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    The Durham Museum

    4.4 (157 reviews)
    Open 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
    Updated 2 weeks ago

    Services - The Durham Museum

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    Maddy V.

    The Durham is one of my favorite places in Omaha, and I love the ever-changing exhibits they have, which have always been stimulating and fun to explore! I have been at all times of the year, and it has always been very interactive and enjoyable to visit with family and friends. Their recent Aksarben Ball exhibit was super interesting, and I love that this museum highlights local history, both in their permanent displays and rotating ones. I have also been to their history of toys exhibit, which was very fun and family-friendly. Their cafe is delicious and very cute; the fun soda-pop diner theme is very on-theme for the Durham. The Christmas display was impressive, and the live music made the experience even more memorable. I am excited to see what the Durham offers in the future!

    Main area, art deco style.
    Michael G.

    I've lived in the Omaha area since 1994 (and 1979 to 1981 before that) but have never visited the Durham museum. It was a cold day, so we wanted to go somewhere indoors this week, and I decided to try the Durham. We both had a great time. I am a huge fan of the Art Deco style, and the Durham is a beautiful example. The staff were extremely friendly throughout. My wife loved the train cars downstairs, especially the steam engine and the caboose. She also had a good time looking at the Aksarben gowns. We're not hockey fans, but the hockey exhibit was very popular. My wife already had plans for our lunch and we didn't eat at the soda fountain, but the menu looked good and the prices were reasonable. We both enjoyed the gift shop and I made a few purchases. While checking out, we were told that their cash register system was getting an upgrade this week and would accept contactless payments like Apple Pay after the upgrade. Overall a great visit. I'll have to keep an eye out for the rotating exhibits and visit again when I see something interesting.

    Dragon exhibit
    Sonia M.

    I love the Durham!!!! I always have a great time here. I absolutely the different exhibits and there is so much to see. I always bring my family and friends when they visit and they love it too. It's such a great price and the membership is even better since I love coming to all the exhibits. Thank you to The Durham!

    Trains on the plains....
    Maynard S.

    Beautiful art deco museum with a fun old time soda fountain..gorgeous train lobby, soda fountain and restaurant serving foods and some jerk pulled drinks...trains, cars, and plenty of history from the plains..recommended

    Sara C.

    I got a Durham Museum membership as a gift for my husband for Christmas, and we've visited many times since becoming members! The Durham has several permanent exhibits like the Harriman Train exhibit, where you can walk through actual train cars from the 1940s, the Byron Reed gallery that houses historical coins and documents, and the Baright Gallery that transports you back to the frontier times of Omaha - and many more exhibits in the permanent collection! We definitely took our time going through all these permanent exhibits and only made it through a tiny bit. You can spend the whole day just at these permanent exhibits, so we will certainly be back to explore those more. The rotating collections are fabulous also. So far we have visited for the Julia Child exhibit, Toytopia, and the Sherri Geeredes costume collection for the Rose Theater. I think my favorite of these was Julia Child: A Recipe for Life. It was so cool to see Julia's life through this exhibit and participate in the interactive bits. (Being filmed on a replica of her set, sit in a tub to recreate her iconic photo with her husband Paul, and creating your own recipe for a meal almost like a video game.) The Toytopia exhibit was also very cool, seeing the popular toys from each decade. There were lots of fun things to interact with here, too, like a giant Etch a Sketch, a Zoltar machine like from the movie Big, and a huge silver Monopoly car. The only thing I'd say about this one is that it definitely was geared more towards kids (there were literally a thousand kids playing with all the items) which is totally fine, but just be aware if you are childless and wanting to check out an exhibit like this. We've also visited the Hitchcock Museum Gift Shop and the Soda Fountain cafe in the Great Hall. The museum shop is great and always has some items based around the current exhibits (we bought some fun vintage-inspired toys during the Toytopia exhibit). And the Soda Fountain has actual food but it's the treats that are heavenly, like root beer floats, black cows, and phosphates! We are super lucky to have a museum of this high quality right here in Omaha, and I definitely recommend getting a membership or checking it out once to see if you think its worth it to sign up (it is!)

    Well-furnished train car
    Bryan A.

    Extensive museum with displays and activities to engage all ages! My wife and I especially liked the chance to walk through train cars and imagine what it would have been like to travel years ago. We also enjoyed the short film about Omaha's history -- between that and the many exhibits, we learned a lot about the early years of this fine city. And oh, what a lot of interesting history! In addition, we had a delicious lunch at the throwback cafe--most especially the old-fashioned soda and the Art Deco Delight Sundae.

    Christmas tree at the Durham
    Hillary P.

    Always a new experience with each exhibit. Christmas, enjoy a tree that rivals Rockefeller Center and trees from around the world with their individualized decorations. Julia Child earlier this year along with white Christmas costumes to add to the holiday spirit. Now, enjoy the very special display of costumes from the Rose theater collection - Such creativity! Add to it in the special exhibit area the Toytopia which will bring back childhood memories from all the games and toys you enjoyed! The building's retro style, gift shop with special items for any occasion, and the standing exhibits that include model trains, history of Omaha, and many other delights. Highly recommend the membership so that you can go back and enjoy the different exhibits throughout the year.

    Grant S.

    We had a fabulous family visit to the Durham Museum to extend our seasonal celebration of Christmas. From the parking lot to the end, we had a great experience from start to finish. The Durham Museum used to be the main train station during the 1898 exhibition in Omaha. It is now a beautifully renovated and maintained museum. The facade is pristine washed and stunning. The moment you walk in, the sites fill you with wonder. Shining gold and silver window treatments and wall/ceiling designs. Gorgeous marble and stone walls and pillars. And of course, a 40 foot tall Christmas tree. Absolutely stunning! Prices were fairly reasonable: $8 for kids, $12 for seniors, and $15 for adults. We did wish it was less for kids, but well worth the cost! They had a great activity for the kids. They had a sheet with 9 pictures of cartoon elves. The 9 elves had life-size displays throughout the lower level. If the kids found all nine, and took "s-Elfys", they could get a jolly rancher on the way out. The kids loved the challenge and we found all 9! We enjoyed the Christmas tree displays on the first floor, but the lower level is where the magic happens. Full of interactive and life size displays/exhibits about Nebraska history, we learned a lot and had a hoot doing it! Some highlights included a massive train maintained to look like a luxury old-time train liner, an ancient Wells Fargo Wagon, and a history film. We also visited the dual-special exhibit: 1. Costumes from the movie "White Christmas" and 2. Julia Childs wardrobe, props, and history. We absolutely loved this interactive exhibit and learned so much. There was also so much we didn't see at the museum...we'll have to go back! For example, they have diner modeled after the 30's and 40's. It looked yummy and fun. So you could definitely visit during a meal time. We look forward to future visits, but for sure during the holiday season!

    Allan A.

    Loved this museum. Attended a private dinner event, which included the museum. The museum provides the context behind the founding of Omaha and continued westward expansion of our country. Wonderful luxury train cars to explore and a whole lot more. Was the highlight of my week-long visit to the area.

    The holy grail of lunch boxes.

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    3 months ago

    Love this place. The history of eras in omaha are awesome! Take a walk back in time! Lots of exhibits and great fun!

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    Dawn M.

    Thanks for making the trip to visit us Kathleen!

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    11 months ago

    The old train has always been my favorite! They always have a fun exhibit featured as well!

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    Dawn M.

    Thank you so much for your kind words!

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    1 year ago

    Good museum overall. It's a truly great museum if the traveling exhibit is something that interests you

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    Dawn M.

    Thanks for visiting Braedyn! And for the kind review. Great photos!

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    Ask the Community - The Durham Museum

    Review Highlights - The Durham Museum

    We ended the trip with a yummy stop at the soda fountain, where shared a milk shake and a phosphate cherry drink.

    Mentioned in 21 reviews

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    Joslyn Art Museum

    (155 reviews)

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    We are so lucky to have the Joslyn museum right here in Omaha. I've been to art museums all around…read morethe world, and this one stacks right up against them in terms of quality. I've been visiting the Joslyn since I was a child, and visiting as an adult brings back all those wonderful memories. The cool blue and green Storz Fountain art deco tile atrium, the amazing sculpture garden outside, and the temporary and permanent exhibits that are so thoughtfully curated. The Joslyn houses works from classic and modern artists like Monet, Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Titian, Dale Chihuly, Bouguereau, Picasso, Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and Roy Liechtenstein, among so many more. They also feature several local artists and workshops that I think is so cool that they contribute to the local community in that way too. The Joslyn was closed for two years recently for expansion and restoration, as well as adding many more pieces of art to the collection. There are little signs on each new piece of art that says "New to the Collection" so you'll know you haven't seen that one before if you visited a lot before they closed and reopened. And what's really awesome aside from all that? It's free! I've only ever seen a museum of this caliber having free entrance in large European cities like London and Paris. You obviously are able to make a donation with your entrance, which I'm sure is encouraged to keep the museum running, but I love that it's offered freely for those who can't pay an entry fee but will benefit just like anyone else from the art housed there. I've seen comments here on Yelp saying that you can do this whole museum in 30 minutes. If you're doing that, you are absolutely doing it wrong and rushing through everything. My last visit was 3.5 hours long and I only saw two or three exhibit rooms. What's so great about this being a free museum is that you DON'T have to rush, because you can always come back later and see anything you didn't get to, in the first or second visit. With all the free things there are to do in Omaha, this has got to be at the top of the list, especially if you're an art lover!

    This museum is free with 3 parts. When I visited, there was an ongoing exhibition that was not…read morefree. It is very spacious and has a decent collection of artwork. There are sculptures in the garden outside the museum. My favorite here is the beautiful fountain at the middle. Durham Cafe is located inside the museum (I reviewed this separately). They have a gift shop as well. Worth checking out if you're in Omaha.

    Museum of Shadows - A haunted museum!

    Museum of Shadows

    (36 reviews)

    Downtown

    This place is freaking awesome! We are visiting from Denver and I was so excited to visit. It…read moreabsolutely lived up to the hype! There were so many awesome artifacts and each item had its own notecard explaining the story. There were two of us and we used the black light flashlights and a spirit box, and it ran us $96. Price is a bit steep BUT the place was really cool and the staff is incredibly helpful and kind. The manager was giving us lots of stories on the building's history and some of the artifacts he actually helped retrieve! Such a special and fun experience, I can't recommend enough! Thank you, Museum of Shadows!

    I REALLY wanted to love this place, as I LOVE all things paranormal, but sadly I was quite…read moredisappointed with this place, purely because of the lack of care and attention to detail. But because of how badly really wanted to love this place, I'm going to leave a super long review with points I really think could benefit you guys if you're open to it, and really help make this place flourish! So Each room we went into was just a big empty room, with a million cluttered artifacts lining the perimeter of each room, complete with the same laminated piece of paper typed up on word, accompanying literally every single item. So if someone wanted to read every single piece of paper in here, I have no doubts it would take AT LEAST 34 hours... And it's unfortunate bc they really did have a ton of awesome items with super interesting stories attached, but everytime you walk a couple more feet around the perimeter, you're again overwhelmed with the sheer amount of clutter/things to read. So I'd really recommend to the staff to try and change the layout of this place. Ideally the rooms would be smaller, so that you aren't overwhelmed by a big empty room. Even just some kind of cheap room dividers that simulate a divided up room would work. And the 2nd biggest recommendation I have would be changing up how you present information. At the very least that means just changing the sizes of the captions you have next to items, like making some of the captions in much bigger frames, and maybe keeping some small ones, there just needs to be more of a variety to keep the scene in front of your more interesting. And maybe don't have soo many captions that were excessively long, like you could sum up the item in just a couple sentences, and then save the entire detailed story about the item just for guided tours or something. Lastly- WHY IN THE WORLD DO YOU NOT LET PEOPLE USE THEIR PHONES? Don't you understand every time someone would take a pic of something in your museum and then post it on social media, that's LITERALLY FREE ADVERTISING for you! Trust me, you're only hurting yourself by not letting ppl share pics of their visit here.

    Lauritzen Gardens

    Lauritzen Gardens

    (168 reviews)

    South Omaha

    I randomly saw something about the Thomas Dambo troll exhibit the week before I was due to be in…read moreDes Moines for a dog event, so I made a note to try to stop by on my way home if it worked out. I was done with the event a little after lunch time, so was passing through Omaha at about 3 PM - a couple of hours before the garden closed. It was a cooler, overcast day so it was safe for my dogs to hang out in my car for an hour or so. A good bit of luck, since I'm not sure I would have been able to find a shady parking spot. Admission to the garden is roughly $18 for non-members, and when you buy your ticket with a credit card at the self-serve kiosk it gives you an option to cover credit card fees - which I chose to do so all told I paid $21 to see these trolls. I will not that there is one troll that is outside of the entrance to the garden - the one with the little car - so even if you can't justify the admission price it is still worth taking a few minutes to come see that troll. They are all built of reclaimed wood and recycled materials, with incredible detail right down to their fingernails. While I came primarily to see the trolls, the grounds are beautiful. It is still early enough in spring that just a few things were in bloom, but those things were pretty spectacular - such as the field full of dafodils. There were beautiful plantings of other spring bulbs and several magnolias were in bloom. The gardens have some beautiful hybrids as well as traditional cultivars. The trolls were scattered throughout the gardens, but it was not a difficult walk to see them - though there are some short inclines I think it would take no more than an hour to see all of them if that were your only agenda. There is also a troll tram available for a nominal cost. I found strolling through the gardens to be a peaceful break from highway driving. You can still hear some traffic noise, but there's plenty of birdsong as you get away from the entrance. Each of the trolls was unique, but there wasn't any signage to tell you about their unique personalities (you can look that up online, though - and Thomas Dambo's website is a wonderful rabbit hole to go down if you are so inclined). My favorites were the one with the birdhouses and the buddha-like one in the Japanese garden. I almost left right after seeing all of the trolls, but then decided to exit through the conservatory an I am glad that I did. It was warm and humid inside so I didn't stay for too long, but it is packed with tropical foliage including beautiful orchids, pitcher plants, ferns, tropical trees, and a koi pond with the biggest koi I have seen in a very long time. I didn't have much in the way of expectations of Omaha or these gardens when I thought I'd stop to see the trolls, but I am impressed. People were friendly. The gardens are beautiful and it seems family friendly - a children's playground takes up a good chunk of real estate within the garden - and starting in May four-legged friends can walk with you in the gardens on Monday (I think?) evenings. Well worth a visit.

    A must visit spot while in Omaha! We got hit with beautiful 70 degree weather and took advantage of…read moreit by coming here. We got our steps in while admiring the greenery and well thought out flowers. My toddler enjoyed Sophia's garden playground the most. While I enjoyed the super massive greenhouse. There were so many photo opportunities. They don't allow outside food or drinks which is a bummer for those traveling with kids! However, there are two cafes that offered food for purchase. It looks like they offer events during the holidays. Looks especially fun during Christmas time, we'll definitely be back!

    The Durham Museum - museums - Updated May 2026

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