Loved this place! Got to spend an hour with my grandsons that felt like 10 minutes - so much to do…read morein a safe, clean and welcoming space. The exhibits were very well done, and there were so many! Highly recommend this for kids of all ages.

Wonderful place for kiddos. So many cool animals and a ton of hands-on activities. The employees…read morewere very helpful and knowledgeable. Both my kids had a blast. Shout out to Ruby, the youngest "employee"!

If I could give this place 10 stars I would!…read more This is quite simply the most stimulating museum experience that I've ever had in my life! The theme of the museum is that it's basically a walk-through the history of the technology of the reproduction of music. It is a guided tour that takes about an hour and a half, and it consists mainly of hearing about the history and development of the technology. And all of the pristine musical instruments are played for you. It is just a delight ! Clean well kept informative, exciting stimulating I just can't think of enough words for this place and I just want more people to know about it. The highlights are a player piano that plays Rhapsody and blue exactly the way George Gershwin would've played it And then a completely operating organ that would've been used (and was used) during the silent movie era This place is just so fun ! I was so happy after I visited and can't wait to come back hopefully for a special event so I can see a silent movie with the appropriate accompaniment! Worth every dime of admission ! They also take donations, so please give generously!

My Detroit to Michigan tour brought me here. Had a nice personal tour where the lady gave us…read morehistory of the Museum and played handful of old time Musical instruments like the pianos and organs. One self playing instrument was a combo duet between a violin and piano in a juke box. Truly amazing! This Pianoforte website explains well, "What is a Self-Playing Piano? Also known as player pianos or Pianolas, older style self-playing pianos uses a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism to play pre-programmed music on your piano using perforated paper or metallic rolls. The keys would move up and down as if the piano were playing by itself." So you can imagine how the piano player was eliminated as a job performer to these new type of jukeboxes and self playing pianos. This little Museum is quite a little hidden gem that you would just pass by on the main road on to your next destination. The state of Michigan, the land of cherries and historical unique musical instruments! Well worth the stop.

This place is amazing! Its located in the mall. We accidentally parked near Dunham's but we found…read moreout that its closer to the other doors further down. They have doors that are hard to escape. They charge $10 per person but the membership is a lot cheaper. They also participate in the museums for all and charge $20 for a membership for the year for it. There is an area behind the counter area with a room for strollers and bags. You can also eat food there as well I believe. The kids had so much to do. They had a lot of educational areas and designs. They loved placing the balls in the tubes. They had a little vet area. They also had a kitchen area in the back. They had a car track and water table. They have a giant playscape with two slides. By the checkin they have a small store area as well. The kids had so much fun!

Our kids had a ton of fun here, especially at the water table!…read more We thought that it was an actual, standalone museum, so we were confused when we were walking through the mall, and we accidentally walked right past it because we thought it was a gift shop. Lo and behold, it's actually very roomy and has multiple interactive stations! Besides the water table, they also loved the vet clinic, play structure, food truck, and collecting eggs. This would be a great place for grandparents to take their kids while parents go shopping at the mall.

Many small cities don't have much to do in the cultural realm but traverse city is different and…read morethis museum is amazing. The Inuit art section is just so unique and good. Modern art section compelling with unique and diverse representation. Also excellent gift store.

The auditorium has great sound quality. Seating is functional. Come to a show and visit the museum.read more

The taxidermy museum here was small but well put together. There's a wide variety of animals and…read moreother objects to see. There's fur to touch things to read. I especially enjoyed the small task at each exhibit, such as the find the arrowhead or find the chipmunk. Very neat.

I've been coming to the Spirit of the Woods museum since I was a little kid, around 15 years, and…read moreit is one of the highlights when I come to Elk Rapids! The opportunity to learn and see taxidermy and how the animals would look in their natural habitat is unmatched. The owners are both knowledgeable and will take time to answer any questions you may have. I love the sounds that play as you walk throughout and the different readings you can look at. The gift shop, although not to my taste, has some great and interesting finds you won't see at any old gift shop in ER. I wish there were more Guntzviller's specific items, because I come for the museum and can't afford any of the taxidermy myself (yet).

Small and a bit boring. We went for free with the library summer pass but I wouldn't want to pay…read morefor this museum. One cool fishing boat inside, something about the shipwrecks in Door County, some old boat motors and some info about the ferry boats, but overall this museum was pretty small, boring and there wasn't much to see for kids besides the one boat.

This was a nice and interesting museum. It's not very large so could be disappointing for some…read more It's primarily dedicated to two things - a fishing boat The Hope and a large selection of old boat engines.

While we were in the area on vacation, we went specifically for the Lego Carnival. Having lived in…read moreTraverse City for a few years [about 15 years ago] I was glad to see the old library being used for something interesting, but it wasn't QUITE as exciting as the word "carnival" might make it seem. There were about three rooms of pre-constructed Lego buildings/objects (one case had things like a bra, telephone, cell phone, and safety pin) which of course the kids aren't allowed to touch and then a play area that contained the Lego tunnel (which was basically a single L-shaped section built from big wooden Lego-looking pieces) that took five seconds to crawl through, the big Lego block building area, the building area with a bunch of plastic bins of random Lego pieces on tables to build cars (or whatever else), and the ramp to test your cars. It really wasn't very exciting to look at...as an adult...but our son (and all the kids there) LOVED IT. So for that reason alone it gets four stars. I can't quite give it five stars because it's definitely not "as good as it gets" but for a smallish town it's pretty cool. And a great way to get out of the heat for a few hours. :) My husband and mother-in-law looked around the rest of the museum and I briefly looked at the rock display (to see what kind of rocks are found around the state) and it doesn't take long since it's not that big. We were there for just under two hours.

Spent $5 to get in, kids were entertained for 3 hours. We went in the summer when they had a huge,…read moreinteractive Lego exhibit. They had models designed and built by experts to look at, but they also had tons of Legos for the kids to play with. They also have a huge vat of cherry pits (large enough for 5 kids to play in at once) which is there year round. It's also just a cute little museum about Traverse City history in a beautiful location. Definitely recommend if you're in T.C. and you have a couple of hours to kill and some kids that need entertaining.

Tucked away in a back harbor of Lake Michigan, in the historic city of Manistee, you'll find a…read morepiece of history that is patiently awaiting your visit. It's the car ferry SS City of Milwaukee, built in 1931. The ferry was a product of Manitowoc Shipbuilding, constructed for the Grand Trunk Railroad. She replaced the Grand Trunk Railroad car ferry, the SS Milwaukee, which was lost at sea with all hands in 1929. First thing, let's clear this up: a car ferry was built to haul railroad cars across Lake Michigan, not automobiles. The SS City of Milwaukee was the last of six sister ships built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding to the same design in the 1920s. Car Ferries hauled freight cars across Lake Michigan to avoid rail congestion in Chicago. The golden era of Lake Michigan car ferry service was in the mid 1950s but by the 1970s, trucks were taking away freight customers and with better trackage rights in Chicago, car ferries became too expensive to operate. The SS City of Milwaukee ceased sailng as a car ferry in 1981, and in 1988, was purchased by the Society for the Preservation of the SS City of Milwaukee. She was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 23, 1990. The SS City of Milwaukee is the last car ferry built prior to WWII that remains in an as-built condition. Everything on board is as she was built, from the engine room to the the car deck, to the bridge, and all the beautiful woodwork in the passenger ares. If you take the tour of the ship, which I highly recommend, your guide will explain how freight cars were loaded and prepared for the voyage. You'll see the engine room and the triple expansion steam engines that drove the ferry across the lake. You'll see the "flicker" (crew quarters) gally, captain's quarters, the bridge, passenger space and staterooms. Speaking of staterooms, you can stay overnight (in season) in a stateroom, aboard what is probably the only bed & breakfast that floats. Docked with the SS City of Milwaukee is the USCG Acacia, a buoy tender that is also a floating museum. Take the tour of the Acadia, too! Be aware, there is a lot of walking, and any number of stairs that are narrow and steep. (These are ships, after all, where space is always at a premium.) Just the same, the tour is well worth the effort! Now, about the SS City of Milwaukee as a bed & breakfast...remember, this was a working packet, not a luxury cruiser on the Carribean Sea. The ship was at sea for only a few hours on each crossing. As a result, the state rooms are cozy and rest rooms are communal. The ship is not air conditioned, however, there is an air conditioned area in the forward observation room, so you can cool off there. Each room is equipped with a fan and a nice, evening breeze off the lake helps keep you cool. (During the Covid-19 issue, breakfast has been suspended.) Tip: Pack lightly! It's a long walk from the parking area to the passenger deck. Spending the night in the SS City of Milwaukee is an adventure in living history, and probably a third of the price of that fancy motel across the highway. It's also far more romantic. If you're a rail fan, or a fan of Great Lakes shipping, a fan of history or just someone who likes a new adventure, book a room on the SS City of Milwaukee and have an enjoyable stay that you can brag about for years!

So I love that this had a guide to take up on tour and he knew what he was talking about and…read moreprofessional, I would highly recommend it,you get to go all over the ship ,please remember this is a tour for people who can't climb stairs but it was great .