Visit the New York State Museum

While the citizens of New York State enjoy the state every day, visiting the NYS museum can give you more knowledge about the area to further your horizons. Whether you're from out of state or just want to learn more about your home, find out how and read about some great reasons to visit, with the details below.

Steps

General Admission

1. Decide if the New York State Museum is the best choice for your family. There are many other attractions nearby, too. While it is within blocks of the New York State Capitol building and Governor's Mansion in Albany, you will also find, down the hall, an entrance to elevator that will lead you up to the 42nd floor observation deck of the Erastus Corning Tower (North) . This observation allows you to see for many miles including sights of the Northern portions of Albany and points North including Saratoga Springs and (if you look rather closely) parts of Schenectady to the West.
   • Alongside that, you also have several museums and planetariums in the nearby city of Schenectady, such as the smaller Schenectady Museum/miSci and planetarium (with several shows daily) .
   • You'll find a mess of AHL (Albany Devils) and college-league hockey and college basketball (and sometimes even the Harlem Globetrotters come) games at the Times Union Center, along with several opera and performing arts performances at The Egg - a good walk from the New York State Museum.
   • A little outside and a quite a drive away, you'll find the outer-banks of the Catskill Mountains and can enjoy sightseeing in the city of Troy. If you want more museums, there's also the National Baseball Hall of Fame about a good 50-60 minute drive away in Cooperstown, NY, or if you'd like to drive even further (3 1/2 hours), there's the The Strong - National Museum of Play in Rochester, where retired toys take center stage in a museum setting..
     • Albany is about 2+1/2 hours (by train) away from New York City and it's major sights. However, the Albany Amtrak station (the only passenger train that departs for the city from here) is across the Hudson River and you'd have to take a taxi to get to the train station where you'd be boarding an Empire Service line coach. Albany's train station is a terminus of the Empire line heading South to New York City. Travel to New York City by regular car may take more than 4-5 hours (depending on traffic).
2. Drive to the New York State Museum, if you'd like. Although routes will vary if you don't like interstates, the New York State Museum is inside the New York State Cultural Education Center at 222 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY 12230.
3. Be aware of the Museum's hours. Most often, this museum is open Tuesday through Sunday 9:30am-5pm. However, it is closed on Mondays and for a few holidays, including Independence Day (July 4), Thanksgiving, Christmas Day (December 24) and New Years Day (January 1).
4. Park near the Museum. This state museum has two main parking areas (both labelled V3 on the North and V3 on the South).
   • Out of five total underground lots underneath "The Mall" from the arterial, V3 on both sides is set up for Visitors. The others are set up for employees and an overflow lot for Employees. You can get to this arterial route off of the US-Routes 9&20 exit off of Interstate 787 which can be accessed via Interstate 90 or from a little further away at the other end from the New York State Thruway (I-87). This parking lot is great on the weekends when parking is free and rarely is ever crowded, but bad thing is: most often on the weekdays (when Congress is in session), these lots are closed to the public.
   • During these weekdays, take the arterial around the bend near S Swan Street and exit off of V-1. V-1 will look like it's another underground lot when you see it from the arterial, but this isn't the case. Follow that back out to Madison Ave. Take a right at this controlled traffic area on Madison Ave, past the light underneath the overpass that leads to the Cultural Education Center and the New York State Archives on your right and the Museum on your left until you get to the next traffic light. Turn left at that second light. Your parking lot will await you at that intersection. You'll still have to pay either $5 or $10 (dependant on the time you choose to enter) and this area isn't surrounded by an underground ceiling, but it shouldn't be all that well packed with other cars.)
   • You can stand your car to unload passengers under the overpass near the Museum (Near the traffic light), but don't attempt to park on the street near or at the traffic light. It's illegal to park there and you will be towed if you do! However, since you'd technically be riding coming from the other side and Madison Ave is very strong with cars and can be a confusing mess, and there's really no place to turn around to head back the other way until you venture around the area, don't try unloading any passengers coming from this side if you ride down Madison Ave while trying to get to the parking area.
5. Walk to the Museum.
   • If you are coming from "The Mall" parking lots, you will need to walk to the museum using the long path. There are murals and paintings and sculptures down the path, but there is tons of walking here. Grab your best walking sneakers if you choose to walk from this parking area/lot. Inside the parking lot, you'll need to go from the parking lot level up a few levels to the Mezzanine then walk the path, which will lead you to stairs and a back entrance that will force you to take an escalator or elevator. One part of the hallway is wide, and you can sometimes hear an echo if you talk loud enough and if no one is talking nearby (this is essentially the hallway that is below Madison Ave and a fair compromise for having to walk across Madison Ave if you end up being accepted in). Then take the elevator or escalators back up to the first floor and you'll arrive at the Museum's back entrance from behind the Information Desk.
   • If you are coming from the Madison Ave Lot, you'll see the building directly in front of you as the white building and you won't have to cross the busy S Swan Street to get to the other side
6. Decide what portion of the museum you'd like to take in. This museum is focused on two floors. While most museum-goers take in the first floor, don't miss the fourth floor gallery with the free New York State Museum Carousel, too. There's a tiny cafeteria on the 3rd floor if you can take the escalators, but the elevators won't stop on the third floor with you in it.

First Floor Exhibits

1. Take in how the Main Lobby/pre-Museum is set up. As you arrive, you'll walk into the building and see the rather expansive Information Desk. Once you walk in, you'll initially see one entrance on your left and one entrance on your right. Towards the back of this, you'll initially see escalators that take you up to alternate levels as well as a walkway to a pair of elevators that can take you up, along with leading you to a walkway to where you'll find the restrooms that can take you in, as well.
2. Recognize the sections of this museum's first floor level. This museum is divided into several different sections with one center imaginary ring that is U-shaped. Yes, it's got its West Gallery which features an art gallery and Huxley Theater if you go through the one entrance. If you go through the entrance near the Museum Gift Shop (how this guide was set-up), you'll see the "(New York State) Museum Shop" at first glance and, after turning the corner, the Fire Engine Hall and World Trade Center areas. The Museum calls these sections Fire Engine Hall, New York Metropolis, Gallery Space, Native Peoples of New York, Adirondack Wilderness and more gallery space towards the end.
   • If you'd like to bypass the Native Peoples area and Gallery Space East, you can cut through the Birds of New York (yet another section designated on the printed map altogether) area that will allow you to get out and move around the New York Metropolis area. However, the Native Peoples area is well worth a visit to get a really accurate picture of what New York State's Native Peoples exhibit really means to New York State. Unless the Museum is planning to close within an hour or hour and a half, try to stop by there.
   • The big Gallery Space near the back changes rather seasonally. However, there are a few items that never change, such as the Mastodon's location (as you'll learn about a little later).
3. Visit Fire Engine Hall. Although you'll have to pass into the New York Metropolis area in back of the World Trade Center exhibit to get there at first, it's actually marked as being it's own separate area on the map. It's large and filled with older historical-licensed ambulances and fire engines galore (including one ambulette that was given to the Museum in 2001 following the loss of the World Trade Center), but it does have several older style fire engines from the 1800s onwards.
4. Visit the New York Metropolis area. In New York Metropolis, you'll find such things as the World Trade Center exhibit (where they house pieces that were collected and housed from Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001), as well as a walk-through New York Subway car (though you are mandated to go up several steps to get there without any handicap entrance), a to-scale replica of the Sesame Street set (including Oscar and his trashcan and the steps where the "gang" was housed)(which you can see outside the subway car) as well as a to scale diorama of Grand Central Terminal (and a rather-accurate representation of the track system running underneath it's terminal), a copy of the New York City Subway maps as they appeared in the 1980s and 1990s and a look back at the horrible 1920 times in Harlem. These exhibits all talk about life on the streets of New York City, including one area that talks about the effects of schooling on children, as well as an area focused on the immigration experiences during those times.
   • Check out the large piece of the World Trade Center inside the September 11th part of the Museum, along with a fire engine that was used, as well as a police car's door and some of the letters people wrote to those who perished.
   • In this area, you'll also find information about the South Street Seaports and tenement life as well as a look at Skyscrapers in the section called Skyscraper City.
   • Try to have a love for the glamorous shopping districts on Fifth Ave as you walk past an area describing the life and times of this lovely area.
   • Look for the small Indigenous roundhouse on the main pathway just before the entrance to Gallery Space East. Though not too popular a place for pictures or a selfie, it is a spot where some folks actually take pictures. If you've passed the Crossroads Gallery or the Birds of New York exhibits, you've gone too far.
5. Look through the Gallery Space if you like art and photography. If not, you can pass through and see the Mastodon. This area changes seasonally. As of June 6, 2017, there's a new "Ancient Life of New York" gallery in this area, but it's only under renovation right now with no anticipated date of re-opening announced just yet.
   • As you walk past, you can pass by Birds of New York on your right, as well as the Fossils exhibit, and if you look way off into the distance, you can also spot Discovery Place on the other side.
6. Look around the Native People of New York's area as you pass near the Mastodon. You will more likely encounter the Woolly Mammoth area (if you came in from the East near the Adirondack Wilderness section, the effects of the Wooly mammoth will increase tenfold for a small child and can sometimes be overpowering enough to scare them gratefully, however, they can sometimes be reassured that there's a glass separating them and be ultimately reassured that the Mammoth is dead and is stuffed now).
   • Because of New York State's history of having an Indian heritage, you'll find some great exhibits in this exhibit, including a replica Iroquois longhouse along with a small model of an Iroquois Indian village. Go inside the longhouse, and listen to the traditional story ceremony that is told at the one head of the longhouse.
     • As signs say, do not place or climb onto the beds outside the enclosed space. Doing so may make the longhouse topple over and down.
   • Look around the Native People's area for several different artifacts that were uncovered inside this time period and/or look at the to-scale smaller replica of an Iroquois longhouse-village nearby the artifacts behind the glass in the one wall.
7. Come out from the Native People's area and take a slight right into the Birds of New York Area. This area contains stuffed birds of New York, including the cardinal, blue jay, bluebird, house wren, orioles and many others. If you walk towards the area called Fossils, you've walked in the wrong direction and have to retreat back the other way.
   • There are plenty of large benches to sit down on in this area, but you will still have a little more to go, if you'd like to experience all there is to see and do at this museum.
8. Exit back out the entrance you came from and head towards the Adirondack Wilderness exhibit. In the Adirondack Wilderness section, you'll find various fossils, camping and some canoes, along with minerals of New York and stuffed real moose. There's also Colvin Tower and a WTC Family Trailer that features some of the signs the families of the deceased put up following the events on 9/11 at the former "Ground Zero" site. There's a special section on Lumber and the New York Lumber industry's history.
   • Contribute to the Elk Pond wishing well if you'd like to donate a coin to the museum. Inside Adirondack Wilderness (behind your back when facing the Elk Pond), you'll also find an area devoted to logging. (If you'd like to donate paper cash, you'll find a special box for this in the Main Lobby near the Information Desk.)
   • Try to find the rectangular New York State Historical Marker sign. This is often a place to find a photographer as either a selfie or a group shot of people. Historical markers like the one you see inside the museum dote the landscape of New York when the area has some historical significance.
   • Look for the steamer engine near the Birds of New York section entrance (but in Adirondack Wilderness area).
   • There's the Discovery Place near the Fossils exhibit. Here you'll find an area devoted to kids' play activities including a huge Checkers mat with large Checkers pieces.
   • Take a few seconds to look into the "Prehistoric Wilderness" section to the right of the Elk Pond.
9. Look into more gallery space that includes the Huxley Theater and the West Gallery. Although in May the West Gallery is free to Bank of America debit card-holders, it can easily be passed up if you don't like art very much.
10. Exit out the door and towards the Museum Shop, crossing through the Main Entrance one last time. Keep the Museum Shop in mind for later, if you plan on going up to the 4th floor gallery as well. The Museum Shop is small, but contains quite a lot of items in a lot of different travel-oriented categories. Prices a tad on the expensive side, but the quality of the products will differ over the time the museum thinks the product will need to last.

Fourth Floor Exhibits

1. Ride the Elevator or Escalators up to the Fourth floor. There is a bank of three elevators in the center alcove behind the main lobby's Information Desk. However, if you desire more space and can tolerate going up an escalator a flight or two, you will find an additional three elevators starting on the third floor.
   • On the third floor, you'll find a rather small cafeteria where you may eat. However, the selection of snacks they serve here are rather limited.
2. Take a ride on the New York State Museum Carousel. Take a right off the elevator and walk straight back. If you pass by Hansom Cab and the Plow/Wall Street area, you'd be going the right way to get there. Rides on the New York State Museum Carousel are free (but you can donate if you'd like) and very worth your time. Most people feel like they'd like to get off after the first couple rounds around the carousel.
   • Look out the window as the Carousel circles around and around and around again. You can see gorgeous views of the City of Albany, including The Egg and several other nearby popular venues.
   • If you walk and arrive at the Reception Desk (with a museum security guard), you've gone the opposite way to get there and you must pass through the elevator area walking back the opposite way.
3. View some of the other exhibitions on the fourth floor. There's a whale scull, sailplane, and 1932 Packard, as well as a Conservation Department plane down one side. Down the other, there's Wall Street (including an old-styled) Vendomatic (PO-Box-styled vending machine) and a Plow blade. Near the elevators, you'll find a 1931 Pierce Arrow car as well as the Hansom cab (horse-drawn carriage meant to be used as a taxi).
   • There used to be a Subway Sandwich Shop on the fourth floor, but now there's a "Salamanca Back Bar" in its place and an unfair cry from those missing this Subway Sandwich Shop left.
4. Take the fourth floor elevators down to leave using the reverse directions to took to get here.

Tips

• Albany (ALB) has one rather small airport, within a comfortable driving distance of the city. Be prepared for a 15 minute drive from the airport to this museum. However, if you are planning to stay the night, do not stay hear the airport, as the prices near it are quite expensive and sales tax is high too. In this county, sales tax on items is set at 8% .

Sources and Citations

See also

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• Pack for a Trip to New York City
• Visit New York City on a Budget