Earlier this week we discovered something fun and free in Detroit and wanted to share. The Detroit Historical Museum is such a cool place to visit, and it is free.
We’ve been to Detroit a bunch of times but admittedly it seems to be a destination place for us. We go to Detroit to see the Tigers play, to catch a musical or concert, to see WWE, etc. We don’t typically spend much time wandering and exploring Detroit. This past visit we wanted to take some time and explore more of the city. After all, Detroit was named #9 in the New York Times article 52 Places to Go in 2017 . #9 of all the places in the world!
There is so much to do and explore in Detroit (heck, we didn’t even realize there was a Museum District in Detroit!).
You can get to the Detroit Historical Museum easily; it is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. We found free parking right across the street, but if you can’t manage that you can pay to park nearby for $7.
The museum is large, but easily navigated. There are 3 floors of fun that are sensibly laid out to make it feel as if you are wandering in the past.
We enjoyed the cobblestone. log and brick streets in the Old Detroit era complete with 19th century stores.
America’s Motor City includes an auto assembly line which was really interesting. We learned about other industries of Detroit too, things that are distinctly Detroit.
The history is brought to life within the museum with lifelike displays including a fur trading post from the 1700s.
The lower level also includes a massive collection of historic and model trains that are set up and running simultaneously in the Glancy Trains exhibit. Don’t miss this! Jim grew up working on model trains with his dad, so this exhibit really struck heartstrings for him.
We also enjoyed seeing the old artifacts from Detroit including seats from the original Detroit Tigers stadium (they looked so uncomfortable!).
The Kid Rock Music Lab has a great collection of music history and a fun interactive trivia station. We tried (really hard) to master the trivia quizzes but we were not too successful. It was obvious we needed to brush up on our music history.
Exploring the Detroit Historical Museum was really fun, and free in Detroit. We encourage you to take some time to visit; you can find out more about the museum and plan your visit online. They are a donation based museum, so if you feel so inclined you can drop some money in the donation box as you leave.
