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Museums

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A restored steamship outdoors in the summer.

The interior of a museum with a curved wood ceiling and glass display cases around the room.

Uncover Vermont Stories

Visit a Museum in Vermont

Vermont’s museums captivate with beauty, storytelling, unique exhibits, and history. Discover paintings by European and American masters, folk art, contemporary sculpture, and more. History museums tell the stories of innovative and passionate Vermonters while science centers explore topics ranging from sustainable farming to the Lake Champlain ecosystem. Some of Vermont’s museums are open seasonally, so check websites before visiting to be sure that your destination is welcoming visitors.

Explore Vermont’s Past

Vermont’s historic museums offer visitors an immersive trip into the Green Mountain State’s stories dating back to Indigenous history, when the Abenaki called this land “ndakinna,” meaning “our land.”

Ethan Allen Homestead Museum

Explore life in Vermont during the American Revolution, including indoor and outdoor Abenaki cultural facilities and programs.

American Precision Museum

The Springfield area’s rich innovation and manufacturing history is chronicled at this museum, which houses the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the country.

Billings Farm and Museum

A working farm highlighting historic Vermont agriculture with a museum, live demonstrations, farm animals, and a seasonal sunflower house.

New England Maple Museum

This Pittsford destination offers a historical journey through Vermont’s profitable and productive maple sugaring industry, including the most complete collection of sugaring artifacts in existence.

Vermont Granite Museum

Located within a turn-of-the-century granite processing plant, this museum dives deep into stone history.

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

Explore Lake Champlain’s maritime history through boat, equipment, and artifacts on exhibit. Below the surface, certified divers can explore 10 shipwrecks.

Sullivan Museum and History Center

Get to know the history of Norwich University, Vermont’s military college, in Northfield in this 16,000-square-foot facility on campus.

Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home

Built in 1905, the historic home and grounds of Robert and Mary Lincoln is a stronghold of American history, including an original Pullman train car and Pres. Lincoln’s stovepipe hat.

Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum

Explore Vermont’s ski and snowboard history, including the nation’s oldest organized ski patrol in Stowe and a look back at ski culture and art.

Vermont History Museum

Explore Vermont’s history from the 1600s to present at this Capital District museum next to the Statehouse.

Rokeby Museum

Ferrisburgh’s Rokeby Museum is a stop along the African American Heritage Trail, exploring Vermont’s history on the Underground Railroad as enslaved people found their way to freedom.

Shelburne Museum

More than 150,000 exhibited works span 39 historic buildings on the museum’s expansive grounds.

Vermont Marble Museum

Explore the world of Vermont marble past, present, and future in uses including art, building, and more in Proctor.

Vermont Folklife Center

Interviewing and cultural documentation work together to synthesize a rich slice of Vermont’s past and present.

Exterior of a rustic building with artifacts of every day life.

The Everyday, Examined

Museum of Everyday Life

This curious destination in Glover, part of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, celebrates the everyday with rotating seasonal displays. From exhibits on scissors and dust to an examination of pencils and string, this is a must-see hidden gem of creatively arranged everyday items.

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Art Museums

See the works of regional masters and international game-changers at Vermont’s art museums.

Fleming Museum

More than 24,000 collected pieces take viewers on an exploration of art and anthropology.

Middlebury College Museum of Art

Art installations, including those by artists of color, inspire mindfulness.

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum

An 1871 Victorian building with an art gallery inside, including the massive “The Domes of the Yosemite.”

The Current

Contemporary art from around the world exhibited both inside the gallery and seasonally outdoors in town.

TW Wood Art Gallery

Vermont’s oldest art museum stewards two historic collections and shows the work of contemporary Vermont artists.

Bennington Museum

The world’s largest collection of Grandma Moses folk art, along with other historically significant Americana, is housed here.

Brattleboro Museum and Art Center

Explore 15-20 contemporary art exhibitions annually at this southern Vermont mainstay museum.

Museum of the Creative Process

This museum explores how creativity can help people tap into their own inner wisdom and find healing.

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Internationally known artists and more local creators find exhibition space at this southern Vermont gallery.

Art of Humor Gallery

This museum houses the art of cartoonist Skip Morrow in beautiful downtown Wilmington.

Montshire Museum of Science

Norwich’s Montshire Museum of Science offers interactive exhibits, miles of trails outdoors, and many ways for kids to experience hands-on science and learn concepts for themselves.

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Science and Natural History Museums

Discover hands-on attractions that will capture your creative side while helping the whole family learn about science, technology and conservation.

ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain

Learn about the species that call Lake Champlain home and efforts to conserve this natural ecosystem.

Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium

A combination history museum and natural science museum featuring historic taxidermy, and Vermont’s only public planetarium.

Montshire Museum of Science

This Norwich museum features miles of trails, interactive and hands-on exhibits that teach kids about scientific concepts, and explorations of the natural world.

Vermont Institute of Natural Science

See raptors up close, learn about Vermont’s wildlife, and see views of the Ottauquechee River and the forest from great heights on a fully accessible boardwalk.

An audience sits down to watch an outdoor concert as the sun sets in the background.

Outdoor Music in the Summer

Concerts on the Green

This concert series brings internationally known names to Shelburne Museum for a festival-like atmosphere amidst the unique setting of the museum’s collected Americana and folk art.

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