This place was on my list to visit the next time we were in town. We popped in on a Saturday…read moremorning and it turned out there was no charge since they only had the beer exhibit on the first floor. Normally $8. You can park free on the street in front on Saturdays. The building itself is stunning and worth it. The vaults are incredible. The beer exhibit is very detailed and very informative. I am not sure what would normally be on the second floor but they said there was a wedding later that day - there are many weddings here on Saturdays. I was hoping for more.

Love, love, love this spot! If you want to learn more about Milwaukee County history, this is the…read moreplace to go. They have thoughtfully curated exhibits that are periodically changed. The main exhibit might be up for a 2-3 years and then there's a new neighborhood exhibit series that is set to change up more frequently. I visited my first time during Milwaukee Museum week so admission was FREE. But I would pay full admission ($8) if you really want a deep dive into Milwaukee. When I dropped in, the beer exhibit was up so everything displayed related to Milwaukees's beer culture and history. It was FASCINATING. There's also an actual bank vault inside the building that was used in the filming of the movie, Public Enemies, with Johnny Deep. You can walk inside the vault. The space is also worth mentioning - lots of marble. It's just a fun place to escape to. I recommend you plan to spend at least two hours here if you want to really read all the information on display and see all the artifacts. Parking might be tricky - street parking is the way to go if you can find a spot.

We hadn't intended to visit the Charles Allis Art Museum over our weekend in Milwaukee, but when we…read moregot our tickets to tour the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum a short walk away, they said our ticket also got us into the Charles Allis. So we walked over to check it out. The building feels much less like an art museum than a historic house. The house was completed in 1911, and it is beautiful. We did a quick self-guided tour through each of the rooms, but we didn't stay long. There's art in each of the rooms, pieces collected by Charles Allis. I wouldn't go out of my way to go to this museum, but it's not a bad place to visit if you're in the area and have a few minutes to spare.

Good little museum specializing in "19th Century French and American Paintings, Chinese and…read moreJapanese porcelains, Renaissance bronzes, Japanese netsuke, and original antique furnishings." (To quote their website). My son and I enjoyed our visit on a MAM reciprocity day. We were greeted warmly, and given a map and information on the temporary exhibit and permanent collection when we entered. The survey of Wisconsin art "Forward..." new art by seemingly younger artists, was cool, and hung throughout the Museum. The exhibit was a nice compliment to the older art, which includes pieces by Winslow Homer. Part of the charm of visiting the Allis Art Museum is seeing period art displayed in a period space. Rooms dedicated to the Barbizon or Hudson River Schools are also amazing for their period furnishings and history. See the Billiards room in the basement for a single lane bowling alley reminiscent of "There Will Be Blood", and also a creepy shower with a "Needle" faucet- What? The newer Rahill hall looks like a big old dance hall, and would be a cool space for a small event or mixer. I'm surprised to be only the sixth reviewer for this gem of a museum.

Look, if you don't understand the magic of the Milwaukee Public Museum I can't help you. This place…read moreis nostalgia overload with immersive displays, incredible dioramas (which, BTW, have an entire style named after them called "Milwaukee-style") and three floors of fun to explore. Hot tip: Start from top to bottom to avoid getting burnt out on the larger exhibits on the first floor.

Though I'm sure the new MPM will be amazing, I'm still bummed to know this museum is closing soon!…read moreMy kids are big fans of this place. So crazy that it hasn't changed a bit since I would go here on school trips years and years ago. The exhibits continue to offer so much! From taking you through the dino-ages, to exploring the rainforest, and Native American history. Lots of areas to check out. Favorite has to be the Streets of Old Milwaukee which is just so immersive. We also love the butterfly room (so many live butterflies!) and the planetarium dome theater, which shows various educational films. They ask that you don't have food and drinks while touring around (understandable), but they have a huge cafe/dining area on the ground level. It's great because you can bring your own packed lunch and snacks, or purchase from their various offerings. Underground parking, easy check-in, and friendly staff, too!

Situated in an upscale neighborhood in suburban Fox Point is a one and one-third lot on the west…read moreshore of Lake Michigan. On this lot is a modest home that belonged to Mary Nohl. What makes it unique is Ms. Nohl's collection of sculptures, silhouettes and paintings that surround the cottage and are part of it. Technically it is named the Mary Nohl Art Environment but in popular lore it is also known as "The Witch's House". Mary L. Nohl was born in 1914, the youngest of three children. Her father, Leo Nohl was a noted attorney in Milwaukee. In 1924, he purchased this parcel of land on the shore of Lake Michigan to build a summer home for his family. Mary graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1938 and started a career as an art teacher in Baltimore junior high schools. Unhappy as a teacher, she gave up teaching and returned home to pursue her art. She ran her own commercial pottery studio for 10 years. When the studio was in the path of what is today I-43, she closed it and returned here, where she stayed. (Her oldest sibling died as an infant and her famous brother, marine engineer Max Nohl, died in a tragic head-on collision in 1960.) Her mother passed away in 1968, leaving her the home on the shore of Lake Michigan and enough of a fortune to live out her life and pursue her artwork. She created sculptures with concrete, stone and tree trunks. Her whimsical subjects were mystical creatures, fish, children, mythical structures, couples and a miniature Easter Island display comprised of four sculpted Moai-like heads. If you were fortunate enough to visit this home, you would also have seen groups of stylized figures and architectural structures. Ms. Nohl's reclusive nature and unusual artworks were the subject of numerous urban myths. She was rumored to be a witch ("The Witch of Fox Point") and her home became known as "The Witch's House." Mary took it in stride, even creating a mosaic on her front porch that spells, "BOO!" Her property was the target of many youthful visits, most by the curious, but some visits were from malicious vandals. No matter how many more reasonable explanations were made, the popular culture persisted. The vandalism forced her to put up a chain link fence with barbed wire topping it. Ms. Nohl passed away in 2001. She left her estate to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, her property, and all her artwork to the Kohler Foundation. The Kohler Foundation is a friend of the arts and restores art sites in Wisconsin and around the country. Several of the sculptures were removed to the Kohler Foundation facilities for restoration. Local zoning prohibits the property from being opened as a museum, but the Kohler Foundation maintains the site, it is restoring artwork that needs attention and keeps someone at the property at all times. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation used her gift to fund the Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists program administered by the Bradley Family Foundation. At one time, the Kohler Foundation planned to dismantle Ms. Nohl's home and carefully move it to Sheboygan County. The sculptures were also to be moved and the site recreated in a safe and viewable place. However, the sculptures are too fragile to move and will remain onsite and for now, inaccessible. Parking is virtually impossible and you are not allowed on the property. You can only view the artwork through the fence, but there are coffee table books published about Ms. Nohl and her delightful artworks. Despite the rumors and legends, despite what her neighbors might (or might not) think about her and her home, Mary L. Nohl was a friend of the arts, and dedicated to her work as an artist. She was more than just an artist. Her life was art, and she lived her art, right here on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Right on the Lake and behind some vined fences, you can see National Register of Historic Places…read more#05001109, the Mary Nohl Art Environment. This was also designated a Milwaukee County Landmark in 2006. The late Mary Nohl was a sculptor and jeweler, and many of her concrete statues are on display at her former house. There are dinosaurs, moai, and spooky walls of faces. Really cool stuff. You can stop by and take pictures, but the works are on private property, so no touching. There is an illegal parking spot nearby that you can use if you want to risk it. Definitely worth a jaunt to this offbeat attraction.

It was really an immersive experience and we were the only black folks in the building but the…read moreplace was packed when we went. Visitors really took the time to walk through and read the exhibits I really enjoyed the flow and how they articulated the facts bringing in actual props that fit with the story line!

Whoever designed this place should get an award; it's small, but the use of the space is first…read morerate. $7 entrance fee, which I feel is very fair. As others may have mentioned, the museum was founded in the 1980s by a man named James Cameron, a Wisconsin native who narrowly survived a lynching attempt in his youth. He served as a modern day griot (storyteller, oral historian) for many years at this location before his passing. There's a lot of history and information packed in here, not just about the slave trade to the Americas but also about the history of racial equality in the city of Milwaukee and how things stand today. I was unaware that just up the road in the 53206 zip code (Amani neighborhood and others), there is the #1 highest incarceration rate among Black Americans. It's definitely worth a look and I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you got something from the gift shop at the end, as well.

I love the Racine Heritage Museum. It's an adorable little museum with great exhibits about…read moreRacine's amazing past. It really shows you what an important town Racine was. I also enjoy how the exhibits change regularly. It seems whenever I pop in there is something new to check out. The only part of the museum that I haven't been in yet is the archives. It seems like when every I visit it is closed. I'd really like to make it in there to look up some history on my house!

This is a small, freemuseum. It has some interesting exhibits. It is laid out in a fairly confusing…read moreway and the quality of the exhibits varies widely. However it is free and right across from the parking garage!

Since I'm a train fan I stumbled upon this little Milwaukee transit museum in Cudahy while surfing…read moreYelp for some obscure museum type places to check out. The place is on a main drag with a Main Street feel because of the diversity of the business and I got parking one door down. The place is in the lower space for now with the upper opening in the future with plans for a big layout I was told so the place is a work in progress and about a year old now. The lower level Is a treasure trove of local transit artifacts from the past with a model railroad layout, signs, street car items, models etc etc. The museum is free but please leave a donation in the old fare box as you walk in to show your support and to keep them going. You can buy pictures of the past transit cars and VHS tapes, who has a VCR anymore. It's cool looking at all the old local transit history items and pictures of a time long gone that I never experienced and just imagine how different times were back then.

Great place to visit to discover the mass transit history of Southeastern Wisconsin. Exhibits,…read morearchives, streetcar and interurban layouts, artifacts, photographs and more. Free admission.

We spent a few hours here with our four-year-old granddaughter and thoroughly enjoyed it. Margie's…read moregarden was a little fantasyland for kids. Beautiful grounds with a ton of places to walk or sit and relax.

We became members last year and I'm so glad we did! The gardens are beautiful and well-maintained…read more A perfect place to walk in spring, summer, and fall. A little bummed about only daytime hours being offered right now, since the only time I could visit is over a lunch break. May 1 will be here soon, bringing night and weekend hours for working folks and families. Parking lot is plentiful and easy to navigate. I really encourage a membership for those who visit often. It's so cool to watch the gardens grow and change throughout the seasons. Your membership also gets you into the Domes for free!