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    John Brown Wax Museum

    3.6 (18 reviews)
    Open 10:00 am - 4:30 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

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    Courtni R.

    To be completely honest, I really enjoyed the wax museum. It was $7 for an adult ticket which is very inexpensive. It isn't modern by any stretch of imagination and the building is a bit dark and damp but I think that adds to the charm and character of this museum. I thought the wax figures and demonstrations were very cool and informative. It is a self-guided tour so you can spend as long as you like at each exhibit. I would come back again. I took 1 point off due to the man at the front gate collecting money who didn't say a word to us. What is his deal?

    Jodie C.

    Cost per person was too much for this party of four. It is a small building too so not sure why so expensive when right at the bottom of the hill is a FREE John Brown museum that had a 3 part short film of JB's mission and loyalty. That museum was terrific and the ranger there was extremely knowledgeable and educated at length regarding the slavery-political map and much more! Go the the free museum. No listing for it on yelp and didn't google the address.

    This is John Brown's "happy face" greeting you in the front window of the wax museum.

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    Photo of Dan L.
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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Needs work some of the displays do not work don't see why they charge none of the money goes for updates

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    9 years ago

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    Photo of Joel F.
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    7 years ago

    Def worth the 7 dollar entry, short but informative about John Brown, air conditioned, creepy as hell but glad we did it

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    9 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    Photo of Jodie C.
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    11 years ago

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    8 years ago

    Ive been here so many times I am always amazed at the story and the animatronic wax people. Spooky warmness- love it!

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    9 years ago

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    14 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    Review Highlights - John Brown Wax Museum

    My fiancé and I visited Harpers Ferry for my birthday and we weren't planning on going here but we just kinda went in for the heck of it.

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    National Museum of Civil War Medicine

    National Museum of Civil War Medicine

    4.4
    (45 reviews)
    18.3 mi

    Military Museum [Frederick MD]…read more We had some time on our last day in MD before heading to the airport... from Linthicum Heights we drove some 50 miles to Frederick. We found a spot on a metered street parking in front of the museum. Admission is $9.50/adult. The museum is dedicated to telling the medical story of the Civil War. There are a lot to see... and learn. The exhibits were great and educational. We learned how the creation of Civil War medicine impacted the present day. Each gallery offered different exhibits following through the footsteps of the soldiers and surgeons and the harsh conditions and personal sacrifices they went through. I can't even imagine how they evacuate the wounded... an "ambulance" then was a wagon pulled by two horses and carted off to a medical facility. Or how about how they did amputations, amputations were the most common surgical operation during the conflict with more than 60,000 being performed. The wounded soldiers suffered different mortality rates depending on where the amputation took place on the body. There are two floors of exhibits. Stairs and an elevator are accessible to the top floor. There are bathrooms on both levels. I am not in the medical field and found the museum very interesting and educational. We didn't expect to stay as long as we did. We even got a parking ticket when we got back to our car ¯\_('~')_/¯ Review #3674

    Two floors of exquisitely curated North and South artifacts. Plan on spending at least 90 minutes…read morehere. Public parking lot around the corner, very convenient; also street parking with meters. Charming, safe neighborhood.

    Photos
    01.21.25 Stretcher bearers suffered heavy casualties through the war
    01.21.25 Stretcher bearers suffered heavy casualties through the war
    01.21.25
    01.21.25
    01.21.25 amputations were the most common surgical operation during the conflict with more than 60,000 being performed

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    01.21.25 amputations were the most common surgical operation during the conflict with more than 60,000 being performed
    Planet Word Museum

    Planet Word Museum

    4.8
    (222 reviews)
    47.6 mi

    This museum is so magical!…read more Our group of nine had a blast weaving our way from room to room. The museum is equally fun for kids and adults with topics like language, reading, translation and karaoke to make a few. Everything was so well thought out and interactive. I couldn't get enough of the library room where books come to life with video-like illustrations building off the pages. It felt like we were transported into Belle's massive and dreamy library from Beauty and the Beast complete with a secret hidden room off the side (tucked behind a bookcase door). We had kids ages 2-5 and it was perfect for them. Note that you'll need to park strollers in the basement level. To top it all off, we had a fabulous lunch at Immigrant Food located on the lower level. Oh, how could I forget to mention that the museum is free? Amazing!

    Funny story - I was looking for kid-friendly ideas of things to do in DC and asked ChatGPT for…read moreideas. One of the responses was the Planet Word museum, which I never heard of. I looked it up and decided to try it! They recommend you get timed passes online ahead of time; it's free but they do recommend a donation. This museum is SO COOL! As someone who loves different languages and words I loved everything about this place! My kids loved all of the interactivity. There is a room with an interactive word wall and you can interact and answer and request more info on the history of certain words. For example, I learned that "ketchup" was named after a Chinese sauce even though they are not similar. There is also a magical library room where you can pick a book off the shelf and place it on a book holder and the book is read to you. There are also mirror shadow boxes that come to life if you read the inscription. Finally, the kids loved the karaoke room - you select a song and as you sing along you see the types of parts of speech at play in the song. Great experience, would for sure recommend and go back!

    Photos
    Word wall!
    Word wall!
    Lexicon lane
    Lexicon lane
    VERY COOL  INTERACTIVE LIBRARY!!

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    VERY COOL INTERACTIVE LIBRARY!!
    Brunswick Heritage Museum

    Brunswick Heritage Museum

    4.3
    (12 reviews)
    5.6 mi

    I stopped by the Brunswick Heritage Museum when I was exploring town a couple of weekends ago. The…read morehighlight of the museum is - without a doubt - on the third floor: a huge HO-scale model railroad layout of the B&O Railroad's Metropolitan Subdivision from DC to the Brunswick Railyard (in the 1950s). The museum is free to visit (although they appreciate donations and make it easy to do so - you can leave cash or make a donation via PayPal), so it's worth stopping in even if you only have a few minutes to see the model. It's pretty incredible - definitely the largest I've seen. It's winds and just keeps going! They have staff on the third floor that who can answer questions about the model and who were just as friendly as the staff downstairs that I spoke to when I walked in. The museum has two other floors with different exhibits and displays (including one on the C&O Canal on the first floor), but the highlight is definitely that railroad model! Stop in if you have the time. It's a great way to learn a little about Brunswick and the region.

    I found out about this place through the most bizarre fashion. One day, driving home from work, I…read moreheard a commercial on the radio from a car company that said something like, "One-day road trip idea #347: Visit the Model Railroad Museum in Brunswick, Maryland." I said to myself, "Self, I didn't know there was a model railroad museum in Brunswick." For that matter, I didn't really know where Brunswick was. I had to go look it up on a map. I was pleased to find that it wasn't far away - just across the Point of Rocks bridge and over a bit, only like 30 minutes from my house. My 7 and 4 year old boys have always loved trains, and we've always gone out of our way to visit railroad museums. So today we went for a trip to the Brunswick Model Railroad Museum. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but there are actually four floors of stuff inside. Admission was like $6 per adult and $3 per kid (check the web site to be sure), and I though it was worth the price of admission. On the first floor, there is a National Park Service small museum about the history of Brunswick and the railroad and canal traffic that built the town. Plus there is a gift shop and very nice, clean restrooms. Down in the basement, they had a special setup of a G Scale model railroad for the holidays. I'm not sure what they put in there when the holiday train isn't up. On the second floor are static displays of what life was like during the Victorian Age. Right as you walk in the door from the stairs, there are three colored sheets of questions you can ask your kids to help them think about and learn from the exhibits. I thought they were very useful and got us to appreciate the modern conveniences we have in our lives today. On the third floor was a very large model railroad layout that started in Washington, DC, and followed the train through Silver Spring and Point of Rocks out past Brunswick. There were some small red buttons for kids to push that made sound effects along the way. It was a nicely done setup, and the boys and I enjoyed walking back and forth checking out the scenery and watching the model trains go by. Given the choice between going to the Northern Virginia Model Railroad Museum in Vienna and coming here to Brunswick, I think this one was better. There was a lot more to see here. The down side is that you'll save some money at the Vienna museum because they don't charge admission (but they're only open one Saturday per month), and they don't have a gift shop, so your kids won't be whining asking you to buy them $50 model train sets.

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    Brunswick Heritage Museum
    Brunswick Heritage Museum
    Brunswick Heritage Museum

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    Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

    Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

    4.5
    (1.4k reviews)
    48.2 mi

    What a great museum! How can you not love going here? I didn't have time to read a lot or explore…read moretoo many things in detail, but walking through, I could tell I wanted to come back. It has a decent layout and the maps guide you to the various areas nicely. Obviously dinosaurs are cool and prevalent in any Natural History museum. But they had lots of other cool things too. Probably the biggest draw is the Hope Diamond... It's big and beautiful diamond (BBD) and just something you should check out if you're here. This is one of the more popular of the museums straddling the National Mall, so plan accordingly if you want to get in and spend more time exploring. The crowds can get a little crazy. I got there at 3p and there was a line to get in.

    The Museum of Natural History is a great experience for children and adults. Keep in mind, some…read moremight find the facts throughout the museum to be controversial as a lot of the information is based in theory and not empirical. There are competing theories of human and natural evolution, and the preponderance of information in this museum is scientific. That said, from a Western scholastic perspective, this museum is consistent with school books. It takes you from beginning to present, and the billions of years in between, and in many instances describing human and natural evolution in detail. I've visited the original museum as a kid and adult prior to the renovations, and the new museum post-renovations. For those experiencing the new museum for the first time, you'll love it and I believe the exhibits are a good use of space. However, much of the exhibits and graphics are visually appealing to youth, but I'd expect more interactive exhibits to keep kids engaged. This museum is massive and you could easily spend all day here. I believe adults can appreciate this museum because virtually all of the exhibits (not including the exhibits constructed specifically for kids) are text-based displays and graphics, requiring extensive reading. As a reader, this museum is laden with little known facts and additional context displayed in subtext and graphics. RECOMMENDATION: the museum is vast, covering multiple floors. At times it can seem like you might be coming full circle at the end of a hall only to walk into an entirely new corridor leading to a new exhibit or new wing on the floor. I recommend arriving early and dedicate the first few hours to one floor, take a break on- or off-site, and returning after lunch to conclude your visit on another floor. There is enough exhibit to entertain you for at least 5-6 hours. There is street parking available and I recommend arriving early if you desire parking close to this museum. The Museum of American History is next door, so it would make sense to strategically place these museums on one day's itinerary. Overall, a very good museum. You can easily spend all day here, so plan accordingly.

    Photos
    Line at 3p or so
    Line at 3p or so
    Model jellyfish in the marine life exhibit
    Model jellyfish in the marine life exhibit
    Hope diamond

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    Hope diamond

    John Brown Wax Museum - museums - Updated June 2026

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