Springfield, MA - the Springfield Museums complex is five museums arranged around a courtyard…read moreanchoring the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, with the history museum conveniently located across the street. One admission gets you into all five: 1. The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum 2. Springfield Science Museum 3. Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts 4. Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History 5. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum (closed for renovations at this time) Dr. Seuss Museum is the newest addition and an absolute delight - colorful, immersive, and photo-ready. The first floor is pure chaotic kid energy, like a Dr. Seuss book come to life; the second floor is more grown up, featuring a recreation of Springfield native Theodor Geisel's (aka Dr. Seuss) studio and living room, plus exhibits on his life. My child refused to leave. Thankfully, the museum is equipped with benches and seats in every room, as it is incontrovertible law that children's play areas can never have too many resting places for parents. I eventually pried my child away and ushered him to the science & natural history museum, which was also a hit. Highlights included a snowboarding video game and a 360° photo capture that spits out a digital image you can email to yourself as a souvenir. There's also a dinosaur hall, African hall, planetarium, animal dioramas, small aquariums, and a nice gift shop. Again, kid did not want to leave. Grandpa is into history so toured the Museum of Springfield History on his own. Springfield was once a manufacturing powerhouse: automobiles, firearms, and home of the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company. Fittingly, the museum has an automobile gallery, the world's largest collection of Indian cycles and memorabilia, and the world's largest collection of Smith & Wesson guns among its 1,600+ firearms. Grandpa learned a lot about local history and the Connecticut River Valley. I only got a quick walk-through of the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, and regret not having more time to linger over the intricate and absolutely exquisite "Book of Wonder"exhibit by Donna Castellanos. The Smith Art Museum, a Victorian-era single-collector museum, is currently closed for renovation, which was fine, as by that point we'd run out of time and energy anyway. Even the on-site restaurant, Blake House Café, was excellent, serving food from Smoked, a local BBQ joint. There was something for everyone in the family (kids, arts, history, and science) and it's good bang for your buck. The museums are compact enough to hit all five in one day if you keep moving, but you're better off slowing down and focusing on two or three.

This was a jewel museums and we did not complete them all. We did the science, the Seuss and the…read moreart elements and was bowled over quite honestly with the entire location. We purchase the family season ticket to return here and the attend at no cost the vast network of the NARM location at no further cost. Highly recommended and we can't wait to return!

I went to Summer Saturday Tea at this house a couple of weeks ago. English black tea was served on…read morethe back porch, with scrumptious desserts available for order and a lovely band playing music. It's a splendid summer experience! I highly recommend stopping in and checking out the calendar - you can see which bands are playing which Summer Saturdays and pick one! I had to get a couple of refills of the tea since the pots were so small, but it was delicious!

Great old house with lots of history and beautiful grounds. Tour guides were very knowledgable and…read moreso helpful. Would highly recommend a visit

Grounds are lovely. Home is as well maintained as funding allows…read more Please donate to the preservation of this home.

As someone who has loved and cherished Emily Dickinson's poetry my entire life, I hate to leave…read moresuch a bad review, but it was my honest experience. So, they strongly recommend you order your tickets online to make sure there is enough availability, so I did. However, when we got to the museum, they said something along the lines of our tickets being invalid for some reason. We were a party of elderly and disabled people so if something went wrong on their online system or the ticket order wasn't processed correctly we should not be punished. They refused to let us in, but at least we could walk around the grounds for free, and they were truly very lovely; unfortunately, the people who run the museum are not.

We enjoyed several hours walking around old Sturbridge village. We also got to ride on a horse…read morebuggy ride which looped around at a certain part of the town.There were several demonstrations going on around the village and we got to see sheep, goats and pigs. The food at the tavern Cafe was delicious. I'm mentioning specifically the chicken pot pie and new england clam chowder, which we had and was really delicious. The gift shop was worth visiting as well. We brought home a Christmas ornament and some pottery made there.

Longtime visitor, former volunteer. The good- OSV is an…read moreinvaluable historical resource and wealth of information, research, and a breeding ground of historical interpretation methods. If you go to any history or museum conference, you'll find staff and former staff there. They're some of the best in the game, and their staff are unbeatable experts in very niche subjects. Their focus on rural social history was revolutionary when it started and still is revolutionary today. A lot of museums will teach you about political history. Not a lot will teach you about domestic life in OSV's level of detail. For visitors, OSV is sort of a "you get what you want out of it" experience. Some visitors come wanting to talk to interpreters and learn, others want to walk through quickly. Those people don't learn as much. The not so good- management seems more interested in running money laundering charter schools than retaining or paying their excellent staff. I've seen historians who have been interviewed in books and documentaries leave for much less prestigious jobs because it's just not worth it for them to stay. The price- day admission price is really high. I wish more people know there lower cost options. Many regional libraries lend day passes.

If you are in the Hatfield area and you're interested in local history this is the place to go!…read more The museum , which is located on the second floor of the town library, has a wonderfully curated collection of local historical items. In particular they have a very nice collection of civil war items, nineteen and early twentieth century housewares, and medical tools from the early twentieth century. And if you're in the area in the summer be sure to also visit the Hatfield Farm Museum which is located behind the building.

My first review somehow went under a different reviewer with same name…read more Trying again, a great NHS that covers the beginning of the weapons industry in Anerica. The displays cover eras and the conflicts during those times through the history of the weapons that were manufactured to be used by those involved. The displays are nicely done, informative and eye catching, especially the damaged weapons case (one was struck by lightning). The Rangers were helpful and willing to share thier knowledge of not just the Armory, but of the local events (fireworks) and the Dr. Seuss museum downtown. We are very appreciative.

The Springfield Armory produced weapons for the country going all the way back to the personal…read moreorder of George Washington, when it was intended to be the northern supplier while its sister site Harpers Ferry was to serve the south, until 1968. During this time of service, the armory was not only a production site, but also the home to significant research and development, including the production of rear (breech) loading style weapons and the cutting edge at the time M1 by John Garand. We were fortunate to arrive in time for a walking tour with Ranger Chris. The site now shares space with a local community college, given the number of buildings the armory once included, so a lot of this is an exterior tour since they are now home to many classrooms. There are a lot of fascinating touches that Ranger Chris pointed out, including lampposts that looked like cannons and the black walnut trees around the campus (black walnut was originally used to make weapons). There is a small parking area for the visitor center - we just checked in at the gate and they directed us where to go. The center is good sized and includes a theatre to watch the site film, a whole lot of weaponry artifacts, and a gift shop.

The only thing worth seeing in this museum was the poison dart frogs. Everything else was…read morereplicas, hardly anything was original except for the gems. It just felt old and not much to see compared to other science museums I've been in. This wasn't really on my list. I wanted to see the Dr. Seuss museum but you had to buy general admission for all the museums in the complex and the ticket booth happened to be located in the science museum.

We came from out of town for a nice stroll though the museums with our toddler but only hit two:…read morethe Science museum and the Dr. Suess museum. Both were well done, though obviously there is nothing else that can compare with the Dr. Suess museum. The Science museum was fun, and I loved the life size dinosaur and the animal exhibits on the ground floor including the dozens of pull-out drawers containing shells, bones, insects, etc. It is a shame part of the lower level was closed for repairs, but what can you do? We tried many of the buttons and exhibits but they either weren't plugged in or didn't work. That was a bit disappointing. We never even saw all of this museum, or much of the other museums included with admission. For $25 if you can see everything it is probably a good deal, but if you only want to go to part of it (or if you or your kid get tired or bored part way) it might not be such a good value.

Most people were here for apple picking. We only came for the art…read more Suggested donation was $20 a head. It was dog friendly. (But Apple picking is NOT dog friendly). They had a golf cart to bring mobility impaired visitors around to visit the art. It was a nice relaxing afternoon, strolling through the orchard, looking at sculptures.

Gorgeous orchard and awesome art installations!…read more I love that this is here. This area is so beautiful and having more places to explore and enjoy art is really fantastic. I highly recommend checking this orchard and art exhibit out. A great place to bring out-of-towners