100+ Other Museums Around Rochester

We’re all familiar with the big four museums around Rochester: Rochester Museum and Science Center, The Strong National Museum of Play, George Eastman Museum, and the Memorial Art Gallery.

Those are exceptional museums—incredible!—but now it’s time to explore some out-of-town, lesser-know, off-the-beaten-path, and odd-collection museums, plus historic sites. I think you’ll find them fascinating.

Conventional, just out of town:

1. Museum of the Earth
   [view our guide]
2. Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park
   [view our guide]
3. Albright-Knox Art Gallery (closed for construction until 2022)
   [view our guide]
4. National Comedy Center + Lucy-Desi Museum
5. Explore & More Children’s Museum
6. Buffalo Museum of Science
7. Museum of Science and Technology
8. Sciencecenter
9. The Buffalo History Museum
10. Everson Museum of Art
11. UB Anderson Gallery
12. Arnot Art Museum
13. Corning Museum of Glass
14. New Deal Gallery
15. The Rockwell Museum

Living History Museums around Rochester

1. Genesee Country Village & Museum
   [view our guide]
2. Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village
3. Old Fort Niagara
   [view our guide]
4. Historic Fort Ontario
5. Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes
6. Newtown Battlefield
7. Ward O’Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum & Dr. Joseph F. Karpinski Sr. Educational Center

Less-known in the Rochester Area

1. ARTISANworks
   [view our guide]
2. Rochester Contemporary Art Center
3. Art Museum of Rochester
4. Link Gallery at City Hall

Unconventional collection museums around Rochester

1. Jell-O Gallery and Historic LeRoy House
2. Rochester Medical Museum & Archives
3. Brain Museum at the University at Buffalo
4. Lackawanna Steel Museum
5. The Peppermint Museum
6. All Things Oz Museum
7. It’s a Wonderful Life Museum
8. Salt Museum

Transportation & Innovation in Monroe County

1. Edgerton Model Railroad Room
   [view our guide]
2. New York Museum of Transportation
   [view our guide]
3. Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
   [view our guide]
4. Sam Patch Erie Canal Boat Tours
   [view our guide]
5. Spencerport Depot & Canal Museum

Transportation & Innovation outside Monroe County

1. Arcade & Attica Railroad
   [view our guide]
2. Niagara Power Vista
3. Glenn Curtiss Museum
4. Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park
5. Herschell Carrousel Factory
6. Salamanca Rail Museum
7. Buffalo Transportation Piece Arrow Museum
8. Finger Lakes Boating Museum
9. Sims’ Museum
10. Medina Railroad Museum
11. Wings of Eagles Discovery Center
12. Camillus Erie Canal Park
13. Niagara Aerospace Museum
14. Hornell Erie Depot Museum and Toy Soldier Museum
15. National Warplane Museum
16. Antique Wireless Museum
17. National Soaring Museum
18. Erie Canal Museum
19. Martisco Station Museum and Central Square Station Museum
20. Erie Canal Discovery Center

History Museums in Monroe County

1. National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
2. Tinker Homestead and Farm Museum
3. Stone-Tolan House
4. Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse Museum
5. Rochester Historical Society
6. Greece Historical Society & Museum
7. Perinton Historical Society’s Fairport Historical Museum
8. Historic Pittsford
9. Gates Historical Society
10. Military History Society of Rochester
11. Webster Museum
12. Honeoye Falls & Town of Mendon Historical Society
13. Hervey Ely House

Historic Places Outside Monroe County

1. Ganondagan Historic Site
   [view our guide]
2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House
3. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff Estate
4. Elbert Hubbard Roycroft Museum
5. Seneca Iroquois Museum
6. Tonawanda Indian Reservation Historical Society
7. Clara Barton House
8. Valentown Hall
9. Seward House & Museum
10. Corning’s Gaffer District
11. Letchworth Museums
12. Millard Fillmore House
13. Granger Homestead & Carriage Museum
14. Holland Land Office Museum
15. Prouty-Chew House
16. Ontario County Historical Society
17. Oneida Community Mansion House
18. Livingston County Historical Society Museum
19. Museum of Wayne County (plus an incredible listing of 1000+ other Wayne County historic museums, societies and sites and several walking tours!)
20. Hoffman Clock Museum
21. East Bloomfield Historical Society
22. Historic Palmyra (including the Alling Coverlet Museum, Print Shop, and Phelps General Store.)
23. Ontario County Historical Society Museum
24. Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area
25. Lewiston Historical Association
26. Women’s Rights National Historic Park
27. National Women’s Hall of Fame
28. Big Springs Museum
29. Yates County History Center
30. Pultneyville Historical Society
31. Warsaw Historical Society
32. Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
33. Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center
34. Emily L. Knapp Museum
35. Foster Cottage Museum
36. Stickley Museum
37. Harriet Tubman Home
38. Witter Agriculture Museum
39. Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Where are your favorite museums around Rochester?

Please share your thoughts and stories with us in the comments. Your insight and experience are invaluable!