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Museums in Charlotte, NC 🖼️

31 items

Marie

To you, fine art may be a painting by Pablo Picasso or Edgar Degas. Maybe it’s the architecture of a historic home or a walk-through pavilion surrounded by butterflies. Or perhaps your idea of art is a ’67 Corvette. Charlotte has dozens of museums ce...

Map

Sections

Art

History

Family-Friendly

Living History

Motorsports

Nature

Art

You’ve seen the “Firebird” sculpture out front. Step inside to discover more. Explore the work of masters of modern art, including Picasso, Miró, Calder and Degas. The building is a stunning work of art itself—only the second in the country designed ...

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

The artwork here is more than painting and photography. It’s film, theater, dance, literature, lectures and discussions. All of it celebrates the contributions of African-Americans and Africans who have influenced American culture.

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

Housed in a restored neo-Gothic church, this museum not only introduces you to new art, but also the artists themselves. Resident artists frequently open their studios to the public, offering a glimpse into the artistic process.

McColl Center: Home Page

Craft and design, including glass, wood art and jewelry, and contemporary art, from paintings to sculptures to video, shine at this beautiful museum. The Mint Museum is close enough to other Uptown arts venues to create a day of cultural exploration.

Mint Museum

In 1936, this became North Carolina’s first art museum. Today the museum offers a wide variety of art, from ancient American art to European decorative arts, housed in a former U.S. Mint building in a beautiful Eastover setting.

The Mint Museum – Randolph

This free gallery located on the first floor of the Foundation for the Carolinas, on Tryon Street, features art pieces from the personal collection of Isaac and the late Sonia Luski, two of the city’s top philanthropists and art connoisseurs.

Luski Gallery - Charlotte

The Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Center provides an affordable space for artists of all mediums and disciplines to create. The center features galleries, studios, theaters, a museum and arts school. Art lovers can visit the center for free and o...

VAPA Visual and Performing Arts Center

History

In the permanent Backcountry Gallery, learn what life was like in the Charlotte region centuries ago for residents—including the Catawba Nation, European immigrants and African Americans—through housing replicas, artifacts and maps. Rotating exhibits...

The Charlotte Museum of History

Learn about Gaston County’s history during its textile years through exhibits that include 19th-century hotel rooms, North Carolina's largest collection of horse-drawn vehicles and—most impressively—one of Thomas Edison’s original electric generators...

Gaston County Museum

This museum not only explores Charlotte’s history, but also shows the intersection of past, present and future. Exhibits and events present an inclusive and thorough examination of the people and events in Charlotte from the end of the Civil War to t...

Levine Museum of the New South

This modest museum in downtown Matthews offers a glimpse into life there during its mill days. The museum itself is an artifact—the restored Massey-Clark House, built in 1879, is one of the oldest in town.

Matthews Heritage Museum

Learn about the evolution of language through the history of alphabets—including cuneiform, Native American alphabets, braille and even music—in this free museum, created by a Christian nonprofit dedicated to Bible translation.

The Alphabet Museum at JAARS

Listen, watch and learn about great musical performers and composers with North Carolina roots, like The Avett Brothers, Charlie Daniels, Shirley Caesar and James Taylor.

North Carolina Music Hall of Fame

Family-Friendly

To kids, it’s all about play—race cars, experiments, art projects. But adults know that kids are learning valuable lessons in science, health and creativity while they’re having fun.

Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville

Budding naturalists can take kid-friendly hikes, walk in a butterfly pavilion, build forts and maybe even pet a snake in this nature museum adjacent to Freedom Park.

Discovery Place Nature

Explore Charlotte’s only indoor rainforest. Try a 3D printer. Get up close and personal with a variety of biodiversity, including horseshoe crabs. This hands-on museum makes science come alive for guests of all ages, including adults.

Home - Discovery Place Science Museum

Things aren't always as they appear to be at the Museum of Illusions. This unique attraction features more than 60 interactive exhibits with mind-bending optical illusions and unbelievable installations based on art, math, and science.

Museum of Illusions

Living History

This 800-acre historic site preserves the history of the people and places, including a Revolutionary War battlefield, of the Brattonsville community during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Historic Brattonsville

When it was built in 1815 as the home of Archibald Frew, this yellow-trimmed home was so extravagant it was known as “Frew’s Folly.” Now historic Rosedale house and its gardens are open to the public for tours.

Historic Rosedale

This 265-acre historic farmland and nature preserve was home to six generations of the Davidson family. The grounds feature eight Colonial-era structures that are used to celebrate the land's more than 250 years of history through events and educatio...

Rural Hill – Where History Springs Alive

James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States and the only chief-of-state born in Mecklenburg County. Visit his birthplace and learn about his childhood and political career through exhibits and tours of the historic cabins on these groun...

President James K. Polk State Historic Site

The first gold discovered in the U.S. was found here in Midland, just outside of Charlotte. Almost 200 years later, people continue to come here to learn about the history of mining and even pan for gold themselves.

Reed Gold Mine

This heritage museum compares the natural history of the region from 600 years ago to the area’s current landscape. A naturalist center, planetarium, Tot Town learning space and an outdoor nature trail provide experiences that celebrate the natural a...

Museum of York County

Since 1995, Richard’s Coffee Shop in Mooresville has been building a museum dedicated to honoring veterans, as well as active duty and emergency services personnel. The museum continues to grow as veterans who visit share personal stories and artifac...

Welcome Home Veterans at Richard's Coffee Shop

Motorsports

The story of racing, from its early beginnings in moonshine running, is on display at Memory Lane Museum. With over 100 cars, including some driven by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, the museum boasts the largest collection of privately owned NASCA...

Memory Lane Museum - Car Museum, Nascar Museum

Whether your idea of a classic car is a 1922 Model T, a ’67 Corvette or the ’04 Monte Carlo driven by Will Ferrell in “Talladega Nights,” this car museum near Charlotte Motor Speedway will have something that catches your eye.

Morrison Motor Car Museum

With its grand opening in spring 2019, this museum honors all things Mustang: the history, the racing and the specialty builds. Exhibits rotate regularly, bringing new displays to the museum show room.

Mustang Owner's Museum

A must for NASCAR fans, this large Uptown museum offers an in-depth look at the sport through entertainment and education, including hands-on exhibits, a theater, historic cars and racing simulators.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

The NCARHOF is part museum that teaches the history of racing in North Carolina and part gallery that showcases the beauty of history-making cars. Exhibits celebrate all types of racing, from drag to stock car, as well as some of the most influential...

North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame

Nature

Begin inside Quest’s 13,000-square-foot center to learn about the region’s plants and animals. Then venture outside to the butterfly gardens, Carolina Raptor Center and nature preserve trails to interact with the environment firsthand.

Quest at Latta Nature Preserve

Learn about natural history through exhibits on wildlife and habitats, gaze up at the stars in a planetarium, and explore the outdoors on trails. This museum also features a wildlife garden and Stone Age heritage site.

Schiele Museum: Home