The Earl Scruggs Center is located in Downtown Shelby in the 1907 built Cleveland County…read moreCourthouse. Free parking is available on the street. The entrance is on the Washington Street side of the building. Make sure to stop at the smaller building outside as that is where you buy your tickets and receive your earbuds. From there you can proceed inside the renovated courthouse and a docent with start the introduction film then explain what order to go through the museum. The Center opened in 2014. I did not know who Earl Scruggs was before my visit. The North Carolina Musicians Mural Trail brought me to Shelby, NC. But he was a well-known banjo player and who had his own style of playing while developing the sounds of bluegrass. Besides Scruggs, the museum tells some of the history of Cleveland County. The Rotunda has the instruments used by the Scruggs family. In These Hills tells Earl Scrugg's story and has some interactive exhibits. There is a board where you can listen to his music and that of other artists. Out of Carolina is the next room and covers the next stage in Scruggs career. The radio history, Shelby Dynasty and textile mills in the area. Turning Road is the last room covers the Civil Rights Movement, textile mills closing, and changing music styles. I recommend a visit to the center if you are near Shelby.

Very interactive and interesting to learn about Earl Scruggs and bluegrass music. I enjoyed it…read morewith my family.

my son had a wonderful time But a lot of the exhibits are not working or are in desperate need of…read morebeing replaced or repaired. A lot of the rooms were not clean! My son doesn't attend day care or anything like that and he's now got lice! It had to have been from kids here! They should definitely do lice and temperature checks before allowing kids in to play and infect other kids!

My daughter and her husband reserved this place for a birthday party for my grandson! There were…read moreseventeen kids and their parents in attendance! The children were allowed to play for about thirty minutes before the birthday party started! I think the adults we're hoping the kids would burn off some energy and become a little bit calm and docile! That's not going to happen! Children have boundless energy and even if they get tired; they recover quickly! I posted a list of the educational play areas offered here. We had a good sized private room for the festivities! After the party the kids ran from play center to play center for about another hour and a half! New Years hats, face mask, top hats and much more were provided for every child and adult in the building! I even grabbed a hat for myself! This is a fantastic place for kids to have their birthday parties and I highly recommend them!

It's been close to 2 years since my last visit here and my 4 star review remains the same. New…read morehighlights I've noticed since I have two small kiddos is the various bench seating options which make having a snack easy and the multiple bathroom locations throughout museum. Both of these things make it more enjoyable for kids and adults. It is not crowded during the week. My kids especially liked the Dino exhibit and live animals (snapping turtle, ground hog, owl). I just wish for a city the size of Charlotte (and surrounding area) that the museum was a little bigger. We were done in about 1-1.5hours

Enjoyed my recently visit to Schiele Museum of Natural History. The staff were friendly and…read morehelpful. The displays were creative and well maintained. Particularly enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit with all of the life size dinosaurs exhibits. Parking was easy. My only suggestion would be updating the outdoor area as it seemed quite run down and showing alot of wear, which was totally not the case with the indoor areas

I brought my son to night at the museum at Discovery place, and it was a time! My son absolutely…read moreloves Legos and currently right now the brick masters studio is at the museum. We went through the exhibit and got to see some really incredible displays. We marveled at the displays, wondering how long they took to complete, how many people worked on the display etc. It's just so amazing to see that all the displays were made out of Lego pieces. There were some interactive displays which was nice for the kids since they were unable to touch most of the displays in the exhibit. There's a section where the kids can be master builders and time themselves on how quickly they can complete a miniature display, they ranged from easy, medium and difficult. At the end of the experience there was an entire city made of Legos, with loose lego pieces for the kids to be creative and make their own lego creations. It was a great finish to the experience. This exhibit is every lego master builders dream. It brought me back to my childhood!

What a fun place for learning we hoped this place would be! However, for the price, I left a bit…read moreunderwhelmed. We covered the entire museum and by the time my 7 year old left, she had fun but was unimpressed. The Lego exhibition was phenomenal in comparison to the science exhibits and learnings themselves. As far as the exhibits, so many were not functioning or were not being serviced by an attendant to explain what was being displayed in the creative spaces.

It's ok. I'll leave it at that. It's a lot smaller than I expected and there really wasn't too much…read moreto do. I think the best age for this museum is under 3. My 4 year old got bored pretty quickly. There also just wasn't a lot to do. There is a dress up area, but it only had a few items, same with the kitchen and pirate ship. I have to agree with another reviewer that the staff wasn't friendly. They were more concerned with everything getting cleaned up. iI's a children's museum - there's supposed to be a level of mess, but when a kid puts a doll at the table and then goes to the kitchen area and you put the doll back, maybe think "was that kid getting food to play feed the doll?"and not assume they were leaving it. Also, parents - there's an overpriced gift/toy section in the front that you can't avoid. Bright side - there's some fun lunch and treat spots close by.

The museum is small but cute. Best for children 2 - 4 years old. Most of the front desk staff are…read morewelcoming. But the staff in the back must not have children. I'm not sure that they even like children. When my older children were little, I used to bring them and that staff would interact with the kids and parents. Most of this staff just sits on side, ignoring children and adults. There is one lady, Miss Wendy that all of my kids love, but she's not there very much. They had an event this weekend and I am glad that we went in the afternoon. My friend got turned away in the morning only an hour after they opened. She said that staff very rudely told her that she should have gotten there earlier. Her children were heartbroken. They did have some people, mainly teenagers with volunteer name tags who were very nice. My little adored the older gentleman who played with him. They had the upstairs set up really cute with a Winnie-the-Pooh exhibit. But unfortunately, they said that it would only be there for that day. They had friendly teens in that space playing with the kids. Admission is not worth it, but their membership is a good value because it includes other museums.

An amazing fun place right at the heart of CLT. The place is quite small but has entertainment that…read morecan keep you hooked up for its repeat value. This place is essentially a play of everything that is mirrors, glasses and physics. Our toddler had so much fun running through the maze and we had a fantastic time with the building climbing trick and the vortex tunnel. Street parking on front of this is very minimal and on demand. The public garage parking on the next door is convenient but costly.

It was just ok. I dont know why, but I was expecting more for the price, I guess…read more Everything is pretty much interactive and there were really good and unique illusions for photo ops. My biggest complaint is that everything is dirty. Hundreds of people touching the things one right after another, visible heavy fingerprints, some of the stations had paint chipping and visible caked on dirt that looked as it had never been wiped down. There was not enough hand sanitizer stations and no sanitizing wipes. I feel they should have staff walking around sanitizing down the things that get touched over and over. I dont think I'd ever go back; unless maybe they changed out some of the illusions. Most look as if they have been there the entire time the place has been open.

Came to the Museum for Father's Day since entrance for Dads was free today. Was excellent to see…read morethe Caravaggio special exhibit, so my fee was a bit higher $25. But my college age son got a student rate and my husband was free. Nice perk, they also do this on Mother's Day, in case you didn't know for next year. I didn't take too many photos of the artwork. The special exhibit is quite large and there is a lot to see. There are two floors full of different types of art and sculptures. Really has so much to see here. I love where the Mint is located, too. Across the street is a green space with a few restaurants and a beautiful church that we visited while waiting for the museum to open at 1pm. Sunday. The entrance fee is good for two consecutive days so if you are staying close by, go back and walk through again. Lots to see. There is also a restaurant attached to the building that was very busy. They had live music as well.

It's been 3 years since my last visit so Donna & I went on a Saturday morning to check out the…read moreBaroque art exhibit. It was good with lots of interesting works by various artists. Nice that if you're a Bank of America credit card holder you get $10 off during the first weekend of each month.

A super interesting spot and I've had it bookmarked for years. I finally had enough time to stop…read morehere during normal hours on my way between Charlotte and Atlanta. Sadly, the museum is ONLY OPEN FOR INN GUESTS. So if you are wanting a tour of the Presidential Culinary Museum, you can book a stay on any of the various hoteling sites or direct with them. They were very polite when they turned me away today. [Review 670 of 2025 - 4153 in North Carolina - 24231 overall]

Disappointed that this venue is only open to people who stay there at the Inn…read more We just learned about it and though the gentleman was nice on the phone, he was firm in the fact that you have to be staying at his Inn. He has scheduled tours for guests. Maybe that is why he hasn't claimed the business. The one review here was 3 years ago, and now mine.