- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Sacramento History Museum
Rating Details »
- Hours:
Tue-Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
7 reviews for Sacramento History Museum
The Sacramento History Museum, formerly the Discovery Museum Gold Rush HIstory Center (and no longer associated with the Discovery Museum Science & Space Center), is the place to explore the rich and diverse history of the Sacramento region.
They offer fall historical tours every Saturday until the beginning of November. In July 2009, they installed a permanent exhibit, " Gold, Greed & Speculation: The Beginnings of Sacramento City" which focuses on Sacramento City's first 50 years. it has one of kind artifacts and an interactive wall mural. Very recently, they welcomed a traveling exhibit, "Past Tents: The Way We Camped", it explores camping in California from post-Gold Rush times to the mid-1900s.
This museum is great starting point for your visit to Old Sacramento and to discover the stories of the individuals that shaped the destiny of the city.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Funny (1)
This is my favorite museum in Sacramento, and since i was a museum studies major, that is saying a lot.
exhibits here were always interesting and unique, containing a visual feast for the eyes as well as enough contextual information to satisfy everyone.
The material they cover in this museum is much broader than in other local museums, which is a welcome change. Also, since most of the local museums are operated by CA state parks, this one is independent from the politics tied in with serving as a form of state government.
the science center, which used to be at a different location *and my still be, but its been a long time* was always a charming visit, including their planetarium. They considered this location as more of a children's museum, and therefore would always have many interactive exhibits where children could do anything from dress up like butterflies to pretend to go camping to viewing a "zoo" including small animals and insects.
This museum is a great stop, particularly for families, and is a terrific asset to the Sacramento community.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Cool (3)
Yay for Museum Day!
This Discovery Museum answers the question (er, my question anyway) of "What the hell do these idiot developers do with all the cool stuff they dig up when they excavate old blocks of Sacramento? I mean, really. What the hell? Didn't they find a saloon on 9th and I?"
The answer is that they give it all to the Discovery Museum in Old Sacramento. When you first walk in, you are treated to a grid and labels of all the "artifacts" found while people dig and delve in our fair city. We are built on tunnels, by the way. That explains a LOT about Sacramento if you were ever wondering about say, glass windows embedded in the sidewalk or weird basement parts of stores. Anywho...
The museum is chock full of neato things that I love. Like old mine replicas and things to touch (like a cannon from Sutter's Fort that is begging to be straddled, but I didn't) and hunkettes of gold and chamber pots and pottery and old boots and dammit, fun stuff to look at. The whole thing is cramped as hell, but that makes it even more fun to explore, and go back cuz you missed something the first time. The displays are great, and they have the same creepy mannikins that are at the RR Museum (these things feel like they are gonna move any minute, I couldn't work there.) My favorite was the kitchen on the street level floor. It's a neat old 30s-40s farm kitchen. I heart it. I want to cook in it. Except I have no idea how to use a firewood oven and stove. It also took all my self restraint to not jump up and pretend to use the butter cutter. I want a giant butter cutter now.
And upstairs, near the Portuguese and Chinese exhibits, there is a little toys-n-reading corner and Leslie, a sweet docent from heaven, read to the children from this cool There Was An Old Lady book, and the kids took turns shoving flies, dogs, horses down a puppet's throat. It was so happy-inducing. And then beanie discovered the wooden trains and the train books, and I was barely able to drag her away from that little reading corner.
So yeah, I adored it. I highly recommend for other Sactodorks.
People thought this was:
- Useful (8)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (6)
This was my 7th museum and last one w/ normally a fee involved. It was also part of the Annual Sacramento Museum Day. It's only up the road from the Calif. Railroad Museum so it was Packed.
I was too tired to fight the crowds so I didn't get to see too much. Saw a little bit of some gold pieces in a glass case, stuff on Manzanaar, cool windmill.
I'll have to check it out again when it's less crowded. Fee is $5.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
Back in the late '80s-mid '90s, I was a volunteer at the Discovery Museum. I've always liked this place, and volunteering gave me a chance to be there frequently - for free!
The Discovery Museum's real name is the Sacramento Museum of History, Science, Space and Technology. Yeah, that encompasses too much, but the science-space-technology part is actually a separate venue out on Auburn Boulevard. You'll find the history here in Old Sac.
The museum has always had a bit of an inferiority complex, being located next to (but not affiliated with) the more-popular Railroad Museum. When I worked the cash register I got tired of people trying to get in for free because they'd purchased tickets to the Railroad Museum. They always assumed we were Railroad, Part Two. Try as I might, I usually couldn't convince them to pay for admission to the Discovery Museum. They'd look around the lobby and walk out. Sad. I think the problem is with the building's architecture - the lobby is spacious, but the main museum is hidden from view so it doesn't look like much from the entrance. A few years ago the lobby was given a much-needed facelift when a sunken seating area was replaced with the fabulous Buried Past exhibit, a collection of excavated objects displayed under a glass floor. I hope this is drawing more paying customers than the previous lobby exhibits did.
Do yourself a favor: pay the admission and take that escalator up to the main exhibit floor. You can spend hours studying the vast collection of Sacramento artifacts up there. As you get off the escalator there's a large space for short-term exhibits, then as you move to the left you enter the gold display - Sacramento's reason for being, you know! - and from there it's a chronological trip through Sac's interesting past. My personal favorite is May Woolsey's trunk. May was a little girl who died at her home in Alkali Flats in 1879; her distraught parents hid a trunk full of her toys, clothes, schoolbooks, souvenirs and even a long braid of her hair in a secret compartment above a stairway in their home. One hundred years later, a man renovating the house discovered the trunk. What a time capsule! May's belongings, plus those of countless other Sacramento residents, are now displayed at the Discovery Museum.
As you reach the end of the chronological exhibits, a stairway takes you down to an agricultural exhibit. A canning-factory assembly line zigzags above and around everything. You'll end your tour here among the farm equipment and a fascinating early 20th century farmhouse kitchen. As you leave the exhibit hall, turn right and visit the gift shop. The museum runs on a shoestring budget so every purchase helps.
If you have even a passing interest in Sacramento's history, a visit to the Discovery Museum will make it come alive for you. You'll want to come back again and again...and you may find yourself signing up to be a volunteer.
People thought this was:
- Useful (3)
- Cool (4)
This museum is a LOT bigger and cooler than it looks in the entrance--There are exhibits about the Gold Rush, California Settlers, Indian culture, and agricultural history. There are a TON of well-displayed "artifacts" that give you a great feel for what each period was like. Excellent educational fun for the family, and I plan on a return visit---you could literally spend days there if you really get into all the information.
People thought this was:
- Cool (2)
I went here on a class field trip with younger students as a older student chaperone. This was a lot of fun.
