Visit one of the many museums in Northwest Michigan to learn about the area's history, see artifacts and much more! From depots, historic homes and villages to a children's museum, discovery center and music museum, there's something for everyone in your family to enjoy!
Arcadia
Arcadia Area Historical Museum and Carriage House
3340 Lake Street
Housed in a beautiful Victorian home built circa 1880s, the Arcadia Historical Museum contains interesting artifacts, furniture and local history.
Bear Lake
Bear Lake Historical Society and Museum
7750 Main Street
The Bear Lake Historical Museum contains diverse display exhibits of area businesses and local activities from the earliest land grant farms days, the logging boom to life in the mid-1950’s.
Phone: 231-690-2210
Cadillac
Wexford County Historical Society Museum
127 Beech Street
The 5,000 sq. ft. WCHS Museum is the leading source of displays relating to the history of Wexford County. It contains artifacts, photographs, maps, paintings, documents and exhibits of daily life in northern Michigan that reflect the community's history since its inception in the 1870's.
Phone: 231-775-1717
Copemish
Marilla Museum and Pioneer Place
9991 Marilla Road
The Marilla Museum includes a beautifully restored two story 1870s log home, a large 1900 barn, and a full-size replica hunter-trapper logger’s cabin. Each home is fully furnished and reflects early rural pioneer living. The Pioneer Barn contains many farm machines and implements, displays representing Marilla’s rich logging history, and other items relating to the communities early formative years.
Phone: 231-362-3430
Empire
Empire Area Museum
11544 LaCore Street
The Empire Area Museum is fashioned after the original Roen Saloon, a prominent fixture in Empire during the lumbering days. The Museum features the original bar in the Roen Saloon, a Victorian parlor, turn-of-century kitchen, artifacts from Norway Town, a blacksmith shop, barn display, railroad exhibit, a covered wagon, and much more.
Phone: 231-326-5519
Fife Lake
Fife Lake Historical Society and Museum
136 W State Street
The Fife Lake Historical Museum is filled with artifacts and stories of the region's history. Complete your historic walk by visiting the schoolhouse, a realistic representation of an 1880's rural school, and a fire barn, featuring a 1930's firetruck, equipment and uniforms.
Phone: 989-781-0512
Glen Arbor
Glen Haven Village
5121-5395 Glen Haven Road
A visit to Glen Haven, the small village on the Lake Michigan shoreline, is a step back to a time when small villages and docks supplied fuel to steamers along the Great Lakes. Glen Haven is the best preserved cord wood station on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and perhaps the entire Great Lakes. Glen Haven was a company town and eventually diversified into farming, canning of fruit, and tourism.
Phone: 231-326-4700
Kaleva
The Kaleva Depot
14420 Walta Street
The RR Depot Museum houses many railroad artifacts, photos, and displays pertinent to the Kaleva Railroad Depot, as well as a scale model of the Depot with a model train circling it. Outdoors, visitors will see one of the last two Switch Engines to work in the Kaleva Rail yards.
Phone: 231-362-3481
The Bottle House Museum
14551 Wuoksi Street
In 1941, a unique home was built in Kaleva out of 60,000 glass bottles by John Makinen. Mr. Makinen owned the local pop bottling factory, and he used chipped or flawed bottles from his pop bottling factory for his house.
In 1983, the Kaleva Historical Society was able to purchase the property from the John Makinen family and thus established its new and permanent home. Historic items are faithfully inventoried, preserved and displayed. The museum is home to many exhibits illustrating the Finnish-American history of the community including businesses, farming, and early settlers.
Phone: 231-362-2487
Lake City
Missaukee County Historical Society
111 S. Canal Street
The joint Missaukee County Ardis Library & Missaukee County Historical Society "History Room" is located at the Missaukee County Library, open during normal Library hours, available to the public to view family histories, local histories, reference materials, available historical documents, and notebook binders of photos and collected historical details.
Phone: 231-839-4967
Leland
Leelanau Historical Society Museum
203 E Cedar Street
The collections and archives in the Leelanau Historical Society Museum contain more than 20,000 items. Visitors to the museum learn about Leelanau life and maritime history from exhibits, educational programs and publications. Recipient of the 2014 State History Award for Outstanding Local Society, LHS continues to collect, document and preserve items relating to Leelanau history.
Phone: 231-271-7475
Manistee
Manistee County Historical Museum
425 River St
19th-century building offering rotating & permanent local history exhibits & a genealogy collection.
Phone: 231-723-5531
Mesick
Mesick Museum
117 W Mesick Avenue
The Mesick Museum displays preserved items that are loaned and/or donated to the museum that represent the history of the Mesick area.
Phone: 231-885-2105
Northport
Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum
15500 N. Lighthouse Pt. Rd
The Grand Traverse Lighthouse has been restored and is open to the public seasonally. Visitors can tour the restored keepers dwelling and climb the Lighthouse Tower for a magnificent view of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay.
Phone: 231-386-7195