Maybe you’ve exhausted that list of summer activities or you’re looking for a way to escape the crowded beaches. Can’t think of anything? We can! Here are three museums in Manchester that will keep you – and even your kids – busy. Whether you visit just one or all three, it’s guaranteed entertainment with a little education on the side.
Art, science and history just got a lot cooler – and so did your summer!
SEE Science Center (200 Bedford Street)
Get your science on! Whether it’s feeling the forces created by a gyroscope, experimenting with robots or looking through a periscope, learning has never been so fun. At the SEE Science Center, there are more than 70 hands-on exhibits on two floors that allow you to explore sound, momentum, electricity, forces, the ocean and even bubbles! The science center is home to the LEGO Millyard Project, the largest permanent LEGO installation at mini-figure scale in the world. This installation shows what Manchester’s Amoskeag Millyard looked like when it was the largest textile manufacturer in the world. Fun Fact: The project was built with approximately three million LEGO bricks and has approximately 8,000 mini-figures! For more information, call (603) 669-0400 or visit www.see-sciencecenter.org.
Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash Street)
World renowned for its extensive collection of original European and American art, Currier is one of Manchester’s top attractions. Must-see artwork includes Albert Bierstadt’s “Moat Mountain, Intervale, New Hampshire,” Andrew
Wyeth’s “Spindrift” and Claude Monet’s “The Seine at Bouqival.” A collection that shouldn’t be missed is the Henry Melville Fuller Paperweight Collection, donated to the Currier in 1998. This collection includes 330 unique glass paperweights as well as works by 20th century artists like Charles Kaziun, Paul Stankard, Paul Ysart, and Nashua’s very own Rick Ayotte. The museum also displays New Hampshire-made furniture and paintings, and it runs the Zimmerman House, the only home in New England designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and open to the public. For more information, call (603) 669-6144 or visit www.currier.org.
Millyard Museum (Pleasant Street at Commercial Street, Mill #3)
If you want to learn about the history of the area, this is the place to go! Located at Mill #3 in the historic Amoskeag Millyard, the museum tells the story of Manchester and the people who lived and worked there. This permanent exhibit, Woven in Time: 11,000 Years at Amoskeag Falls, features displays on the area’s early farmers and lumbermen, continuing with the story of the development of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company. You’ll see items that were manufactured during the mill’s heyday, old looms and a replica of how Elm Street looked in the early 20th century (cobblestones and all!). For more information, call (603) 622-7531 or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org/mill.htm.
