Howard Steamboat Museum — Attraction in Jeffersonville

I’m not sure that they should call this place the Howard steamboat Museum. Yes the family was in the steamboat business and built River going vessels for many decades.

However, the house itself with numerous features from the interior of steamboats, is really the star of the show. Perhaps it should be called the Howard house and steamboat museum?

The house is truly an architectural gem. If you look at my profile, you’ll see that we have visited numerous architectural sites. The reviews that I’ve posted only scratch the surface of the countless homes and buildings that we have toured. As an interior designer and wanna be Architect I have a passion for interesting buildings and fortunately my wife shares my interest.

This house is full of features that came from luxury steamboat design. Having built the house a few hundred yards away from the shipyard, the family took advantage of the numerous skilled craftsman whom they employed. Especially impressive is the ornate woodwork that was apparently done by one phenomenally talented individual.

Unfortunately, the house did sustain a very serious fire at one point, but they have done an admirable job of putting all of the elements back together and re-creating the original wood craftsmanship. The design of many of the rooms is unusual and beautiful, although many of the most interesting rooms are filled with information and artifacts about steamboats and their construction. We admittedly would have preferred to see the rooms return to their original appearance with furnishings that would have filled the spaces when the Howard family occupied the home.

The staff is small but extremely nice and provided us a docent lead experience on the first floor, which was filled with tons of information. The intro film was actually narrated by one of the staff members we met. Both young men were impressive.

If you visit, please make certain you see the guest house which has been transformed into an event venue. If I lived anywhere in the vicinity of this property, I would wanna host some sort of a party in this building.

The cost for us to tour the property was $20. I would say this is a deal. I think that this is a must see piece of architecture if you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Louisville, Kentucky or Jefferson Indiana. Candidly, for the sake of preservation and continued Stuartship. I hope this will review will result in countless new visitors.

If I’m in the area again, I will definitely return. There’s plenty to see for even a...

My husband chose to visit this inspiring museum for his birthday. We were welcomed by Christian who was very helpful at giving us the 'run down' of how our visit would work. The adult charge for admission was $10/per person and very reasonable for a museum of this caliber. Parking is free, masks are required/requested while you tour. We sat for a short, ten minute introduction movie that gave a great overview of the Howard family and their steamboat business on the Ohio River. When the film was done, Christian asked if we had any questions and then our tour began with Jason. I should mention, you don't have to have a tour guide, there is a brochure that will help you on your own self-guided tour if you wish. But because the museum had no other visitors at the time, Jason spent over an hour with us on a tour of this stunning home. He was extremely knowledgeable about the home, the Victorian Era, the steamboats and the Howard family in an interesting, non putting-off way. After exploring the first two floors of the home with their mouth-dropping woodwork, creaking floors and fancy chandeliers, he invited us to tour the third floor on our own. If you are a homeschooling family with older children (maybe 8 and up), they would enjoy the history, the steamboat replicas, views of the Ohio River, toilets (!) and the grounds. Mrs. Howard was a very forward-thinking woman who knew what she wanted and Mr. Howard seemed glad to give it to her. Such beautiful preservation should be seen and enjoyed by all. Thank you Christian, Seth and Jason for the way your hearts for the Howards come through in the way you make guests feel so welcomed. This home is treasure trove of history and should not be missed. Average time to walk through 1 1/2-2 hours....

We had a great time visiting this museum. We truly enjoyed it and highly recommend our tour guide Eli. He was very friendly and very knowledgeable about the museum. He answered all our questions and showed us around. We learned a lot and we're in awe of the museum. The tiny details and every piece of furniture were very unique and well made. I felt like the museum needs more boost in terms of marketing. There is so much potential in it but I didn't really hear much advertisements about it. It was great that they were part of the Southern Indiana Fun Trail 2025. But I wish they could have been marketed for more opportunities. I see a lot of potential and great ways it can improve in terms of marketing the museum. I wish all the best for the museum and I hope more people hear about it and visit it because it holds a very important role in the steamboat and...