Patch Picks: Metro Detroit Edition- Top Museums

Patch Picks:  Top Museums

• Holocaust Memorial Center:  The Scene:  The HMC’s mission, to stir public consciousness, avoid repetition of past genocide, and combat hatred is accomplished through their vast museum, displaying not only a history of evil, but also of courage, strength, and righteousness.  The first free standing Holocaust Memorial Center, the Wall Street Journal claimed it to be “maybe the most provocative of them all.”   Beginning with a timeline of Jewish history for over 4000 years, the museum then winds through the story of WWII and the Nazis, the Final Solution, the Institute of the Righteous, and culminates with the Memorial Flame, continuously lit in remembrance of the Jews killed during WWII.  For more information visit

• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History:  The Scene: The world’s largest institution dedicated to the African American experience, the Charles H. Wright Museum explores the diverse history and culture of African Americans and their African heritage.  An astounding experience of history, art, and achievement, the museum contains such exhibits as “And Still We Rise,” “Dance Theatre of Harlem,” the “Tuskegee Airmen Project,” and “Eyes of Africa and the African Diaspora.” 

• Cranbrook Institute of Science:  The Scene:  As Michigan’s premier natural history museum, Cranbrook offers hands-on science experiments and an engaging afternoon of learning, perfect for a field trip or family fun day.  Housing a collection of permanent and changing exhibits, take a trip through the starts in their state of the art planetarium, get an up close looks at bats in The Bat Zone, or take a terrifying look into the past with a towering T. Rex.  For more information visit

• The Henry Ford:  The Scene:  America’s greatest history attraction and largest indoor-outdoor historical museum, The Henry Ford does an amazing job of transforming participants into the past, with a special focus on the metro Detroit area.  The museum weaves in a plethora of artifacts that focus on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of America’s fight for freedom, the automobile in American life and society, and the role of aviation and heroes of the sky.  Travel through the lives of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and skilled artisans in a journey through the village, and learn of the triumphs and tragedies of the Rouge, and the making of automobiles on the Ford Rouge Factory Tour.  And don’t forget the ultimate movie going experience!  View a must-see current release, cinema classic, or feature documentary and The Henry Ford’s IMAX theatre.  For more information visit

• Detroit Historical Museum:  The Scene:  Located in Detroit’s Cultural Center district, the DHM is one of America’s oldest and largest museums dedicated to metropolitan history.  The 80,000 feet of exhibition space is comprised of over 600 historic artifacts pertaining to the exciting history of metro Detroit.  Witness over 300 years of history through “The Streets of Old Detroit,” “The Motor City,” “Michigan Sports Hall of Fame,” and “Doorway to Freedom:  Detroit and the Underground Railroad”, and celebrate Detroit’s champions, comebacks, and accomplishments.