The 10 Best Museums in Gainesville, Florida (FL)

One of the longest-running artists' co-ops in the United States with a gallery full of handmade works that include diverse media and forms. Featuring all local artists at a beautifully restored vintage home in the heart of downtown Gainesville!

**The Florida Museum is open to the public. To ensure a safe environment for all visitors, the Museum has limited entry, a mask requirement and follows a one-way path.** Open to the public continuously since January 1998, Powell Hall houses exhibits and public education programs. It is located between the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art and the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in the UF Cultural Plaza at 3215 Hull Road, just east of Southwest 34th Street on the western edge of the University of Florida campus. Visitors to Powell Hall will encounter exciting featured exhibits and signature permanent exhibition halls that explore the state’s unique habitats and rich cultural history, including information about some of Florida's early Native peoples. Visitors may view a Calusa Indian welcoming ceremony and mammoth and mastodon skeletons from the last ice age.

In 1854 the Haile family, from South Carolina, established a 1500 acre Sea Island cotton plantation. The 6,200 sq ft home was the site of house parties attended by Gainesville’s finest citizens. The Hailes had an unusual habit of writing on the walls. See the "Talking Walls," over 12,500 words written by family and friends in every room. Exhibit on the enslaved builders. On National Register.

The Matheson History Museum is located in the former American Legion Hall, built in 1937, and houses temporary exhibitions that explore Florida's history and permanent exhibits that tell the story of Alachua County from the time of the Timucuan tribes to the 20th century. The 1867 Matheson House, one of the three oldest residences in Gainesville, is a blend of classic revival raised cottage architecture and the South Carolina plantation style. The Tison Tool Barn houses the antique tool collection of Gainesville native James Mason Tison, Jr. Directly behind the Museum is Sweetwater Park. The Matheson Library & Archives, located in the historic Gainesville Gospel Tabernacle building across the street from the museum, houses the museum's research library and collections, which include more than 20,000 historic Florida postcards, 1,500 stereograph cards, and myriad maps, photographs, documents, books and artifacts.

The Cade Museum's exhibits, educational programs, and Creativity Labs encourage learners of all ages to think like an inventor, meet an inventor, and be an inventor. And we celebrate the entrepreneurs who turn these ideas into practical realities.

The GFAA Gallery shows art from over 300 members of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association, a 94 year old non-profit. Each month there is a theme and the members bring their work to the gallery. Each show is judged, ribbons and prizes are awarded. The themes vary from Living creatures, Human Image, whimsey to Trashformations. Open Tues-Wed, Sat 11-6;Thurs-Fri 11-7.

Thornebrook Gallery has been Gainesville, Florida's premier art gallery and custom picture framing establishment, specializing in two- and three-dimensional fine art, artisan jewelry, and contemporary fine crafts by locally and nationally recognized artists. David, the owner of Thornebrook Gallery, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and has been in the business of art for more than 35 years.