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.

Located in Main Street in Oak Ridge at the end of the shopping strip. Much larger inside than…read moreanticipated and many interactive exhibits, movies, and teaching sessions. An affordable option ($10 per adult and $5 per child) in comparison to other local museums, too. I would say the best ages for this spot would be 8 and up. There is quite a bit of reading and many of the hands-on displays are complex. It is great for adults, too, and I learned so much about our city and nation's history...and science tidbits I had forgotten in the (longgg) time since high school. There is quite a bit of information on the Manhattan Project and the formation of Oak Ridge as a whole, including videos in the auditorium and in that specific section of the museum. We loved learning more! Did you know that when FDR died, his VP had no clue that M. Project was even underway? Or that Oak Ridge had over 75,000 people but did not show on a map? We loved the staff interaction, including the sessions that they lead throughout the afternoon in the auditorium. The one about static electricity was really cool and informative. My squirmy 10 yo was captivated! There were so many STEM exhibits and one of the lab rooms was open with many stations to build circuits, look into microscopes, etc. My kiddo enjoyed what he referred to as "practice for the claw machine," as well. Side notes: The gift shop had some really neat items (typical gift shop pricing) and the water fountains had the bottle filling spout. There are benches everywhere you look and it is all one level, making this a highly-accessible spot to visit. You will likely spend at least 1.5-2 hours here. Definitely worth the money!

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.

Pulling in, it's an old school and it doesn't look very big. You walk inside and are greeted by an…read moreattendant and a big bear off to the left. They have a small gift shop with stuffed animals, patches and small things. If your disabled, don't worry about steps..they have ya covered with ramps throughout the museum. As you walk through it's very well put together. The farm room where the children can grab a basket and grab the plastic apples out of the tree on the wall and make their own dinner plate out if magnetized pictures of foods. They have a pretty big life-sized doll house, which was very cool along with old relics of dolls etc from different eras. They have a water room where the kids can send floating boats down a make believe lock at the dam. At the end, they have a train room that is pretty cool with towns all lit up and a train going throughout them.. very cool place. Very neat place. $8.00 for adults $7.00 for seniors aged 62+ and children under 3 are free.

It's $20 to walk through and check out the historical buildings.She told me that it was about .7…read moremiles but I tracked it and it was 1.43miles... so you'll definitely get your steps in. They have a cute little shop, bathrooms and limited food. But a good place to check out if you like history.

It's apparently a Smithsonian affiliate, but you'd never look around and wonder whether you were on…read morethe National Mall, which is kind of the point. The array of historic cabins and exhibit-filled barns at the base of a rolling hill conveys the appropriate atmosphere. The level of detail in the artifacts and their presentation is high. Owing to my disposition I found extensive information on health and medicine, but there were plenty of other topics to explore. The live farm aspects of the museum held a large number of peacocks for some reason (but only one peahen that I could see, which the peacocks did not appear to be happy about), as well as various pigs and goats. There was a significant admission charge (lower with AAA), and I wondered if it would be worth it, but having given myself two hours, I ended up using most of that and giving up towards the end more for lack of energy than lack of exhibits. Younger children will appreciate the animals, while older adults will read into some of the exhibits more, but anyone visiting in good faith is likely to find something of interest.

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.

What a GEM in Knoxville! Sundays are free admission with…read moreencouragement to donate (no complaints here). Folks up front were super friendly and gave us the rundown of the layout. Very kind and we felt welcomed right away. We fully expected this to be a small space with some cool stuff but it surprised us by being big and filled with SO MUCH history! It was such a pleasant surprise and we spent way longer looking around and reading than we planned. I learned a lot while exploring and was truly impressed with this history center. I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

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.

This museum is great for Knoxville. It's not very big, but you'll spend 1-2 hours there…read more Story time: It was weird. When we arrived, the lady up front for our check-in asked how we had heard of them. I'm like... "Uh... It's art. We go where art is. We love art." I couldn't think of any other answer that fit the boxes she was checking. I love art, and that's where you can find me. It didn't fit any of her checkboxes, she waited a moment like she was waiting for me to say something else before saying, "Oh, that's a new reason we're going to have to add" or something like that. One of the usher girls understood what I was saying. No shame on the lady... it was just odd. I don't just hear about museums. I see if a city has one and I go. In my world, that's a 100,000 percent normal thing. I still laugh about it. You'll have fun here. If you've visited major art museums in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Philly, Chicago, NY, or SF, you'll still have fun here, but it won't be the famous paintings you're looking for. If you're in Knoxville and have time to spare, I'd visit, but it's not an absolute must-do thing.

We had some time in Downtown Knoxville and decided to check out the mansion. The staff are super…read morenice, and we enjoyed talking with them. We were given a tour with just our family which was really cool. We all really loved the tour. It was great for our son who could touch a lot of objects. They also had a table to try and write with a quill. I would recommend the mansion if you love history.

This is a very well landscaped and very well preserved mansion, that was Built-in 1792. Governor…read moreWilliam Blount and his family resided here.The mansion sits up on a Hill overlooking the Tennessee river. There are some very old antiques inside the mansion and most of the mansion is all original. All of the rooms were pretty large and had high ceilings about 10 ft. There are beautiful gardens out side and around the building. This mansion is located downtown Knoxville and the courthouse is right down the street. It was very cool to see how they lived way back then with no electric. They had candlelight chandeliers and wood burning stove. All their equipment they used to make their clothes and their food was all original as far as I know. There was 3 or 4 outside buildings as well that was used for their equipment and their work.

This is a small museum about K-25, a mile-long plant that enriched uranium using the gaseous…read morediffusion process. It was so large that people rode bicycles to get around! It also overlooks the plant site itself if you want to appreciate the scale of everything. Admission is $10, and expect to spend one to one and a half hours here. I'm not sure how much appeal it has to younger kids as there's limited hands on interactive displays, and some of the topics they delve into are heavy, such as the role of African Americans and how they were still segregated at Oak Ridge. There's a small gift shop and bathroom facilities. ADA accessible. Do note that if you pay for a ticket here you get a discount when you buy admission tickets at the American Museum of Science and Energy the same day.

This is another small museum in Oak Ridge. This museum focuses on K25 or the massive enrichment…read morefacility for uranium enrichment. It's packed with artifacts and you get a security card to interplay with many displays. It's a very cool museum. There is even a 'Little boy' nuclear bomb on display. Nice!

~David Glasgow Farragut ~"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"…read more It's a very small museum. I read everything and It took me about an hour to walk thru. If you love history you'll love this place and it's free!

I really enjoyed this! Where do I even begin? Okay, the out of towners will completely yawn. So if…read moreyou are passing through just continue to move along unless you are a history nerd like me. And as for all the locals, well, you need to come see what you are missing. This museum is dedicated to the city of Farragut and it's early inhabitants, from the native americans to sprawling communities who eventually called the admiral their high school mascot. The civil war section is really small. It's umm.. well it's a wall, basically. And yet I stood there for over an hour. Inspecting. Reflecting. Going oh wow. Cuz what you don't realize at first is the museum and surrounding area is sitting right on top of an old battleground. Yup. I never realized that those two brick buildings that I drive past everyday are the very same ones depicted in old drawings of the battle. It's not uncommon around here but they've done *such* a good job retracing this. Really. And damn the torpedoes, now I know why I always pronounce Farragut like a spanish word. All the time. When I'm driving in the area. When I see it on a street sign. That's how I say it. Altogether now: "FARR ah goot". (just trill your R's for me, when you say it, okay?) Bring out the latin in you and watch your light bulb go off. Damn the torpedoes, what an inspiring story of an American dream and that anything can happen. And that doing the right thing is the only thing. Damn the torpedoes, this admiral is as about as badass and as humble as they come. If you are into naval anything this is up your alley. It's free. Come and pay some respect to the heritage of the Farragut area. You'll never look at that everyday road the same way again.

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.