Oak Ridge History Museum — Attraction in Oak Ridge

Great pictures, great staff, and a great way to learn the history of Oak Ridge. This is located on the northwest corner of Illinois avenue and the Oak Ridge Turnpike. It is in a long building Community Center. It has a large parking lot and plenty of parking. When I entered, I was greeted by the volunteers who were friendly and willing to answer any and all questions. There are pictures everywhere and one of the volunteers was the son of the person who took most of the great photographs. To the left of the entrance is a large open room where you can watch a short video describing the history of the area. There is a large mural on the right side of the room covering most of the wall and displaying the area circa 1945. Outside of the building is a recreation of the 4-man house that was typical of the area around the same time. If you travel to the other side of the building you will find several rooms filled with numerous period items, displays, pictures, and information from the local area and time periods from WWII all the way up to current times. The staff was very obliging and willing to either let me wander by myself or tour me around the various rooms and artifacts. One of the volunteers was the son of the photographer who took the pictures that are displayed throughout the site at a time when the secret city did not have any other photographers so many are one-of-a-kind. It would be easy to spend days in here and still not see everything. It is a hidden gem...

This was pretty good they have a lot of odds and ends to bring out the story of the site when it was in the World War 2 era and forward. They do focus a lot on WW2 because that helped shape the area into what it is know. They do have a hutment that a lot of the workers lived in at the time (4 people in a 18X18 plywood building) They have a video that explains a little more about the area and photos and pictures of what the area would have looked like back in that time frame. The admission is 10 they have a small parking area, and the building looks small, but they pack a lot in it. I think you could spend all day and still find stuff you missed. We Im sure missed stuff but it was...

VERY interesting and informative museum. There were two great videos to watch, and displays in multiple rooms and outside covering all aspects of the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities.

It is a few miles off the interstate, but it is well worth your time. We will definitely go there again since they are adding new displays...