The Lakeshore Museum Center offers visitors four destinations to tour and places to shop within a three block radius in downtown Muskegon. Take a tour through 10,000 years of history in the Coming to the Lakes Gallery which explores why people came to Muskegon County. A 21 foot tall mastodon greets visitors who will also see a fur trader’s cabin, sawmill and Great Lakes schooner. The outside comes inside in the Habitat and Food Webs Gallery where you can examine a dune, grassland and wetland and meet the animals that live there. It’s All About You! in the Body Works Exhibit where the focus is on how the choices a person makes affect their health and well being. Build a meal and find out how healthy it is (or isn’t) or try on a vest and feel what it would be like to carry 10 or 20 extra pounds. This is just a small sampling of the exhibits on display.

Hours: Weekdays – 9:30 to 4:30 and Weekends 12:00 to 4:0. Free admission.

Hackley & Hume Historic Site
W. Webster Ave. at Sixth St.

Lavish woodcarvings, outstanding stenciling and glorius stained glass windows greet visitors as they tour the homes of Muskegon’s most famous lumber barons. Built in the late 1800s, the homes are furnished in the highest tradition of Victorian Decorative Arts and include original family pieces. The Site is on the National Register of Historic Places and was rated by AAA as “one of Michigan’s best examples of Victorian homes.”

Hours: May through October,
open Wednesday through Sunday from Noon to 4 p.m.

Special Holiday Tours available in November and December.

Fire Barn Museum 510 W. Clay Ave. Learn about the history of fire fighting in this replica of an 1890s Muskegon Fire Station. A 1923 American LaFrance Pumper Fire Truck is on display along with hose carts, hooks, ladders and photographs of some of the area’s most devastating fires. A display on the second floor depicts the living quarters of the early fire stations.

Muskegon Mercantile 430 W. Clay Ave. Browse through the Mercantile where the shelves are full of jewelry for all ages, decorating items, children’s gifts and books, historic photographs and books and videos on local history. A second store is located in the City Barn at the Hackley & Hume Historic Site.

Hours: Weekdays – 9:30 to 4:30 and Weekends – 12:30 to 4:30 in the Museum. The satellite store at the Hackley & Hume Historic Site follows the Site’s hours.