The museum is awesome!! So much to see and learn. The wildlife is incredible to see. We saw a very…read moremajestic bald eagle up close. We experienced the steam engines running and visited with the curator for a bit to learn even more. The movies were very well done. The fact that your tickets are good for two days allows you to take your time. Worth every penny and your time!!! A must see!!

We visited here over Labor Day weekend. Our Reciprocal zoo…read moremembership got us half off admission. Also tickets good for 2 consecutive days. We worked our way backward from neighboring freshwater building with paw patrol special exhibit since our kids needed to get wiggles out. We got to play at opening on Friday morning when it was quiet. Then, we made our way to the maker room where there were hands on water table and toddler area. Afterward we colored sheets at the kids activity table to project their dinosaurs on the screen in diorama. Gift shop at west entrance of freshwater aquarium is smaller so we headed back to 1st building with larger gift shop. It is located just few steps upstairs from entrance which was annoying with stroller wagon needing to go half floor up. I thought the saltwater aquarium on east entrance is a lot better with sting rays and more interesting fishes. Overall we finished in just 3 hours so no need to return the next day. Only complaint is that their restaurant onsite took 30 minutes to get food ready. Overall it was nice experience but we thought paw patrol exhibit could have been a little bigger:

An amazing experience for the whole family! Adults and kids alike will have an absolutely wonderful…read moretime interacting with the model trains. There is a 1930s miniature train that the family can ride on that takes you all around the property. The building is air conditioned and accessible. If you and the family are visiting the Cave in the Mounds in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, then you've got to visit The Toy Train Barn Museum!

This museum has made our young sons blissfully happy many times, but we adults find something…read morespecial and new upon every visit too. Buck Guthrie has poured his passion and life's work into creating something truly special.

I was just in town for the weekend wanted to check out historical sites.. the buildings sign out…read morefront said the jail tours are closed to renovations :/ Looked cool tho

It's a great place to go to: Their is however an Erie felling in the air it was a place for the…read moreworst criminals and a museum of a lot of american history from when you walk through the squealing doors to the raftors above it's a great and scary place to be just think of all the murders

If not for the Carrie Pearce exhibition, 'The Merry Makers,' my visit here would have been one of…read moreutter regret. This is a small museum and the draw is the even smaller collection of Grant Wood paintings. While you can take photos of most works here -- there isn't much of the permanent collection displayed -- the Woods are off limits to your photo shutter. That's just silly and the museum should embrace its few strengths. Ms. Pearce's paintings here made my visit. They are magical and were inspired by a woman named Ina who, many decades ago as a little girl, suffered from tuberculosis and was confined to a body cast for ten years. She underwent almost countless spinal surgeries. Her parents were permitted to visit just once a month. It's a heartbreaking story but the paintings here reflect the artist's vision of a girl who was forced to rely on just a few toys and the saving power of her imagination to survive. These scenes are dreamscapes meticulously and lovingly constructed. Due to the pandemic, at this time we are all in a state of our own cautious confinement. Having to withdraw from our family, friends, and neighbors, we now use time to explore our individual and collective imaginations. As we ruminate inside our homes, how will we picture and envision our future? It's scary right now but Ina is an example that we can thrive: in spite of all that she went through as a child, according to Ms. Pearce, Ina is 89 years old and healthy.

A lovely very small art museum that has a wonderful collection of Grant Wood lithographs from…read more1939-1940 which makes it worth the visit. Also a permanent collection of photographs of Native Americans early 20th century by Curtis. A room full of Royal Copenhagen ceramics from Art No era is quite impressive. Staff friendly.

I thought the museum was pretty cool but on my part of the trip I was just casually looking at the…read morefree section but I'm sure that there's more fun stuff you paid for the full admission. The man at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. So great history seen in another room though it's more localized stuff and a bit too recent to be called history. Then again being called The Troll Capital world since 1984 is still a bit young too. You can find some great troll figures to purchase as well. Sadly, I really wasn't too Blown Away by the museum at all.

Why is this museum so exceptional?! Seriously, I am a museum junkie for sure, and this is one of…read morethe BEST learning spaces I have ever seen. Especially, considering the small size of the community, and the distinctly rural nature of its history, the stories shared are compelling, beautifully rendered, and artistically curated. I did not expect to spend so much time reading every sign and exploring every detail of the artifacts on display - well done to the team behind this space! Special recognition goes to the portion of the exhibit covering the Native residents of the area. An accurate depiction of removal and resettlement, an honest account of the human impact of settlement and colonization, as well as an up to date account of the current status of the first residents - this is the most complete and accurate account I have seen in a Wisconsin museum, and it is very appreciated. The telegraph exhibit comes alive when you approach - be warned, it scared me! LOL - but I bet kids love it.

Great place to stop if you are spending anytime in Galena! Staff was very knowledgeable and kindread more

One of many historical buildings associated with our 18th president, the Ulysses S. Grant home in…read moreGalena, IL, is a good stop for history buffs. Growing up in IL, I had learned about the town of Galena and this home from my school education, but never seemed to find a trip to take me there to check it out. So as my wife and I were heading down the Mississippi River road from Iowa/Wisconsin to Missouri, we made a slight detour to come to Galena to visit. There are two main parking areas (both free): one on the opposite side of the road and one next to the home. There is a large lawn to the left of the house, where one can wander while waiting for the next tour to start. The tours run continuously from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm, and multiple guides will lead multiple small groups of 16 or less through the home. One might need to wait outside for a maximum of 15 minutes, which is how long we ended up waiting. Admission is free, with a donation box (suggested $5 per person) at the end of the tour. This 3,300 square feet, brick home was built and fully furnished as a gift to General Grant and his wife, coming from the citizens of Galena, after the end of the Civil War. The Grant family did live here for a short period of time, before he moved to Washington after being elected president, though they maintained legal residence here for sixteen years. The Widow Grant maintained ownership until her passing in 1902. It was donated to the City of Galena, and then given to the State of Illinois in 1931, which manages it today. More than 90% of the items inside the house were originally owned/used by the Grants. It's a short tour, about 20 minutes in length. Our volunteer guide was good, answering our few questions and guiding us where we needed to move to. After the tour, he suggested we go next door to a replica of a general store during that time. One interesting display was a large diorama of each president and the pets that they had in the White House. There are a lot of open historical museums associated with President Grant: -- He was born (1822) in Point Pleasant, OH, in a small one bedroom cottage which is now a private museum. -- National Historic Site is in St. Louis, MO, in the estate where the Grants from 1854 - 1860. -- rented a small home in Galena from 1860 - 1861. Left to rejoin the army. -- returned to this home in 1865, until becoming president. -- National Landmark is found in Mount McGregor, New York and was his final home, where he finished his memoirs and died in 1885. -- National Memorial (Grant's Tomb) is found in Manhattan, NYC and where he and his wife are buried. -- Presidential library and museum is on the campus of Mississippi State University.

This place is so interesting and it is HUGE. Be prepared to spend a lot of time here. Some areas…read moreare very hot/humid. I do not deal well with heat so I did have to move thru some areas faster than I would have liked. They do have a cafe half way thru so you can have some food and drinks. I did not stop here but it did smell wonderful. There's many things to see and everything is really cool and unique. The house and infinity room are impressive as well as the HUGE whale but all of Alex's inventions and collections are amazing as well. Honestly, the whole reason why I wanted to come was the world's largest indoor carousel. It is beautiful. I definitely sat there for awhile watching it. Side note on the Carousel, they have no horses but they do have a bulldog and as a owner of a bulldog, I literally bought everything in the gift shop that had a bulldog on it. Till this day, they are still uncovering more items in storage lockers so they probably will continue to add more items. I do think this place is worth the price and it is something you won't find anywhere else. I would love to check this place out again and I do highly recommend it. Also, the gift shop is big and had a lot of different items for everyone.

My cousin really wanted to come here and I didn't even know what it was. We drove here from St…read more Louis to come see this attraction. I came in blind, not knowing what it was. It was super impressed. It literally kept going on and on and on. so many fun interesting things. We stopped and got a hotdog at the cafeteria, which was nice because we were getting a little hungry and thirsty on this long walk. I would recommend bringing dollar bills so you can buy coins and put them into the different coin operated machines that they have. They have a lot of those around the entire facility and it's one of the only interactive options. Obviously everything looked really cool. I think that the only thing that would make it better would be to have a more interactive aspect to some of the parts, but I'm not sure how they would do that and I don't think they're gonna change anything. It's still well worth a visit.

Great museum. We'd…read morevisited here last, about 20 years ago. Memory fades and it was time to revisit on this trip. All exhibits are housed inside on 2.5 floors. There is also a gift shop and restrooms. I found no elevator. We paid (senior rate saves $1 each) and went into a seating room where there used to be a video projection (no longer working). The staff member there today, Les, led everyone into this room to be seated. Les spoke about the rich history of Galena and he was quite detailed. We found this worthwhile. After the speech, we looked around this room at mostly US Grant artifacts, then we headed to a very large back room that has many displays, dioramas etc. on Galena. Lead mining had a rich history here for a few decades, so there was a lot of mining history on display. When we were done downstairs, we walked upstairs where there is a smallish room on the 2nd floor and a much larger room on what I'd call floor 2.5. Floor 2.5 had mostly wartime history while floor 2 had a variety of history on display. Note that the stairs are fairly steep. The first set also has a 90 degree turn near the top. There is a low, wooden banister-style handrail on one side. To access floor 2.5, there are another 6 or 8 steps to get up to it and there's a metal handrail for them. All in all - it's a pretty well done history museum for a small community and it was worth the time. I'd recommend this useful to anyone who wonders, "why does this town exist, how was it formed and what does its evolution look like". We enjoy museums like this.

What a great little museum! We didn't know what to expect, but I can honestly say we were blown…read moreaway! The ladies that welcomed us were so friendly and knowledgeable about the museum! There was so much packed in! It wasn't only about Grant but about the whole settling of Galena and all the way back to the ice age! I have to say this is a gem of a place and definitely a must see! It's clean and reasonably priced! We will definitely come back when we come to visit again.

This is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it museum on the way to House on the Rock. It is totally worth…read moreyour time to stop. Fantastic collection of local, regional, and global crystals, fossils, gems, and rocks. The owner will give you some history on the collection and then you can just wander and gape at all the cool stuff. There's an entire room of fluorescing rocks. There are massive geodes. There are even more massive fluorite specimens. There are even fossilized lightening strikes! That's right, lightening strikes. There's also a stable so you can go for a ride and visit the museum in one stop.

While it may look unassuming, this is an amazing little museum. The specimens are truly remarkable…read moreand the owner is a kind old man who's happy to share his passion with you. It does cost $7 to get in, but that's a small price to pay for the intimate experience. There is also a small gift shop that's perfect for mineral or fossil nerds (plus it's very reasonably priced. If you're stopping by House on the Rock, Taliesin, or Cave of the Mounds, you need to stop by here! It's criminally underrated! Definitely going to stop by here again.