Big List of Boston Museums

There are over forty major museums in the Boston area and a number of small niche museums as well. This is my attempt at pulling together in one place a list of them all to help people discover some things to do in Boston on a trip for the weekend or a week’s vacation.

I’ve included popular Boston Museums within a 50-mile radius and which you can get to within an hour’s drive of downtown Boston – I may have stretched that a little bit for museums I think deserve an extra few miles of gas.

For more information about each museum with directions, admission fees and times just click on the museum title to go to their website:

Boston Museums :

New England Aquarium
Boston Children’s Museum
Museum of Fine Arts
J.F.K. Library & Museum
Museum of Science
Institute of Contemporary Art
Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum (closed until 2009 for renovations)
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Sports Museum of New England
Museum of Afro American History
The Commonwealth Museum (currently closed check site for updates)
Historic New England
Mary Baker Eddy Library
Nichols House Museum
Old South Meeting House
Old State House Museum
Paul Revere House
Trinity Church
Massachusetts Historical Society
Franklin Park Zoo

Cambridge Museums :

Harvard Museum of Natural History
The Fogg Art Museum
Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
M.I.T. Museum

North of Boston Museums :

U.S.S. Constitution Museum, Charlestown
American Textile History Museum, Lowell
New England Quilt Museum, Lowell
Lynn Museum & Historical Society, Lynn
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
Salem Witch Museum, Salem
Salem Wax Museum, Salem
New England Pirate Museum, Salem
American Marine Model Gallery, Salem
Stone Zoo, Stoneham
Crushing House Museum and Garden, Newburyport
Custom House Maritime Museum, Newburyport

West of Boston Museums :

John F. Kennedy Birthplace, Brookline
Museum of Transportation, Brookline
Concord Museum, Concord
Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, Concord
The Old Manse, Concord
National Heritage Museum, Lexington
Davis Museum & Culture Center, Wellesley
Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln
Massachusetts Audubon Society, Lincoln
Discovery Museum, Acton
Garden in the Woods, Framingham
Longyear Museum, Chestnut Hill
Newton History Museum, Newton
Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History, Weston
Stonehurst, Waltham
Charles River Museum of Industry, Waltham
Gore Place, Waltham

South of Boston Museums :

The Art Complex, Duxbury
Battleship Cove, Fall River
Children’s Museum, Easton
Dedham Historical Society, Dedham
Museum of Bad Art, Dedham
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton
Hull Life Saving Museum, Hull
Plymouth Plantation, Plymouth
Tufts University Gallery, Medford
Forbes House Museum, Milton

Please write a comment below and let me know what I’ve missed and you’d like to see me add.

For more stuff to do in Boston check out my Beantown Vacations Guide by clicking here and see more of Boston than just the inside of walls.

Another post soon so check back soon or subscribe to my RSS fee here.

Cliff Calderwood
Editor
New England Vacation Guide