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Have you made your family’s summer bucket list yet?
Many families build a list of fun things to accomplish or discover together over the summer. Some parents label each day of the week with a task theme in mind. They look toward a craft day, outdoor day, learning day, chill day and take a trip day.
If you need ideas for Arkansas Museums to visit, check out this list of destinations across the state. The best thing about Arkansas Museums is they make learning fun. And they trick children into thinking they are just having a great time!
Local History Museum | your hometown or county
I think everyone should make a trip to the local city or county museum in their hometown. You see the early settlers’ way of life. And you learn the history of the people whose names are on historical plaques and buildings across your hometown. In addition, I think there is nothing that develops hometown pride more than learning its history.
Fun Museums
- Daisy Airgun Museum | Rogers – take pictures with the world’s largest airgun and tour an antique air gun collection dating to the 1600s.
- Arkansas Air and Military Museum | Fayetteville – a must for children (and adults) who love airplanes. Explore military aviation devices with the opportunity to board large planes and see all the buttons.
- Walmart Museum | Bentonville – capture the history and milestones of the World’s Largest Company, touch Mr. Sam’s old red truck, and stop for ice cream in the Spark Café.
- Gangster Museum | Hot Springs – uncover the storied past of Hot Springs when famous outlaws like Al Capone made Arkansas a second home.
- Mark Martin Museum | Batesville – houses race cars, helmets, fire suits, and personal memorabilia of one of the top 50 greatest NASCAR racers of all time.
- Fort Smith Trolley Museum | Fort Smith – heritage streetcar and railroad museum.
- Museum of Automobiles | Morrilton – home to over 50 vehicles, including some that belonged to Winthrop Rockefeller and the only remaining Arkansas Climber touring automobiles.
- Museum of Natural Resources | Smackover – discover the oil boom of south Arkansas that led to the birth of Murphy Oil.
- Esse Purse Museum | Little Rock – telling the evolution of HERstory through 20th-century fashion artifacts.
Off the Beaten Path Museums
- Lum and Abner Museum and Country Store | Pine Ridge – documents and demonstrates the stories of the characters on the famed Lum and Abner radio show.
- Blythe’s Scott County Museum | Waldron – a unique display of Caddo Indian artifacts and war and weapon memorabilia.
- Plantation Agriculture Museum | Scott – preserving Arkansas’ agricultural history from the field to the store.
- Log Cabin Museum and Indian Rock Cave | Fairfield Bay – focused on early settlers’ life and prehistoric artifacts, including a 4,000-year-old mortar and pestle.
- Potts Inn Museum | Pottsville – a preserved antebellum home marks a preservation stop along the original Butterfield Stagecoach route.
- Arkansas Railroad Museum | Pine Bluff – located in the home of the historical Cotton Belt Machine Shop with a fully restored steam engine and railroad memorabilia.
- Old Jail Museum | Greenwood – made of rocks quarried in the region, the museum tells the coal mining stories of Sebastian County and the Battle of Devil’s Backbone.
Cultural Museums
- Arkansas Wine Museum | Paris – preserves the science and stories of the Arkansas Wine Valley and early European settlers.
- Mosaic Templars Cultural Center | Little Rock – committed to preserving, interpreting, and celebrating African American history and culture in Arkansas.
- Museum of Native American History | Bentonville – a free museum that explores prehistoric artifacts and the Native American culture.
- Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum | Piggot – former home of the famous author and his family, this museum offers the perfect visit for literature lovers.
- Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie | Stuttgart – “a love letter to agriculture and wildlife in Arkansas” in the Arkansas and Rice Capital of the World.
Art Museums
- Crystal Bridges Museum of Modern Art and trails | Bentonville – home to a half-billion-dollar permanent collection of art, including the most extensive collection of American Art in the world and an outdoor art trail.
- South Arkansas Arts Center | El Dorado – performing arts center and teaching gallery.
- Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) and The Unexpected | Fort Smith – home to traveling modern art exhibits and the first Arkansas outdoor urban mural tour.
History Museums
- Turner Neal Museum of Natural History | Monticello – think Arkansas Smithsonian for natural science, including a planetarium and animal displays.
- Arkansas State University Museum | Jonesboro – a Tinkering Studio rounds out the experience of exploring living off the land, preserved amphibians and Native American artifacts.
- Fort Smith Museum of History and National Historic Site | Fort Smith – once the western edge of the United States, Fort Smith was the final spot on the trail of tears and home to the wilds of the Wild West cowboys.
- MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History | Little Rock – dedicated to the history and legacy of General Douglas MacArthur, additional exhibits look at veterans’ views of war and women in military history.
- Bill Clinton’s First Home and Museum | Hope – home of Bill Clinton’s grandparents where he and his mom lived when he was a young boy. Part of the National Park system.
- Old State House Museum and Historic Arkansas Museum | Little Rock – explore the story of Arkansas’s past through a city block farmstead in Arkansas’ oldest buildings
- Historic Cane Hill Museum | Cane Hill – a historic community in Arkansas unfolding the story of an early Shaker community, Civil War battle, the first college in Arkansas and a Smithsonian exhibit.
Other destinations to explore might include:
- Interactive Science Museums
- Arkansas National Sites
- Nationally Registered Historic Places
- Arkansas State Parks
- Arkansas Game and Fish Nature Centers
Like this story? Read more from Keisha Pittman McKinney
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[…] military museums would undoubtedly be great additions to your family’s summer bucket list or day trips to keep your children busy before school starts back. So where will you go […]