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    McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

    3.4 (35 reviews)
    Closed 10:30 am - 4:00 pm

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    Ken A.

    Had a fun day going here, lot of information about planes, space, moon, Mount Washington. Easy to navigate thru the displays. Lot of interactive displays. Eaven though we are adults and a lot of the displays are geared to kids we still had a lot of fun. Chose to see the eclipse planetarium show which was very informative. As a Star Trek fan was surprised to see some Star Trek displays.

    CJ M.

    Good place to kill an hour. We stopped here after the recent rebirth of the Challenger disaster, thanks to the Netflix series. Kids were interested in learning more about the space program and Christa McAuliff. Planetarium wasn't worth it, in my opinion. Went way over the kid's heads, outside of the cartoon theme. To be honest, I was really surprised that there wasn't more of a presence/memorial for Christa, seeing as she taught in Concord. We only saw a small photo of her on the way out. Glad we went, to check the box, but most likely won't be back.

    Rachael G.

    The best thing here is the planetarium! Went for a show today about the constellations and it was very informative! It's only 5 bucks for a show but you also have to pay the $10 admission price, so ends up being $15 but that's about the price of a movie these days. I want to come back for another one. We checked out the exhibits too but were done in like 30 mins. Wish they had more here.

    Grahame G.

    A fun local science museum paying tribute to a couple of New Hampshire's finest space heroes, Alan Shepard and Chista McAuliffe. Shepard was the first American in space and also one of the last men to walk on the moon, and McAuliffe of course was the schoolteacher who tragically died in the Challenger disaster. Outside the entrance they have a full-size Redstone rocket and Mercury capsule on display, and inside you can get a closer look at another Mercury capsule hanging next to the balcony. They have lots of hands-on interactive displays on offer, although many of these were broken or missing essential parts. I particularly liked the section explaining basic physics and flight mechanics, and judging from the noise level, the party of kids in at the time did too! Of the exhibits that were actually working, the best has to be the Space Shuttle cockpit, where you can actually try your hand at landing it; and the lunar lander simulator. There's some interesting stuff on weather and satellite imagery too, but overall it comes across as somewhat underfunded. There is a lack of big exhibits and the shop was pretty poor too, although if you bring kids I'm sure they'll love it. I expected there to be more about McAulliffe, but it was just one small section. Overall I'd say that it's not up to the standard of a similar NASA-funded space museum, but it's a good educational resource to educate kids about their local heroes.

    Danielle M.

    We loved the museum! It is small, so you go through it pretty quickly. But they have some great things to look at. The interactive fish tank was so cute, my kids loved that. We did watch a show at the planetarium. It was beautiful, but if you get a group with kids under 5 and they don't know how to stay quiet long, it'll interrupt the whole show. My 8yr old son loves this stuff and he was a little upset that he couldn't hear the person talking because of the loud children talking throughout the whole thing. If I could give a tip to parents with kids under 5, "Tonight Sky" is not really for kids under 5yrs old, they'll get bored quickly. Other than that we had a great time!

    Susan D.

    We really enjoyed our visit. It's $9 for adults, and one of us got in free because of the NHPR Member Card Benefit of the Month. The Center is small and contains a lot of fun interactive exhibits. I liked the large sphere onto which is projected images of the different planets and some of their moons. (Pluto's not a planet anymore, sadly.) If you're interested in seeing what life is like in space, meteorology, and seeing astrological bodies in the observatory, visit the Discovery Center.

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    23 days ago

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    2 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    Melissa E.

    So glad that you enjoyed your visit with us!

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    2 years ago

    Great experience. The planetarium show is amazing! This was a great place to take the kids. Mine especially loved the playground.

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    14 years ago

    An interesting place to take the kids on a rainy afternoon. The planetarium show was very kid friendly.

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    Ask the Community - McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

    Review Highlights - McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

    Was a little suprised at the price of admission with planetarium show ($54 total).

    Mentioned in 8 reviews

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    New Hampshire Historical Society

    New Hampshire Historical Society

    3.8
    (4 reviews)
    1.2 mi

    The NH Historical Society Museum is a very good museum that is packed with a variety of state…read morehistorical treasures. Admission is a very reasonable $7.00 per adult. There are exhibits on several floors and visitors get to prowl around on their own as they checkout the stuff. In one end of the Museum is a research library that is chock full of original NH documents, books, records, letters and so forth - all available to the public. The library staff are extremely friendly and helpful. All in all this is a very worthwhile stop! A WORD OF WARNING: the Museum sits close to the State House and if our legislators happen to be at "work" they sure make it hard to find a parking space!

    I visited this place last year in the spring sometime. It is not too far and close to shopping and…read morerestaurants. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised about this museum. A bit of everything and even the special exhibit was quite interesting on America's Kitchens. I especially loved the kiddy section where you can pretend that you are in a old country store shopping. There is also a cool observatory deck to teach you about forest fires, etc. Volunteers were great and explained about rural life back in the days on the first floor. Afterwards, you can visit downtown Concord with some nice quaint stores. Plus, the state capitol is just across the street. We just had bagel sandwiches for lunch down the street at the Works Bakery Cafe. I tried a honey bear smoothie which was especially good. Then, you can stop by the LL Bean factory store not too far away.

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    New Hampshire Historical Society
    New Hampshire Historical Society
    New Hampshire Historical Society

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    Franklin Pierce Manse

    Franklin Pierce Manse

    5.0
    (5 reviews)
    0.7 mi

    I grew up in New Hampshire but never visited the Manse until a decade and a half after leaving. I…read moreemailed the Manse's Pierce Brigade (their volunteer group) to see if they could offer a tour for the day after Thanksgiving. They put it together and brought our group of four on a very in-depth tour. You will learn so much about NH's only president, about society at the time of Pierce's life and presidency, and what local homes were like in that era. Our volunteer was able to answer every question that we lobbed her way, even on things not directly related to the Pierces. Bonus: you can see the dress that Pierce wore as a child. My one quibble was that our tour guide seemed to dismiss our personal anecdotes that we offered that connected with what we were seeing, which was disappointing as I used to be a docent at a presidential library, and learned the most from people on my tours. She also was very short with me when she saw me taking some photos (non-flash!), but she hadn't told me that it was not allowed. Apparently there was a sign in the lobby but I hadn't seen it. Overall, totally worth spending an hour while you're in New Hampshire to learn some history!

    What a great museum about probably one of the least well known presidents our country has ever had…read more Sadly remembered as one of the worst presidents (if he is remembered at all) - mostly because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act -President Pierce actually had some rather great accomplishments during his tenure. To be honest, I knew almost nothing about Franklin Pierce when we went here and expected to be in the museum an hour or so......it is after all just a house he used to live in so how much could there be to see? Well, it was less about the house and more about what our docent offered us. She was so knowledgeable (sorry I have forgotten her name but she had a lovely Bostonian accent) and very happy to entertain our questions. We must have been there several hours soaking up all her knowledge and the stories she had to share. The Pierce's had quite a tragic family life. Having already lost one child in infancy and another as a toddler, Franklin Pierce began his presidency grief stricken by a tragic accident that took his older son's life. But, he had to deal with a country in turmoil and actually managed to accomplish quite a few positive things during his term. I was glad to come away from our visit with a much better understanding (and much more positive views) of our 14th President. I highly recommend this museum!

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    Franklin Pierce Manse
    Franklin Pierce Manse
    Franklin Pierce Manse

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    NH State House Visitor Center

    NH State House Visitor Center

    4.3
    (7 reviews)
    1.2 mi

    **November 2025: Weekday Early Afternoon Visit**…read more To be honest I almost skipped visiting the State Capitol because I foolishly judged it by its size. I thought it was small and thought that it wouldn't be worth the visit, but boy was I wrong. My friend and I arrived around 12:15pm and parked on the street. There's meter parking, but you'll pay by paybyphone.com. I think it's $1 an hour, but I recommend you fill the meter a little longer since it's $.85 extra if you need to add another hour (on top of the $1 per hour). I recommend 4 hours if you plan to visit the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the Library as well. Anyways, my friend and I got there and I was surprised by two things 1) The Hall of Flags all encased made for a really grand entrance and 2) There was no metal detector. We just basically walked in and headed towards the visitor's center towards the right side of the building. We signed our names in the guestbook and one of the volunteers gave us a shpeel about the area we were visiting. She informed us that since New Hampshire is start of the Presidential Primary and that a lot of presidential candidates will make an appearance here to start their campaign. It was kind of cool to stand in the same spot as Biden, McCain, Obama, Carter and many others. We saw went upstairs to the 2nd floor to see the Senate room, Governors Office, Secretary of State's office (and actually got to meet him - David M. Scanlan on our tour), and the house of reps (which was 400 seats!). In summary, never judge a book by it's cover. This small capitol held it's own and is definitely worthy of a visit!

    A beautiful state house with a golden dome and an eagle on top. It was built in 1816-1819 as a…read moreGreek Revival style. The land it's on is 2.6-acres with a granite fence. There are seven statues/memorials on the grounds, the oldest being dedicated in 1886. The house chambers holds 400 people, which is the largest in the US. The building is open to the public and there are guided tours. This was part of the self guided walking tour and we enjoyed stopping by to explore it. It's close to everything; there were plenty of parking, restaurants, and shops. Overall, a historic building in a historic area, which is worth a visit.

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    Memorial up close
    Memorial up close
    August 9, 2024
    August 9, 2024
    Memorial

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    Memorial

    McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center - museums - Updated July 2026

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