I love music, sports and history - so the Museum of the Gulf Coast was a perfect place to spend…read moreseveral hours on a rainy day in Port Arthur. The museum is part of the overall Port Arthur downtown revitalization program, and is a key lynchpin. This modern facility has two stories, with the lower story dedicated primarily to the history of the Gulf Coast Region - while the second story is broken down into specific sections of interest like music, art and sports. The collections are impressive and the staff amazingly friendly and helpful. Overall, this place is well worth your time.

Surprising place for such a small town. My biggest complaint is the building is not large enough to…read morehandle all its interesting artifacts and exhibits. (They rotate so you can come back and find new exhibits) Ive been there 4-5 times. Port Arthur is the birthplace of Texaco and Gulf Oil and the museum covers the history and science. Southeast Texas and West Louisiana are also the birthplace of swamp pop and there is a surprising amount of informative exhibits. I cant begin to name the artists, blues, cajun, creole, rock & roll....of course that includes Janis. Then there is the coastal and marsh exhibits including how and why there is much oil and gas. There are loads of ancient indian and fossil artifacts. With all the above, plus the exhibits on sports (3 NFL coaches) actors and celebrities from the area, you can spend all day. This review barely scratched the surface.

A small, but mighty botanical garden with everything free at your fingertips. This attraction did…read morenot disappoint. Upon walking into the garden, my friend and I were immediately greeted by one of the volunteers. She gladly gave us a map of the garden and asked if were interested in seeing a free movie to learn about the history of the garden and asked if we were wanting to go on the free boat tour as well. We gladly said, yes and was shocked that they so many payless amenities. I thought to myself out of all the botanical gardens I've visited over the years, this was by far the less expensive. The movie was fascinating. It was held in this big modernized auditorium. We were the only ones in there. Once the movie started, the room got really dark. Mr. Stark, a native and local of Orange, TX was inspired by the 1933 movie, The Lost Horizon (which can be found on Tubi), but Shangri La translates into utopia and paradise, so he sought out to make an impression in the small city by creating a place people can enjoy nature on 252 acres. The selection of plants are natives, annuals, perennials, some tropical plants (located in the greenhouses). The boat tour was a real treat! We were given instructions to remain safe on the water vehicle and put on life jackets. The tour was held on Adams Bayou where we saw ospreys, Christmas lichen on the trees, houses off the bayou, cypress trees with their huge roots, moss hanging from the branches, and even the bayou was filled with debris and trash. It definitely felt like we in a swamp. The boat ride was peaceful as the tour guides gave explanation of what we viewed. After the tour, my friend and I walked around the park observing all the beauties around. There wasn't a lot of plants in bloom yet, but nevertheless, the air was crisp and fresh. Great outing. They even have a restaurant/cafe on site. Shangri La exceeded my expectations!

April 18, 2024 [I forgot to check in]…read more But, we went to the sip & stroll tonight after the garden closed to release butterflies! Isn't that cool?! We paid $10 for a butterfly, fed it some oranges, and then released it. Wine from Free State Cellars was there, sandwichs and macarons were made by them, too. Fantastic! Now about this garden, it's beautiful. They have put a lot of work into it since Hurricane harvey... and are doing a great job in making it more lucious each year. LOVE this place

We decided to do a day trip to Orange to visit the Shangri-La Botanical Gardens (see my other…read morereview) and thought we'd stop at this old home for our elderly guest. You cannot go straight to the house for a tour, you must meet at the Stark museum across the street, purchase a ticket, and then be accompanied by a tour guide to the house. The museum is free if you'd like to visit that while you are there. Once you walk over to the house you cannot bring a camera in with you. A knowledgeable and very long winded tour guide will bring you around the average sized home for about an hour describing every room in detail. It's a pretty home from the outside and I wish that was all I had seen. The long tour of the inside was boring. Our tour guide was obviously very proud of the home and the history of the house in relation to Orange, Texas, but it wasn't as interesting to out of town people. I don't think that I am being overly harsh. My 70 year old mother-in-law accompanied us; she is a huge fan of old homes and antiques. She found the tour to be too long and to focus on mundane items in the house. My suggestion... go to Orange for the day. Visit Shangri-La and stop in front of this home to see how pretty it is from the outside.

We like going here around Christmas when the house is decorated and there is a small ensemble…read moreplaying Christmas music.

Small cute museum, worth visiting at least once. The woman inside is more than happy to give you…read moreall the information you could ever desire about the history of Nederland! You also can see the Acadian house (same person may give you the tour). She even let us try on the clogs/hats just for a fun picture.

Fun, quirky little shop if you're roadtripping through Texas! My boyfriend and I had to stop,…read morebecause his family is Dutch and he wanted to learn about the museum as soon as we saw it! The woman (docent?) downstairs was wonderful - and wanted to share with us everything she knew! All in all - a very interesting little museum! My boyfriend got a t-shirt in the gift shop, because he got such a kick out of the museum!

Super hard to find, they need to have signs outside and inside pointing the way. All you see is a…read moreschool and nothing that says otherwise. We had to call twice. Once yo make sure we were in the right place and to ask which door to go into, and the other to find out where to go when we were inside. That being said- once inside we were amazed. So worth the $10. You think it's just a small room but it continues in the hallways and even more rooms. The gentleman that was running the place was very informative and knowledgeable. The history was so very interesting and and very fascinating. Im so glad we made it out here and you should definitely take the time to go and visit.

Had the best time! Room after room of floor to ceiling creations. David was a knowledgeable and…read morefriendly host. Wonderful for the solo traveler or groups. Hands on dress up area too! So much fun, beauty and legacy in one place -- it's the next best thing to the actual parade and accessible year round.

Yesterday was Touch-A-Truck day! I participated in helping McDonald's with their booth for 2 years,…read moreI helped with the boxes, stuffed the toys in the little boxes. Let me just tell you how much of a memory of this place brought for: Touch-A-Truck Day: They have bounce houses, booths, candy, and more! The people who run each booth explain what the booth is about, they offer candy, pens, magazines, coloring books, and more! There are more than 20 booths in the event area, sponsoring McDonald's, Lamar University, Raising Canes, other schools, Home Depot, H-E-B, and much more! Outside, they bring vehicles to show kids to learn about trucks and cars and do some little activities and some stuff to give them! Food is great, IDC about prices unless if the food is bad, the food they bring is bussing as heck! Tables to sit down and hangout by. McDonald's always bring the best stuff, you have to agree! They bring out the OG Grimace, Bird, and Hamburgular! Offer toys, color books, funny jokes to the parents, family pictures, meet and greets, and soo much more! Every other booth is pretty good, I got a beach ball, LOADS OF STUFF. Some free drinks from the Eastex Medical booth (fruit juice) and from Raising Canes (lemonade)! They got those foam blocks for kids to play with, me and my friend were making towers and knocking them to the floor, it was funny. I was playing with my inflated beach ball, also fun. The museum: The prices are very cheap for enter, like Robert K. said "$24 for 2 adults and 2 children", and the fun you get, is ALOT. Dinosaur sand pit with shovels for children to feel like they are discovering ancient dinosaur bones, my favorite. A playhouse beside it with like tons of people and kids, had lots of stuff to play with. This is ONE OF MY MOST IMPORTANT MERMORIES OF ALL TIME IN MY LIFE. The service is very nice, welcomes us in and being grateful with our payments. There's a cow when you walk in, the utters are squeezable and water comes out into a bucket, funny. Overall, this is a GREAT PLACE, this deserves a 5, like this place makes your mom crying in happiness for kids to have fun in. Legendary place to be in.

This is the best place I've ever been to for kids and always will be and I will alwaysread more

The Museum of East Texas, or MET (which makes it sound very cosmopolitan) is a great destination…read morefor anyone interested in the history of our small part of East Texas and a great place to take kids for some cultural education. I visited a few years back when they had the traveling Audubon Collection on exhibit and really couldn't make a higher recommendation. The MET has an extensive permanent collection and a great rotation of visiting exhibits that make every visit a unique experience. Lufkin may be a small community but this is no small museum, and is on par with anything the bigger cities have to offer!

From the owner: The Museum of East Texas enriches and educates the diverse communities of East Texas through the…read morecelebration and exploration of art. The Museum is committed to providing inclusive access to dynamic exhibitions, educational programs, and creative experiences that inspire lifelong learning. We offer changing exhibits of art in our three gallery spaces and hallway as well as art projects in the education room. Classes are offered year round for children and adults and admission to the Museum is always free!

Cool place to stop by and explore with the kiddos. If you like dinosaurs, fossils, rocks and…read morehistorical items this is for you! Most of the items were founded by Dr. Naranjo himself.

This museum has a outstanding collection of artifacts from dinosaurs, and many human cultures. The…read moredisplays were up close enough for you to really feel how large they were in comparison to ourselves if we were to meet up with them. A mere $7.50 for adult admission. I highly recommend a stop.

amazing experiences happen at the museum of natural science…read more it's amazing I would recommend!! learning experiences enrich lives vibe is awesome staff is kind summer time fun!! education rocks thank you

I walked in and instantly was greeted with the bustling pride and patriotism that is our country…read moreupon our 250tu birthday. There were flags and all kinds of stuff. Is this the White House or the natural history museum? Anyway the ticket master gracefully traded us tickets for. American currency. Anyway we then walked into the molecular biology portion of the exhibit. As a wannabe cell biologist I LOVED it. I wish they had a walk in abale cell tho They had touch screens that could not be touched Next for the dinosaurs. It was incredibly agitating not to see labels for the organisms presented. They just put stuff in a cage and expected us to identify it. Not a fan of that. They had average dinosaurs, nothing cool. Anyway,