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.

Springfield Museums has a sculpture garden and five museums on-site. You can visit all 5 with one…read moreticket. There is a parking lot; it was packed on a weekday but I was able to find a spot. First, we stopped at the Dr. Seuss building. It's an interactive museum perfect for toddlers and young kids. We spent about 45 minutes in there. Then the Springfield Science Museum, it had an aquarium, animals, and dinosaurs. The other buildings focuses on art and history. Yes, you could spend a whole day there. We stopped by the gift shop before we left. I recommend a visit to this museum!

The sculpture garden is situated in a small park area that is surrounded by different museums. It's…read morea nice area to spend a couple hours sightseeing with family. There is limited parking in the area.

This sculpture garden is right in the center of Springfield Museum plaza. There were a handful of…read morecopper/metallic sculptures of many famous Dr. Seuss characters. There's also a giant book sculpture that has some famous verses from Dr Seuss engraved in it. The garden has elegant walking pavement covered by trees. It leads to entrances of four museums around the plaza. There's also an outdoor tent for people to sit in front of the garden. Overall it's a nice garden for families and kids.

Wonderful National historic site conveniently located adjacent to Springfield Technical Community…read moreCollege. Free admission and onsite parking. Exhibits of armory and knowledgeable rangers available to discuss and answer any questions.

The Springfield Armory historical museum is a testament to the facility that was primarily…read moreresponsible for producing firearms for the US military beginning right after the Revolutionary War (1794) to the Vietnam War (1968). That's over 170 years and this museum chronicles that history. The Armory facility consisted of many buildings where all of the work and manufacturing was done. Today the land and many of the old buildings form the Springfield Technical Community College campus. So to get the museum you have to drive into the campus and head to the easy to find Armory building with the American flag on top. There is plenty of parking in front. Inside it is a museum that is all located on the ground floor that is run by the National Park Service so there are Rangers there to answer any question. Carl greeted me and was very nice and helpful. The museum shows everything from the beginning to the end of its existence. I found it very interesting to see manufacturing methods used in the 1800's where water power from nearby rivers was used to operate machinery to the transition to steam power and finally electricity. The ingenuity of craftsman back then is amazing in how they made things. Included in the museum is an informative 17 minute video about what took place at the Armory during all of these years. The output of this facility made the American soldier the best equipped in the world and provided for so many victories. Even if you aren't a gun nut, I believe you will enjoy coming here. The history of our nation is on display here and the best part of visiting is that the parking and admission are FREE. Budget about 1 hour to see it and yes they have a gift shop.

Great place to play Playground is free to public…read more Parking is limited Has shade coverage, picnic tables and benches

Don't know why this is listed as closed as it is NOT. Wonderful place to take the children, and the…read moreplayground is amazing AND free.

This is s fantastic museum for art lovers. It has art collections from different centuries covering…read morea wide geographical areas including French, Italian, Dutch, Medieval and more. The rooms are conveniently separated by centuries We were lucky to have seen the Van Gogh exhibit. Lots of his greatest creations were on display. There was also an activity room that had materials for guests to create their own piece of art.

One of five museums included in the Springfield museums. $25 admission and you can go in to all…read morefive museums. Grand entrance gave me a chill. The collection was very powerful and spoke volume. They had Van Gogh interactive experience when we visited. It was really cool to see the paintings come alive and immerse in the colors.

If you ever happen to find yourself in South Hadley any time between May and October, and the idea…read moreof wandering amongst scrimshaw trinkets, ruby glass, Americana of uncertain provenance, and assorted mineralia sounds appealing to you, make your way posthaste to this veritable cabinet of curiosities. Assembled in a deconsecrated church literally uprooted and brought to South Hadley during the displacement of five towns caused by the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir, this museum collection is amongst the quirkiest places Western Massachusetts, a distillation of the local ethos circa 1870. Did I mention that admission is free?

Spend an hour here and you'll feel like you've discovered something (rather than having it all…read morehanded to you in one church-shaped package by Mr. Skinner). Hunting around this museum is an adventure unto itself. Every nook or cranny has something worth looking at. The staff is super-nice, although they aren't going to know a lot more about every object than is written on the ID cards -- and most items don't have cards! It can get pretty hot on a sunny day without a/c in the building, so beware of that. I love oddball little museums, and this fits the profile perfectly. One guy who really liked collecting crap donated said crap, and here it is! Enjoy!

A beautiful hidden gem right in the center of the city!…read more from History, cultural events, art exhibits, music recital, house tours, special costumed tours, Holiday events, Master Gardens and even really cool oddities like the Frog Circus!! Wistariahurst has it all!! Come and visit a gem in your own backyard!!

A gem! Beautiful historic home with guided tours filled with great background on the Skinner…read morefamily, the history of Holyoke industry and interior design, plus a special section on the lives and duties of household staff. Admission $7 for adults, $5 seniors. The adjoining garden and gift shop / museum (free) are also lovely.

Had one of the best tours I've ever been given. The people running the house are so knowledgeable…read moreand such hard workers at keeping the place running. I would definitely recommend it if you are visiting! Some of the friendliest people I've met on this trip.

Excellent collection of Victorian clothing and earlier furniture. A pleasantly delivered tour was…read moregiven to me because I only had 15 minutes. I could easily spent five times that amount hearing about the history from the highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic docents.

I love sports! Went with family to check out this place! We bought tickets inside. The woman, CJ,…read moresold us tickets at the counter. She gave us a suggestion on how to enjoy the facility! We watched the ten minute movie about parts of the history of the NBA! Then we went up to the third floor and worked our way down to the basketball court. There is so much to see and do! Much more interactive than we thought. Made a video and sent pictures from some of our experiences to ourselves! I was a "sportscaster"! There is so much memorabilia! Lots of short videos explaining parts of basketball from its beginning to present times. It includes women's basketball as well as college ball! Great experience! Would highly recommend, even for non-sports fans! Dan helped us with our videos! Great staff!

A big disappointment. The staff were all great, but it was ultimately a bad day. I was very…read moreunderwhelmed with my day/experience at the Hall. First, it's basically in a strip mall. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, or reason to be negative, but you would expect something that is supposed to be so prestigious and honorable to have its own standalone facility. Alas, the basketball hall of fame shares its space with a Cold Stone Creamery and a couple of other restaurants. The HOF is shaped like a circle, so it's easy to navigate the three floors and to make sure you hit everything. But I felt the HOF was extremely lacking. I was expecting to see plaques/busts of players, owners, and dignitaries, with bios and whatnot, team/stadium history, and artifacts, and there really isn't any of that. Sure, there are some jerseys, basketballs, and nets on display but there are only a couple dozen of those. And it contains only a couple of sentences of information on them. I was expecting so much more. Heck, there's even an entire section devoted to Kobe Bryant, which is questionable at best given his checkered past. This is something that could and probably should be so much more. I spent more time (1.5 hours to and from) getting there than actually time spent there (1.25 hours). The HOF is that small. For $34 it just wasn't worth it. And honestly, it feels more like a museum than a HOF. I haven't been to other HOF, so maybe this is just how it is, but again I expected busts/statues and bios of players, owners, and dignitaries and a lot of other historical content and info, and its just not there. Of the things displayed, 99% of it is the 90's on and basketball goes back much farther than that. Even beyond that, it's called the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame, and there's very little mention beyond the NBA of college or any other basketball. So, in sum, it wasn't a good experience. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have done it at all, and I would say if someone is going to do it only do it with a discount code. The staff were all great, so I can't knock them, but the experience was forgettable. Too small, not enough displays/information, not enough historical content, and ultimately just not worth it.