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 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:
- National Comedy Center + Lucy-Desi Museum
- Museum of the Earth
- Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park
- Albright-Knox Art Gallery
- Explore & More Children’s Museum
- Buffalo Museum of Science
- Museum of Science and Technology
- Sciencecenter
- The Buffalo History Museum
- Everson Museum of Art
- Ferguson Planetarium
- UB Anderson Gallery
- Arnot Art Museum
- Corning Museum of Glass
- New Deal Gallery
- The Rockwell Museum
Living History Museums around Rochester
- Genesee Country Village & Museum
- Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village
- Old Fort Niagara
- Historic Fort Ontario
- Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes
- Newtown Battlefield
- Hill Cumorah Visitors Center
- Ward O’Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum & Dr. Joseph F. Karpinski Sr. Educational Center
Less-known in the Rochester Area
Unconventional collection museums around Rochester
- Rochester Medical Museum & Archives
- Brain Museum at the University at Buffalo
- Lackawanna Steel Museum
- Jell-O Gallery and Historic LeRoy House
- The Peppermint Museum
- All Things Oz Museum
- It’s a Wonderful Life Museum
- Salt Museum
Transportation & Innovation in Monroe County
- Edgerton Model Railroad Room
- New York Museum of Transportation
- Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
- Sam Patch Erie Canal Boat Tours
- Rochester Auto Museum
- Spencerport Depot & Canal Museum
Transportation & Innovation outside Monroe County
- Arcade & Attica Railroad
- Niagara Power Vista
- Glenn Curtiss Museum
- Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park
- Herschell Carrousel Factory
- Salamanca Rail Museum
- Buffalo Transportation Piece Arrow Museum
- Finger Lakes Boating Museum
- Sims’ Museum
- Medina Railroad Museum
- Wings of Eagles Discovery Center
- Camillus Erie Canal Park
- Niagara Aerospace Museum
- Hornell Erie Depot Museum and Toy Soldier Museum
- National Warplane Museum
- Antique Wireless Museum
- National Soaring Museum
- Erie Canal Museum
- Martisco Station Museum
- Erie Canal Discovery Center
History Museums in Monroe County
- National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
- High Falls Center & Interpretive Museum
- Rochester Historical Society
- Greece Historical Society & Museum
- Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse Museum
- Perinton Historical Society’s Fairport Historical Museum
- Historic Pittsford
- Gates Historical Society
- Military History Society of Rochester
- Webster Museum
- Stone-Tolan House
- Tinker Homestead and Farm Museum
- Irondequoit Pioneer House
- Honeoye Falls & Town of Mendon Historical Society
- Hervey Ely House
Historic Places Outside Monroe County
- Ganondagan Historic Site
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff Estate
- Elbert Hubbard Roycroft Museum
- Seneca Iroquois Museum
- Tonawanda Indian Reservation Historical Society
- Clara Barton House
- Valentown Hall
- Seward House & Museum
- Corning’s Gaffer District
- Letchworth Museums
- Millard Fillmore House
- Granger Homestead & Carriage Museum
- Holland Land Office Museum
- Prouty-Chew House
- Ontario County Historical Society
- Oneida Community Mansion House
- Livingston County Historical Society Museum
- Museum of Wayne County (plus an incredible listing of 1000+ other Wayne County historic museums, societies and sites and several walking tours!)
- Hoffman Clock Museum
- East Bloomfield Historical Society
- Historic Palmyra (including the Alling Coverlet Museum, Print Shop, and Phelps General Store.)
- Ontario County Historical Society Museum
- Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area
- Lewiston Historical Association
- Women’s Rights National Historic Park
- National Women’s Hall of Fame
- Big Springs Museum
- Yates County History Center
- Pultneyville Historical Society
- Warsaw Historical Society
- Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
- Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center
- Emily L. Knapp Museum
- Foster Cottage Museum
- Stickley Museum
- Harriet Tubman Home
- Witter Agriculture Museum
- Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
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Where are your favorite museums around Rochester?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments. Your insight and experience is invaluable!
Please see http://www.waynehistorians.org. This is a database of historic sites in Wayne County NY. You can search the database for “museums.” I notice that you have not listed the Wayne County Museum in Lyons, NY. There are several other smaller museums in Wayne County in addition to the 4 or 5 that you did list.
Gene Bavis,
Walworth Town Historian
Co-Chair Wayne County Bicentennial Committee (1823-2023)
Gene, thank you so much for taking the time to share the Wayne Historians website! This is such an impressive database. I added the Museum of Wayne County with an addition note to see the listing of historic sites. I found the tour maps so helpful and think they are perfect for encouraging folks to slow down and walk through our villages or drive through our countrysides.
I also added a few more historical societies and museums to the list, and will continue to grow it as folks suggest more. Now it’s officially 100+ museums!
I look forward to exploring more of Wayne County.