43 Off-the-Beaten-Path Museums & Attractions in Philly

Before the popularization of the modern storage freezer after World War II, the harvesting and delivery of ice to homes, businesses and restaurants was extremely important to daily life. That’s the history on display at the Antique Ice Tool Museum, housed in a renovated stone barn in West Chester that dates back to 1834, offering a large collection of tools, equipment and vehicles on display including hand-carved wooden ice chests, delivery wagons and trucks, and pop culture memorabilia. Tours highlight the history of the ice industry, from harvest to storage to delivery.

The history of Swedes in Greater Philadelphia dates back a half century before William Penn, with nearly 600 colonists having settled in what was known as New Sweden in the early 1600s. That story is told at the American Swedish Historical Museum, the oldest Swedish-American museum in the world, which opened in 1926 in FDR Park. Twelve singular exhibition galleries across the 20,000-square-foot institution, modeled after a 17th-century Swedish manor house, feature original paintings, furniture, tapestry, textiles and artifacts highlighting the history of Swedish people in America and the local New Sweden settlement.

Vashti DuBois transformed her comfortable residential home in historic Germantown into the distinctive Colored Girls Museum, a “memoir museum” equal parts exhibition space, gathering place, think tank and research facility. Inspired by and dedicated to Black girls and women, the space’s displays don’t always contain historic artifacts, but are consistently true to history and initiated from meaningful objects submitted by the composite “Colored Girl” herself as representative of her story and personal history. Learn more about the museum on season 1, episode 1 of Visit Philadelphia’s Love + Grit podcast.

Located in the renovated 1902 firehouse of Engine Company Number Eight — a descendant of Benjamin Franklin’s 1736 Union Fire Company — the Fireman’s Hall Museum offers lessons in the history, art and science of firefighting. Exhibits include historic fire trucks dating back to the 1800s, antique equipment (like ladders, badges, helmets, parade hats and fire marks), fire safety initiatives, a tribute to fallen Philadelphia firefighters, and the history of discrimination against Black firefighters and those who fought back against it. The museum is operated and staffed by the Philadelphia Fire Department.

The Lest We Forget Museum of Slavery, founded in 2002, is the only museum of its kind in Philadelphia displaying thousands of “slavery artifacts” — including shackles, chains, whips, coffles and branding irons — which restrained, confined and often killed the enslaved Africans who were forced to wear them. The Germantown institution also features ship manifests, auction signs, sales, documents and Jim Crow objects that segregated and stereotyped Black Americans.

Inside the daunting Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in the Historic District is an unexpected public micro-museum about money. Money in Motion is a free hands-on exhibit within the walls of the Classical Revival-style building teaching visitors about the history of American money, banking and the Federal Reserve System. Among the attraction’s offerings: interactive games (including the question-and-answer Match Wits with Ben) and a collection of old and rare U.S. currency.

The U.S. Mint at Philadelphia, adjacent to Independence National Historical Park, can cast nearly 2 million coins each hour. Fortunately, it costs exactly zero coins to take a tour to see it. The mint offers free self-guided tours from an enclosed catwalk 40 feet above the factory floor. The 45-minute tour highlights include America’s very first coining press dating back to 1792, seven turn-of-the-century Tiffany glass mosaics and push-button stations showing videos about the minting process (narrated by late Phillies announcer Harry Kalas). Just don’t ask if you can take home any free samples.

Nearly three dozen helicopters, autogiros, convertiplanes and other spiral wing aircraft are on display at the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center. The nation’s premier rotary flight aviation museum features displays including a model helicopter room with over 400 pieces and an exhibit dedicated to the Whirly-Girls, a pioneering group of women helicopter pilots. Several times a year, guests have a chance to ride in a helicopter for a bird’s-eye-view of the Chester County countryside. If you own your own helicopter (!), you can arrive in rotary style utilizing the adjacent helipad, ramp and runway.

The American Treasure Tour in Oaks is assuredly the Philadelphia region’s kitschiest museum. The 100,000-square-foot collection features over 1 million pieces of American pop culture memorabilia, including neon road signs, self-playing orchestras, life-sized cartoon characters, decades of movie posters, herds of stuffed animals and fleets of antique autos … all accessed via an indoor electric tram. The museum is part of The Factory in Oaks complex, which includes Arnold’s Family Fun Center (go-karts, laser tag, bumper cars and the like), a trampoline park, a rock climbing gym, a bowling center and more.

Located inside SEPTA headquarters a block east of City Hall, the SEPTA Transit Museum showcases the history of public transportation in the city and offers a number of exhibits, including railway engines, public transportation models, vintage photographs, a variety of transit memorabilia and a vintage 1947 PCC #2743 trolley streetcar in the basement. Just as popular is the attached SEPTA Transit Store featuring over 500 items for sale, like bus and rail model sets, glasses, puzzles, train engine toys, costume safety gear and a rainbow of retro retired Regional Rail signs — plus a whimsical overhead working model train display.

The star attractions at Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine’s The Shoe Museum in Chinatown came off the feet of celebrities. View famous footwear like a boot worn by Neil Armstrong on the moon, game-used cleats from Phillies’ Hall of Fame third basemen Mike Schmidt, platforms from Sally Struthers’ All in the Family wardrobe, Ronald Reagan’s dress shoes, shoes made for the World’s Largest Man, Flyers’ goaltending legend Bernie Parent’s Stanley Cup-winning skates, 12-inch-heeled Dr. Martens and more. Engaging exhibits throughout the 1,000-piece collection spotlight shoes from various times and cultures.

Oh, a wise guy, eh? Sharing comedy across generations, Moe, Curly and Larry — the latter of whom grew up at 3rd and South streets — are the subject of The Stoogeum in Ambler, where Three Stooges fans can view the history, impact and behind-the-scenes intrigue of the comedy film troupe at the world’s first center devoted to everything Stooge. Explore the 100,000-piece collection of memorabilia dating back to 1918, including artwork, posters, costumes, props, novelties, a Stooges arcade game, a custom pinball machine, and personal effects like Larry’s studio ID card, Joe Besser’s passport and Shemp’s Army discharge papers.

One of Philadelphia’s newest (and creepiest) museums — opened in 2023 — lurks inside the Doylestown home of the owner of an eclectic next-door antique store. VAMPA, or Vampire Art Museum and Paranormal Activity, houses a slew of vampire-themed antiques, art, artifacts and paranormal objects, including a centuries-old hand-carved stake, crucifix and holy water bottle kit, and personal items belonging to actors who played Dracula in film, like circa-1870 vampire hunter gear owned by Carlos Villarias from the Spanish language Dracula. Other hair-raising items include haunted dolls, antique Ouija boards and a 19th-century German exorcism chair.

Founded 50 years ago as a workspace for recent art school grads, The Clay Studio’s gallery offers clay and ceramic exhibits showcasing the work of both international artisans and local masters, as well as ceramics workshops, art courses and graduate presentations. Now the largest ceramic arts organization in the nation, the studio moved into a shiny, super-sized space in Kensington to help further its mission to “bring clay as an accessible, tactile medium to a broad range of people.”

Center City’s The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Market East exhibits modern art created from, on, and with fabric and other related media. Opened in 1977 and still the only one of its kind in the world today, the museum showcases a variety of fabric media including garments, textiles, sculptures, drawings and paintings. Everything on display is one-of-a-kind; the gallery doesn’t purchase items via art auction or borrow from private individuals to bolster its collection. Instead, its makers have the opportunity to create on-site.

Formerly known as the Wood Turning Center, Old City’s Museum for Art in Wood delves into Philadelphia’s long history of art and artists working in the medium of wood. The four-decade-old center features special exhibitions, a permanent collection of more than 1,200 international wood art-related objects (which the museum labels as “one of the most extensive institutional collections of contemporary art in wood”) ranging from functional pieces to modern sculptures, and a 25,000-item research library on the history of woodturning and woodworking.

Famed wood sculptor Wharton Esherick, the “Dean of American Craftsmen,” lived deep in the Chester County woods atop a mountain near Valley Forge National Historical Park for 40 years. After his passing in 1970, his hand-built, 12-acre rural modernist home, farmhouse and studio was transformed into the Wharton Esherick Museum, an immersive, interactive National Historic Landmark for Architecture gallery featuring more than 200 of his works on display.

This elegant 19th-century stone mansion welcomes visitors with vibrant exhibits celebrating the art and artists of Philadelphia. Originally purchased in 1898 by art collector Charles Smith Knox, the Woodmere Art Museum now has the founder’s collection on display as well as other impressive rotating exhibits. Located on six grassy acres in Chestnut Hill, the Woodmere Art Museum also features outdoor sculpture installations from artists like Dina Wind, Robinson Fredenthal and Harry Bertoia.

In 1789, the American Philosophical Society (founded by Ben Franklin as the nation’s first think tank) opened Philosophical Hall next to the east wing of Independence Hall. The site was christened as the American Philosophical Society Museum, the first museum, national library and academy of science in the nation’s history. Today, the institution features thousands of items on display from the society’s collection of nearly 13 million early American manuscripts, almanacs, texts, maps, scientific instruments, and other science, art and history artifacts and educational materials.

Opened in 2019, the immersive John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove museum and nature facility occupies the site of famed ornithologist and environmentalist John James Audubon’s historic 18th-century home. Visitors can explore galleries and exhibits on conservation and art, an outdoor birdwatching area and an interactive exhibit that allows individuals to experience the earliest stages of a bird’s life from egg to first flight. The center rests adjacent to the historic house, barn and nature trails located on the farm where an 18-year-old Audubon lived when he first arrived in America in 1803.

Housing more than 100,000 books and manuscripts — some over 5,000 years old — the Rare Book Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia is one of the largest public library special collections in the nation. Located at the Parkway Central Library flagship branch on Logan Square, the collection includes ancient cuneiform tablets, medieval manuscripts, original Beatrix Potter artwork, one of Edgar Allan Poe’s first printed poems and even Grip, Charles Dickens’ taxidermied pet bird and inspiration for The Raven. Visitors can explore the collection during library hours or on a guided tour.

A subsidiary of the Free Library of Philadelphia, The Rosenbach in Rittenhouse Square is an intimate literary museum and research library located inside two 19th-century townhouses that were the home of brothers and international rare art and book dealers Dr. A.S.W. and Philip Rosenbach. Opened to the public in 1954, the library houses over 130,000 manuscripts and 30,000 rare books, including some of the world’s most famous literary and historical objects, including Bram Stoker’s notes for Dracula, a handwritten manuscript of James Joyce’s Ulysses, the second folio of William Shakespeare’s plays and papers from poet Marianne Moore.

Over five centuries of scientific discovery are packed into the walls of the Science History Institute, a free museum that invites visitors to journey through the weird and wonderful world of the matter and materials that changed science. The permanent exhibition showcases hundreds of 18th- to 20th-century artifacts which tell the stories of the successes, failures and surprises behind the scientific discoveries that changed our world. The collections include rare books, fine art, artifacts and instruments related to science and technology.

Predating the Civil War, North Philadelphia’s Wagner Free Institute of Science — founded in 1855 by merchant, philanthropist and “gentleman scientist” William Wagner — is a library, natural history museum and educational institution, as well as one of the few remaining Victorian-era scientific societies. The Renaissance-style three-story building’s bright second floor invites guests to meander among the 100,000-item collection, featuring rocks, minerals, fossils, preserved insects, taxidermy displays, and mounted skeletons of a buffalo, an English draft horse and the first saber-tooth tiger bone discovered in America. The best part: It’s all for free, as the name states.

Opened in 1815, the Fairmount Water Works operated as the growing city’s sole pumping station providing safe, clean drinking water. Today, the National Historic Landmark at the river’s edge between Boathouse Row and the Philadelphia Museum of Art operates as an open-to-the-public environmental education center teaching visitors about innovations in urban water projects and sustainability through interactive, user-friendly exhibits, an interpretive center and programs about water use in our world. Guided tours explore its past, present and future impact.

Predating the Declaration of Independence, Fort Mifflin is the oldest active military facility in the nation. The fort saw its heaviest action in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, both in the Battle of Red Bank (beating back a British invasion and destroying two warships) and the Battle of Mud Island (where 400 American soldiers held off 2,000 Redcoats until Washington could withdraw to Valley Forge). Today, visitors can tour the historic grounds and Revolution-era buildings, watch reenactments, picnic or investigate paranormal activity. The fortress at the eastern edge of Philadelphia International Airport is also a hotspot for aerophiles.

You can make Herr’s yours, as the slogan goes, with the tasty Herr’s Snack Factory Tour, a guided firsthand learning experience with a behind-the-scenes look at the production floor and factory warehouse where Herr’s Foods’ beloved pretzels, tortillas, popcorn, cheese curls and potato chips are created and packaged. The one-hour tour also includes fresh warm samples, a visit to the gallery in the gift shop, a film about the factory’s history in Chipper’s Theatre and a myriad of little-known snack facts.

To escape the heat of city summers, Pennsylvania Attorney General and future State Supreme Court Chief Justice Benjamin Chew had a plantation house built for him and his family in Germantown in 1767 he called Cliveden. A decade later, the British seized the house for its headquarters during their victory at the Battle of Germantown. Chew eventually moved back in, and his family resided there for seven generations. Today, the site tells the story of Chew — one of the North’s largest owners of enslaved people — along with those he enslaved, their efforts to escape enslavement and life on Northern plantations.

Despite having lived in Philadelphia for just six years, poet Edgar Allan Poe penned many of his most famous works while residing here, including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado and Ligeia. The three-story red-brick Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, the only remaining home of several in which the author resided in Philadelphia, honors the years Poe spent living in the city through artwork, exhibits and audio recordings of Poe’s macabre stories read by some of Hollywood’s most famous celebrities.

Built across Philadelphia’s largest park between 1742 and 1810, the Fairmount Park Charms Houses are six historic mansions — Lemon Hill, Woodford, Laurel Hill, Strawberry Mansion, Cedar Grove and Mount Pleasant — that served as summer homes for wealthy Philadelphia families. The houses feature a variety of architectural styles — including Colonial Revival, Federal, Georgian, Gothic Revival, Greek Revival and Palladian — and offer tours that give visitors a look into the life of affluent early American families and showcase early Pennsylvania furniture.

The historic mansion and gardens known as Glen Foerd, once one of many manors along the river in Northeast Philadelphia, is now the only remaining 19th-century estate open to the public. Located in the Torresdale neighborhood at the confluence of the Delaware River and Poquessing Creek, Glen Foerd has attracted visitors for generations, featuring 18 acres of rare trees and flowering shrubs outdoors with a diverse collection of fine paintings, prints, sculptures, antiques, tapestries, books, religious artifacts and glassware on display inside.

Erected in 1744, Grumblethorpe — named for the manor in the novel Thinks I To Myself — belonged to German immigrant John Wister and his family who occupied the estate for over 160 years. During the Battle of Germantown (see Cliveden, above), the house was occupied by British Brigadier General James Agnew, who was shot and killed by a sniper in the front parlor. (His bloodstains are still visible on the floor.) Grumblethorpe was also a working farm, dominating horticultural trends for two centuries, and the estate’s gardens feature wisteria (named after the Wister family) and one of the oldest female gingko trees in North America.

Built for wine importer Henry Hill in 1786, the Hill-Physick House was better known as the residence and office of the namesake’s latter half, Philip Syng Physick, known as the Father of American Surgery. In his time, Physick treated patients like Dolley Madison, President Andrew Jackson and Chief Justice John Marshall. Physick moved into the house in 1815 in the midst of one of the century’s most infamous tabloid scandals, when his wife Elizabeth left him (nearly unheard of in their era). Visitors can view the richly furnished Empire- and Federal-style rooms, Physick’s preserved office and medical artifacts including surgical tools he invented.

An understated facade fronts the three-story former home of opera singer, humanitarian and Civil Rights icon Marian Anderson in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood. The National Marian Anderson Museum celebrates the life and work of the contralto, the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Anderson is best remembered for her 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial — singing outdoors to 75,000 attendees because Constitution Hall refused to allow her to perform indoors — but she first honed her talents before parishioners at Union Baptist Church just across the street from the museum.

West Philadelphia’s Paul Robeson House served as the residence of the esteemed Black scholar, attorney, orator, author, lingust, Civil Rights activist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and bass-baritone singer during the last decade of his life. House tours give visitors a chance to hear songs he recorded over his lifetime, learn about Robeson’s politics and activism, and explore his life of accomplishments, including his family’s 18th-century roots in Philadelphia and the time he spent in the city up to his passing in 1976.

The Society Hill neighborhood has been a spot for Philadelphia elites since the time of William Penn, but high society in Society Hill peaked with 18th-century power couple Elizabeth and Samuel Powel. (Close friends included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and George Washington.) The couple’s circa-1765 townhome Powel House hosted elegant parties including George and Martha Washington’s 20th wedding anniversary, end-of-day feasts for the hard-working Founding Fathers and dancing in the Rococo ballroom. Now a museum, visitors can view the Georgian architecture and sophisticatedly bedecked rooms with Elizabeth’s museum-quality clocks, antique portraits, china from Martha Washington and more.

While many of the historic museum homes in Germantown started as elegant mansions, William Strickland’s 1690 Wyck estate was originally a simple one-room log house. Passed down through nine generations, the site spent time as a field hospital (during the Battle of Germantown), a late 18th-century brewery, and a meeting place for influential scientists and artists. Wyck today serves as a 2.5-acre National Historic Landmark antique-filled house, working urban agriculture farm and garden. Don’t miss the oldest rose garden in its original plan in the nation, dating back to the 1820s and featuring more than 80 historic roses.

Constructed during the Great Depression, 12-story tall Bowman’s Hill Tower in New Hope commemorates General Washington’s historic crossing of the Delaware and features a century-old 124-step spiral staircase to the top which offers stellar views of the surrounding vista for 14 miles across the Bucks County countryside and into New Jersey. Also viewable from the tower is Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, 134 acres of forests, meadows, hillsides, a creek, two ponds and extensive wetlands in historic Pidcock Creek Valley blanketed with 2,000 native plant species and inhabited by the wildlife that depend on them.

The gardeners at the 35-acre Chanticleer pleasure garden are also floral artists who design their own installations, incorporating wood, metal and stone into the lush landscape. The exquisite locale, on the grounds of the century-old Rosengarten manor, displays over 5,000 plants — from perennials to agricultural crops — across a dozen collections. Make time for the Teacup Garden, a colorful sensory experience brimming with tropical plants, and the Minder Ruin Garden, a folly resembling ancient ruins overtaken by the elements. To not distract from the visuals, no plants are labeled. Instead, visitors are encouraged to converse with the gardeners themselves.

Twelve stories and 95 feet above the Schuylkill River in University City, elevated urban park Cira Green is a year-round green space where visitors can stretch out and relax while enjoying some of the best views of Center City. The West Philadelphia rooftop park features warm-weather seasonal offerings like coffee carts, a beer garden, lawn games and the Sunset Social restaurant, plus seven nights of programming like trivia nights, movie screenings and ice cream socials. The park can be accessed via Cira Center South Garage’s pedestrian entrance on 30th Street just south of Chestnut Street.

East Fairmount Park’s The Discovery Center is an urban wildlife sanctuary and educational facility located along the West Basin of the park’s 140 year-old, 37-acre previously abandoned East Park Reservoir, now a reclaimed lake. The Strawberry Mansion neighborhood facility is a collaboration between Audubon Pennsylvania and Outward Bound Philadelphia and features outdoor educations programs and activities like canoeing, zip-lining and rock climbing created to connect Philadelphians of all ages with nature and practice leadership toward a greener city. Looking to do some birdwatching? Birders have reported spotting over 170 species visiting the lake.

Rising two stories off the ground, The Rail Park is the city’s new expansive planned overhead greenway built atop along the elevated tracks of the abandoned Reading Viaduct railway where people can walk, bike, sit and admire the urban vistas. The quarter-mile Phase One portion of the trail boasts a simple and serene meandering pathway, rustic plantings, giant wooden swings, outdoor artwork, and plenty of places to relax and take in the stellar views over the Callowhill neighborhood and of several large-scale murals.

Bring your own hammer (no joke!) to Ringing Rocks Park, a seven-acre field of hulking round stones that respond to strategic whacks and thumps with the sound of ringing bells. Climb onto the field and start banging away on the primordial igneous diabase boulders to experience an unexpected and unforgettable melodic geological sound created by a combination of melting permafrost, weathering and rock shape. Once through the boulder field, visitors can continue on into the 123-acre park, a dense forest for hikers, bikers and picnickers which also features High Falls, Bucks County’s highest waterfall.