Salem, Oregon offers a variety of museums and outdoor activities, including the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Historic Elsinore Theater, AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village, Salem’s Riverfront Park and Carousel, and the Mission Hill Museum. The Mission Mill Museum has 14 historic buildings, while Riverfront Park has a playground and the Eco Earth Globe sculpture. The Historic Elsinore Theater features Tudor Gothic architecture, and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art has Native American, Pacific Northwestern, Asian, and European artwork.
Salem, Oregon has many museums and historic sites worth seeing. Salem also has lots of wide open spaces and outdoor activities, especially near the Willamette River. The Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Historic Elsinore Theater, AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village, Salem’s Riverfront Park and Carousel, and the Mission Hill Museum offer exciting things to do for travelers of all ages.
The Mission Mill Museum has 14 historic homes and buildings and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Buildings include the 1896 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill which has working exhibits. The museum’s attractive open-air setting usually has ducks to feed and shops open for browsing.
Salem’s Riverfront Park, next to the Willamette River, has pleasant walkways and a large playground. The Park features an interesting sculpture called the Eco Earth Globe. The large globe, complete with continents and oceans, is covered with thousands of tiles. Its base is made from a recycled tank from the Boise Cascade paper mill, and the project took five years to complete.
Salem’s Riverfront Carousel is an indoor attraction located in Riverfront Park. The Carousel has 42 horses created by local artists, and the artists’ studio sells carousel-themed artwork and sculptures. AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village is also located in Salem’s Riverfront Park. AC Gilbert invented the construction toy called the Erector Set and the Museum includes the tallest tower in the world. The Discovery Museum has interactive and fun educational exhibits on topics like magnets, musical instruments, and paddlewheel ships.
The Historic Elsinore Theater was completed in 1926 on an old livery mews. It takes its name from the castle in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and features Tudor Gothic architecture popular in the Shakespearean era. Murals inspired by Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth can be found near each of the stairs. These dramatic double staircases add to the grand appearance of the lobby which has a vaulted ceiling decorated to look like an evening sky. You can see both movies and plays at the Historic Elsinore Theater.
The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is the third largest museum in Oregon. It has Native American basketry and Pacific Northwestern Art as well as Asian and European artwork. One of the galleries at the Hallie Ford Museum in Salem, the Print Study Room, features paper-related artwork such as photographs, sketches, and prints.
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