St. Petersburg Museum of History — Attraction in Saint Petersburg

We were in town for a few days for our 50th wedding anniversary.

We are museum people. The St. Petersburg Museum of History - "Sharing Stories of the Sunshine City for 102 Years"- is located at the base of the new pier, While not a large museum, it is worth spending about an hour to see a gallery of Old Florida history, a tribute to the American soldier, and Florida women pioneers.

The museum also features Schrader's Little Cooperstown, made up of nearly 5,000 baseballs and certified by Guinness World Records as the largest collection of its kind. Othet significant objects are a replica of the world's first commercial air boat, “The Benoist,” which flew from St. Petersburg to Tampa in 1914 and a 3,000-year-old mummy.

Be sure to look at the sculpture of the newspaper boy outside the entry. It commemorates a newspaper contest, "The Sunshine Offer," that promised to give away newspapers to anyone every day that the sun did not shine in the ‘Burg. In a 76-year period, only 296 papers were given away. Hence the name: "The Sunshine City."

If you go: Hours are Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday 12-5 p.m. Tickets: $15 adult (18+), $12 senior (65+), $9 military and veteran, teachers and students, and children under 6 are free. Look for the $2.00 off coupon found in the Discover Downtown Guide found everywhere. Only one coupon was needed for two of us; we combined a senior discount with the coupon.

While parking is available at the pier (the Dolphin Lot is the closest to the museum), both the FREE Looper Trolley and Central Avenue Trolley stop at the base of the pier. From there, it is a short walk to the museum. If you ride the free trolley, please be sure to trip your driver who is committed to getting you safely to and from your...

Do not waste your time nor your money. It's a trash tourist trap museum with a terrible set up. The worst "museum" I've ever been to, and we've been to a lot.

Perhaps if you're a baseball fan you'd love to see hundreds of baseballs. The museum is only like 6 or 7 rooms and the largest spaces, it seems, are the gift shop, 2 baseball display rooms, and a civil rights in Florida "exhibit." The most interesting room that actually had physical items on display was the oddities room and it was probably the smallest room. The rest of the museum was mostly printed out signs on the wall. I did not spend thousands of dollars on a Florida vacation to stand in a "museum" and read signs on the wall.

That is, if one could concentrate long enough to read the essays on the wall. A large group of school children was running around the whole time we were there. We were not informed of a field trip being inside before we paid, of course. We couldn't even hear the one TV on display in the oddities room because the children kept screaming their heads off and running around. These children were older and should have known better, but they did not apparently. Plus the adults with them did not seem to think that it was a problem and did not try to control or calm them down. And of course they were running around! Most of the museum is just printed text on the wall with nothing interesting on display or interactive to learn from. In fact, I think that if your goal is to punish children, you should definitely...

As a native of St. Petersburg, I wanted to choose a wedding venue with connections to the city in which I grew up in. After visiting the St. Pete Museum of History, I knew this would be the perfect location for our wedding.

The ceremony space, behind the museum, is one of the hidden gems of wedding venues. It is right on the Tampa Bay, with sights of the Vinoy in the background. The location cannot be beat, as it is so close to the bustling blocks of downtown. The space is quiet yet energetic, and was absolutely perfect for our outside ceremony.

We had the reception inside, which gave the charm I was looking for with the Benoit airplane above the dance floor. Our guests were given access to the entire museum and while my new husband and I took photos outside, they were able to enjoy a cocktail hour while exploring the museum.

Working with Caitlin was a delight. There is absolutely no need for a day-of-coordinator if she is on your team. She was incredibly generous in allowing my husband and I stop by any time we had a question or wanted to see the space again.

If you’re looking for a wedding venue that combines old St. Pete quirk with new St. Pete location, the Museum is the perfect...