Finding the parking lot was a bit tricky with the narrow streets in the area. Parking in the lot is free. This small town historical village type museum was so well done. The houses range in age from the late 1600’s on and have been restored to various years throughout that time, up to and including the 1950’s. There are a few actors scattered throughout that did a great job representing the years that their characters were cast in. There are employees in most of the houses to give more information about the history of the home or business. The short walk to the harbor from the museum will lead you to a quint park of the city with little shops and eateries.

The museum does an interesting job of showing the history of the historic neighborhood from the time of the revolution to the 20th century. Different buildings were shown at different time periods. Represented the multi-ethnic and multicultural nature of this neighborhood. The docents in each house were real informative. Liked that they did not have long prepared speeches. This way we were able to talk to them and ask questions about what interested us and just walk though homes that did not. The Shapiro house where a Ukrainian Jewish family lived around the beginning of the 20th century and the WWII era “grocery store” had particularly interesting guides on our trip. We ended up spending about 2 hours walking around.

What a great museum, showcasing the gsitory of this important New Hampshire Town. To be able to explore the different buildings and learn the individual histories and how it fits into the wider context of the arra was really interesting. What was really good was how the museum took you through the ages, from pre-settlers right up to the 1950's. This is a great day out!

I love going to outdoor history museums like this, as they offer a really unique perspective on history that you don't get from the history books. We loved wandering around the gigantic property, exploring the multiple houses and learning about over 350 years of history of the region. I appreciated that they also included Indigenous history (not just colonizer/settler history). We also liked watching how various crafts were made. The actors were patient and answered all of our questions. Please note that if you're sensitive to heat, then be mindful of when you come here - houses are in their original state and do not have air conditioning.

This is a living museum where you will experience life in the Puddle Dock neighbourhood. The museum is located in a ten acre campus with many historic houses to visit. There is a tavern, a 1940’s store with genuine products from that era on display, a demonstration of cooking from that time and every house has costumed players to tell visitors about their building. There is a great deal to see and is well worth a visit.

The orientation session was helpful and we enjoyed exploring the historical houses and gardens. Once we understood that we were moving between different time periods, things made much more sense! The guides did a fantastic job role playing and answering our questions.

We had such a fun day stepping back in time at the Strawberry Banke Museum. I loved how immersive it felt walking in and out of a bunch of historical homes. The staff were so informative, kind and welcoming. I especially want to shout out Chris who was doing the baking demonstrations. It is no easy task to maintain a large cooking fire in the middle of August in New England and he did it with a smile on his face. He was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter and we walked away having learned so much from him.