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    Naper Settlement

    3.6 (60 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

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    Village
    Steve A.

    Come get educated about Naperville's past and history. In downtown there's a few old buildings and you can take tours. Naper Settlement is a collection of some of the oldest buildings in town. Even if it's not free it's worth it for your groups. They also have summer camps if kids are actually interested. A lot of these historical villages are pretty corny. It can be like that here, especially with the amateur actors and stuff like that. The old buildings are real, but most of these were transplanted. If you're a Naperville resident, it's free admission. It's about $20 for adults, and some children are free. There's pretty informative tours. If you're interested in history you'll think it's worth it. The children can even attend summer camps if they really like it a lot. Events occur the entire year so be sure to come back. It has a holiday market featuring handcrafted items. They have light displays and other cool stuff.

    Went with the family to Naper Settlement. Had gone to this place years ago, seems like it's more developed than before with new buildings including the entrance. Lots of historical information. The tour which was free provided interesting information and the tour guides were knowledgeable. Very nice grounds. Lots of greenery. Numerous buildings to see. The kids had a good time playing in the little water pump area. The times/hours of opening can be confusing in my opinion. We parked for free on the street. Overall would recommend and worth seeing!

    Naper nights; Weezer and Green Day tribute bands
    Teresa H.

    Was here for a tribute band concert so didn't actually experience Naper Settlement but during the concert I walked around and noticed quite a few new buildings and interactive museums and experiences. It's a great place to take kids or my mom enjoyed when she visits from out of town.

    Enjoying Yacht Rock by The Ron Burgandys and Talking ahead Tribute by Big Suit
    Randa U.

    What fun! I won the Yelp! raffle for 2 tickets to NaperNights at NaperSettlement in Naperville to go see two bands play. It started with Yacht Rock by The Ron Burgandys followed by the Talking Heads tribute band, Big Suit. Thank you to the Marketing Director, Brittany, sending me the directions to claim my tickets! I walked in and check in was simple. The #polishstinians brought our lawn chairs and purchased our tickets for drinks. There are vendors inside and they take cash. Have no fear of you don't have cash, they do have an ATM by BMO. I suggest getting money from your bank before to avoid the lines. We bought drinks and food from Tailgate Caterers. I suggest getting there about an hour early if you want to grab a good spot to park your chair/blanket. I do suggest those foldable lawn chairs, everyone has those. If you get stuck on the ground behind people sitting on those lawn chairs, you won't be able to see much but people's butts! The lines are pretty long, but they move fast. You can't bring any drinks or food in, but the selection is fine for a quick bite. They also had a Nothing Bundt Cake vendor and gelato vendor so my sweet tooth was covered! You were able to get a few types of beers and Rodney Strong wines. This was a fun night. They have bands play these Naper Nights one weekend in July, August, and September. It's only $15 if you go for a 5 hour evening, which is awesome. I'm grateful to Yelp! and NaperSettlement for the tickets and fantastic evening!

    Sherwin C.

    Simply amazing. I've visited lots of history museums around North America and most of them tend to be a bit smaller with only a handful of exhibits. Naper settlement on the other hand, spans 30 buildings and structures over 30 acres. These are high quality exhibits as well, with well designed displays, great tour guides / volunteers, and a large variety of things to learn about. For only $12 admission (and free to Naperville residents), I felt like I got my money's worth and would love to visit here again for a special event!

    Centennial Church
    Amanda B.

    Since it's winter most everything was closed, but it was nice to have a trail to follow and lots of audio guided tours to choose from as I walked. Grounds were clean and well maintained (and salted), definitely want to come back with kiddos after covid and in warmer weather. Took a star off since I paid online and there was no signage or open buildings nearest the parking lot where I could ask for assistance when I arrived.

    Carrie Martin Mitchell.  This place wouldn't exist without her.
    Howard L.

    Ha, I was told I'm apparently like many of their visitors.  That is, I never came here when I lived in Naperville (for 14 years and just a couple miles away) but returned to visit only after moving away. That's aight, I enjoyed my nice leisurely and educational visit on a quiet and pleasant Friday afternoon all the much better whilst looking back in time. It's quite nice that a town has the opportunity to preserve its own heritage in such a big and significant way.  Most towns don't have such resources, and Naperville is not small by any means, but still.  So this is where I learned of citizen Carrie Martin Mitchell of the same Mitchell Mansion and the land and home she bequeathed to Naperville that lead to this Naper Settlement. For a $10 non-resident senior admission ($12 for other adults), you do get to see a lot of historic buildings and hear their stories - the Martin Mitchell Mansion, a chapel, a one-room school house, a post office, a log house, and a working blacksmith shop among other things.  It's all on a self-guided tour, though some of the buildings do have volunteers telling the story.  I liked it all as well as wandering the attractive grounds, but particularly enjoyed the Mitchell Mansion, the post office, and the blacksmith shop due to interactions with their volunteers.  In the visitor center, they also currently have a display on Naperville connections to World War II. Overall, highly recommended if you're a local history buff and/or simply want to educate your youngsters on American life in the later 1800's.  Just fyi - Naper Settlement is also a spacious and easily accessible venue for events such as concerts, ethnic festivals, holiday festivals, and weddings.

    Church
    Annette B.

    They do a really excellent job with living history and have lots of excellent historical buildings to visit. The interpreters are terrific and clearly love what they do. I wish that they offered admission discounts to educators/students/librarians, though. Moreover, I think they would really benefit from doing a "Haunter Naper Settlement" event, since there's a lot of fun lore about the grounds.

    Martin Mitchell Mansion - it's the one you see from Aurora Ave.  I stole this one from www.napersettlement.org
    Ellen M.

    THE Naperville museum. Here you can see several preserved, 19th-century Naperville buildings, private homes and industrial. You will also see the progression from a town of 180 founders in the 1830s, to the current state of things with us 150,000 or so shlubs. My daughter has visited more often than I have since the school takes them on field trips. I like the views. It's interesting to see how people lived before radio, television and Peapod, and it's fun to explain it to the kids. It's especially curious when you realize so much of the stone for Chicago buildings came from Naperville quarries. The beautiful grounds and buildings make it a great spot for wedding receptions and special events. The Taste of Naperville (about 20 restaurants, plus a band and air-filled bouncy buildings for kids) is held here every June around Father's Day and is a good time. Parking is free.

    "log cabin"

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    Fun and educational. Great place for special events. Parking is easy and a great area.

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    Ask the Community - Naper Settlement

    Review Highlights - Naper Settlement

    Don't miss the Print Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Fire Station, and the Martin-Mitchell Mansion.

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    Jurica Nature Museum

    Jurica Nature Museum

    (5 reviews)

    It is very small but alot of animals and birds behind glass that are stuffed. Very inpresses as a…read moreadult.

    Another Sunday with my sister in law in charge of how we spend our day. She is famous for finding…read morethese obscure museums and the like to check out. Of course, they are usually closed when we get there, but this time we lucked out. The Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum at Benedictine University is really quite impressive. It's not very large, but they have a considerable collection of specimens. Taxidermied and preserved animals ranging from glass coral to polar bear. Not only are the specimens very well preserved (they put the sad furballs at the Field Museum to shame), but since most of the collection isn't behind glass you can get a really good look at them. If I didn't have the respect for museums that a Montessori school instills in a child I would be able to share a picture of me kissing a lion with you, that's how close you can get to them. The museum is located on the 2nd floor of the Birck Hall of Science. When we arrived the lights were off and we assumed Sue had confused their hours, but apparently they turn the lights on when someone arrives! We found the entrance and the docent welcomed us and turned on the lights. There is an annex across the hall with a dozen or so more stuffed creatures to check out. Aside from their impressive and well displayed collection the next best thing about this place...it's free! Free parking and free admission.

    Haunted Hometowns Ghost Tours - Naperville - Family friendly ghost walk tour of Naperville's Historic District.

    Haunted Hometowns Ghost Tours - Naperville

    (19 reviews)

    So much fun to do this with my scary friends... they ended up having an amazing time as well so…read morethank you very much for a great time and experience

    I would say I have an avid interest in the paranormal. I've always loved reading about ghost…read morestories, shadow figures, apparitions, orbs, and other phenomenons that challenge the logical mindset. When I saw that Haunted Hometowns had a ghost tour, I booked one and had a really interesting experience. The Tour itself lasts about 2 hours with different stops in the historic Naperville area. Diane is the owner and was our guide for the night. She told ghost tales of horror (did you know there was a huge train crash in Naperville?) as well as stories of history (we learned about the history of Naperville's buildings and its inhabitants). The coolest part of our tour was that one of the other people in the tour had an ovilus device. This uses energies for ghosts/spirits to manipulate words that appear on the screen. My EMF (electromagnetic field detector) which was quiet for most of the night started to go off at a random bush in the historic district. The other guy pulled out the device and the words "Map" and "Priest" came up. The area we were in was right by the old church which was really cool. All in all, it was a decent tour. The stories were fascinating but to be honest I was expecting more of a "ghost hunt" tour (like checking out an abandoned building- minus one star) as opposed to ghost stories at different locations. We learned a lot and had fun! Thanks again.

    DuPage County Historical Museum

    DuPage County Historical Museum

    (13 reviews)

    The museum is free and a nice place to stop in if you have kids and are walking around downtown…read moreWheaton. They have a charming train display on the lower level that children tend to love! The main floor focuses on local Illinois history. It's a small place, and the upper level is currently under construction, but being free makes it well worthwhile even as they spruce things up.

    All of you that took pictures inside should be ashamed of yourselves. It's clearly posted…read morethroughout, now go sit in the corner for 10 minutes and reflect on your rebellious nature. Ok, so first of all it's free. But, you can make donations ($4 is "suggested") I like places like this and was happy to make a donation. The building is cool, it was built by John Quincy Adams (distant relative to the former President) as a Library, he lived across the street and gifted this wonderful building to the community. Why only 3 stars you ask? I wanted to click 4 stars.. but when it said "Yay! I'm a fan." I just couldn't. I'm glad that I went once, but that was enough. Many of the displays are specific to only a few families that have made extensive donations of items, this is cool except that I was looking for more specific information on the formation of the towns throughout the county. Also, maybe some juicy gossip.. like the stuff about the how Wheaton became the County Seat.. or how the towns were named.. etc.. and maybe some founder's pictures. The first room on the left is the main exhibit (and to me most interesting) There are some nice period pieces of clothing and family pictures. Quite a bit of information about the trains (and the stations and architects) that run through DuPage County and the Illinois Prairie Path that took some of their places. I spent the most time in this room. It's easy to walk by, but when you first enter the museum, on the right is a display about the building worth looking at.. pictures of the museum going back to the horse and buggy days.. almost missed that because we were engaged with the people at the desk right away. (very friendly) I didn't get the train exhibit in the basement, it was operational (push the button) on the day we were there and held our interest for all of a few moments.. I think you have to know and understand about these things. I was distracted by the placement of the buildings/locations in relation to the tracks, things were out of whack. I know it's supposed to be impressive.. but I was kind of "meh" The second floor used to have a stage and seating. That's been removed but the room is still attractive with it's tall ceiling. It's worth a visit, but I wouldn't plan a day around it.

    Elmhurst Art Museum - Nice open gathering space inside the museum

    Elmhurst Art Museum

    (39 reviews)

    This was the first time that we visited the Elmhurst Art Museum.  Our daughter was invited to…read morepreview the exhibition "Picasso: Fifty Years Later" before it opened to the public, Hubby and I were her guests.  The exhibition focuses more on the influence of Picasso fifty years after his death.  So, other than some nice prints from Picasso, there was artwork from his colleagues and contemporary artists as well.  Interestingly, some of the work from other artists might appear to be even more "Picassoesque" than Picasso's work in this exhibit.  All in all, it was a good show and professionally done.   We met the Executive Director John McKinnon as soon as we entered the museum, who was very friendly and professional, and enthusiastically gave us a brief introduction of the exhibition.  John was also the co-curator of the show.  Katie, the publicist of the museum, was also very friendly and welcoming.  She talked about how proud the artists must have been to be able to have artwork exhibited alongside Picasso's art, and that the Director John even improved the air system in order to meet the requirements of the lenders of the Picasso collection!  I like that both John and Katie are very passionate, enthusiastic, and professional about what they do!   The museum itself is rather small.  It's very clean with professional setup.  It would have been nice if the rest of the museum was opened to explore when we visited on the preview day.  However, nothing was opened except for the Picasso exhibit, even the small gift shop was closed.  There is a sculpture named Skycube in the museum courtyard that is worth visiting.  It is a great spot to take interesting selfie.  All in all, Elmhurst Art Museum provides a good opportunity for art museum-goers in the suburbs to visit without driving all the way to the city, and you don't need to worry about parking, as it provides ample free parking as well!

    We didn't end up going inside because of a rain storm, but we did enjoy the art on the outside of…read morethe building. Located next to the Elmhurst public library. They have a beautiful outdoor setting. The building is welcoming and from the outside looking in, it looks like a great place to explore some local artists creations. Hope to come back one day and see more.

    Naper Settlement - museums - Updated May 2026

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