The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum is located in downtown Blowing Rock and offers free…read moreadmission, along with a convenient free public parking deck and garage. The museum officially opened its doors in 2011, but the community planning started much earlier, following a generous donation of artwork from the family of celebrated local artist Elliott Daingerfield. The building utilizes a beautiful mountain-modern design explicitly crafted to blend into the natural landscape of Watauga County. It is an impressive 21,000 square feet, but it feels like it fits into downtown. It had an inviting feel the minute I walked in. The front desk staff was exceptionally friendly, asking if it was my first time visiting before suggesting I start with the introductory video, guiding me through the main artwork galleries, and directing me to the local history exhibits upstairs. There is a large elevator to access the second level if you would prefer not to take the stairs. It features a unique built-in wooden bench. I had never seen a bench inside an elevator before, but I thought it was an absolute genius accessibility feature. The introductory video was very informative, providing a fantastic background on Blowing Rock's heritage. The downstairs gallery spaces are beautifully organized, making it easy to walk naturally from one piece to the next. I was absolutely delighted to tour the temporary exhibition "Silver & Smoke: George Masa & Ansel Adams." As a lifelong fan of Ansel Adams, getting to see an exhibit of his legendary work for free was a massive highlight. I had no idea he photographed so extensively in Western North Carolina. Ansel Adams was awarded a fellowship by the Guggenheim Foundation in 1947 to photograph all the national parks and monuments in America. So he traveled east to photograph the lush, ancient forests of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the winding roads of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The downstairs gallery space has a great layout. Immediately after the video, your eyes will be drawn to a delicate flower installation that is suspended from the ceiling. I was also drawn to a powerful wall of historical photographs showcasing early local residents and vintage landscapes of the town. Another fascinating contemporary exhibit featured a collection of artistic photographs of tree stumps. It is a wonderful reminder that you never know what a creative mind can transform into art that you will truly appreciate. If you choose to take the stairs to the second level, the Open Door Gallery utilizes the towering vertical space beautifully with eye-catching art running all the way up the stairwell wall, making the walk feel like a continuous gallery experience. Upstairs was a textile exhibit showcasing the deep heritage of Appalachian weaving, quilting, and coverlets, highlighting how mountain women used local flora to dye wool and create intricate geometric patterns to keep their families warm. This textile section blends seamlessly into the local history room, which chronicles how Blowing Rock evolved from a rugged settlement into a premier resort destination. The room is packed with fascinating artifacts, vintage memorabilia, and engaging storyboards detailing the golden age of grand mountain hotels. They even have an interactive section where you can write a postcard to someone, and the museum will mail it out for free! Make sure to stop in the curated gift shop before you leave for some great regional finds. Between the local crafts, history books, and unique souvenirs, I never seem to leave a museum gift shop empty-handed.

This place was closed due to COVID the last time we were in town but we were pleasantly surprised…read morethat they were open on July 4 when we were walking around downtown. This is a cute little museum that has rotating art displays on the bottom floor and a smaller history museum upstairs. We saw a whimsical display of chickens, and another from a collection of art from a school in California. When we were there the upstairs had an exhibit about the annual horse show in town. The museum is free to visit but we gladly left a donation.

Hadn't been in a few months and dropped in for a weekday visit…read more There appear to be some updates to the interior. Upon entry I noticed a manned coffee station, and hadn't seen this previously. You will still need to check in with the front desk for a parking pass to place in your car. I appreciate that the end of each exhibit there are cards to share your thoughts and experience. Be mindful they may not allow you to record the art but you can take pictures without flash.

Located on the college campus. Very nice, clean and comfortable to walk through. Greeted as soon as…read morewe walked in and there is a coffee bar across from the reception desk. Construction on the lower level so only able to view 3 exhibits on the top floor. What was available was great to see. Well done. I look forward to returning to see what else is available once the construction is done.

It's ok. I'll leave it at that. It's a lot smaller than I expected and there really wasn't too much…read moreto do. I think the best age for this museum is under 3. My 4 year old got bored pretty quickly. There also just wasn't a lot to do. There is a dress up area, but it only had a few items, same with the kitchen and pirate ship. I have to agree with another reviewer that the staff wasn't friendly. They were more concerned with everything getting cleaned up. iI's a children's museum - there's supposed to be a level of mess, but when a kid puts a doll at the table and then goes to the kitchen area and you put the doll back, maybe think "was that kid getting food to play feed the doll?"and not assume they were leaving it. Also, parents - there's an overpriced gift/toy section in the front that you can't avoid. Bright side - there's some fun lunch and treat spots close by.

The museum is small but cute. Best for children 2 - 4 years old. Most of the front desk staff are…read morewelcoming. But the staff in the back must not have children. I'm not sure that they even like children. When my older children were little, I used to bring them and that staff would interact with the kids and parents. Most of this staff just sits on side, ignoring children and adults. There is one lady, Miss Wendy that all of my kids love, but she's not there very much. They had an event this weekend and I am glad that we went in the afternoon. My friend got turned away in the morning only an hour after they opened. She said that staff very rudely told her that she should have gotten there earlier. Her children were heartbroken. They did have some people, mainly teenagers with volunteer name tags who were very nice. My little adored the older gentleman who played with him. They had the upstairs set up really cute with a Winnie-the-Pooh exhibit. But unfortunately, they said that it would only be there for that day. They had friendly teens in that space playing with the kids. Admission is not worth it, but their membership is a good value because it includes other museums.

The Hickory Museum of Art is located at the SALT complex which was once a high school gymnasium…read more Both admission and parking are free and if the lot in front is full there is a huge lot in the back. Hickory Museum of Art just celebrated its 80th Anniversary. The museum is on three levels and they have curvy staircases; regular staircases and an elevator. I used each during my visit as the curvy stairs made me dizzy so I opted for the elevator to the 3rd floor and found the regular stairs. Besides in the big open spaces there is also art to be found in the nooks and crannies of the art portion of the building. There are also hands on areas for children. I really enjoyed the In Memoriam exhibit of Joe LaFone. I do not believe I had seen his work before but I loved the vibrant colors of the work as well as the textures. It grabbed my attention and made me smile. I believe there are permanent and changing exhibits so that means a return trip to see the new artwork and discover another artist new to me.

I'm surprised that I'm getting the FTR on this wonderful museum. While it's not MOMA or the Getty,…read moreit's a great museum in a small town that is an exurb of Charlotte. Five stars because it's in a category all by itself. Y'all need to make the trip up here! The Hickory Museum of Art has a long-term exhibition of Southern contemporary folk art, showcasing the work of self-taught artists from around the region. North Carolina's second oldest museum, Hickory Museum of Art was established in 1944 when visionary founding Director, Paul Whitener, declared, "I am going to make Hickory, North Carolina an art center." Hickory Museum of Art first earned national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 1991. The museum is free to enter though they of course accept donations. When I visited, only the first and third floors were accessible as the second floor is currently having a changeover of exhibitions. You can easily tour the entire place in an hour. Today, the museum's permanent collection includes approximately 1,500 art objects, ranging from Hudson River School paintings, American art pottery, Glass Art, High-Speed Photography, and the work of regional artists. The third floor of "folk art" was interesting and enjoyable though not the type of art that I usually look for. On the first floor, more landscapes and portraits and a few pieces of contemporary art. Definitely more my speed. The museum has free parking and if you've come this far, check out the Ivey Arboretum two blocks away which features 50 different species of trees and plantings plus a few pieces of public sculpture, https://www.yelp.com/biz/ivey-arboretum-at-sally-fox-park-hickory?hrid=7Ncg9GcUykd7nIRM-MopeA. The museum shares the space with the Catawba Science Center. [Review 15882 overall - 3098 in North Carolina - 1386 of 2021.]

I met Mrs. Gray years ago through one of her sons. She was a real gem. I don't like the term…read more"character", but she was one of those things. And a good mother. I wish I had gotten to know her. Years ago, I went back to her shop. Mrs. Gray had died years before. Her shop was now a kind of exhibit place, and it was still filled with an incredible collection of "stuff" - toys, lunchboxes, wigs, figurines, buttons, everything you can think of - and lots of it in bins classified by color like a big bin of red toy cars. It was overwhelming and a lot of fun. I think the grand daughter or niece of Mrs. Gray was my friendly hostess in the store. I was allowed to roam the store freely - alone, stunned and amazed. They had named the place Elsewhere and there was some sort of organized group connected to the place. I got on their mailing list and sent them a contribution. Some years later, in 2014, I returned to my beloved hometown, Greensboro, for a visit. An old friend of mine and I walked the length of Elm Street, starting at the few blocks leading up to the Jefferson Standard Building - heading toward Lee Street. I relived many memories of my youth, my "hippie days" (circa 1967) and my working class hero days on that walk. We stopped in a lot of shops and the clerks and customers were friendly and seemed to like us. We supported those shops by making some purchases. It was quite a pleasant stroll. We reached Elsewhere. I hadn't been back there for decades. The people there were very full of themselves. They seemed suspicious of us, two traditional looking white old guys. I guess that was it. I've been around and I can recognize people who are too hip for their own good. They were entirely unwelcoming. I got the feeling that they wondered what we were doing there. They treated us like we were shoplifters or CIA. We wordlessly left the place. It was very disappointing to me. I did not send another donation.

What a fun little place to visit! I drove past it on Elm street and I couldn't help but be drawn in…read morevisually by the eye candy of this place. I hit the breaks and immediately parked my rental so i could satisfy my itching curiosity. Plenty of street parking made it easy to pull over on a whim! When i walked in, i wasn't sure if this place was a coffee shop, or a thrift store, or a restaurant, you just can't tell until you ask. Luckily, ladies in the front were ready to give me a thorough explanation. Elsewhere is a living museum; meaning, everything inside used to belong to an old lady (who i believe is already dead). you donate $1 to go inside and then you are allowed to interact with everything you see. You can pick up books, play with toys, play the musical instruments, move things around. You name it! you can do it! Piles and piles of random tid bits and jurassic technology lurks around watching you from infinite shelf space and hidden corners. Broken 1950s television set houses a 1970s typewriter. Toy cars are piled together, toy phones are displayed artistically. Fabric is color coded and so are books. Let your imagination run wild here and don't be afraid to touch and feel and see everything that is around you. Trust your inner artist to be moved by the environment and then move the environment to leave a little piece of your voice in here. Move a little toy gun from the green toy section and put it on top of a book in the library. Or rip a page out of a book, write on it and place it inside a typewriter. You can do all of this in here! I believe this place also doubles as an art/center/school where they invite an artist in residency to teach workshops and classes at different times of the year. This reminded me of a few things: 1) The 2009 Exhibit at the MOCA in NYC: "Waste Not" by Chinese artist Song Dong, about his mother's hoarding behaviors after her husband's passing. 2) The City Museum in St. Louis, MO 3) The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, CA. 4) A really cool antique/thrift/flea market I really enjoyed stumbling upon Elsewhere. A creative way to turn junk into art and let you, the visitor, interact with your chaotic surroundings!

I love it here. I am a very science-y girl, I love anything to do with science and medicine. So, of…read morecourse, I started coming here a few years ago. The planetarium shows are gorgeous, my particular favorite was one about monarch butterfly migration. The Aquarium and reptile section is so cool, you get to see these massive tortoises and an alligator named Lucy, pet sting rays, fish of all kinds, etc. You can also explore the human body section and the physics section, where you can play on a special pulley system on a physics playground. There is also a section with insects where you can take a closer look at different types of preserved butterflies. And, every three years or so, they hold a butterfly exhibit where you can watch the butterflies flutter about. They'll even give you some sugar water on your finger, and butterflies will come flocking to you and even land on you! I had the privilege of being present for it last year and butterflies landed on me left and right, I absolutely felt like Snow White! All in all, the Catawba Science Center is a family friendly learning environment that is perfect for field trips of all kinds. You won't regret visiting!

The Catawba Science Center is located next to the Hickory Art Museum in the SALT complex so I…read morestopped here too. It was about $15 to visit the museum. I had reciprocity but didn't think to ask about it and they didn't ask like is done at the other museums. The Science Center was on the small side and a lot of the exhibits were out of order. The exhibits they had seemed geared more to younger children. So there wasn't a lot there. I never found my way to the aquarium as that is apparently in another building and that was not mentioned. The planetarium show wasn't starting until 2pm so that was disappointing. I will go back with my reciprocity to see the building I missed.

I brought my son to night at the museum at Discovery place, and it was a time! My son absolutely…read moreloves Legos and currently right now the brick masters studio is at the museum. We went through the exhibit and got to see some really incredible displays. We marveled at the displays, wondering how long they took to complete, how many people worked on the display etc. It's just so amazing to see that all the displays were made out of Lego pieces. There were some interactive displays which was nice for the kids since they were unable to touch most of the displays in the exhibit. There's a section where the kids can be master builders and time themselves on how quickly they can complete a miniature display, they ranged from easy, medium and difficult. At the end of the experience there was an entire city made of Legos, with loose lego pieces for the kids to be creative and make their own lego creations. It was a great finish to the experience. This exhibit is every lego master builders dream. It brought me back to my childhood!

What a fun place for learning we hoped this place would be! However, for the price, I left a bit…read moreunderwhelmed. We covered the entire museum and by the time my 7 year old left, she had fun but was unimpressed. The Lego exhibition was phenomenal in comparison to the science exhibits and learnings themselves. As far as the exhibits, so many were not functioning or were not being serviced by an attendant to explain what was being displayed in the creative spaces.

What a pretty setting for an art workshop! The Hanes House was really neat to check out. I loved…read morethe interesting furniture and accessories and the wall paper in the hallways! We were participating in a workshop on how to draw a face put on by an art teacher and the NCMA.

SECCA is an absolutely wonderful museum that's free (donations accepted) and open to the public…read more They showcase contemporary artists. You can also see the Hanes House, which once belonged to the Hanes family. This is a special place that Winston-Salem is fortunate to have!

Came to the Museum for Father's Day since entrance for Dads was free today. Was excellent to see…read morethe Caravaggio special exhibit, so my fee was a bit higher $25. But my college age son got a student rate and my husband was free. Nice perk, they also do this on Mother's Day, in case you didn't know for next year. I didn't take too many photos of the artwork. The special exhibit is quite large and there is a lot to see. There are two floors full of different types of art and sculptures. Really has so much to see here. I love where the Mint is located, too. Across the street is a green space with a few restaurants and a beautiful church that we visited while waiting for the museum to open at 1pm. Sunday. The entrance fee is good for two consecutive days so if you are staying close by, go back and walk through again. Lots to see. There is also a restaurant attached to the building that was very busy. They had live music as well.

It's been 3 years since my last visit so Donna & I went on a Saturday morning to check out the…read moreBaroque art exhibit. It was good with lots of interesting works by various artists. Nice that if you're a Bank of America credit card holder you get $10 off during the first weekend of each month.

The Reynolda House is one of those places where the building itself competes with the artwork, and…read morehonestly, both win. Walking through the estate gives you a vivid sense of how the Reynolds family lived, entertained, and in one unfortunate case, met their end, all wrapped in the quiet elegance of a 1917 mansion. The galleries are filled with standout pieces like Peale's 1795 portrait of the Robinsons, Thomas Cole's woodland scene, and Albert Bierstadt's Sierra Nevada landscape, each out perfectly framed by the calm, refined setting. Did I mention the Georgia O'Keeffe landscape? There's one of these here too. Beyond the paintings, the museum offers a thoughtful look at period clothing, children's toys, and even the inner workings of the estate's organ, which is a rare treat to see up close. The whole experience is stepping into a carefully preserved world where art, architecture, and history all share the same space. It's all wonderful until a few loud visitors decide the museum is the right place for a group chat and a few "Wow, check this out!" comments that the ushers seem committed to letting breathe. It's a remarkable visit, as long as you're lucky to enjoy it at a reasonable decibel level. There are also the outside grounds, which are free to wander. A ticket is only needed for the home itself. [Review 1189 of 2026 - 4837 in North Carolina - 26368 overall]

We have been waiting to visit here and finally got the opportunity to do it. Their staff is very…read morefriendly, and the history behind every single thing is very interesting. Also, we came here during one of their events, and they had the Camel City exhibition. It was a fantastic experience.