# Best History Museums? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809 "2014-05-20T09:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/41 "2014-05-22T20:47:03Z")
Oh, I’d forgotten the baths in Bath. Amazing, and I was there 30 years ago, I believe the exhibits have been through a refresh since then. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/42 "2014-05-22T22:06:11Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Oh, I’d forgotten the baths in Bath. Amazing, and I was there 30 years ago, I believe the exhibits have been through a refresh since then. Almost certainly; the museum exhibits all seemed pretty new. I should also mention the great audio tour, which included color commentary written and read by Bill Bryson, who is one of my favorite writers. One of my other favorite bits was the display of lead foil scrolls with curses written on them that were tossed into the pools by the Roman pilgrims as part of their prayers to Athena. They were quite…specific, in the vein of “My neighbor ruined my best cloak. May his penis shrivel and fall off.” In form, if not in content, they reminded me strongly of the bits of paper with intercessionary prayers that are stuffed into cracks in the Western Wall in Jerusalem by religious Jews. I think we’ll go back once the kids are out of college. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/43 "2014-05-23T00:00:26Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I’d like to again stress Andersonville Georgia. Its quite moving being at the site where 30,000 prisoners were held and most died. I swear you can literally feel the ghosts. A great-great grandfather of mine was incarcerated at Andersonville. He lived through it but he told his granddaughter, (My maternal grandmother) that off and on, for the rest of his life, he had problems with his digestion and bowels, due to poor food and contaminated water. Also, when the guards felt abusive, as they often did, the gut was an easy target to kick. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/44 "2014-05-23T00:48:33Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > The Mercer is fantastic, but it seems like a bit of a stretch to call it a history museum. There’s not a lot of explanatory material, just a crap-ton of collected bits of American-produced goods and gadgets from the 19th century. The place is also kind of an inaccessible maze of narrow passages and spiral staircases (I am visually impaired, and some parts were a head-bumping nightmare). That said, it’s totally worth a visit, and Doylestown is quite picturesque and charming. I’d be hard stretched to call it anything other than a history museum. It’s very explicitly about exploring the manufacturing history of pre-industrial America. You’re right about the inaccessible maze of narrow passages and head-bumping nightmare but I found plenty of explanatory material scattered through the museum. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/45 "2014-05-23T04:45:28Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I’d be hard stretched to call it anything other than a history museum. It’s very explicitly about exploring the manufacturing history of pre-industrial America. You’re right about the inaccessible maze of narrow passages and head-bumping nightmare but I found plenty of explanatory material scattered through the museum. I’ll take your word for the explanatory material. I confess it’s been a few years since I’ve been there, so my memory must be faulty. My parents live in nearby Warrington, and we’ll be out for a visit this summer, so maybe we’ll check it out again. Whatever it is, it is without doubt quite something to see. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/46 "2014-05-23T05:17:56Z")
The National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB is probably the best you’re going to see in the United States. They have more aircraft than they can display and routinely rotate some spectacular stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/47 "2014-05-23T08:47:42Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I for one like the ones with interactive exhibits. Also ones with unique items and/or persons working there who themselves can give great insight. For example here in Kansas City there is a museum towards the Negro Baseball League which in itself isnt so great but used to have a 98 year old former Negro Leaguer one could see and ask questions to. Gosh yes. When I was a kid here, the local museum had stuff you could touch, and stuff you were actually allowed to touch. To keep you seperate from the stuff you could, but shouldn’t, touch, every room had a museum guard. And, lacking any other activity to keep them occupied, those guards would talk about their exhibits, and about other people they had met associated with those exhibits. Big disapointment when I started visiting bigger and more modern museums, where there is no one to talk to, and you are separated from the exhibits by glass, or distance and touch-sensitive alarms. My own museum has been modernised like that now. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/48 "2014-05-23T12:20:01Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > Almost certainly; the museum exhibits all seemed pretty new. I should also mention the great audio tour, which included color commentary written and read by Bill Bryson, who is one of my favorite writers. > > One of my other favorite bits was the display of lead foil scrolls with curses written on them that were tossed into the pools by the Roman pilgrims as part of their prayers to Athena. They were quite…specific, in the vein of “My neighbor ruined my best cloak. May his penis shrivel and fall off.” In form, if not in content, they reminded me strongly of the bits of paper with intercessionary prayers that are stuffed into cracks in the Western Wall in Jerusalem by religious Jews. > > I think we’ll go back once the kids are out of college. I’ve asked my husband to take me to Bath for my 50th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/49 "2014-05-23T14:10:37Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [The Henry Ford](http://www.thehenryford.org/index.aspx) (consisting of the indoor Henry Ford Museum, and the outdoor Greenfield Village), in Dearborn, MI. > > Some of the highlights include: > The chair Lincoln was shot in (Henry Ford Museum) > Six presidential limos, including Kennedy’s (HFM) > The Rosa Parks bus (HFM) > Henry Ford’s private train car (HFM) > George Washington’s camp bed (HFM) > Steam engines, historic farm equipment, an automobile exhibit going through the complete history of the car, etc (HFM) > 1939 Douglas DC-3 airplane (HFM) > Rotating exhibits (currently Women of Rock, previous ones included the Titanic, James Bond) (HFM) > Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House > Colonial jewelry, clothing, furniture, tools, silver, etc. (HFM) > > Buildings from Edison’s Menlo Park lab (GFV) > Historic steam trains that take you around the village (GFV) > Model T rides (GFV) > 101-year-old carousel (GFV) > Henry Ford’s birth home (GFV) > The Wright Brothers’ cycle ship (GFV) > Edison’s original light bulb (GFV) > Noah Webster home, Robert Frost home (GFV) > Working farms run with 19th century technology (GFV) > Homes, farms, and a windmill from as far back as the 1600s (GFV) > Original one-room school house, slaves quarters (GFV) > Costumed re-enactors strolling around (GFV) > 1867-rules Base Ball games every Sunday in the summer (GFV) > Civil War re-enactments (GFV) > Ragtime Street Fair (GFV) > 19th-century Christmas events (GFV) > Classic car shows (GFV) > Seasonal, locally-produced 19th-century meals (GFV) > > A truly spectacular hands-on living history museum. My family gets a membership every year, and we spend 1-3 days a week there most weeks. It never gets old. A big second on this one. I love the Henry Ford Museum. The enormous steam engines that were used to power factories are very impressive to see up close. Some of the flywheels on them were probably 30 feet in diameter: [http://thehenryford.org/museum/america.aspx](http://thehenryford.org/museum/america.aspx) I noticed when visiting the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, as great as that museum also is, it only had tiny models of same. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/50 "2014-05-23T14:25:09Z")
Another vote for the Nimitz museum. It’s a absolute hidden gem, the beautiful country side makes for a lovely drive to it, the museum is great, and Fredericksburg is a really terrific little town. I would love to retire there. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809/51 "2014-05-23T15:14:44Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Another vote for the Nimitz museum. It’s a absolute hidden gem, the beautiful country side makes for a lovely drive to it, the museum is great, and Fredericksburg is a really terrific little town. I would love to retire there. There’s also a pretty good number of places serving good German & Texas style food in Fredericksburg, and a lot of Texas wineries nearby, as well as really delicious fresh peaches if you go in the proper time of year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-history-museums/688809.md?page=2)