Kenosha has several free museums that served as my main reason for wanting to go to Kenosha for a day. The Public Museum, The Civil War Museum, and the Dinosaur Museum are located relatively close to each other well within walking distance.
Civil War Museum
Our first stop after perusing the farmer’s market and lunch was the Civil War Museum. This is the only one that is not free ($9 for adults) but if you do not want to see the main exhibit, you can check out the exhibits upstairs for free. Trust me though, you will want to pay the admission because the main exhibit is worth it and it comes with a movie.
The exhibit itself was very life like and showed what it was to be a soldier and a civilian during the Civil War. We thought the mannequins were going to move at any time. There was an encampment along with daily town living. If was very interesting. I probably should have spent more time reading about the exhibits.
They also had a uniforms and artifacts from each of the wars starting with the American Revolutionary War. These were on display around the outside of the main exhibit each in its own case.
We did not watch the movie. It was going to have special effects and lots of shooting. I know my college roommate and family are in the movie. It would have been nice to see but the time was not going to work out. Maybe next trip.
Upstairs featured artifacts from wealthier area families. There was a wedding dress and accessories. Again, I probably should have read more.
Kenosha Public Museum
The Kenosha Public Museum is a free public museum next door to the Civil War Museum. It has one main exhibit area downstairs and a gallery upstairs.
It is mainly a natural history museum at least in the main gallery. As you walk into the exhibit hall there is a giant fish hanging from ceiling and you learn about the sea creatures. As you move through history, you get into other plants and animals. Finally, you end up with the Native Americans.
Before heading into the Native Americans, you get to meet the Schaefer Mammoths. These wooly mammoths were found in the Kenosha area in 1964. Even though they are only replicas of the actual bones, you can still see the size of these enormous creatures. The Schaefer mammoths is one of the most complete mammoth skeletons in North America and research shows that these bones indicate the one of the earliest human settlements in all of the Americas. This was by far my favorite part of the museum.
Upstairs is an art gallery. Various types of printmaking was on display with an underwater theme. Since that seems to be my theme for the year, I found it especially interesting.
The Kenosha Public Museum is nice. I would not just drive to Kenosha for this museum as I was through it before Stacy was done feeding her daughter. Maybe if I had kids that got excited for the sciency stuff it would be better but I just sped through the museum.
Dinosaur Discovery Museum
The dinosaur discovery museum is about the size of a living room. It was one exhibit of various dinosaur bones. You can walk around it but there is not much to it. There is a small hands-on play area for kids upstairs. Downstairs is an observation room.
If you are going to Kenosha just for the Dinosaur Museum, it is not worth it. However, if you are planning to do other things (or live in the area), it would be a good rainy day activity. I just was not overly impressed.
Overall doing the three museums only killed an hour or two and that is with waiting for the streetcar. I am sure with kids it would take much longer. Good thing we had other things to do in Kenosha and it was not a long drive. I would say check them out but be prepared to have time left in your day.
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