains were well maintained and did a great job of giving visitors a timeline and visual look at the history of railroads, from the beginning to where we are today. The trains are still accessible, and you're able to tour almost all of them, except for the ones marked for VIP guests. There was also a friendly staff member who passed by a few times to share fun facts about some of the things we were looking at, which was pretty cool. The gift shop was a nice touch with a good selection and reasonable priced souvenirs. I recommend stopping by if you're visiting Galveston, traveling with kids, love museums, or are a train enthusiast. And when you're finished exploring the museum you can get a great view of the cruise ships.

We have been coming to this museum for at least 8yrs. It's definitely a gem and one of the few…read moreindoor places to bring kids to. The space has a lot of open-ended activities to do and will rotate play to keep kids engaged. The space is small, which makes it easier to monitor your child(ren), but has something in every corner for kids to do. As parents, we even get involved in playing with our kids. The camps are great, two of our boys attend regularly, they offer family free nights, and they have some really great events like DaVinci Day. They really do try to meet the needs of families and engage with our community. On a separate note, as a mom of three neurodivergent kids who range in abilities, I appreciate that the staff is welcoming, inclusive, and doesn't judge the boys or us when someone is behaving in a typical way. They embrace who they are as people and don't shy away from engaging with them. If you live in Galveston and haven't made it in, you should. If you're visiting Galveston and want something to entertain your kids, definitely come in.

Nothing dampens my vacation to the beach like a week of rain and no sun but that's what happened…read more So we were on the hunt for something fun to do with five children under 4! Fortunately we came across this sweet little place on the island. Small and quaint but full of rooms of imagination and learning. Each of the kids had different personalities and within seconds we found a spot for each of them. It may have been a toss up as to whether adults or kids had the most fun. There is only one doorway to come in and out of so we felt pretty safe that we wouldn't lose any too quickly lol. Every time we thought we had seen it all, there were more rooms to discover. Kids were fully entertained and happy to be out of the airbnb. There were enough activities for ages up to 8 I would say. There was also an art studio. Supplies were rough. Very used so a donation might improve that activity. Restrooms clean but small. So was parking. We had to park on adjacent street when we were there. Takeaway-when it rains, make a trip here you won't regret it. I believe it was $10 per head. Oh and be sure to do a little jig with Mr Skeleton while you're there.

The ship and museum: 4/5 stars. You only get to go on the top deck of the ship and the museum is…read moresmall but still worth visiting. The harbor tour and dolphin watching: 5/5 stars!!!!! We saw several dolphins including dolphins leaping out of the water as they raced in front of a cargo ship. The narrator shared lots of interesting information and took us to see a decades old wreck. I think this is a "Must Do" in Galveston.

Did you know that Galveston, Texas used to be the "Ellis Island" of the South? Immigrants from all…read moreover the world would come through Galveston and either move into central Texas via the railroads (hence the large German and Czech populations of Texas Hill country and Oklahoma) or they'd take the Mississippi River North towards Illinois and Iowa or branch off into Tennessee. Galveston used to be a bustling, metropolitan and diverse city with languages from all over the world being spoken here. When the East Coast talked of limiting immigration, especially to Jews fleeing Russian pogroms, New York financier and philanthropist Jacob Schiff and Galveston's B'nai Israel's Rabbi Henry Cohen spearheaded the Galveston Plan to reroute Jewish immigrants from the East Coast to Texas. There was a substantial fear that the poverty, overcrowding and cultural differences in Jewish immigrant neighborhoods would increase anti-Semitic frustrations on the East Coast, which would then lead to immigration restrictions on Jews. While some Jews fleeing pogroms fled to Palestine, tens of thousands of them came to Galveston to settle in the South and Midwest. Not only was Galveston a place for freedom for immigrants fleeing persecution abroad, Galveston was an important stop on runaway slaves' path to Mexico or even Northern states that had outlawed slavery. I didn't know any of this before visiting this museum. The museum at this historic seaport was incredibly informative and so well done. Our ticket came with entry to the museum and access to the tall ship Elissa and we paid for an add-on of the Galveston harbor tour in a boat. It was an excellent tour, the ship was actively being trained on and restored while we were there and the museum was fantastic. Highly recommended! Visited November 2025

Fun tour through the history of piracy. There are videos available through QR codes if you don't…read morewant to read the descriptions. (It can get challenging if multiple parties are hearing different descriptions close to each other. Fire the cannon! A fun outing.

If you are visiting Galveston and want to have a spectacular time with your family, you should not…read moremiss visiting the pirate museum and the haunted house. Don't forget to request to play in the amazing Escape Room. Come with your family and enjoy.