Morris Museum, Morristown

Great museum in general. We went to the Steam Punk exhibit. I think there is a new version starting soon. Very inventive. The New Jersey minerals exhibit is permanent and fascinating. For those who like model trains, they moved it from the basement into a larger space. They have a permanent automata and music box exhibit.

PROS: Inexpensive, great location, interesting exhibits, best gem & mineral collection CONS: Broken exhibits, broken elevator My large family and I spent about 3 hours here on a Tuesday afternoon during the Passover break. As soon as we got there, the docent told us there would be a live demo (the only one of the day) where they would play some of the large music boxes in the collection. This was really not a good presentation for smaller kids, since there was a lot of talk and not so much action. However, they do have a hands-on kids' lab where you can create some punch paper music for a box. My kids and I particularly enjoyed the train exhibits. The larger train exhibit downstairs actually had buttons that controlled various features in the large and detailed model train. The gem and mineral collection is excellent, one of the best I've seen in a smaller museum. They had many large specimens that the children enjoyed touching and learning about. The only negative thing I can say about this museum is that many of the listening exhibits in the music box collection were broken. In addition, the elevator was broken, necessitating leaving our stroller downstairs whilst we perused the upstairs exhibits. There's no food here, only a few snacks for purchase in the gift shop. The gift shop had many affordable items for both children and adults. I would definitely visit this museum again.