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 fabulous museums—incredible!—but now it’s time to explore some lesser-know, off-the-beaten-path, and odd-collection museums.
Conventional, just out of town:
- Albright-Knox Art Gallery
- Explore & More Children’s Museum
- Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park
- Buffalo Museum of Science
- Museum of Science and Technology
- Museum of the Earth
- Sciencecenter
- The Buffalo History Museum
- Everson Museum of Art
- Ferguson Planetarium
- UB Anderson Gallery
- Arnot Art Museum
- Corning Museum of Glass
- Livingston Arts Center
- The Rockwell Museum
Living History Museums around Rochester
- Genesee Country Village & Museum
- Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes
- Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village
- Historic Fort Ontario
- Old Fort Niagara
- Newtown Battlefield
- Hill Cumorah Visitors Center
- Ward O’Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum & Dr. Joseph F. Karpinski Sr. Educational Center
Lesser-known in the Rochester Area
Unconventional collection museums around Rochester
- Brain Museum at the University at Buffalo
- Lackawanna Steel Museum
- Jell-O Gallery
- Rochester Medical Museum & Archives
- The Peppermint Museum
- All Things Oz Museum
- It’s a Wonderful Life Museum
- Salt Museum
Transportation & Innovation museums around Rochester
- Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park
- Herschell Carrousel Factory
- Salamanca Rail Museum
- Buffalo Transportation Piece Arrow Museum
- Edgerton Model Railroad Room
- Sam Patch Erie Canal Boat Tours
- Sims’ Museum
- Arcade & Attica Railroad
- Medina Railroad Museum
- New York Museum of Transportation
- Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
- Niagara Aerospace Museum
- Hornell Erie Depot Museum and Toy Soldier Museum
- Rochester Auto Museum
- National Warplane Museum
- Antique Wireless Museum
- Niagara Power Vista
- Glenn Curtiss Museum
- National Soaring Museum
- Erie Canal Museum
- Martisco Station Museum
- Spencerport Depot & Canal Museum
- Erie Canal Discovery Center
Historic Places
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff Estate
- Elbert Hubbard Roycroft Museum
- High Falls Center & Interpretive Museum
- Ganondagan Historic Site
- Clara Barton House
- Seward House & Museum
- Corning’s Gaffer District
- National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
- Letchworth Museums
- Millard Fillmore House
- Granger Homestead & Carriage Museum
- Holland Land Office Museum
- Historic Palmyra
- Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area
- Lewiston Historical Association
- Women’s Rights National Historic Park
- National Women’s Hall of Fame
- Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse Museum
- Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
- Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center
- Emily L. Knapp Museum
- Fairport Historical Museum
- Hoffman Clock Museum
- Stickley Museum
- Military History Society of Rochester
- Webster Museum
- Stone-Tolan House
- Tinker Homestead and Farm Museum
- Harriet Tubman Home
- Seneca Iroquois Museum
- Witter Agriculture Museum
- Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
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Rochester Railfans: Trains, Depots, Rail-Trails, Models, & Clubs
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Where are your favorite museums around Rochester?
Share with us in the comments. Your insight and experience is invaluable!