This was a great experience. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and informative. It was well…read moreworth the lite fee to step back into time.

The tour guide named Faith was awesome! She is very good at her job and explaining everything. She…read moredeserves a raise and a promotion. Very fun to talk to and answers questions effectively and in a way I can understand. Super cool definitely will go again!

The Welcome Center is definitely the place to go when you arrive in Ste. Genevieve. It's a…read morewelcoming space with exhibits, a gift shop, a room to watch a film about the history of the area, and nice clean restrooms. It's also the location where you can find both the National Park Service desk and the local tourism desk, and between the friendly rangers and staff, they can easily get you situated and pointed in the right direction to what you want to explore! A nice parking lot is also available outside of the building.

A very nice and informative museum at the Ste Genevieve Township in MO sets the stage for what you…read moreare about to see as you drive around this charming and deeply historic town. An added bonus in 2021 is a Missouri Bicentennial exhibit which was being assembled as we wandered in the center. Definitely begin your trip here, which explains the layered and nuanced history of this unique area where the melting-pot Creole culture of Louisiana still persists in this place which went from French to Spanish to American in a few decades in the late 1700s-early 1800s. 5 informative stars

Loved how helpful the staff was on photos and walked us through the proper ways to view the…read moreillusions if we needed them to.

I had heard about this place a few times and my husband and I finally got a chance to check it out…read more The space is divided into rooms of what the illusion is supposed to be. There are employees at certain stops to help with picture taking, which is great. We went in order, you can do it however you like. It makes you think and its fun! They run specials at certain times for admission and if youre a teacher and have an ID, you're free!

Great experience!! Super interesting artifacts & the interactive exhibits were so neat. Definitely…read morerecommend!

I never knew this place was here. My kiddos truly enjoyed this amazing little gem! This is total…read moremust see! There is a video that you watch at the end of the tour and it is hands down incredible. When the young lady was telling us stories, I got goosies and tears in my eyes. I have even more respect for Astronauts and now my youngest son wants to join the Space Program.

October 23, 2021 Wow…read morethis place is so cool! What a perfect stop to let the kids run about on this rainy day. Downstairs is designed more for younger kids. Upstairs designed more for kids 8 and above. Supervision is mandatory. Lots of themed rooms for kids to learn through play. There's a garden room with big water tables. An auto shop for the car enthusiasts. A farm where you can "milk"a cow (fake cow &water). A grocery store where the kids can shop and be the cashier. A veterinarian pet shop. Fire department. Well baby check office. There are cool tubes with air that suck up handkerchiefs and tunnel above your head and shoot out from the ceiling. Musical rooms. Hair styling room. A theater room complete with a stage and curtain! There's a Lego wall. And rubber band wall to make art. A small real plane to climb in and imagine flying over fields. Really too much to list. But wow! Great entertainment for kids (and parents) of all ages. Covid19 protocol: Bathrooms were clean. Hands sanitizer was placed all over both upstairs and downstairs. Employees wore masks. Patrons were strongly recommended to wear masks, although most didn't. Staff picked up several times while we were there.. although i didn't notice any surface cleaning. Now my cooty radar was a little high, but i get that way in any type of kids play area. I made sure my kids sanitized hands after each room and we washed hands before leaving. Lots of touchable surfaces. Pre pandemic, i wouldn't think much about it, but current pandemic, I just am a little more leery. So go with that in mind. And don't come if you or anyone is sick. Above all.. ENJOY! Very cool place.

discovery is the best place a child could ask for it's so relatable to the real life just much…read morecooler I love discovery so much !

Very interesting displays of soda beverages!!! Also, the…read morepinball machines in the lower kevel were great fun! The old building is beautiful.

Bizarre nostalgic throw-back to sugar laced time before corn syrup drenched mixes arrived…read more I met a friend and his granddaughter in the basement to play retro-arcade games for a ser price fo a few hours. Kid and teenager me would have loved it... the sarcastic 10 year old wanted board games to improve her experience. After considering- I agreed. I would add some chess and checker boards and a few other board games. Or a few Atari games... The epitome was the McDonald's $1 double cheeseburger sign. I asked to order it: they didn't have cheeseburgers, all things are more expensive and everything is not as healthy. I am not wishing for cocaine Coca-Cola or other "medicine" in Dr Pepper. $1.50 for a can of soda is a big jump for a corn syrup from the nickel advertising of a sugar sweet memory. The epitome of the place was playing shuffleboard with the 10 year old. I was trying to play with a sense of touch. She was playing with the idea of creating a highlight reel of knocking my pieces off. I beat her because the idea of the game escaped her. To look back at Asteroids was a shock. Realized that it was just black and white, 2 dimensional game with only a few buttons to control it. Overall I walked still a fan of the glossed over experience. I remember being a broke kid wanting to play unrealistic games to escape from reality. Now I wish for the sugar rush I used to have.

What a interesting and educational museum. Have a 15 min video. Stones that glowed and equipment…read moreroom. U want walk around outside or on a trail for see the mining buildings. Has plenty of parking and 10 min drive from our camping grounds. They usually have a gift shop but it was closed. Great place to spend a hr or so. Girl working it was super nice and helpful with questions and paperwork.

Brought my son after seeing someone comment about it online. Great way to spend a few hours…read more Ranger/site tour guide was very nice and knowledgeable. Recommend this for anyone but especially nice spot for kids.

This museum was also a stop on our hop on hop off bus from our American Cruise lines Mississippi…read moreRver Cruise. This was not a very big museum and I took sometime outside to walk around and take a few photos. This museum like others we have visited in the area was was fascinating. It is a robust collection of items and stories from the docents about the war, items during that period and relationships of the people in the area. While spending time here we all learned so much about Paducah's role in the war and saw many interesting artifacts. Weather or not you have an interest in Civil War history, this museum is worth a visit. We all learned so much history that we were not familier with and it was honestly facinating. The museum was not to big or crowded and really added meaning to what you have heard of in school or just general conversations.

" Nice Detailed Lecture Tour About The Civil War "…read more This is a small Museum with a ton of information in it. After you look around for a while, a gentleman dressed and looking like a Civil War Soldier takes you on a tour of the Museum and gives you a detailed historic lesson on the civil war, especially from the confederate view point. This is a must see on your trip to Paducah, KY

The city museum was THE BEST part of our trip to STL. We had 4 adults and 2 children, and the cost…read moreof tickets was low enough to ensure it's not burdensome, and many people can participate. We parked in the attached parking lot, which was card only and very convenient. I bought a locker and knee pads, which made the time here much better. I highly recommend these add ons. This place is more like a giant jungle gym than a museum. City Museum has climbing opportunities for adults, and I felt like a kid again. It gave me a sense of wonder and exploration. I recommend going outside in the morning while it's not too hot. A lot of the outside is metal and rebar. This area was very nice because I didn't feel claustrophobic outside. I know we must have missed a lot because each nook and cranny had more to explore. I'm sure there's some places I missed because I couldn't fit and some I just didn't see. I found out after we left that one area allows you to go under the floor. This museum is not a place where you should wear shorts or a dress. I recommend long pants. I tore my jeans on a rivet, and it would have cut me up in other clothing. We had 1 adult with us who was handicapped, and she wasn't able to stick with us at all. There are elevators but it is not disability friendly. Overall 10/10 would return.

We arrived on a Friday summer afternoon with a few families, and unsurprisingly it was already…read morepacked. We passed on the $15 parking lot and found street parking not too far away. I believe tickets were around $20 each, and my wife eventually sprung for a $20 headlamp for our kid to explore the caves. And I will say, as a 40+ person with a preschoole, I did feel at one point my last breath would be had in those caves. There are just so many places in there for little ones to crawl and explore, but they also have some big drops in other areas that I had to help out with. It's fairly dark in there and I had to contort myself in ways I hadn't done in years, so be wary! The rest of the building feels similar, but with more light. It felt really cool noticing all the little slides and hideaways tucked everywhere, and really made me think about how often kids may get stuck in places? We walked past the aquarium and made our way to the carousel, where there was also more playground type areas. There was also this odd area that looked like a skate park, but without skateboards. So of course all us adults attempted to run up one of the ramps that felt like the warped wall from Ninja Warrior. I think my hip is still feeling that one. We did not end up eating here, nor do any of the outside stuff. Regardless, this place really is a wonder and will both excite and drain the battery of people of all ages. Lots of fun to be had here - just be sure to stretch ahead of time parents!

Both a History of Benton and Franklin County History both Good and Bad Worth the entry fee.read more

This 1905 Franklin County Jail Museum is a very interesting walk through Benton's history…read more Featuring one of the last public executions in Illinois of Charlie Berger, this museum has original noose, weapons, newspaper articles and other historical documentation. When you walk into the house, you enter a beautiful, classic early 1900s home. A very welcoming home with reconstructed living room and kitchen. Prepare to be surprised! It is only when you near the back of the house that you find the white, rusted heavy iron door. Open this door and you enter a cold, dark realm that even Tim Burton couldn't recreate. Perhaps a hundred years for rusting and paint chipping contributes to the overall gloom. These are the prison cells that inspire modern day fiction. All the windows have bars. And the view from the outermost window is of the gallows. These gallows have been recreated in the position they originally stood. There are multiple rooms of cells which you can enter and take photos of. Don't use the toilets, though. They are a bit old. :) Escape back into the semblance of normalcy of the house and head upstairs to take in additional Benton history. The normal bathroom is up there: very clean. When the Beatles FIRST came to America, this is where they played. The museum curator stated that she was a young girl when they arrived: "We had no idea who they were...They weren't known in America at the time, but we all hurried to get a look. We didn't end up seeing them though." There is civil war paraphernalia and an autographed photo of town local John Malkovich. I highly recommend this location! The curator is very knowledgeable and friendly. The location is a few miles off the nearby highway.